DISCOURS DE JEAN-PAUL II
... aux 1° Jeux Mondiaux Militaires du C.I.S.M. ...
7 Septembre 1995
“THE JUST WAR IS TO MAKE WAR ON WAR”
Address to Military Athletes participating in the First World Military Games
7 September1995
(“L’Osservatore Romano Eng Ed. n. 40, October 4, 1995, p. 4)
"Enough war! The just and rightful war is to make war on war'', the Holy Father said on
Thursday, 7 September, to over 4,000 athletes taking part in the First World Military Games,
which were held in Rome. Here is a translation of the Pope's address, which was given in Italian.
l. I am very glad to meet you, dear young military personnel, who have gathered in Rome from all
over the world for the First World Military Games. I address a special greeting to Archbishop
Giovanni Marra, Military Ordinary for Italy, and to Mr Domenico Coricane, Minister of Defence of
the Italian Government, whom I sincerely thank for their courteous words and for his reflections of
high moral value. With him, I greet the Ministers of Defence of other nations who are present at
this meeting.
I would also like to express my sincere pleasure to Mr Samaranch, President of the International
Olympic Committee, as well as to the President and members of the International Council for
Military Sport, which sponsored this important sporting event that is taking place with "friendship
through sport" as its motto. Lastly, I offer my cordial greetings to General Casale, President of the
Organizational Committee, the distinguished members of the committee it- self and Mr. Rutelli,
Mayor of Rome.
The participation of over 4,000 young military athletes from more than 100 countries on every
continent gives this event a meaning which exceeds by far sporting competition itself and becomes
an encounter of peoples who, through sport, desire to send a powerful message of peace to the
world.
2. This year we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War with a
series of events, and we are preparing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations
Organization. These First World Military Games are rightly one of the activities commemorating
those events, which have been proposed with a view to humanity's future and with the
commitment to advance mutual knowledge, brotherhood, friendship and peace between peoples.
The aim of sports has always been to unite men over and above racial, religious and political
differences. This role, so apparent in traditional sporting contests, becomes far more explicit on the
occasion of this great sporting event, which involves military personnel at a world level.
Indeed, in the competitions planned for these games, sportsmen from all over the world will
compete against one another, even athletes and teams from countries divided by recent or longstanding
disagreements, if not actually by the bloody wars that are still sowing death and
destruction.
As the venue for these First World Military Games, you have appropriately chosen Rome.
The universal vocation which in many ways distinguishes this city, certainly underscores the
message of friendship and brotherhood that your sporting event transmits and spreads not only
among the participants, but also among the peoples whom you worthily represent and who, with
you, are looking to the future of the world with thoughts of peace and universal fellowship.
3. Dear friends, you are at the same time military personnel and athletes. Both these states of life
require physical qualities and moral virtues. They imply physical training, but also a rule of life,
discipline, a strong will, fidelity to one's duties, a spirit of sacrifice and the ability to suffer, in order
to be able to reach the constantly higher goals that athletics require.
Sport is a school of life but military service also tempers and fortifies personal character,
preparing individuals to face the difficulties and trials of life with greater confidence and courage.
At this pleasant meeting; I would like to stress that the Church admires you for being
military personnel and athletes at the same time. By competing in athletic competitions, in the
world's eyes you highlight the fact that the soldier is not and must not be a man of war, but one
who, though committed to defending his country, can be a man who first of all seeks cooperation
between peoples and who works so that nations may grow in friendly and peaceful relations.
Your sporting event, bringing together representatives of a large number of countries, can
make a strong contribution to reinforcing and spreading this identity of the soldier as the servant of
the security and freedom of peoples, one who is constantly motivated by the spirit of peace. All
military personnel in doing their duty, must feel in their heart that they are soldiers of peace.
4. This last part of the century, on the eve of the third millennium, did well to hope for a future in
which humanity is reconciled at last. Unfortunately grievous situations of war have recurred both
in the heart of Europe and in Africa. May this outstanding sporting event of yours, which fits in
well with the many other events commemorating the end of the Second World War, become the
opportunity for renewing the common appeal for peace with a stronger and more determined voice.
In my Message to the world on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War l
had special words for you too. “Dear Young People”, I wrote, “I have great confidence in your
ability to be authentic witnesses to the Gospel. Make a personal commitment to serve life and
peace.... Reject sterile and violent ideologies. Renounce every form of extreme nationalism and
intolerance. It is along these paths that the temptation to violence and war slowly but surely
appears. You have been given the mission of opening new paths to fraternity among peoples,
building a single human family” (n. 15). And, as if accepting this invitation, you have come here
to testify to your will solemnly to assume this commitment.
5. You have come here with joy in your hearts at the opportunity to take part in an athletic event
of great importance, living “friendship through sport”. You have turned your back on political
barriers and ideologies, which for decades have divided the world into opposing blocs, and you are
preparing for a serene, lively and promising athletic competition.
Elsewhere instead, even not far away, others, spurred only by hatred and revenge, are
confronting each other not on a sports field but among the ruins of their own destroyed cities. Their
hands do not grip well-won athletic trophies, but still brandish weapons dripping with
blood.
What a contrast between the painful spectacle of violence and death which is offered to us
daily by the mass media - scenes to which our appalled eyes can never become accustomed - and
the comforting spectacle full of promise that you offered yesterday at the opening ceremony of the
Games!
Side by side, advancing in orderly files proudly behind your own national flag, once again
you have expressed the conscious certitude of being able to become the artisans of a renewed
society, in an intense dialogue between military personnel of various nations, among which
weapons are silent and consciences, minds and hearts resound with the noble art of sport. Dear
young military personnel, all this gives me great comfort and hope.
6. I am pleased to note that your sporting events are a new form of dialogue between the world's
servicemen, a pedagogy as it were that creates a culture of peace. A whole generation of young
people in uniform, from the armed forces, the police forces and the special armed detachments in
the service of the State, thus admirably become a bold challenge that seeks to build a world of
peace and to overcome the barbarian, inhuman criterion of resorting to war as a means of settling
controversies. It is now time to declare forcefully: “Enough war! The just and rightful war is to
make war on war”.
I commend this message of peace to your fine event and to each one of you, so that it may
reach every corner of the world and make brothers of all peoples, in the one family of God, of
which you who are united here as military personnel to create friendship through sport, are a
promising sign.
I extend my cordial greeting to you who are present here, and to all your friends in the
Forces, I extend my cordial greeting and blessing.
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