Pope: King’s ‘vision of harmony, equality for all’ remains timely January 18, 2021By Catholic News Service Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Racial Justice, Vatican, World News ATLANTA (CNS) — With “social injustice, division and conflict” threatening the common good, people need to rediscover and recommit to the vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to work nonviolently for harmony and equality for all, Pope Francis said. Pope Francis paid tribute to the vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in this message to a conference organized by the Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the slain civil rights activist. (CNS screenshot/http://publogix.com) “Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths of dialogue,” the pope, quoting his encyclical on global fraternity, said in his message to the Jan. 18 “Beloved Community Summit.” The summit was an online event marking the King holiday and promoting his vision of a community where differences are resolved through dialogue and where people work together to perfect equality and to end injustice. The pope’s letter was sent to the Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the slain civil rights leader and CEO of the King Center in Atlanta. Her father wrote frequently about the urgency of forming the “beloved community.” He insisted that nonviolent protest was not the goal, but simply the necessary means of building a just and equal society and where reconciliation and redemption can thrive. “In today’s world, which increasingly faces the challenges of social injustice, division and conflict that hinder the realization of the common good, Dr. King’s vision of harmony and equality for all people, attained through nonviolent and peaceful means, remains ever timely,” the pope wrote. What is essential, he said, is to see each other as neighbors “in the truth of our share dignity as children of Almighty God.” “Only by striving daily to put this vision into practice can we work together to create a community built upon justice and fraternal love,” Pope Francis wrote, praying for “divine blessings of wisdom and peace” upon all the summit participants. Also see Black Catholics need stronger voice in Catholic Church, Bishop Boxie says Vatican ‘unequivocally’ condemns slavery, counters ‘partial narrative’ in UN resolution U.S. bishops call on House to advance bill to investigate Indian boarding school legacy Black farmers in Deep South see hope in Edmundites’ farming aid, grant program Unmarked graves found on land once owned by Catholic slaveholders trigger search for descendants Slavery display removal by feds ‘robs us’ of history, racial healing, say Black Catholic leaders . Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Print
