• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Diocese of Kabankalan has joined the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for all parties to exercise moral responsibility amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
“As a community of faith, we believe that peace is not merely the absence of war; it is the fruit of justice and the work of dialogue,” it said in a statement.
In this season of Lent, Bishop Louie Galbines called for “prayer and fasting for an immediate end to hostilities; solidarity with the poor and displaced who suffer most from war; hope that diplomacy and reconciliation will prevail over violence”.
The Central Committee of the FABC urged the restoration of diplomacy as the primary instrument for resolving conflicts.
Dialogue, however difficult, remains the only path that respects the dignity of peoples and the sovereignty of nations, it said.
Caritas Philippines also expressed its grave concern over the escalating violence in the Middle East, and the growing threat of a wider regional war.
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, who heads the Caritas Philippines, said the continuing military confrontation is plunging millions more into suffering, displacement and instability.
Alminaza called on the country’s leaders to pursue peace through diplomacy and to urgently advance a just renewable energy that protects the poor.
“We cannot continue investing in system that fuels both climate destruction and conflict,” he added. | GB
