Catholics Charge Nigerians to mediate on pope’s Message of Peace for World Day of Peace 2016

 A release by the Executive Secretary of Executive Secretary, Caritas Nigeria Rev. Fr. Evaristus Bassey also charged Nigerians to “dispose themselves towards a 2016 bereft of prejudices, ill reports, religious intolerance, and the indifference to poverty which manifests itself in the mind boggling corruption that has plagued our recent past”.

The World Day of Peace is marked every first day of January, the first day of every New Year and according to him, “this is different from the International Day of Peace which is marked by the United Nations on September 21^st every year. The World Day of Peace presents an occasion for the entire faithful of the Catholic Church and all men and women of goodwill to express a desire for a peaceful world and to be willing to commit towards bringing it about”.

He said going by this year’s theme, “Pope Francis wants humanity to overcome indifference to God, indifference to our neighbor and indifference to the environment. He exhorts us to feel compassion for one another by knowing and acting in a way that portrays that we carry each other’s burdens. With regard to the environment Pope Francis says, “Water and air pollution, the indiscriminate exploitation of forests and the destruction of the natural environment are often the result of man’s indifference to man.”

Indifference, according to Pope Francis is now a global phenomenon that it has become a great threat to peace. “Human beings easily become prey to relativism and find it difficult to act justly and work for peace,” says Pope Francis. He then exhorts everyone to migrate from indifference to mercy, to the conversion of hearts thereby building a culture of solidarity which results in peace as its fruits.