Desmond Tutu
Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Bio and press contact: see below.
Dear sisters and brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ: greetings.
You showed solidarity with us in South Africa in our struggle against apartheid. We are celebrating ten years of freedom: our victory - ours and yours - over injustice. We enjoy stability and peace based on justice.
God believes in you. You are God's best collaborators as you join the UN to observe this Day of Prayer for Peace.
God weeps over God's world, aching because of conflict in Darfur, in Beslan, in Harare, in Colombia, in Jerusalem, in Belfast.
God depends on you to use your influence on the powerful to use their power for justice, for peace, for compassion, for gentleness, for caring, for sharing. God - Emmanuel, God with us, with you - has no one but you to help God make this world hospitable to peace and justice.
God bless you.
Message delivered on 21 September, 2004, to mark the observance of the International Day of Prayer for Peace.
Biographical summary
Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Desmond Tutu
, the retired Archbishop of Cape Town, is a close friend of the World Council of Churches, having served as
vice-director of the Theological Education Fund of the WCC at Bromley in Kent (UK),
and then gone on to serve as the first black general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Bishop Tutu is a recognized symbol of justice and freedom throughout the world, having worked relentlessly to abolish apartheid through peaceful movements.
Media contact:
Lavinia Browne +27-21-552-7524 mpilo@iafrica.com
Last edited on
September 20, 2004
by
Juan Michel
/ WCC