Forgiveness, dialogue - only ways to achieve peace, says Pope Francis

The head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State Pope Francis has said peace can only be achieved through forgiveness and dialogue.

He made the remarks in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Mattino on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the newspaper this week.

Pope Francis noted that today the world is facing many wars.

The Pontiff recalled how in 2002, after the terrorist attack in New York, St. John Paul II, in his address on the occasion of the World Day of Peace - the feast of the Roman Catholic Church on January 1 - wrote that it was impossible to restore the order of things without a combination of justice and forgiveness.

“The foundation of real peace is justice and forgiveness, which is a form of love,” Francis quoted Paul II as saying.

According to him, this is the exact way of bringing peace, everything has its time. As the pontiff noted, before forgiveness comes the condemnation of evil.

“But it is important not to cultivate war, but to sow peace. One should not succumb to the idea that evil can be defeated by the weapons of the same evil. Dialogue alone is the necessary path. And the dialogue is needed with everyone,” the Pope said.