Pope Francis tells us that every war is a form of fratricide,1 because in war we are killing our brothers and sisters, since we all belong to the one human family. 
Despite the conflicts in our homes and the wars in our world, the longing for peace lies in the heart of every human being,2 including in the heart of those we choose to call our enemies. But peace can only be brought about by building up trust, for mistrust and fear increase feelings of insecurity and lead us to putting our faith in military might and weapons of war. For peace to be achieved we must overcome those baser elements of our human nature that tempt us to dominate and dictate, and to seek retaliation and revenge.
We always begin the New Year by praying for peace, but we must do more than pray, we must actively work to build up peace: to seek reconciliation in our family fallouts and in our disputes with neighbours. We must urge our politicians and governments not to base their foreign policy on a narrow sense of national self-interest, but to respond to the urge that lies in the hearts of their people for peace, and so work for harmony among the family of nations.