Already five years ago, after the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Pope Francis recognized the commemoration as one of the most affecting of his first 10 years as pope.
The Holy Father sees and hears first-person stories of the results of war, one after another. This gives him a perspective on war that few people share.
“I think of the mothers, who received a letter: Madam I have the honor to tell you that you are the mother of a hero … The letter, the medal — but the son is no more,” he regrets.
As recounted in his Life, the memories of World War II, even as it was lived in far-off Argentina, are among his first. Now, he contemplates the possibility of another world war, and the many already underway, lamenting a certain “World War III fought piecemeal.”
80 years
Now, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Pope Francis has written a letter to 64-year-old Bishop Jacques Marie Habert, the current bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux (Bayeux miraculously was spared in the bombings thanks to a monk; Lisieux suffered great damage).
Events in the Bayeux Cathedral are commemorating the 80th anniversary, and the Holy Father expressed his delight to “join in thought and prayer” with those gathered.
We remember the colossal and impressive collective and military effort made to restore freedom. And we also think of the cost of this effort: the immense cemeteries with lines of thousands of graves of soldiers — most of them very young, and many of them from far away — who heroically gave their lives, enabling the end of the Second World War and the restoration of peace, a peace which — at least in Europe — will have lasted almost 80 years.
The D-Day landings also conjure up images of devastated towns in Normandy: Caen, Le Havre, Saint-Lô, Cherbourg, Flers, Rouen, Lisieux, Falaise, Argentan … and so many others; and we want to remember the countless innocent civilian victims and all those who suffered under the terrible bombardments.
The Pope said that D-Day also brings to mind “the disaster represented” by the appalling World War, “in which so many men, women, and children suffered, so many families were torn apart, so much ruin was wrought.”
He uses the commemoration as occasion to restate the cry of his predecessor, St. Paul VI, at the United Nations in 1965: “Never again war! Never again war!”
“If, for several decades, the memory of past errors has underpinned a firm determination to do everything possible to prevent another open world conflict, I note with sadness that the same is no longer true today, and that men have short memories. May this commemoration help us to recover it!” Pope Francis pleas.
Sin against man and against God
He expresses worry that another multinational conflict “is once again being seriously considered, that people are gradually becoming familiar with this unacceptable eventuality.”
“People want peace!” the Pope insists. “They want conditions of stability, security, and prosperity in which everyone can fulfill their duties and destinies with serenity. To ruin this noble order of things for ideological, nationalistic, or economic ambitions is a serious fault before mankind and before history, a sin before God.”
Thus, the Pope united himself with the French bishop to pray and invite to prayer:
Let us pray for the men who want wars, those who start them, stir them up senselessly, maintain and prolong them uselessly, or cynically profit from them. May God enlighten their hearts, and set before their eyes the trail of misfortune they provoke!
Let us pray for peacemakers. Wanting peace is not cowardice; on the contrary, it requires the greatest courage, the courage to know how to renounce something. Even if the judgment of men is sometimes harsh and unjust towards them, “peacemakers will be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9). May they oppose the implacable and obstinate logic of confrontation, and know how to open up peaceful paths of encounter and dialogue. May they tirelessly persevere in their endeavours, and may their efforts be crowned with success.
Finally, let us pray for the victims of wars, both past and present. May God welcome all those who died in these terrible conflicts, and come to the aid of all those who suffer today; the poor and the weak, the elderly, women, and children are always the first victims of these tragedies.
May God have mercy on us! Invoking the protection of Saint Michael, Patron Saint of Normandy, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, I heartily impart my Blessing to each and every one of you.
The future Benedict XVI’s trip
In June 2004, ten months before his election as Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was sent by John Paul II to Normandy to represent him at the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings. The presence of the cardinal, who had experienced the end of the Second World War first hand as a member of the air defense force for which Hitler had enlisted young Germans, was particularly noteworthy.
Visiting the German cemetery at La Cambe, he explained that the Normandy landings had also paved the way for the liberation of the German people from the yoke of the Nazi regime.
In a lecture titled “In search of peace,” given on June 5, 2004 at the Abbey of Saint-Etienne in Caen, Cardinal Ratzinger drew a clear picture of the conflicts that continue to trouble the world, mentioning in particular recent clashes in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Liberia. The future pontiff explained that “if we do not remember the God of the Bible, the God who made himself close in Jesus Christ, we will not find the path to peace.”
And today we celebrate...