Never as now does peace cry out in all its urgency, President Sergio Mattarella said in his New Year address to the nation live on all TV channels Tuesday evening.
Peace is not submission to the aggressor, he stressed in reference to the Ukraine-Russia war.
He also urged peace in Gaza where he recalled a Palestinian baby girl had died of cold on Christmas day, while also calling for the release of Israelis hostages held by Hamas.
Mattarella also issued a heartfelt plea for the return to Italy of Cecilia Sala, a journalist being held in Iran and possibly used as a pawn for a prisoner exchange with a Swiss-Iranian businessman held in Milan on US charges of trafficking in drone parts used to kill three US serviceman in Jordan last January.
"Never before has peace cried out its urgency," said the president from the presidential Quirinale Palace in the keenly awaited and closely watched address..
"The peace that our Constitution indicates as an indispensable objective, that Italy has always pursued, even with the important moment this year of the G7 presidency. The peace of which the European Union is a historic expression" underlined the Head of State.
"I interpret, in these hours, the anguish of everyone for the detention of Cecilia Sala. We are close to her waiting to see her again as soon as possible in Italy" Mattarella hoped "The growth of spending on armaments, triggered in the world by Russia's aggression against Ukraine - which also forces us to provide for our own defense - has reached the record figure of 2,443 billion dollars this year.
"Eight times more than what was allocated at the recent Cop 29, in Baku, to combat climate change, a vital need for humanity. A disheartening disproportion" he also highlighted "Between North and South there is an unequal availability of services. The danger of abandonment of internal and mountainous areas continues. Bridging these distances. Ensuring an effective fullness of rights is our task" Mattarella then said "Science, research, new technologies open up possibilities unimaginable until recently for the treatment of diseases considered incurable. At the same time, there are long waiting lists for tests that, if timely, can save lives. Many people give up treatment and medicine because they lack the necessary means" highlighted the Head of State.
Among other things, Mattarella also denounced growing prison suicides, a rising wave of femicides, the increasing brain drain of young talent, a growing wealth gap, a rise in the working poor, a growing north-south gap, rising youth violence and alcohol and drug use, and lengthening health service waiting lists.
The president praised medical personnel, prison staff, teachers and Italy's armed forces, among others. He also said that immigrants that adopt the values of the constitution were "patriots", and that "all workplace deaths must be averted" amid a continuing wave of fatal accidents.
He ended his address by saying the Liberation, whose 80th anniversary comes next year, was the foundation of the republic, and said "we are hope".
Concluding the quarter-hour speech, Mattarella said: "We are called to consolidate and develop the reasons set by the Constitution at the basis of the national community.
"It is an undertaking that is passed down from one generation to the next.
"Because hope cannot be translated only into idle waiting. We are hope. Our commitment. Our freedom. Our choices".
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