War doesn't stop at the threshold of
barbarism, President Sergio Mattarella said in Cassino Friday at
a ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the destruction
of the town and its storied abbey in the Allied advance against
German resistance up the spine of Italy in WWII.
"While a feeling of pity rises up for the dead, for the civilian
victims, at the same time, a movement of repulsion cannot but
arise on the part of all consciences for the destruction of a
territory and its resources, for the annihilation of the
families that inhabited it, in the pursuit of the blind logic of
war, that of reducing the enemy to nothing, with no respect for
the innocent victims," said the president on the anniversary of
the culmination of the Battle of Monte Cassino.
"Mourning and suffering, paid for to a large extent by the
blameless civilian population, starting with the disastrous
bombardment of 15 February against the Abbey, in which, along
with the monks, displaced families perished, many people who had
taken refuge there counting on the immunity of a religious
building, an expression of high culture universally known.
"But war does not know how to stop at the threshold of
barbarism".
Mattarella went on to say that Italy must build bridges of
dialogue.
In the Constitution there is "a solemn affirmation: the
repudiation of war as an instrument of offence against the
freedom of other peoples and as a means of settling
international disputes", he said.
"It is the few words of Article 11 that contain the reasons, the
premises of our country's role and positions in the
international community: to build bridges of dialogue, of
cooperation with other nations, with respect for each people".
He also said that the EU must take responsibility for peace.
"The new Abbey has the same vocation, but it also aspires to be
evidence of a heightened awareness of the horrors of war and how
Europe must assume a permanent role in building a peace based on
dignity and freedom. We are challenged by this.
"These are bitter months - now years - that we are going
through.
"We hoped that Europe, founded on a promise of peace, would
never again know war".
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