The only victory is peace. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi meets students from the School of Civic Education, a guidance initiative promoted by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa

A dialogue lasting more than an hour to reiterate the importance of building peace in a context characterised by numerous violent conflicts, and to highlight the role that the Church as an institution can play to this end. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Community, met this morning at Villa del Gombo, the former residence of the President of the Republic in the San Rossore Park, 50 fifth-year high school students from all over Italy who are participating in the third edition of the School of Civic Education, an initiative born from an idea of the students of the Sant'Anna High School in Pisa to tell the new generations about the changing reality and to promote civic awareness and active participation in public life.

The meeting addressed many issues, from ongoing conflicts to the role of the Church on the international stage, to current events, such as the negotiations with the Global Sumud Flotilla to facilitate the arrival and delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
Responding to the students' many questions, Zuppi stressed the need not to remain powerless spectators, so as not to hand over the world to those who would have us believe that war is inevitable, to those who build walls and cage us in fear and prejudice. On the contrary, we must be protagonists in building a future of peace. Helping peace, Zuppi said, sometimes also means imposing peace.
Zuppi also reflected on the role of the Church on the international stage and the authority it can exercise to influence the current geopolitical situation. Finally, he appealed to the students: be protagonists of your own future, use dialogue to bring people together, do not resign yourselves to indifference.