This day, June 6, reminds us of the battle for Europe and its freedom. Sixty years ago, it was about the liberation of Europe and the world from an inhumane dictatorship that despised humanity. The human person was trampled and abused as a tool by a mad power that sought to create a new world. God was spoken of, but was used as a label that served the will for absolute power.
We know that the fallen from both sides are now in God's merciful goodness. They are all God's children; each one is known by God individually, each is loved and wanted by Him, called by name. Every single person left behind a void, and there was much weeping and pain for each. But we know that they are now in good hands, in God's hands, in His goodness, which is mercy and reconciliation.
After the bloody conflict of World War II, a process of reconciliation began, which we appreciate from the bottom of our hearts and with deep gratitude. The United States undertook a vast and challenging program to help former adversaries regain their footing and allow for renewal. Great Britain and France extended a hand in a sign of reconciliation to those who were their enemies in World War II. Charles de Gaulle then explained the significance of this step: if it once became our duty to be enemies, now it is our joy that we can be friends. This process of reconciliation, which took place in Europe especially thanks to the North Atlantic Alliance and is crucial for world history, stems from the Christian spirit. Only reconciliation can establish peace; violence cannot heal a difficult situation, but rather justice. Reconciliation must be the measure of all political actions in the conflicts of the present time. The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of Christ's blood, which cries out differently than Abel's blood. This cry does not demand either the obscuring of truth or revenge, but reconciliation.
(Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Responsibility of Christians for Peace;
Address at the Ecumenical Service in Bayeux, June 6, 2004,
60th Anniversary of the Allied Landing in Normandy)
