Secretary-General António Guterres received the Lamp of Peace grant connected Saturday, a large honour from the Catholic Church, which helium said recognizes the enactment of UN unit “striving for bid astir the world”.

Reminding that aft the horrors of World War successful the 20th Century, “the UN was created successful the sanction of peace”, helium affirmed that “we are agreed present contiguous successful our pursuit of peace”.

“Peace remains our guiding prima and astir precious goal”, Mr. Guterres said, accepting the accolade bestowed upon those seeking the peaceful coexistence of peoples.

‘Person of faith’

The Franciscan Lamp of Peace is simply a replica of a solid lipid lamp that glows astatine the monastic sedate of Saint Francis of Assisi, who, passim his lifetime, inspired biology ethics.

The grant was archetypal presented successful 1981 and past recipients included Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama, Saint Teresa of Calcutta and erstwhile Soviet person Mikhail Gorbachev.

“As a idiosyncratic of religion with a heavy appreciation and respect for the ngo of St Francis, this grant and ceremonial are particularly meaningful”, said the UN chief.

Promoting peace

From the commencement of his archetypal term, the UN main has made the promotion of bid his apical priority.

And having seen immoderate of the worst impacts of struggle during his tenure arsenic UN High Commissioner for Refugees, helium launched “a surge successful diplomacy for peace”.

“I enactment greater accent connected prevention, establishing much rigorous systems and frameworks to analyse risks, reenforce decision-making and enactment Member States to instrumentality enactment earlier unit escalates”, helium informed the ceremony, via videolink.

“When COVID-19 archetypal took hold, I understood it would beryllium a caller menace to bid and called instantly for a global ceasefire to combat our communal force – the virus”.

Looking forward

As an honorable broker, span builder and messenger of peace, the Secretary-General is determined to usage his bully offices to physique connected those initiatives.

“But the conflict for bid is often a Sisyphean task, fixed the complexity of today’s interlinked conflicts”, helium said. “We unrecorded successful a satellite wherever bid is elusive, and nether tremendous threat”.

Mr. Guterres painted a representation of countries and regions suffering from prolonged conflicts and places wherever bid is routinely undervalued and undermined, underscoring that these marque moments similar this adjacent much important to “honour peace, and bespeak connected our work to uphold and beforehand it”.

Demands of peace

Because it is not a passive acceptance of the presumption quo but a factual act, and sometimes a hard choice, the apical UN authoritative said, “peace makes demands of us”.

“But successful our fractured, troubled world, it is simply a captious one. It is the lone one. It remains the driving unit down the enactment of the United Nations, each day, successful each country”, helium added.

Quoting Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti, the Secretary-General reiterated that lone by walking the way of peace, successful solidarity, tin we physique a amended aboriginal for all, “because bid tin execute wonders that warfare ne'er will”.

“In a satellite wherever we tin take anything, fto america take peace”, helium concluded.