Japan’s Ten Days of Peace observance, held annually from August 6 to 15, took on added weight this year as the nation marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In his homily for the Tokyo Diocese’s Peace Prayer Mass on August 9, Cardinal Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo urged Catholics to confront history with humility and ensure that the lessons of war are preserved for future generations.
“We must honestly face historical facts, learn from them humbly, keep them in our hearts and memories, and ensure that they are passed on to future generations,” the cardinal said.
Kikuchi warned that as decades pass, the number of people with direct memories of the war is shrinking, while “forces are at work to try to dilute or forget the memories that must be passed on.” Forgetting such events, he said, is “an act of disrespect toward God, who controls the flow of time.”
Drawing on the Catholic Bishops of Japan’s 80th anniversary peace message, “A Journey to Weave Peace – Carrying Hope,” he cited Pope Francis’ words in Hiroshima: “Remember, walk together, protect: these three ethical imperatives have an even stronger and more universal meaning here in Hiroshima. They have the power to pave the way for peace. Therefore, we must not allow present and future generations to lose the memory of what happened here.”
The cardinal condemned ongoing violence in Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, and along the Thailand–Cambodia border, warning against justifying the “violent taking of human lives” under any pretext.
He recalled Pope Francis’ 2019 statement in Hiroshima that “the use of atomic energy for the purposes of war is, in our day more than ever before, a crime not only against humanity and its dignity, but also against any possibility for the future of our common home. The use of atomic energy for war purposes is unethical. The possession of nuclear weapons is itself unethical.”
Kikuchi challenged the faithful to reject dismissals of peace efforts as unrealistic, saying, “If the realization of a world without nuclear weapons and the call for peace is a pipe dream and unrealistic, then the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospels are indeed a pipe dream.”
He stressed that “life, a gift, must be protected from its beginning to its end, without exception” and that safeguarding this gift “is a decision of our faith” and “the path to establishing peace.”
The Tokyo Diocese marked the day with a lecture by economist Noriko Hama, followed by the diocesan-wide Mass for Peace and a peace walk from St. Mary’s Cathedral to Mejiro Station.
