Pope in San Remo on children and wars | Time for a change of tune
The Pope in Sanremo also spoke about wars and children
Remembering the child soldiers as well, for spazio + spadoni it’s time for a change in music
“Music is beauty, it is an instrument of peace. It is a language that all peoples, in different ways, speak and it reaches everyone’s heart.”
This is how Pope Francis, in a video message, addressed the Ariston audience and those watching the Sanremo festival from home on the first night.
This is the first time in 75 years that a pontiff has spoken, albeit from a distance, at the Italian song kermesse. In contrast, his appeals for peace are frequent.
And around 10 p.m., just before the performance of Israeli Noa and Palestinian Mira Awad – who sang in Hebrew, Arabic and English John Lennon’s Imagine – he wanted to be there, not only to talk about the importance of music, which “can open the heart to harmony, to the joy of being together,” but also and especially to remember the children destroyed by wars.
“I think directly of so many children who cannot sing, cannot sing life, and they cry and suffer from the many injustices in the world, from the many wars, conflict situations.”
This thought is also joined by spazio + spadoni, which, on World Day for Child Soldiers,
wants to draw attention to what is the perennial plight of so many children and young people,
“used” in conflicts and forced to fight and die.
Thirty-six years after the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Adolescent (which, in its Optional Protocol, includes the prohibition of the recruitment and use as soldiers of all children under the age of eighteen), it is shameful that it still happens.
There are many areas of the world touched by this scourge: the Democratic Republic of Congo (where in recent weeks the situation is hotter than ever), Mozambique, the Sahel, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Haiti, Colombia, etc.
Children are often kidnapped and forcibly recruited; often, they also suffer rape and violence. After that, they end up with a rifle in their hands instead of a toy; they are stirred to hatred and end up forgetting their origins, their affections, their family.
The numbers are high. According to the NGO World Vision, there are an estimated 250,000 children worldwide who take part in conflicts, as guerrillas, spies, messengers, etc. In 2023 alone, 8,000 were enlisted.
As the pope said at the Sanremo Festival, music can help us “commit ourselves to a more just and fraternal world” because “war is always a defeat.”
With respect to this and the use and exploitation of child soldiers, spazio + spadoni adds that it is time for a change of tune.
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- Vatican news