(from our correspondent in Castellaneta) – “Peace in Europe is threatened not just by terrorism: we should not forget that, to the east, at the Ukrainian border, there is heavy fighting with weapons, tanks and warplanes”. Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, issued this warning today as he spoke at the 39th national meeting of Diocesan Caritas that is taking place in the Italian city of Castellaneta (province of Taranto) from yesterday until 30 March. The Cardinal mentioned Pope Francis’ address to the EU leaders last week: “there is no true peace – he said – whenever people are cast aside or forced to live in dire poverty. There is no peace without employment and the prospect of earning a dignified wage. There is no peace in the peripheries of our cities, with their rampant drug abuse and violence”. “There is no peace – Card. Turkson added – when politics – instead of being a service, a work of charity, commitment to the common good – turns into a farce, a source of enrichment, a controversy over minor issues; when it cares for its own place instead of caring for the place of progress in society”. “There is no peace – according to him – whenever the Internet and social media are divisive, make people lose critical thinking, and instil and spread bullying, violence, pornography, deception and insecurity. There is no peace when many banks, unbridled financial markets and speculation shift the focus away from the needs of the real economy and from citizens’ control. “The new name for peace is development – he remarked -. But this is Europe, a place of relative peace, a desired destination for many, and an example, at least for some decades”.