The bishop of Dubrovnik used his Easter message on Sunday to call for peace, urging people not to repay evil with evil and warning that hatred, division and violence were deepening unrest in the world.
Speaking at an Easter Mass in Dubrovnik’s Cathedral of the Assumption, Bishop Roko Glasnovic said Christ’s greeting of “Peace be with you” should serve as both a message and a mission for Christians to become peacemakers in their communities.
“We live in a world of unrest, surrounded by divisions, violence, conflicts and wars,” he said, adding that war was always “a defeat for humanity.”
Glasnovic said lasting peace could not exist where fundamental human rights were under threat, and cautioned that even words could become weapons in human relationships.
“When debates turn into bitter polemics, we are no longer seeking truth, but victory over opposing views,” he said. “In such moments, genuine encounter and dialogue disappear, and that is where peace begins to break down.”
He echoed Pope Leo XIV’s call for continued prayer so that hostilities may cease and paths to peace be opened through dialogue and respect for human dignity.
Glasnovic said the peace of the risen Christ was not an escape from reality, but a force that enables believers to respond to hardship with faith, hope and love.
He said Easter carried the message that evil does not have the final word and that death is not the end, adding that Christ’s peace breaks the cycle of revenge and opens the way to forgiveness and reconciliation.
“His peace frees us from returning evil for evil,” the bishop said, “and opens the path to forgiveness that heals.”