“In the face of the harrowing images we see every day, in the face of the screams of children and women, all we can do is cry out: stop! War is no solution, war is madness, war is a monster, war is a cancer that feeds on devouring everything! In addition, war is a sacrilege that destroys what is most precious on earth: human life, the innocence of the little ones, the beauty of creation”. Pope Francis said this in the introduction to the essay “Against War. The Courage to Make Peace ‘, edited by Corriere della Sera “What we are witnessing is yet another barbarism and unfortunately we have short memories,” says the Pope, “the war confuses everything, it is pure madness, its only aim is destruction and he develops and grows precisely through the destruction and if we had the memory, we would not spend tens, hundreds of billions on rearmament, equipping ourselves with more and more sophisticated weapons, increasing the market and trade in weapons that end up doing so lead to the killing of children, women and the elderly: $1.981 billion a year to the counts of a major study center in Stockholm.” “Since I began my ministry as a Bisch Of Rome I have spoken of the Third World War and said that we are already experiencing it, even if it is still in pieces. These pieces have grown and welded together,” Bergoglio continues, “So many wars are going on in the world right now, causing immense pain, innocent victims, especially children. Wars that cause the flight of millions of people who are forced to leave their lands, their homes and their destroyed cities to save lives. It is the many forgotten wars that reappear before our unwary eyes from time to time. These wars seemed ‘far away’ from us. Until now, almost suddenly, the war broke out near us”. “Ukraine, says Pope Francis, “was attacked and invaded. And unfortunately, many innocent civilians, many women, many children, many elderly people affected by the conflict are forced to live in temporary shelters dug in the bosom of the earth fleeing the bombs, with families separating , because husbands, fathers, grandparents have to fight, while wives, mothers and grandmothers, after long journeys of hope, seek refuge and cross the border to seek hospitality in other countries, which they welcome with great heart. . “I cannot help recalling the request made by Saint John XXIII. In 1962 he called on the powerful of his day to stop an escalation of war that could have plunged the world into a nuclear conflict. I cannot forget the power with which Saint Paul VI. When he intervened at the United Nations General Assembly in 1965, he said: “No more war! No more war!” ‘ says Pope Francis. “What we are witnessing is yet another barbarism and unfortunately we have short memories. Yes, because if we had a memory, we would remember what our grandparents and our parents told us, and we would also feel the need for peace our lungs need oxygen, war messes everything up, it’s pure madness, being the only goal is destruction and it arises and grows precisely through destruction and if we had a memory, we wouldn’t spend tens, hundreds of billions on rearmament, on equipping ever more sophisticated weapons, in order to expand the market and the arms trade, which will end up being children , women and the elderly: $1.981 billion a year, according to counts by a major study center in Stockholm. just in the second year of the pandemic, when instead all our efforts should have been focused on global health and saving lives from the virus. If we had memory concludes Bergogl Ich we would know that the war was before it reached the front, must be stopped in the hearts. Hate must be eradicated from hearts before it is too late. And for that we need dialogue, negotiation, listening, diplomatic skill and creativity, a farsighted politics capable of building a new system of coexistence no longer based on arms, gun violence and deterrence. Every war represents not only a political defeat, but also a shameful surrender to the forces of evil.