CSDC 518

Mutual forgiveness must not eliminate the need for justice and still less does it block the path that leads to truth. On the contrary, justice and truth represent the concrete requisites for reconciliation. Initiatives aimed at establishing international judicial bodies are therefore appropriate. In virtue of the principle of universal jurisdiction and guided by suitable procedural norms that respect the rights of the accused and of the victims, such bodies are able to ascertain the truth about crimes perpetrated during armed conflicts.¹⁰⁹⁵ Cf. Pius XII, Address to the Sixth International Congress on Criminal Law (3 October 1953): AAS 65AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See) (1953), 730-744; John Paul II, Address to the Diplomatic Corps (13 January 1997), 4: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 15 January 1997, p. 7; John Paul II, Message for the 1999 World Day of Peace, 7: AAS 91AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 91 (1999) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1999), 382. However, in order to re-establish relationships of mutual acceptance between divided peoples in the name of reconciliation, it is necessary to go beyond the determination of criminal behaviour, both of commission and omission, and the procedures for seeking reparation.¹⁰⁹⁶ Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 1997 World Day of Peace, 3, 4, 6: AAS 89AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 89 (1997) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1997), 193, 196-197. It is necessary, moreover, to promote respect for the right to peace. This right “encourages the building of a society in which structures of power give way to structures of cooperation, with a view to the common good”¹⁰⁹⁷ John Paul II, Message for the 1999 World Day of Peace, 11: AAS 91AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 91 (1999) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1999), 385..