CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS): Some current conflicts are more difficult to resolve than past wars because they involve economic, not just political issues, said secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Bishop Diarmuid Martin.
Bishop Martin was among more than 60 participants at a Vatican-organised meeting in Mozambique where Church leaders from Africa, Latin America and the Vatican discussed ways to end
the dozens of civil conflicts around the world.
Talks at the August 22-28 conference in Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, noted that illegal drug trafficking and interests in national resources play a role in some conflicts that may appear to be ideological, he said in an August 22 telephone interview from Maputo.
The meeting on “Reconciliation, Conflict Resolution and Civil Peace-building” was organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Vatican based humanitarian agency, Caritas Internationalis.
The conference’s aim was “to discuss the Church’s role in preventing conflicts and in bringing people together where there is conflict”, said general secretary of Caritas Internationalis, Duncan MacLaren.
