INTERNATIONAL FORUM CATHOLIC ACTION

The IFCA in prayer for peace with Pope Francis
TEN YEARS OF THE “ONE MINUTE FOR PEACE” INITIATIVE

Rome, 6 June 2024

Tomorrow the International Forum of Catholic Action (IFCA) will once again accompany with prayer Pope Francis’ gesture of peace in the Vatican Gardens, commemorating ten years since the meeting on 8 June 2014, at the behest of the same Pontiff, with the then-President of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās – Abu Mazen, and in the presence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I.

Every year, to commemorate this event, on 8 June at 13.00, IFCA, with Italian Catholic Action and Argentine Catholic Action, and the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO), proposes that Catholic Action associations throughout the world and men and women of good will stop a minute, wherever they may be – in the office, factory, school, neighbourhood, hospital – to invoke together the gift of peace.

The theme chosen for the tenth anniversary is “We want peace: an urgency, a right, a need”. The IFCA website provides a brief explanation of the initiative, frequently mentioned by Pope Francis over the years during the Angelus prayer or through the Vatican social channels, in four languages: Italian, English, French and Spanish: https://www.catholicactionforum.org/initiatives_posts/8june2024-one-minute-for-peace/

The manifesto for “One minute for peace” 2024, with the simple logo that unites the symbols of peace of the dove and olive tree with the circle of the colours of the world open to sharing, is available in 29 languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Zulu, Urdu, Igbo, Hindi, Burmese, Hebrew and Arabic.

“It is a call to each and every person”, states Eva Fernández Mateo, coordinator of the International Forum of Catholic Action (IFCA) and president of Spanish Catholic Action General, “to pray for peace and to motivate a commitment that requires the participation of individuals and society in the logic of the Beatitudes, on the way of dialogue, for a culture of encounter, of the embrace between people and nations. Unfortunately, in these ten years conflicts in the world have not decreased, and new fronts have opened at the doors of Europe and in the beloved Holy Land. Even if the ways of mediation at time seem closed, as believers and as aware citizens of many countries we want to insist, together with Pope Francis, in the appeal for a freer and more just world in which no-one is denied the first essential condition to live: peace”.

Video appeals for peace are available from:

Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Burundi, Guatemala, the Holy Land, Iraq, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Myanmar, Paraguay, the Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, the United States of America, and Venezuela.

The invitation for the IFCA initiative of 8 June was launched by, among others:

Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life https://www.laityfamilylife.va/content/laityfamilylife/it/news/2024/_un- minuto-per-la-pace-compie-10-anni-e-rimane-di-grande-attuali.html
Federation Asia Bishops’ Conference (FABC) https://fabc.org/one-minute-for-peace/

Conferencia Episcopal Argentina(CEA) https://episcopado.org/ver/4208
Catholic Bishops’ Conference Philippines (CBCP) https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/church-official-joins-appeal-for-minute-of-prayer-for-peace/

It is possible to follow the initiative on the Facebook and Instagram social channels - #unminutoporlapaz and FIAC.

For info:

https://www.catholicactionforum.org

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