70 Years after the War.
Selections from a document by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan in preparation for the 70th anniversary of the end of the War and the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula until 1945 as well as acts of aggression against China and other Asian countries caused great suffering and sacrifice among people. The Second World War was a horrible experience for the Japanese people as well. Large-scale air raids struck many cities in Japan. In addition to the many Japanese and foreign troops many civilians suffered as well. Then finally there were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
Against the background of the Cold War and the subsequent fall of the Berlin Wall, the Catholic Church throughout the world has made increasingly clear its opposition to the arms race and the use of weapons to resolve disputes.
In his encyclical Pacem in Terris, the late Pope John XXIII said, "it no longer makes sense to maintain that war is a fit instrument with which to repair the violation of justice" in this age which boasts of its atomic power. Vatican II in it's document, Gaudium et Spec, opposed the arms race and urged peace that does not rely upon military force. In his Appeal for Peace in Hiroshima in 1981, Pope John Paul II demonstrated this clear renunciation of war when he said, "War is the work of man. War is destruction of human life. War is death."
Given this historical background, it is a matter of course that we Japanese bishops respect the ideals of Japan's no·war Constitution. For Christians, the renunciation of war is demanded by the Gospel of Christ. It is a respect for life that cannot be abandoned by religious people and an ideal that is held firmly by the whole human race.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan knows that it has a special vocation to work for peace. During a Mass celebrated on September 26, 1986, Archbishop Shirayanagi of Tokyo made the following declaration.
"We Catholic Bishops of Japan, as Japanese, and as members of the Catholic Church in Japan, sincerely ask forgiveness from God and from our brothers and sisters of Asia and the Pacific Region for the tragedy brought by the Japanese during the Second World War. As parties involved in the war, we share in the responsibility for the more than 20 million victims in Asia and the Pacific. Furthermore, we deeply regret having damaged the lives and cultures of the people of these regions. The trauma of this is still not healed."
We recall the words of the late Pope John Paul II in his Appeal for Peace in Hiroshima:
"Peace must always be the aim: peace pursued and protected in all circumstances. Let us not repeat the past, a past of violence and destruction. Let us embark upon the steep and difficult path of peace, the only path that befits human dignity, the only path that leads to the true fulfilment of the human destiny, the only path to a future in which equity, justice and solidarity are realities and not just distant dreams."
We are encouraged by the words of Jesus Christ, "Blessed are the peacemakers." (Matt. 5:9) Seventy years after the end of the war and 50 years after the end of the Second Vatican Council, let us renew our determination to seek peace and to work for peace. We Catholics in Japan are small in number, but in union with other Christians and along with believers of other religions and those throughout the world who wish for peace, we renew our commitment to work to make peace a reality.
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Blessed are the peacemakers (Duration: 4:48mins. MP3, 2.25MB) |