Editor’s note

This week words stopped wars. Iran President Hassan Rouhani contributed an op/ed to the Washington Post, pledging to “engage in constructive interaction with the world,” and immediately President Obama took him up on the offer. He got the op/ed idea from Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who wrote in the New York Times that “a new opportunity has emerged to avoid militarization” in Syria, which, he said, was “willing to place its chemical arsenal under international control.” That stopped missiles on their launchpads. Sen. John McCain shot back with a column in Pravda, arguing that Russians deserve a better leader than Putin – rude, yes, but it beats a drone strike. Nobody’s words did more for peace than those of Pope Francis who, in a published interview, articulated his vision of the church as a “home for all” and said the church’s obsession with gays, abortion and birth control obscure the “freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.” We applaud them all for learning to use their words. As we say in this business, “A drop of ink may make a million think.” –Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher

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