Holy Mass in San Salvador (6 March 1983)

On Sunday, 6 March 1983, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass at the "Metro Centro" of San Salvador. In his homily, the Pope said, “It is urgent to bury the violence that caused so many victims in this and other nations. – With a true conversion to Jesus Christ. With a reconciliation capable of uniting all those who are today separated by political, social, economic and ideological walls.”

Beloved Brothers in the Episcopate,
dear brothers and sisters:

1. We are gathered in this Metro Center, to celebrate the Lord's Day Eucharist, on the third Sunday of Lent. I affectionately greet all of you and the entire Church of Christ that journeys towards the Father in El Salvador, in particular the Pastor of this beloved archdiocese and the other brother Bishops.

This Church which, united with all its brothers in the faith of Central America and the world, gathers with the Pope at the Altar of the Lord, comes to seek in Him the root of its union, of its life and hope, the source of peace and reconciliation.

Because Christians believe in the triumph of life over death. Therefore, the Church, the Easter community of the Resurrected One, always proclaims to the world: "Why do you seek among the dead the One who lives?" ( Luke 24:5). That is why he finds in Him, in Christ, the secret of his energy and hope. In Him, who is "Prince of Peace" ( Is . 9, 5), who destroyed the wall of enmity and reconciled separated peoples through his cross (cf. Eph . 2, 16).

2. Since humanity was injured by sin, our inner unity was shattered. Moving away from God's friendship, man's heart became a place of torment, a field of tension and battles. From this divided heart come evil for society and the world. This world, the setting for man's development in love, suffers from the contagion of the "mystery of iniquity" (cf. Gaudium et spes , 103; 2 Thess . 2, 7).

Man, created in the image and likeness of God, with a defined vocation of transcendence, of searching for God and of fraternal relationships with others, tormented and divided within himself, distances himself from his fellow men.

However, God's original plan is not for man to be an enemy, a wolf to man, but his brother. God's design does not reveal the dialectic of opposition, but that of love that makes it all new. Love drawn from that spiritual rock that is Christ, as the text of the epistle of this Mass indicates (cf. 1 Cor. 10:4).

3. If God had abandoned us to our own forces, so limited and fickle, we would have no reason to expect humanity to live as a family, as children of the same Father. But God came to us definitively in Jesus; On his cross we experience the victory of life over death, of love over hate. The cross, once a symbol of affront and bitter defeat, becomes a source of life.

Since the cross, God's love that forgives and reconciles emanates in abundance. With the blood of Christ we can overcome evil with good. The evil that penetrates hearts and social structures. The evil of division between men, which has sown the world with tombs, with wars, with this terrible spiral of hatred that devastates, annihilates, in a ghastly and senseless way.

How many homes destroyed! How many refugees, exiles and expatriates! How many orphaned children! How many noble, innocent lives were taken cruelly and brutally! Also of priests, men and women religious, faithful servants of the Church, including a zealous and venerated Pastor, Archbishop of this flock, D. Óscar Arnulfo Romero, who sought, like the others brothers in the Episcopate, put an end to violence and reestablish Peace. In remembering him, I ask that his memory always be respected and that no ideological interest seeks to instrumentalize his sacrifice as a Shepherd who gave himself to his flock.

The cross destroys the wall of separation: hatred. Man often looks for arguments to calm his conscience, which accuses him if he does something wrong. And he sometimes even elevates hatred to such a level that he confuses it with the nobility of a cause; even identifying it with a restorative act of love. Christ makes man's heart healthy at its root. His love purifies us and opens our eyes to distinguish between what comes from God and what comes from our passions.

4. Christ's forgiveness dawns like a new dawn, like a new dawn. It is the new land, "fertile and spacious" to which God calls us, as we read before in the book of Exodus ( Ex . 3,8). This land in which the oppression of hatred must disappear and leave room for Christian feelings: "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and longsuffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, if anyone has cause of complaint against another. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive" ( Col. 3, 12-14).

The redeeming love of Christ does not allow us to close ourselves in the prison of selfishness that denies authentic dialogue, ignores the rights of others and classifies them as enemies that must be fought.

I indicated in my last message for Peace Day , when inviting people to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of dialogue: "With even greater reason, it is necessary to mention the tactical and deliberate lie, which abuses language and resorts to the most sophisticated techniques of propaganda, interferes with dialogue and exasperates aggressiveness. Finally, since some parties face to face are supported by ideologies that, despite the declarations themselves, oppose the dignity of the human person and their just aspirations in accordance with sound principles of reason and natural and eternal law, by ideologies that see struggle as the engine of history, force as the source of law and discrimination against the enemy as the 'abc' of politics, dialogue becomes cold and sterile" ( Message to the World Day of Peace 1983: "Dialogue for peace, a challenge for our time" ).

The dialogue that the Church asks of us is not a tactical truce to strengthen positions in order to continue the struggle, but the sincere effort to respond with the search for opportune solutions to the anguish, pain, tiredness, fatigue of so many who yearn for peace. So many who want to live, to be reborn from the ashes, to find the warmth of children's smiles, far from terror and in an atmosphere of democratic coexistence.

5. The terrible current of reactions, typical of the friend/enemy dialectic, is illuminated by the word of God that demands that we love even our enemies and forgive them. It is urgent to move from distrust and aggressiveness, to respect, to concord, in a climate that allows for the loyal and objective consideration of situations and the prudent search for remedies. The remedy is reconciliation, which I urged in my letter addressed to the episcopate of this country (6 August 1982) .

God's love never leaves you without hope as you journey through history. Only the hardness of the man besieged by the relentless struggle takes on determinism and fatalism: it is then mistakenly thought that no one can change, convert, and that situations should in fact lead programmatically towards irremediable deterioration.

It is then time to listen to the invitation of this Sunday's Gospel: "unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way" ( Luke 13:5). Yes, convert and change your behavior, because — as we heard in the responsorial psalm — Yahweh "is a worker of justice, defending the rights of all who are oppressed" ( Ps 103/102, 6). Therefore, the Christian knows that all sinners can be rescued; that the rich — carefree, unfair, satisfied with the selfish possession of their goods — can and should change their attitude, that whoever resorts to terrorism can and should change; that whoever harbors grudges and hatred can and must free themselves from this slavery; that conflicts have ways to be overcome; that where the language of weapons in combat dominates, love can and must reign, an irreplaceable factor in peace.

6. When I talk about conversion as a path to peace, I am not referring to an artificial peace that hides problems and ignores the worn-out mechanisms that need to be repaired. It is about peace in truth, in justice, in the full recognition of human rights. It is peace for everyone, of all ages, conditions, groups, origins and political options. No one should be excluded from the effort for peace.

Each and every one in Central America, in this noble nation that proudly bears the name of El Salvador; each and every one in Guatemala and Nicaragua, in Honduras, in Costa Rica, in Panama, in Belize and Haiti; each and every one, rulers and ruled, inhabitants of the city, villages or houses; each and every one, businesspeople and workers, teachers and students, all have the duty to be artisans of peace. God grant that there may be peace among your peoples. May borders not be zones of tension, but open arms of reconciliation.

7. It is urgent to bury the violence that caused so many victims in this and other nations. As? With a true conversion to Jesus Christ. With a reconciliation capable of uniting all those who are today separated by political, social, economic and ideological walls. With mechanisms and instruments of authentic participation in the economic and social field, with access to the goods of the earth for everyone, with the possibility of carrying out work; in a word, it encourages the application of the Church's social doctrine. This includes a valuable and generous effort in favor of justice, which can never be done without.

And this in a climate of renunciation of violence. The Sermon on the Mount is the Christian's Magna Carta: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" ( Mt. 5:9). This is how you must all be: Artificers of peace and reconciliation, asking God for it and working for it. May the Extraordinary Holy Year of Redemption, which we are about to begin, and the next Synod of Bishops be a stimulus for this.

8. Dear brothers and sisters:

I see in this crowd, of believers and those from all of Central America united with us, an immense flow of energy for reconciliation and peace. You are, with every right, thirsty for peace. A cry of hope arises from your chests and throats. We want peace!

Christ who offers himself for the world, to whose mystery of reconciliation on the Cross the season of Lent in which we find ourselves must lead us, is the Lamb of God who gives peace. Implore it with all your strength to Christ, Prince of Peace, for your beloved homeland, for all of Central America, for all of Latin America, for the world. Peace comes from Christ and is an authentic embrace of brothers in reconciliation.

May Mary, Queen of peace and common Mother, gather all her children in an embrace of harmony and hope. Amen. 

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