Cardinal Evaristo Arns, Archbishop Emeritus of Sao Paulo, Brazil, shares his Memories of the New Laureate
On December 10, 2002, in Oslo, Norway, Jimmy Carter, ex-President of
the United States, (1977-81), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002. Untiring defender of democracy and human rights, Carter was chosen among 156 candidates. For decades he has strived to bring about peaceful solutions to international conflicts, and to promote economic and social development in various troubled parts of the world. On accepting the prize, the new laureate said: "This honor serves as an inspiration not only to us (of the Carter Center), but also to suffering people around the world, and I accept it on their behalf."
Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, Archbishop Emeritus of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has also been a candidate to the peace prize, more than once. During Brazil's military dictatorship of the seventies and the eighties, he led 'a conspiracy of peace,' by his daring initiatives for unconditional respect for human rights, for a constant appeal to tolerance among all, and by articulating a strong ecumenical front not only in Sao Paulo, but in the whole of Brazil and in Latin America itself. Here, Dom Paulo shares some touching memories of his friend, Jimmy Carter.
t was no surprise for me and for many others that this year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Jimmy Carter, ex-President of the United States. Indeed, Carter did not need such a distinction because, since his presidency, this good man is known the world over for his efforts for peace and his urgent defense of human rights anywhere.
As Archbishop of Sao Paulo, I have had several contacts with Jimmy Carter, and, in 1977, I received with him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Notre Dame in the United States. I was told at that time that the President, on being notified that he was to be the recipient of such an honor, insisted that three Catholic bishops from different continents receive the same distinction with him. So, a bishop from Africa, one from Asia, and myself, from Latin America, were chosen to stand at the side of the world's highest civil authority. I still remember something President Carter said on that occasion, and which was loudly applauded: "You don't fight fire with fire when you deal with human rights, because this is not the appropriate strategy."
Less than a year later, in March 1978, President Carter made an official visit to Brazil, and asked to meet privately with some people of our country to inquire about tortures and persecutions of Brazilians at the hands of the military dictatorship. I was surprised when, at the end of the meeting, the President invited me to accompany him to the airport in his car through the avenues of Rio. On the way I asked him if there was any connection between the CIA and our military police as to the persecutions, not always manifest, of people who were discriminated against for defending the poor and in opposition to the military regime. He looked meaningfully at his wife and young daughter, who were with us in the car, and did not confirm or deny my question. Instead, with great simplicity, the President asked that we pray; he mentioned various intentions for justice, peace and other specific cause and between each we recited the Our Father. The First Lady, Rosalynn, and their daughter, Amy, prayed with us.
I met Jimmy Carter again, then ex-President, in October 1984, at the Sheraton Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, during a long breakfast just for the two of us. He spoke about the social work which the Carter Center had undertaken in Peru and in other parts of the world. He wasn't showing off, just sharing a personal focus on the duty of Christians to help lessen the suffering of the poor in any corner of the world.
We met another time in January 1987. Carter was passing through Sao Paulo and paid me a surprise afternoon visit at the Chancery Office. When I opened the door to the reception room, there he was, this well-known figure, silently sitting among the simple people who had come to make requests and complaints to the Cardinal Archbishop. No formalities, no preparations, just a proof of friendship and mutual interests and to offer help for any specific situation.
When I opened the door to the reception room, there he was, this well-known figure, silently sitting among the simple people who had come to make requests and complaints to the Cardinal Archbishop. No formalities, no preparations, just a proof of friendship and mutual interests and to offer help for any specific situation.
The richest experience, however, I received from Mrs. Rosalynn Carter in 1988. I was in Houston, Texas, to receive the "Archbishop Oscar Romero for Human Rights International Award” given by the Ecumenical Foundation Menil-Rothko Chapel. Jimmy Carter himself had wanted to be present, but, impeded by last-minute unforeseen circumstances, he had the great courtesy of delegating his wife, Rosalynn, to represent him at the ceremony. I spent the whole day in conversation with members of that North American Foundation. Mrs. Carter was always at my side.
During the ceremony, not only did she read publicly the message sent by her husband, but insisted on assisting at a Mass I celebrated in the open air. She revealed to me many details of her husband's initiatives for peace, which were not of public knowledge. The peaceful co-existence of peoples has always been their ultimate goal. The meaning of all of Jimmy Carter's efforts and undertakings has been for freedom in all continents and the struggle for democracy in the largest as well as in the smallest countries of the world.
Both Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter hear the cry of peoples for a new and peaceful world. Neither of them makes distinction between center and periphery, between their own situation and human conditions anywhere in the world.
It would be difficult for the Nobel Peace Prize to find other persons like Jimmy Carter to guarantee peace in so fragile a moment as ours.... 'Blessed are the peacemakers…’
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)