Pope Francis stressed the need for peace and the role of peacemakers during his weekly audience broadcast live online from the Vatican on April 15.
In a catechesis on the Seventh Beatitude, the pontiff cited the “peacemakers” whom the Gospel said, “will be called children of God.”
Pope Francis defined peacemakers as people “who have learned the art of peace and practice it.”
“They know that there is no reconciliation without the gift of one’s life, and that peace must be sought always and, in every case,” he said.
The pope then continued, saying that those who truly work for peace are the “true children of God and show us the way of true happiness.”
Pope Francis, however, said that “the word peace needs to be explained, because it can be misunderstood or become meaningless.”
He noted that there are two concepts of peace, one comes from the Biblical term “Shalom,” which he said signifies an abundant, or flourishing life, while the other is the modern notion of peace, which is interior serenity.
He said the second idea of peace is “a modern, psychological and more subjective idea,” which is “incomplete and cannot become an absolute because anxieties in life may be an important time to grow.”
“We must remember that the Lord means that His peace is different from that of the human one,” he said, adding that “the peace of Christ is a fruit of His death and resurrection.”
“Very often it is the Lord Himself who sows restlessness in us so that we might go towards Him, to find Him,” he said.
“We have to at least suspect that in the globalized context, composed primarily of economic interests, the ‘peace’ desired by some corresponds to the ‘war’ of others,” he said.
“This is not the peace of Christ,” said the pope.
The pontiff ended his message with a call for “true shalom and true interior equilibrium flow from the peace of Christ that comes from His Cross and generates humanity anew.”