We just returned from an amazing, wonderful, adventurous, six-week trip to Spain and Sicily. There were so many highlights and so much learning that I know I will be writing additional blogs about my experiences. But today I want to start with a deeply moving experience I had in a museum in Sicily.

The museum is the WWII Museum of the Allied Landings in Catania, Sicily. You can learn more about the museum at its website HERE. It is a powerful museum where you start off in a mock-up of a pre-war Sicilian town square. Then you hear the air raid siren and you all move into a small, simulated air raid shelter. You hear the sound of planes overhead and bombs exploding and your seats in the air raid shelter even shake. Frankly, it was a little too realistic for me. Then you exit the shelter to look at pictures and learn about the damage from the Allied bombing. Don’t get me wrong, the Sicilians welcomed the Allies as liberators, but the cost to both the Sicilians and the Allies in lost lives and property was tremendous. Again, it was a powerful and moving museum.

Given our current state of war in Ukraine (and so many other places in the world), I suppose one of the things I will long remember was the opening quotation in the entry to the museum. It was a quote of Pope Pius XII from a speech made on August 24, 1939 as Hitler’s movement into Europe grew. The quote is: “Nothing is lost with peace, everything can be lost with war.” You can read more about the Pope’s speech HERE.

The public opinion on Pope Pius XII seems to be transitioning, at least in Italy. My prior knowledge was pretty negative about Pius. There was a 1999 book written describing him as “Hitler’s Pope” emphasizing his unwillingness to speak out against Nazism. Our Italian tour guide recognized this negative history, but explained that newer research is softening some of the criticism. I, at least, cannot be critical of this quotation and it seemed perfect for this museum.

This museum and the experience of visiting it, reinforced my dismay at the way we humans war with each other. I have recently stood on street corners with banners proclaiming, “Love One Another.” But our voices of peace and justice seem so small in the thunderous clamor of power, division, hatred, and war. May God have mercy upon us.

“Nothing is lost with peace, everything can be lost with war.” May we heed the voices of peace, even those that we may sometimes mistrust, for if they speak of peace, they speak of the way of Jesus. Jesus, who taught love of enemies, and who faced the world with grace rather than might. In all conflicts, big and small, may we remember those words.

Just one of the important experiences of our recent travels.

God bless,
Coe