2024-01-01 04:29:37
In his New Year’s Eve speech, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn focused on the effort for peace – also in Austria. It is not a given to live in peace, emphasized the Viennese Archbishop on ORF television on Sunday evening. Peace is “hard work” and you have to decide for it – that applies in the family as well as in politics and business. He also pointed out the current crises, as well as the upcoming super election year of 2024.
Austria has never experienced such a long period of peace in its history, said the cardinal. “If you have been allowed to live in peace for so long, then there is a danger that you will get used to it” and forget that peace is also “hard work” and requires you to constantly strive for it, said Schönborn.
“In our news we deal primarily with conflicts, with disasters,” said the cardinal. “Peace is talked about little because it is taken for granted.” It’s about asking yourself what peace actually means: “I want to say this very soberly and clearly. Peace is hard work, peace is exhausting.” This is particularly important to keep an eye on in the coming election year with European and National Council elections, but also in view of “big challenges” such as climate change, inflation or crises in world politics.
The cardinal emphasized that one must “want” peace and “one must decide for it.” This applies in the family as well as in politics and business. This requires “certain virtues”: Schönborn gave examples of “not putting others down, but appreciating them, even if you have different views. Seeking conversation, putting what is common over what divides.” All of these things are not self-evident.
The Archbishop of Vienna called on us to “overcome the inertia within ourselves” that makes peace so difficult. That means acting beyond your own egoism and interests. For this to succeed, “three little words” are crucial: “Thank you, please, forgive.” “If we all use these words often enough and honestly, then we will contribute a lot to maintaining peace, even in the small context of our everyday lives,” said the cardinal. “I wish that for you, I wish that for all of us. I wish that for the whole world too.”
At the end of the year prayer in Innsbruck Cathedral, Diocesan Bishop Hermann Glettler explicitly addressed the “current climate emergency” and said: “We need a conversion of our lifestyles and the political courage to make changes if we do not want to drive the earth into final exhaustion.” A conversation with two representatives of the last generation left a lasting impression on him. “Their clarity and determination to take personal action is food for thought. You don’t have to like them, but criminalizing them is a dangerous attempt to stifle their prophetic voices – without addressing the problem.”
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