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Cardinal Bo asserts religious leaders' vital role in promoting peace

Politicians must take into account the views of religious people, UN forum is told
Cardinal Bo asserts religious leaders' vital role in promoting peace

A 2015 file image of Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon at St. Peter's in the Vatican. (Photo by Andreas Solaro/AFP)

Published: July 22, 2019 06:56 AM GMT
Updated: July 22, 2019 06:56 AM GMT

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon has told a United Nations forum in New York that religious leaders have a major role to play in pursuing peace and sustainable development around the globe.

Cardinal Bo’s keynote speech July 16 asserted that amid many people’s current despair “we as religious leaders wish to light a candle of hope with a single mantra: ‘Peace is possible, Peace is the only way.’

“This recognition that religious leaders are influential in peace-making is a reality the world leaders and the civil society actors need to take into account,” he said.

The cardinal was addressing a U.N. forum held under the theme: “Together in our goals: religious actors’ role in sustaining peace.”

Cardinal Bo noted: “Often there is a tendency to implicate religions and their leaders as being the direct or indirect cause of conflicts. This is sad because in many parts of the world, especially in Asia and Africa, religious leaders play a major role as opinion makers and community leaders who influence the faithful toward peace, not conflict.”

He cited the example of his own country, Myanmar, which has been bedeviled by decades-long civil wars and where fighting still rages in ethnic areas.

“The nation has been wounded by festering wars,” Cardinal Bo said. “For the nearly six decades of its existence, the country has been at war, brother against brother. So much blood and tears have been shed.”

The 71-year-old cardinal added that Myanmar’s legacy of human hatred was nauseating: nearly a million people had been displaced within its own borders, a million more had fled as refugees and a further 4 million forced into distressed migration, while around 22 internal conflicts continue to simmer.

“Once the richest country in Southeast Asia, it is now one of the poorest countries in the world,” said Cardinal Bo, adding: “War has mutilated sustainable development. The dream of human dignity is becoming a receding dream.”

The outspoken cardinal stressed the proactive role of religious leaders in his Buddhist-majority country containing 500,000 monks, 70,000 Buddhist nuns, 800 Catholic priests and 2,200 nuns.

“Their role in maintaining peace through imparting values like compassion is an extraordinary contribution to the peace of Myanmar,” he declared. “Religious people impart great values in society.”

Cardinal Bo added that the great contribution of religious people could be articulated in the simple sentence: “Compassion is the common religion of humanity.”

He shared about the positive role played by the group Religions for Peace (RfP) Myanmar, which interacted with all stakeholders and held a peace forum to work toward peace and reconciliation.

He also cited a goodwill visit paid by a team of Buddhist monks, Christian, Muslims and Hindu leaders from around the world to the conflict-torn Burmese region of Rakhine in May 2018, as “helpful in cooling down and building confidence among the stakeholders.”

“The composition of the team was a great witness in a country where inter-religious attacks were increasing,” Cardinal Bo said. “The team also challenged the hate speech and extremism of some of the fringe religious leaders.”

He also raised the subject of poverty, which remains one of the major causes of conflict around the world, and called on governments, business sector and civil society to act on behalf of the poor to raising the living standards of all people.

“The future prosperity and peace and the fulfilments of sustainable development goals depend mostly on the fellowship of the religious leaders, who continue to have a great influence in the lives of our people,” Cardinal Bo concluded.

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