Pope appeals for a peaceful 2008
The Catholic Church celebrated January 1 as its World Day of Peace, and during a mid-morning Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, the pope called for “the gift of peace: for our families, our cities and the whole world”.
“We all aspire to live in peace, but real peace... is not the simple conquest of man or the result of political agreements: It is above all a divine gift,” Benedict said.
He added, peace is a “commitment that must be pursued with patience”.
Benedict also returned to a theme that has been central to his papacy when he spoke of the importance of the traditional family based on the marriage between man and woman.
Stressing the link between family and peace, he said that family is the “first and irreplaceable educator of peace” and that “the denial or even the restriction of the rights of the family... threatens the very foundations of peace”.
