On November 25 and 26, 2022, the XV International Congress „Catholics and war and peace” took place in Toruń, Poland!

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The organizers were:

University of Social and Media Culture in Toruń, Poland (AKSiM),
Regional Center of International Debates in Toruń,
Department of Philosophy of Culture and Rhetoric, Faculty of Philosophy, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
and st. John Paul II Institute „Memory and Identity”
We are pleased to inform you that the Office for Inter-university and International Cooperation and the Erasmus + program were partners of this unique event.

The guests of the Congress, as part of the Erasmus+ program, also conducted a number of lectures for students.
We would like to thank the following people for coming and giving a series of lectures as part of the Erasmus+ exchange and for participating in the Congress:

Prof. dr. Aljula Jubani (University of Tirana, Albania)
Fr Jeyaraj Veluswamy, SJ, Rector, (St Xavier’s College Autonomous, India)
Prof. Dinesh R. Bhuju (Mid-West University, Kathmandu, Nepal)
Dr. Prakash Sharma (Mid-West University, Kathmandu, Nepal)
Dr. Pablo Galindo Cruz (Universidad Panamericana, Campus Aguascalientes, México)
Dr. Albert Wie-min Tang (Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan)

We thank them very much for that.

War is always associated with suffering – especially when it affects defenseless people, including children. It inflicts pain on entire nations and destroys the achievements and achievements built for generations. The Church has always emphasized, recalling the words of the Lord Jesus – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9) – the need to ensure peace, and successive popes emphasized this very eloquently in their teaching.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the part devoted to the fifth commandment of God – “Thou shalt not kill!” we find these words: “Because of the evil and injustice that all war entails, the Church earnestly calls everyone to prayer and action that God’s goodness may free us from the eternal slavery of war.”

Saint Pope John XXIII in his encyclical “Pacem in Terris” (Peace on Earth) clearly indicates that: Peace can exist only when interpersonal relations are based on truth, justice, love and freedom.

Saint John Paul II, whose teachings, especially at this time when people are trying to defame him in various ways, should be recalled here in the Message for the World Day of Peace in 2004, appealing to the whole world: Listen to the humble appeal of the Successor of Peter, who cries out: today (…) peace is possible. And if it is possible, peace is also a duty!

When innocent blood is shed beyond our eastern border and elsewhere in the world, we must not be passive and indifferent. Therefore, on November 25-26, 2022, the University of Social and Media Culture in Toruń, Poland, undertook an in-depth as part of the 15th International Congress, this year entitled: Catholics and War and Peace.