The Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue has encouraged Christians and Buddhists to foster peace, reconciliation, and resilience amid global conflicts.
In his message to Buddhists on the commemoration of Vesak, Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot said the teachings from both traditions are crucial to addressing conflicts worldwide and healing humanity’s wounds.
The plate quoted Pope St. Paul VI’s call, “Never again war, never again war,” adding that there is a need for lasting peace by confronting the causes of conflict and ensuring fairness in political, economic, and cultural spheres.
Reflecting on reconciliation, he cited Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s words that “forgiving and being reconciled are not about pretending that things are other than they are. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the degradation, the truth.”
Cardinal Ayuso emphasized that healing occurs when forgiveness is sought, and broken relationships are restored, helping individuals and communities recover from adversity.
Both Christian and Buddhist teachings emphasize reconciliation, Cardinal Ayuso noted. He mentioned Buddha’s teaching that “hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. It is appeased only by loving-kindness,” and referred to Saint Paul’s call to Christians to embrace the “ministry of reconciliation.”
He also invoked Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a peace advocate and survivor of the Cambodian genocide, and Pope Francis, who believes that “reparation and reconciliation will give us new life and set us all free from fear.”
“All of us are called to rediscover and treasure these values found within our respective traditions, to make better known the spiritual figures who embodied them, and to walk together for the sake of peace,” he said.
