PEACE is still a "costly, precious and fragile commodity", Ireland's Church leaders have said in a joint statement reflecting on the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
Today ought to have been a day to remember because of the significance of the end of the Second World War in Europe, they said, but instead "we are all now facing a very different war with an unseen enemy in the Covid-19 pandemic".
VE Day was not a day of rejoicing for everyone, recalled the leaders of the Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, the Church of Ireland and the Irish Council of Churches.
"For those who lost loved ones in the conflict it had more sombre undertones as they mourned the death of their nearest and dearest," they said.
"Peace was won, but at a great cost."
This price of peace is "a reality that perhaps we in this place know better than many others", they said.
"Reconciliation takes years of work and an appreciation and understanding of the needs and aspirations of others."
Today, everyone needed to be involved in the "battle against Covid-19", they said.
"Our hope is that the world will see a new dawn once this pandemic is conquered."
