Wars, massacres and bloodshed, extreme polarizations, situations in which even pacifism can become divisive: this is the current situation in which we are immersed.
The figure of Igino Giordani (1894-1980), a man of peace because he was a just and coherent man, gives us some inspiration today to lift our gaze and continue to hope, attempting to foster a dialogue even where it seems impossible, to break down crystallised ideologies and absolutisms, to build an inclusive society and to rebuild peace on unity.
One of the most vivid witnesses of the culture of peace of the twentieth century, his pacifism draws directly from the Gospel: killing another man means murdering a being made in the image and likeness of God. Giordani therefore yearned for peace, spent himself in every possible way for it ways, engaged in dialogue with anyone in the name of peace, did not back down even when it came to lending his support to the ratification of the Atlantic Pact and ensuring the security and defence of Europe and Italy… We can say that his pacifism was comprehensive and spared no effort.
Let’s look at some of his writings.
“…World War I broke out […] And massive pro-war rallies took place in the streets, which I attended so as to protest against the war; so much so that once a person I respected, upon hearing my shouts, admonished me: ‘You’re asking to be killed!’…
[…] In the “radiant May” 1915, I was called to arms. […] […]
The trenches. It was there, that I left school and entered life, in the arms of death under the salvos of cannons. Mud, cold, filth, there I bitterly discovered that the soldiers were all opposed to the ‘murder’ called war, because murder meant the killing of a man: they all detested it… […] We were in Oslavia, near some ruins called Pri-Fabrisu: Later during a three-year hospital stay, I recalled the memory of the agony (from the Greek, “agon” meaning struggle) suffered in those places in a short poem entitled The faces of the dead. I remember the last verse that said: “This is curse of war” [2]».
Giordani was seriously injured and when he returned from the trenches, he spent three years in the military hospital in Milan, suffering irreversible damage to one leg. His pacifism was therefore grounded in life experience. Later, when he was engaged in political life, he always strove for dialogue with everyone, even with those whose views differed from his, firmly believing that every person should always be welcomed and understood. He never entrenched himself in absolute positions. This is how he described his speech in Parliament in favour of the Atlantic Pact:
“I remember a speech I gave in the Chamber on 16th March, 1949 […], about the Atlantic Pact, which had for too long been presented solely in its anti-communist aspect, that is, as a military build-up against the Russians […] I said that every war is a failure of Christians: “If the world were Christian, there would be no wars… […] War, I added, is murder, it is deicide (killing of God’s image, that is, of man who is made in his image) and it is suicide”
Giordani’s speech was applauded by both the right and the left: a patient weaver of relationships, he highlighted the positive value of a choice by Italy that could have been interpreted as in favour of war. Giordani firmly believed that for peace to prevail, every possible path must be pursued, transcending strategic allegiances. He hoped that Christian politics would be capable of unravelling the existing polarizations to act in favour peace.
In 1953, he wrote:
“War is a large-scale murder, cloaked in a kind of sacred cult […]. It is to humanity, what disease is to health, what sin is to the soul: it is destruction and devastation, affecting both body and soul, individuals and communities.
[…] The end may be justice, freedom, honour, bread, but the means produce such destruction of bread, honour, freedom and justice, as well as human lives, including those of women, children, the elderly and innocents of all kinds, which tragically nullifies the very purpose for which they were intended.
In essence, war accomplishes nothing except to destroy lives and wealth
Giordani therefore reminds us that peace is the result of a deliberate project: a project of fraternity among peoples, of solidarity with the most vulnerable, of mutual respect. This is how a more just world is built, today too.
[1] Igino Giordani, L ‘inutilità della guerra, Città Nuova, Rome, 2003, (third edition), p. 57 [2] Igino Giordani, Memorie di un cristiano ingenuo, Città Nuova, Rome 1994, pp.47-51 [3]Idem, p.111 [4] Igino Giordani, L’inutilità della guerra, Città Nuova, Roma, 2003, (third edition), p. 3
Peace, welcome, courage, justice, dialogue, hope, solidarity, togetherness, fraternity, unity: words that express our planetary, strong, concrete commitment that begins with small daily gestures, so that there may be an end to weapons and an end to all conflicts, in every corner of the world.
…We must be convinced that for the civilization of love to become a reality, we have to storm the world with a current of love. Otherwise, everything will remain like a dream, destined to die. … Love! Teaching to love! The person who truly knows how to love, is the person who knows that he or she is sincerely loved. This is a human observation, but it is no less valid in the supernatural field. To know that we are loved! By whom? By the One who is Love. We must open the eyes of as many brothers and sisters as possible so that they might see and discover the treasure they possess, often without realizing it. They are not alone on this earth. There is Love. They have a Father who does not abandon his sons and daughters to their own destiny. He wants to accompany them, watch over them, help them. He is a Father who does not load burdens that are too heavy onto others’ shoulders. He is the first to carry them. In our case, he does not leave the renewal of society only to human initiative. But He is the first to be concerned with it. People should know this and turn to him, aware of the fact that nothing is impossible for him. We must believe, therefore, that we are loved by God so that we can throw ourselves with greater faith into the adventure of love, and work together with him for a New Humanity. Then we must focus our interests on the human person and share with them misfortunes and successes, spiritual goods and material goods. And, to love well, we must not see the difficulties, corruption and sufferings of the world merely as social evils to be resolved. Rather, we must recognize in these the countenance of Christ, who did not disdain to hide himself beneath all human poverty. Because of him – especially for those of us who are Christian – our greatest energies are channeled for the good of others. But since the love we are talking about is certainly not only philanthropy, or friendship or purely human solidarity, but is primarily a gift from Above, we must place ourselves in the best possible attitude to receive it, by nourishing ourselves on and living on the Word of God. … Every person in their large or small world of daily activities – in the family, office, factory, trade union, immersed as they may be in local and general problems, in public institutions, all the way to the United Nations – can truly be a builder of peace, a witness to love, an instrument of unity.
Peace is the result of a project: a project of fraternity between peoples, of solidarity with the weakest, of mutual respect. This is how a fairer world is built; this is how war is set aside as a barbaric practice belonging to the dark phase of the history of humanity. Many years have passed since the first publication of this writing, which is still very relevant today, at a time when the world is torn apart by terrible conflicts. History, Giordani tells us, could teach us a lot.
War is murder on a grand scale, clothed in a kind of sacred cult, as was the sacrifice of the first-born to the god Baal: and this is because of the terror it incites, the rhetoric in which it is clothed, and the interests it implies. When humanity will have progressed spiritually, war will be catalogued alongside bloody rites, the superstitions of witchcraft and the phenomena of barbarity.
War is to humanity, like illness to health, like sin to the soul: it is destruction and devastation, it affects body and soul, individuals and the community.
According to Einstein, human beings have a need to hate and to destroy: and war would satisfy this. But it is not so: most human beings, entire peoples, do not manifest this need. At any rate they repress it. Reason and religion condemn it.
« All things crave peace, » according to St Thomas. In fact, they all crave life. Only the insane and the incurable can desire death. And death is war. It is not desired by the people; it is desired by minorities to whom physical violence serves to secure economic advantages or, even, to satisfy harmful passions. Especially today, with the cost of war, the dead and the ruins, war manifests itself as “useless slaughter”. A massacre, and a useless one at that. A victory over life, and one that is becoming a suicide of humanity.
[…] Human ingenuity, destined for quite different purposes, has today devised and introduced instruments of warfare of such power that they strike horror in the soul of any honest person, especially since they do not only affect armies, but often still overwhelm private citizens, children, women, the elderly, the sick, and at the same time, sacred buildings and the most distinguished monuments of art! Who is not horrified at the thought that from the recent conflict, new cemeteries will be added to the numerous existing ones and new smoking remains of villages and towns will accumulate more sad ruins? Who, indeed, does not tremble to think how the destruction of new riches, the inevitable consequence of war, may further aggravate that economic crisis, by which almost all peoples, and especially the humblest classes, are afflicted? » [1]. […]
The futility was reaffirmed by Pius XII in 1951: « Everyone has manifested with equal clarity their horror of war, and their conviction that it is not, and now less than ever, a proper means to settle conflicts and restore justice. This can only be achieved by freely and legally consented understandings. If it could be a question of popular wars – in the sense that such wars respond to the votes and will of the people – it would only be in the case of such a flagrant and destructive injustice of the essential goods of a people as to revolt the conscience of an entire nation. » [2].
Just as the plague serves to infect, hunger to starve, war serves to kill: moreover, it destroys the means of life. It is a funeral industry: a factory of destruction.
Only a fool can hope to derive benefit from a massacre: health from a fainting spell, energy from pneumonia. Evil produces evil, as the palm tree produces dates. And the facts show, even in this field, the practical inconsistency of the Machiavellian saying that « the end justifies the means ».
The end may be justice, freedom, honour, bread: but the means produce such destruction of bread, honour, freedom and justice, as well as of human lives, including those of women, children, the elderly, the innocent of all kinds, that they tragically annul the very end that is proposed.
In essence, war serves no purpose other than destroying lives and riches.
In the growing tensions in the Middle East powder keg, under the falling bombs and missiles into the ‘martyred’ Ukraine, amidst the great number of the conflicts that lacerate and starve the peoples of Africa, while ‘the winds of war and the fires of violence continue to upset entire peoples and nations’, Pope Francis calls to the ‘weapons’ of fasting and prayer – those which the Church indicates as powerful – millions of believers from all continents to implore from God the gift of peace in a world on the brink of abyss.
As he had already done for the conflicts in Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Holy Land from 2013 to 2023, Pope Francis called for a new day of prayer and abstention from food to invoke the gift of peace for Monday 7 October 2024, also announcing his visit on Sunday 6 October 2024 to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to pray the Rosary and pray to Our Lady, asking for the participation of all members of the Synod.
‘We cannot but call once again on the rulers and those who have the grave responsibility for decisions,’ wrote Card. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins in a letter to his diocese adhering to the Pope’s appeal – to a commitment to justice and respect for everyone’s right to freedom, dignity and peace’. The Patriarch went on to reiterate the importance of everyone’s commitment to building peace in their own hearts and in community contexts, supporting ‘those in need, helping those who are working to alleviate the suffering of those affected by this war and promoting every action of peace, reconciliation and encounter. But we also need to pray, to bring to God our pain and our desire for peace. We need to convert, to do penance, to implore forgiveness’.
