Sophia Magazine vol.5 / SUMMER 2017

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Campus NewsOn February 2, 2017, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Titular Arch-bishop of Hodelm and Secretary for Re-lations with States, gave a special lec-ture on “The Promotion of a Culture of Peace” at International Conference Hall on the Yotsuya campus. More than 200 Sophia students and staff, journalists, foreign diplomats, priests, monks, and other guests attended.In his talk, Archbishop Gallagher em-phasized the importance of promoting the culture of peace in order to bring about true peace in a conicted, com-plex modern world. Contrary to the mis-conception of peace as a state of “qui-et life,” he regards peace as an “active virtue” achieved by strenuous engage-ment and demonstrations. Archbishop Gallagher claried the Catholic Church conviction for peace primarily by de-nouncing the use of force. Quoting Pope Francis in saying, “To bring about true peace, it is necessary to bring peo-ple together concretely so as to rec-oncile people and groups with oppos-ing ideological positions,” he touched on what is required to prevent wars. However, recognizing that war has not been eradicated, he continued that the church acknowledges “the right to le-gitimate defense once every means of peaceful settlement has been exhaust-ed.” He also expressed concern about violence perpetrated by peacekeeping/peacebuilding personnel against civil-ian populations. Having visited Hiroshi-ma prior to the lecture, he emphasized that expenditures on nuclear weapon-ry would be “far better invested in the areas of integral human development, education, health and the ght against extreme poverty,” again quoting Pope Francis.In concluding a question and an-swer session, regarding U.S. Presi-dent Trump’s refugee ban, Archbish-op Gallagher said that he would like to keep close watch on pertinent develop-ments as policies evolve. Also, regard-ing the distressing situation in Syria, he shared his concern about not only the small Catholic population, but other mi-nority groups facing hardship there, as well. To close the session, he reiterat-ed the importance of inviting conict-ing parties to negotiate and reconcile, and stressed the need to advance in the spirit of justice and forgiveness.Archbishop Gallagher Speaks of Peace#014