Naples, the peace flag flies on the facade of the Curia

Naples – A strong, visible, unmistakable signal. From today a peace flag flies on the facade of the Curia of Naples, in Largo Donnaregina, raised as a symbolic and concrete gesture against war, while the Archbishop of Naples, Don Mimmo Battaglia, launches a very harsh message addressed to the powerful of the world: “Turn off the cannons. Stop the convoys loaded with death”.

An initiative that becomes a denunciation. At a time when the planet is torn apart by armed conflicts and widespread violence, the Neapolitan Church takes a clear position, siding with peace.

He does so with a public gesture and with the strong words of his pastor, contained in the text entitled “If not for God, do it for what remains human in humanity…”.

The appeal: “Ploughs, not cannons”

“The planet resounds with drums of war from every direction of the horizon,” Battaglia writes. “In Ukraine, 13 civilians have been wiped out by fire; in Gaza, 57 lives have been extinguished like candles in the current; in Sudan, four million bodies are marching toward a patch of shadow; in Myanmar, three and a half million faces are scattered among the ashes and jungle.

And above all, an invisible city that never stops growing: 122 million refugees thrown into the wind like seeds."

A cry that denounces not only the tragedy, but also the indifference: “These numbers should freeze the blood,” writes the cardinal, “but they will fade like mist if we do not put our ear to the heartbeat they guard.” And then the thrust: “Each figure is a burning forehead, a voice that asks for just a minute without sirens.”

“Stop the war budgets, build delivery rooms”

Don Mimmo addresses the “double-breasted governments, military alliances with a metal voice, boards of directors oiled like gears”, forcefully stating that “the Gospel does not make concessions or soften the truth. It requires us to recognize man when we see him, to call evil what crushes man”.

Then the request which is almost a moral command:

“Stop the convoys loaded with death before they pass the last customs house, dismantle the machinery that drips lead and forge plows, pipes, school desks. Bring the war budgets to the desk of a tired teacher, transform the funds for missiles into ambulances and illuminated delivery rooms”.

An invitation also addressed to parliamentarians: “Abandon dossiers and graphs: walk, even if only for an hour, through the dead corridors of a bombed hospital”.

“Either builders of life or accomplices of evil”

The heart of the message is in a sentence that leaves no escape: "As long as a bomb is worth more than a hug, we will be lost. As long as weapons dictate the agenda, peace will seem like madness."

Battaglia he closes his appeal with a reflection addressed to ordinary citizens, called to choose which side to be on: "We, the people who read, have the duty not to give up. A clear choice is required: either builders of life or accomplices of evil. Third ways do not exist".

With the flag of peace over the Curia and words that sound like a prophetic denunciation, the Church of Naples once again places itself as an uncomfortable but necessary voice, reminding us that faith, if authentic, can never remain silent in the face of war.

In short

Naples – A strong, visible, unmistakable signal.

Starting today, a peace flag flies on the facade of the Curia of Naples, in Largo Donnaregina, raised as a symbolic gesture...
At a time when the planet is torn apart by armed conflict and widespread violence, the Neapolitan Church takes a stand…
He does so with a public gesture and with the strong words of his pastor, contained in the text entitled "If not…