Pope Appeals to Terrorists, Guerrillas to Observe Truce

Pope John Paul II appealed Saturday to terrorists, guerrilla groups and warring nations to put down their arms for at least a day on Oct. 27 while he leads representatives of most of the world’s religions in prayers for world peace at the historic Italian town of Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis.

The pontiff made his surprise plea for a daylong moratorium from violence as he began a high-security, four-day pilgrimage to France’s second city, Lyon, and a number of nearby towns.

John Paul’s spokesman, Father Joaquin Navarro, said the idea for what the Pope called “a complete truce of conflict” on Oct. 27 came to the pontiff Friday afternoon as he made final preparations for the French visit, his 31st papal trip abroad. Navarro said that the plea will be followed up diplomatically by contacts with warring governments, such as Iran and Iraq, by Vatican diplomats.

Bishops Given Role

“Local bishops will deal with non-governmental groups like the Irish Republican Army, the Basque ETA and guerrilla groups such as those in Colombia and the Philippines,” Navarro said. He did not explain how the pontiff planned to contact terrorist groups such as those responsible for recent bombings in France and elsewhere, and kidnapings in Lebanon.

Oct. 27 has special significance for the Pope because he chose the date to invite leaders of all of the world’s great religions to pray with him in Assisi, a medieval central Italian hill town where the gentle St. Francis lived and worked in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

Among the religious leaders who have accepted the Pope’s invitation to what he has designated the Ecumenical and Interfaith Prayer for Peace, are the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert A.K. Runcie, the Dalai Lama, members of a number of Protestant faiths and representatives of the Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto and animist beliefs.

“The Holy Father is always thinking now of the importance of Assisi; it never leaves his mind,” said Navarro in explaining the inspiration for the cease-fire plea to violent nations and groups around the world. The Pope said, “I launch this appeal with confidence because I believe in the value and spiritual efficacy of signs.”

Symbols Called Useful

Navarro explained that John Paul believes in the effectiveness of using symbolic events such as the prayer for peace and gestures such as his Saturday plea, even if the latter is not readily taken up by the nations and groups concerned.

“If the political and military leaders of nations and groups involved in armed conflict could, by a significant gesture, support the appeals of practically all the religious forces in the world, they would recognize that for them, also, violence does not have the last word in relations between men and nations,” the Pope said. He was addressing a small audience at Lyon’s ancient Roman amphitheater of the Three Gauls, where the first Christians of ancient Gaul (much of which now is France) were martyred in AD 177.

Calling for violence-prone men and societies to “associate themselves actively with it (prayer),” the pontiff said, “I want to solemnly launch an ardent and pressing appeal to all parties in conflict in the world to observe at least during the day of Oct. 27 a complete truce of conflict.”