Andrea Bartoli Speaks on Catholic Peacebuilding in a Fractured World

At an event on Thursday, March 14, Mr. Andrea Bartoli presented a lecture followed by a Q&A session on how best to promote peace in our world. Mr. Bartoli started his lecture by acknowledging that peacemaking is not an act that one does; peacemaking requires us to co-create peace with others. He further said that peace is not something that we can accomplish unilaterally, nor can it be imposed from outside. Peacemaking requires both parties to be co-present in a spirit of acknowledgement. Peace can be accomplished, even in the midst of disagreement.

Mr. Bartoli went on to describe how peacebuilding relates to his work as the President of the Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue. The Sant’Egidio Foundation is a Christian community founded in Rome in 1968. Since its beginning, the foundation has established a peace-building presence in over 72 countries.

Sant’Egidio works to promote peace through two main avenues: firstly, through service to the poor, and secondly, by hosting peacebuilding summits in the Vatican to help civic leaders come to peace arrangements. Through providing food and ministry for the homeless, and providing HIV treatment for those who can’t afford it, Sant’Egidio works to effect positive social and political change by serving the people often forgotten by the wider society. Sant’Egidio also promotes peace by working with the highest level of society; the foundation hosts peace summits at the Vatican, in which leaders of warring nations can come together and find a diplomatic solution to the violence between their countries. 

The Sant’Egidio Foundation also aims to promote peace through interreligious dialogue, particularly in areas of great religious disagreement. In South Sudan, the northern part of the country is majority-Muslim, and the southern part of the country is majority-Christian. Tensions along religious lines have resulted in brutal civil wars, and widespread violence in the country for decades. When Mr. Bartoli was asked what he thought the best solution to promote peace in South Sudan was, he expressed that the best way to engage Muslim-Christian religious dialogue is to start with the secular matters to try to find similarities in political philosophy. Bartoli explained that through this, perhaps the Muslims and Christians of South Sudan can find common ground over their rejection of Communism. Bartoli reaffirms that it is possible for peace to be expressed between the different religious groups in South Sudan through engaging in a democratic-representative style-process, in which disagreements can be had in a peaceful manner. 

Peacebuilding can often seem to be not worth the trouble to those who would prefer a just war to bring about a resolution to the present conflict. To this sentiment, Bartoli insisted that it is always better to seek what unites, rather than divides us. He continued that it is important for Christians everywhere to avoid cultivating an attitude of hostility and an undue ‘want’ for war. These sentiments can undermine existing efforts for peace in many countries.

The work of peacebuilding is never done, and is certainly not easy. Peacebuilding requires mutual respect and cooperation so that both parties can come together and co-create the peace for which people are so desperate.