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POPE PAUL VI
in

GENEVA

June 10, 1969



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POPE PAUL VI
in

GENEVA

June lO, 1969

United States Catholic Conference

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D C. 20005



CONTENTS
Page

Address to International Labor Organization 1

On Arrival at Geneva Airport 11

To Swiss Public Officials 12

To Labor Bureau Personnel 13

To Workers' Representatives at ILO 14

To I LO Employees 15

To Diplomats in Geneva 16

Speech in United Nations Park 17

To Swiss Catholics 18

To Swiss Bishops and Abbots 19

To World Council of Churches 20

To Swiss Non-Catholic Churches 23

Sermon at Mass in Downtown Park in Geneva 24

To Ethiopian Emperor 28

Final Statement—Geneva Airport 29
Comments Upon Arrival in Rome 30



ADDRESS TO INTERNATIONAL

LABOR ORGANIZATION

Mr. President. Mr. Director General, gentlemen:

Introduction

1

.

It is an honor and a joy for us to participate officially in this assem-

bly in the solemn hour at which the International Labor Organization

celebrates the 50th anniversary of its foundation. Why are we here? We
do not belong to this international organism, we are extraneous to the
specific questions which have here their offices of study and halls of dis-

cussion, and our spiritual mission is not intended to intervene in matters

outside its proper domain. If we are here, it is in order to respond to the
invitation which you, Mr. Director, have so kindly addressed to us. And we
are happy to thank you publicly, to tell you how highly we appreciate this
very courteous gesture, how greatly we consider its importance, and how
valuable its significance appears to us.

1. No Stranger, But a Friend to the Great Cause of Labor

2. Without any particular competence in the technical discussions

of the defense and promotion of human labor, we are nevertheless no
stranger to this great cause of labor, which constitutes your "raison d'etre"

and to which you dedicate your energies.

The Bible and Man's Work

3. From its very first page, the Bible, of which we are the messenger,
shows us creation as the result of the work of the great Creator (Gen. 2:7),

handed over to the work of His creatures, whose intelligent efforts must

exploit it and perfect it, as it were, by humanizing it in His service (Gen.

1 : 29 ; Populorum Progressio, No. 22). Hence, according to the divine idea,

work is the normal activity of man (Ps. Civ 23: Eccl. 7:15), and enjoying

and rejoicing in its fruits is a gift of God (Eccl. 5:18), since each is quite

naturally rewarding according to his work (Ps. LXII, 13; Ps. CXXVIII, 2;

Matt. XVI, 27; I Cor. XV, 58; II Thess. III. 10).

Christ and the Dignity of Work

4. On all these pages of the Bible, labor appears as a fundamental
datum of the human condition, to the extent that, when He became one of
us (John I, 14), the Son of God also and at the same time became a worker,
and was naturally referred to in His entrourage by the profession of His

1



family: Jesus was known as ' the son of the carpenter” (Matt. XIII, 55).

The labor of men thereby acquired the highest imaginable'title of nobility,

and you have insured their presence, in the place of honor in the head-

quarters of your organization, in this admirable fresco by Maurice Denis,

dedicated to the dignity of work, in which Christ brings the good news to

the workers who surround Him, who are themselves also sons of God and
brothers to each other.

The Pioneers of Social Justice

5. Though it is not for us to evoke the history of the birth and growth

of your organization, yet we cannot pass over in silence, in this hospitable
land, the work of pioneers such as Bishop (Gaspard) Mermillod (later

Cardinal Mermillod) and the Union of Fribourg, the admirable example

given by the Protestant industrialist, Daniel Le Grand, and the fruitful

initiatives of the Catholic, Gaspard Decurtins, which were the first germ

of an international conference on labor. And how could we forget, gentle-
men, on the 40th anniversary of Leo XI M's encyclical on the condition of

labor your first director desired to render homage to "the tenacious workers

for social justice, among them those who referred to the encyclical Rerum

Novarum " (Quoted by A. LeRoy: Catholicisme Social et Organisation

Internationale du Travail, Paris; Spes, 1937; P. 16). And the officials of

the International Labor Bureau, when drawing up the balance of "ten

years of the International Labor Organization,” did not hesitate to recog-

nize that "the great movement inspired in the Catholic Church by the

encyclical Rerum Novarum has given proof of its fruitfulness” (Dix Ans

D'Organisation Internationale du Travail, Geneve, B.I.T., 1931, P. 461).

From Rerum Novarum to Populorum Progressio

6. The sympathy of the Church toward your organization, and for the

whole world of labor, was unceasingly manifested from then on. most

particularly in Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (May 15, 1931,

No. 24), in Pius Xll’s allocution to the Council of Administration of the

International Labor Bureau (Nov. 19, 1954), and in the encyclical Mater

et Magistra where John XXIII expressed his "heartfelt appreciation of the

work being done by the International Labor Organization. . .making an

effective and valued contribution to the establishment in the world of an

economic and social order marked by justice and humanity, an order which

recognizes and safeguards the lawful rights of the workingman" (May 15,

1961, No. 103). We ourself had the pleasure of promulgating, at the

close of the Vatican ecumenical council, the pastoral constitution. Gaudium

et Spes, prepared by the bishops of the whole world. In it the Church

reaffirms the value of "the monumental amount of individual and collective

2



effort" and also the prevalence of the labor of men over "the other ele-

ments of economic life, for the latter have only the nature of tools,”

together with the inalienable rights and the duties which such a principle

requires (Dec. 7, 1965, Nos. 34, 67, 68). Finally, our own encyclical,
Populorum Progressio, took pains to make all aware that "the social ques-

tion has become worldwide," with resultant consequences for the integral

and united development of peoples, that development which "is the new

name for peace" (March 26, 1967, Nos. 3, 76).

Observer and Friend of the International Labor

Organization and Other General Institutions

7. In other words, we are an attentive observer of the work you ac-

complish and also a collaborator who is happy to have been invited to

celebrate with you the existence, functions, achievements and merits of this

world institution, and to do so as a friend. Nor do we wish to omit on this

solemn occasion the other international institutions of Geneva, starting

with the Red Cross, since they are all well-deserving and laudable institu-

tions to which we are glad to extend our respectful greetings and our

fervent good wishes.

Eras and Trials Confronted for a Noble Ideal

8. To us, who belong to an institution exposed to the wear of time
for 2,000 years, the 50 years untiringly dedicated to the International

Labor Organization are a source of fruitful meditation. Everyone knows

that such long duration is a singular fact in the history of our century. The

inevitable precariousness of human affairs, made even more evident and
veracious by the acceleration of modern civilization, has not shaken your

institution. To its ideal we wish to render homage, namely, "universal and
lasting peace, based on social justice" (Constitution de L'O.l.T., Geneve,

B I T., 1968, Preamble, P. 5). The ordeal of the disappearance of the

League of Nations, to which it was organically bound, and the fact of the

birth of the United Nations on another continent, far from taking away

its "raison d'etre," provided it rather with the opportunity, by means of

the well-known Declaration of Philadelphia 25 years ago, to confirm and

better define them, rooting them more deeply in the reality of society's

progress. "All human beings, no matter what their race, their beliefs, or

their sex, have the right to pursue their material progress and spiritual

development in freedom and dignity, in economic security and with equal

opportunity" (Ibid., Art. 2, P. 24).

Homage to Men and to Labor

9. We rejoice with all our heart and together with you on the vitality
of your 50-year-old but still young institution, ever since its birth by the

3



peace treaty of Versailles in 1919. Who can recount the work, the toil, the
night watches so fruitful in courageous decisions and beneficial to all

workers as well as for the life of mankind, performed by all those who with
great merit dedicated their talents and activity to this work? Among all of
these, we cannot omit to mention the first director. Mr. Albert Thomas,
and his present successor, Mr. David Morse. Nor can we pass over in
silence that at their request, and almost from the very beginning, a priest

has always been included among those who constituted, constructed, sus-
tained and served this outstanding institution. We are grateful to all for
the work they have accomplished, and we express the wish that it may
happily continue its complex and difficult mission which is truly providen-

tial for the greater good of modern society.

II. The I.L.O. at the Service of Workers

10. Those better informed than we are can say how great is the sum
of the activities of the International Labor Organization during 50 years

of existence, how imposing the results achieved by its 1 28 conventions and
its 132 recommendations.

Modern Christian Concept: The Primacy of Man

1 1. Yet how can one omit to emphasize the primordial and capitally
important fact manifested by this impressive documentation? Here—and
this is a decisive event in the history of civilization—here the labor of man
is considered as worthy of fundamental interest. It was not always thus,

as is well known, during the already long history of mankind. One may

recall the ancient concept of labor (cf. Cicero: De Officiis, I, 42), the

disrepute it implied, the slavery it involved: that horrible plague of

slavery which, unfortunately, must be recognized not to have yet entirely

disappeared from the face of the earth. The modern concept, of which

you are the heralds and defenders, is completely different. It is based on

a fundamental principle which Christianity, on its part, has singularly

illuminated, viz., in labor, it is man who comes first, whether he be an

artist or an artisan, contractor, peasant or worker, manual or intellectual,

it is man who works, it is for man that he works. An end has been put to

the priority of labor over the laborer, to the supremacy of technical and

economic necessities over human needs. Never again will work be superior

to the worker, never again will work be against the worker. But always

work will be for the worker, work will be in the service of man, of every

man and of all of man.

Confronting Technique

12. How can an observer avoid being impressed by seeing that this

concept has been defined at the theoretically least favorable moment for

4



the affirmation of the primacy of the human factor over the work product,

at the moment of the progressive introduction of the machine which

multiplies inordinately the output of labor and tends to take its place? In

an abstract vision of things, the work now accomplished by the machine

and its energies, which are no longer supplied by the arm of man, but by

the fearful forces of tamed nature, in the judgment of the world, have won

the upper hand, to the point of forgetting the laborer who is often set free
from the extenuating and humiliating weight of a physical effort out of all

proportion with his feeble capacities. But this has not occurred. At the

very moment of the triumph of technique and its gigantic effects over

economic production, it is man who draws upon himself the concentrated
attention of the philosopher, the sociologist and the politician. For in the

final analysis there are no true riches but the riches of man. Now it is
evident to all that the introduction of technique into the process of human

activities would be to the detriment of man, if man did not remain its

master, and dominate its evolution. If "one must recognize in all justice

the irreplaceable contribution made by the organization of labor and of

industry to what development has accomplished" (Popu/orum Progressio,

No. 26), still you recognize better than anyone else the evil results of what

has been called the fragmentation of labor in contemporary industrial

society (cf. G. Friedmann: Ou Va le Travail Humain

?

and Le Travail en

Miettes, Paris: Gallimard, 1950 and 1956). Instead of helping man be-

come more of a man it dehumanizes him; instead of expanding him it

stifles him under a cloak of heavy boredom. Work thus becomes ambiva-

lent, and its organization may easily depersonalize the one who performs
it, if he becomes its slave, abdicates his intelligence and freedom, and even

loses his dignity thereby (cf. Mater et Magistra, No. 83; Populorum

Progesssio, 28). Who does not see that work, which gives rise to marvelous
fruits when it is truly creative, can also (cf. Ex. I, 8-14), when carried away
by the cycle of arbitrary will, injustice, rapacity and violence, become a
real social scourge, as is attested by those labor camps erected as institu-

tions, which have been the shame of the civilized world.

The Salutary Role of the I.L.O.

13. Who can describe the sometimes terrible drama of the modern
laborer, torn between his double destiny as a grandiose accomplisher,

too often the prey of the intolerable sufferings of a miserable proletarian

condition, in which the lack of food is allied with social degradation to

create a state of real insecurity, both personal and family? You have under-

stood this. It is labor as a human, prime and fundamental fact which con-

stitutes the vital root of your organization and makes it into a magnificant

tree, which extends its branches throughout the whole world because of

5



its international character, a tree which is the honor of our times, with an

ever fertile root which nourishes it in continual organic activity. It is that

same root which forbids you to favor particular interests and places you
in the service of the common man.

It constitutes your special genius and its fecundity; that of intervening

always and everywhere to supply remedies for labor conflicts, avert them

if possible, give spontaneous aid to victims, work out protection against

new dangers, improve the conditions of workers in the respect of the ob-

jective equilibrium of real economic possibilities, struggle against segrega-

tion which gives birth to inferiority for whatsoever motive, whether

slavery, caste, race, religion or class—in a word, to defend for all and
against all, the freedom of all laborers, and secure the lasting victory of

the ideal of brotherhood among men, who are all equal in dignity.

Its Vocation: The Progress of Mankind's Conscience

1 4. Such is your vocation. Your action is based, not on the unavoidable

and implacable struggle between those who supply work and those who

execute it, nor on the partiality of those who defend interests and functions.

On the contrary, it is a freely organized and socially disciplined and

organic participation in the responsibilities and in the profits of work. It

has one only aim: not money, not power, but the good of man. It is more

than an economic concept, it is better than a political concept: it is a moral

and human concept which inspires you, namely, social justice, to be built

up, day by day, freely and of common accord. Discovering ever more
completely whatever the good of laborers requires, you make others

aware of it little by little, and propose it to all as an ideal. More than this,

you translate it into new rules of social conduct, which impose themselves

as norms of law. Thus you insure a permanent passage from the ideal order

of principles to the juridical order, that is, to positive law. In a word, you

gradually refine and improve the moral conscience of mankind. This is an

arduous and delicate task, indeed, but it is so lofty and so necessary, and

calls on the collaboration of all true friends of man. How then could we
not give it our adherence and our support?

Its Instrument and Method. To Secure the

Collaboration of the Three Social Forces

15. Along your way, obstacles to be removed and difficulties to be

surmounted will not be lacking. But you have foreseen this, and it is to

confront them that you have recourse to an instrument and a method which

could, of themselves, suffice as an apologia for your institution. Your

original and organic instrument is to bring together the three forces at

6



work in the human dynamics of modern labor: men of government, employ-

ers, and workers. And your method, now a typical example, is to harmo-

nize these three forces so that they do not oppose each other, but concur

"in a courageous and fecund collaboration" (Allocution of Pius XII to the

Council of Administration of the B.I.T., November, 1954) by means of

constant dialogue, in view of the study and solution of ever renewed and

unceasingly arising problems.

Its Aim: Universal Peace through Social Justice

1 6. This excellent modern concept is well worthy to replace for good

that concept which unfortunately dominated our epoch, emphasizing

efficiency as sought through agitations which too often gave rise to new

sufferings and ruins, thus risking the annulment rather than the consolida-

tion of the results obtained at the price of sometimes dramatic struggles.

It must be solemnly proclaimed: labor conflicts cannot be remedied by

artificially imposed dispositions which fraudulently deprive the worker and

the whole social community of their first and inalienable human preroga-

tive, which is freedom. Nor can they be remedied either by solutions which

result from the sole free play, as it is called, of the determinism of economic

factors. Such remedies may indeed have an appearance of justice, but

they do not possess its human reality. It is only when the deepest reasons

of these conflicts are understood, and the just claims they express are

satisfied, that you can avert their dramatic explosion and avoid their

ruinous consequences. Let us repeat, in the words of Albert Thomas: "The

social factor must overcome the economic factor. It must regulate it and

guide it, the better to satisfy justice" (Dix ans D'Organisation Interna-

tionale du Travail

,

Geneve, B.I.T., 1931, Preface, P. XIV). That is why the

International Labor Organization appears today, in that closed field of the

modern world in which interests and ideologies are dangerously opposed,

like an open road toward a better future for mankind. Perhaps more than

any other institution, you can contribute to this, quite simply, by being

actively and inventively true to your ideal: universal peace through social

justice.

III. Toward the Future

1 7. It is for this reason that we have come here, to give you our en-
couragement and our agreement, to invite you also to presevere tenaciously

in your mission of justice and peace, to assure you of our humble but

sincere fellowship. For it is the peace of the world which is at stake, and

the future of mankind. This future can only be built up by peace among
all the human families at work, between classes and peoples, a peace
which rests upon an ever more perfect justice among all men (cf. Pacem
in Terris, and Populorum Progressio, No. 76).

7



A Daily More Urgent Task: The City of Suffering Humanity

18. In this stormy hour of mankind's history, full of peril but also

filled with hope, it is up to you, for the greater part, to build justice and

thus to insure peace. No, gentlemen, do not think that your task is ended:

on the contrary, it daily becomes more urgent. How many and what ter-
rible evils, how many deficiencies, injustices, sufferings, laments, still rise

up from the world of labor! Allow us in your presence to act as interpreter

of all those who suffer injustly, who are unworthily exploited, outrageously
made game of in body and soul, debased by a degrading work systemati-
cally willed, organized and imposed upon them. Here this cry of sorrow

which still rises up from suffering humanity!

Proclaiming Rights and Insuring Their Respect

19. Courageously and untiringly, struggle against the abuses which

are ever reborn, the injustices ever renewed, induce particular interests to

submit to the wider vision of the common good, adapt ancient dispositions
to new needs, create new dispositions, urge nations to ratify them, and

take the means to insure their respect, for it must be repeated that "it

would be vain to proclaim rights if at the same time every means were

not taken to insure the duty of respecting them, respect by everyone, at

all times and for all men" (Message to the International Conference on

the Rights of Man, Teheran, April 15, 1968).

Defending Man against Himself

20.

We presume to add this: It is against himself that you must defend
man, for man is threatened with becoming only a part of himself, with

being reduced, as the saying goes, to one dimension only (cf. H. Marcuse:

L'Homme Unidimensional

,

translated from English by M. Wittig and the

author, Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1968). At all costs he must be prevented

from becoming only the mechanized caterer to a blind machine which

devours the best of himself, or of a state tempted to subject all energies

to its service alone. It is man that you must protect, man carried away by

the formidable forces which he unleashes and, as it were, stunned by the

growing contrast between the prodigious increase of the goods at his dis-

posal, and their distribution, so easily made unjustly, between men and

between peoples. The myth of Prometheus casts its worrisome shadow

over the drama of our times, when the conscience of man fails to raise itself

up to the level of his activity, and to assume its serious responsibilities,

faithful to the design of God's love for the world. Have we then forgotten

the lesson of the tragic story of the Tower of Babel, when the conquest of

nature by a man forgetful of God was accompanied by the disintegration

of human society (Gen. XI. 1-9)?

8



From Having More to Being More: Participation

21 . Overcoming all the destructive forces of contestation and Babeli-

zation, it is the city of men which must be built up, a city of which the sole

durable cement is fraternal love between races and peoples as well as

between classes and generations. Through those conflicts which rend our

era it is not so much a claim to have as a lawful desire to be which is ever

more strongly affirmed (Populorum Progressio, Nos. 1, 8). For 50 years

you have woven an ever closer tissue of juridical rules which protect the

labor of men, women and youth, insuring its proper retribution. Now you
must take the means to insure the organic participation of all laborers,

not only in the fruits of their labor, but also in the economic and social

responsibilities upon which their future and the future of their children

depend (Cf. Gaudium et Spes

,

No. 68).

The Right of Peoples to Development

22. You must also insure the participation of all peoples in the con-

struction of the world, and take thought even now for the less favored,

just as yesterday your first care was for the least favored social categories.

This means that your legislative work must continue boldly and undertake

resolutely new paths, to guarantee the mutual right of peoples to their

integral development and enable in each instance "all peoples to become

the artisans of their destiny" (Populorum Progressio, No. 65). This chal-

lenge is made to you today, at the dawn of the second development

decade. It is up to you to accept it. It is up to you to take the decisions

which will avert the disappointment of such great hopes, which will also

disarm the temptations of destructive violence. You must express in rules

of law that solidarity which becomes ever more definite in the consciences

of men. Just as, yesterday, you guaranteed by your legislation the protec-

tion and survival of the weak against the power of the strong—for as
Lacordaire said long ago, "between the strong and the weak, it is freedom

which oppresses the law which sets free" (52nd Notre Dame Conference,
Lent, 1848, in Oeuvres du R. P. Lacordaire. Vol. IV, Paris: Poussielgue,

1 872: P. 494), so now and henceforth you must master the rights of strong

peoples, and favor the development of weak peoples, by creating the

conditions, not only theoretical but practical, of a real international law

of labor, on the level of peoples. Like each man, so, too, each people must

be able by its work to develop itself, to grow in humanity, to pass from less

humane conditions to more humane ones (Populorum Progressio, No. 15,

20). For this, well adapted conditions and means are necessary, and a

common will, and your freely worked out conventions between govern-

ments, workers and employers could and should progressively provide

governments and workers the proper expression. Several specialized

9



organizations are already at work to construct this great edifice. It is upon

this path that you must advance.

A Reason for the Young to Live

23. In other words, if technical arrangements are indispensable, yet

that cannot bear fruit without this awareness of the universal common good
which animates and inspires research and sustains efforts, without this

ideal which brings one and all to surpass one another in the construction

of a brotherly world. This world of tomorrow will have to be built up by the

youth of today, but it is up to you to prepare them for this. Many of them

receive insufficient training, and have no real possibilities of learning a

trade and finding work. Many too fulfill tasks which have no meaning

for them, and the monotonous repetition of which may indeed secure

profit for them, but cannot suffice to give them a reason for living, to

satisfy their lawful aspiration to take their place as men in society.

Who can ignore, in rich countries, their anguish at the sight of the
invasion of technocracy, their rejection of a society which has not succeeded

in integrating them into itself and, in poor countries, their lament that,

for lack of sufficient training and fitting means, they cannot make their

generous contribution toward the tasks which confront them? In the

world's present changes, their protest resounds like a signal of suffering

and an appeal for justice. Amid the crisis which shakes modern civilization,

the expectation of youth is anxious and impatient: let us strive to open up

for them the paths of the future, and offer them useful tasks and prepare

them for their performance. There is so much to be done in this domain.

However, you are well aware of this, and we congratulate you on having

included in the program of your 53rd session the study of specialized

programs of employment and training for youth with a view to develop-

ment (Organisation Internationale du Travail, Rapport VIII (I), Geneve,

B.I.T., 1968).

Conclusion: The Strength of the Spirit of Love, Source and Hope

24. A vast program, gentlemen, and well worthy of arousing your

enthusiasm and galvanizing all your energy, in the service of that great

cause which is yours—and also ours—the cause of man. In this peaceful
combat, the disciples of Christ intend to take part with all their hearts.

For if it is important that all human forces work together for this promo-

tion of man, then the spirit must be put in the place proper to it, in the

first place, because the spirit is love. Is it not clear?—This construction
surpasses the sole strength of man?—But as the Christian knows, he is
not alone with his brothers in this work of love, of justice and of peace, in

10



which he sees the preparation and pledge of that Eternal City which he

awaits from the grace of God. Man is not left to himself in a lonely crowd.

The city of men which he is building as that of a family of brothers, of

children of the same father, sustained in their efforts by a strength which

animates and supports them, the force of the spirit: a mysterious but real

strength, not magic, nor totally unknown to our experience, both historical

and personal, for it has expressed itself in human words. And its voice

resounds more clearly than elsehwere in this house, which is open to the

sufferings and cares of laborers, as well as to its achievements and its

marvelous attainments. It is a voice whose ineffable echo unceasingly

arouses, today as it did yesterday and ever will, the hope of men at work:

"come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;"
"blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall
be satisfied" (Matt. XI, 28; V, 6).

ON ARRIVAL AT

GENEVA AIRPORT

Mr. President:

The noble words with which you welcome us on our arrival in the
hospitable land of Switzerland touch us deeply. We thank you for them
and, in your person, we are happy to greet the peoples of the Helvetic
Confederation, who are dear to our heart since long ago and for many
reasons.

We also greet with deferential cordiality the authorities who accom-
pany you and represent, in varying manner, the city and the canton of

Geneva.

A very special greeting to you also, the director general of the Inter-
national Labor Organization, who so kindly addressed us upon our arrival
with such thoughtful words.

Indeed our joy is great that we have been able to accept your invita-
tion, and to come to celebrate here in Geneva the 50th anniversary of the
organization over which you preside with such distinction.

This brief sojourn will also give us the occasion to have other meetings,

which we are confident will prove to be rich in happy results from so many
points of view.

11



We are grateful to divine Providence which so gently has guided our
steps to this celebrated city, rich in so many memories, and the head-

quarters of so many beneficent institutions. While thanking all of you for

your cordial welcome, we invoke upon this country, and particularly upon

its worthy representatives, and all those it will be our fortune to meet here,

an abundance of divine blessings.

TO SWISS PUBLIC OFFICIALS

Mr. President of the Swiss Confederation, Gentlemen,

It is a very special pleasure for us to thank you for your welcome, and

to greet, in your persons, the highly qualified representatives of the Swiss

Confederation, of the canton, and of the city, of Geneva.

And first of all, it is to you, Mr. President, whom we had the honor to
meet some years ago in Sachseln, that our deferential greeting is addres-

sed. Our greeting, if we may presume to say so, is not only the greeting of
a one-day guest, but of an admirer and friend, indeed, of a fervent admirer

and old friend of Switzerland. How often we have visited your country,
and, like all those who come here, have been the beneficiaries of the
smiling and generous hospitality which your people know the secret of

giving their guests, drawing upon themselves the sympathy of the entire

world. In this way, we have learned to know and esteem the qualities of

this people, qualities which have remained constant throughout ethnic and

linguistic differences; their naturally laborious and peaceful character, at

the same time proud and strong, as the sons of your soil can bear witness

since, for more than four centuries, and in olden times often in peril of

their lives, they have guarded the Pope himself in the Vatican.

When speaking to the responsible authorities of the confederation,
of the canton, and of the city of Geneva, we wish also to speak of two
characteristic traits of the way of life and government of your country,

which are most worthy to merit the praise of any impartial observer.

The first of these is the principle of democratic liberty, ensured to all

citizens, whatever be their personal, religious or political opinions. Some-

thing which little by little, thanks be to God, has become the normal,

dearly bought, proudly defended, a tradition which, we have no doubt,

will discover all the applications required by the needs of new times.

12



Indeed, this concept is particularly in harmony with the thinking of modern

man, who is so jealous of his autonomy, so distrustful of any intervention

of authority which might seem to threaten or limit him.

The Church herself recognizes everything that is positive and bene-

ficial in this notion of human freedom, if understood in the proper meaning,

and the 2,000 Fathers of the Second Vatican Council agreed in recognizing

this when, undertaking a wide examination of the Church's situation in the

modern world, they elaborated the text of the pastoral constitution

Gaudium et Spes, and the declaration Dignitas Humanae, concerning

the rights of the human person and of communities to social and civil

liberty in religious matters.

By its openly proclaimed and scrupulously observed neutrality

Switzerland has acquired, moreover, the right to become the headquarters

of several important international organizations, and in the same way has

shown her desire to serve, with ever vigilant attention to the needs of the

human community.

The Holy See, we can assure you, is the very first to rejoice at this,

and to felicitate you.

These, gentlemen, are the reflections which this overly brief meeting

have suggested to us, and we would not terminate it without invoking
upon you, your responsibilities, at various levels, for the services of your

fatherland, an abundance of heavenly blessings.

TO LABOR BUREAU PERSONNEL

Gentlemen, members of the personnel of the International Labor Bureau,

Our visit to your organization would have seemed incomplete if we
had not been able to have a short visit with you also.

It is thanks to you that the International Labor Bureau can fulfill its

important task of collecting, distributing and publishing studies and

information; of offering assistance to those governments which desire it,

of promoting research, supervising the application of conventions and so

on. An immense field of activity, this, one in which you are the good

artisans, performing a frequently obscure job, ignored by many, and in

13



any case far from being appreciated, in most cases, as much as it would

deserve.

It seems to us that the honor and grandeur of your task is the idea

which orientates and dominates it, and which can be summed up in one
word: service. You are the faithful and active servants of the common good
of mankind.

How many virtues that presupposes! First of all, an irreproachable
professional awareness, a high sense of duty; then, perfect honesty, both

intellectual and moral, and total lack of self-interest, all of this in daily

perseverance and faithfulness. In truth, it is no small thing to serve, as

you do, one of the noblest causes which can be proposed to human

activity.

Allow us to felicitate you on this service, and to tell you how much the

Church appreciates and rejoices over the service you render to all mankind.

With all our heart we invoke upon you, upon your families and your

work, an abundance of divine blessings.

TO WORKERS' REPRESENTATIVES AT ILO

Dear friends.

We feel great joy in meeting you, because, in the three-way distribu-
tion which characterizes the International Labor Organization, you

represent an element which is particularly precious in our eyes: you

express here, at the center of one of the highest tribunals of this world,

the voice of the workers.

When one thinks of the stormy history of the working classes, of the
incredible difficulties they encountered for so long a time in order to be

heard in the higher circles, one can with admiring astonishment measure

the distance traveled, and understand just what this statement, apparently

so simple and almost banal, really means: namely, that laborers are present

in the International Labor Organization. Not only that, but it is one of

themselves who for the first time presides over the general assembly, in

the person of the secretary of the Union of Swiss Unions, M. Jean Mori,

whom we are happy to greet in a special manner.

14



This is indeed reason for rejoicing, reason for arousing and maintain-

ing great hope in the hearts of the workers of the whole world. It is also,

if we may say so, a joy and a hope for the Church and for us who speak to
you, for, following our great predecessors. Leo XIII, Pius XI and John

XXIII in particular, we wish to be with the full measure of our strength a
defender and a friend to the world of labor.

We therefore greet you all with highest esteem and deep affection.
Our only regret is that, because of the limited time at our disposal, we
cannot meet each of you personally. But you can read in our eyes and our

heart the feelings we entertain for you. Those feelings are not only ours,
but those of the Church, as those admirable documents, the encyclicals

Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Mater et Magistra, to mention

only these, can bear witness.

Dear friends, we would like to leave a word to remain in your memories

as a souvenir of this brief visit.

So we say to you: whatever are your personal convictions, know that

the Church esteems and loves you, and consider her as your friend. Know,

too, that, faithful to the Gospel of Christ, the institutions of the Church

and the persons representing them are and will ever be for you not

strangers, but friends.

We raise our prayers to God, and we express the ardent wish that
your activities here may be beneficial to the whole world of labor, while

we invoke with all our heart upon you, your families and your nations, the
abundance of divine blessings.

TO ILO EMPLOYERS

Gentlemen:

It is to the great credit of the International Labor Organization, as

we emphasized just now in the general conference, that from its very

foundation it recognized that the time had come to invite to collaboration

those three great forces which animate the human dynamism of labor in

the modern world: namely, men of government, employers, and the work-
ing classes.

15



In fair discussion, the various points of view from which each of these

three groups envisages the solution of the problems proposed come to a
confrontation. In this dialogue, the capital importance cannot be under-

estimated of those who, as it were, wield economic power, and have the

fearful capacity of giving or refusing to their brothers that upon which

their subsistence and the subsistence of their families depend: that is, labor.

This is certainly a very great responsibility. It is not only the entire

external order of society which thus, in part, depends upon you. What is

more serious and more valuable, it is upon you that for numberless human

beings there depends their concrete and real access to the exercise of those

fundamental rights so fully proclaimed in so many illustrious documents,

beginning with the Declaration of Philadelphia, of which your organization

is legitimately proud.

You will understand how sensitive the Catholic Church is to this

human aspect of the exercise of your responsibilities; how much she desires

that all those who have the honor of giving work to others be fully con-
scious of the fact that those they employ are men, are their brothers,

created and redeemed by the same God. Only this feeling of universal

brotherhood, brought into the world by Christ and unceasingly preached

by the Church can, we believe, help to surmount for good all the antago-
nisms, and solve in depth the problems, of the world of labor.

This is what we wished to say to you during this visit. A heavy schedule
does not unfortunately permit us to prolong this meeting as much as we
would desire, but at least be assured that we follow your problems with
attention, that we appreciate your work, and that with all our heart we
invoke upon you, upon your families and your nations, an abundance of

heavenly blessings.

TO DIPLOMATS IN GENEVA

Gentlemen,

It is a privilege of this country that, by the enduring practice of wise

and active neutrality, it has attracted the attention of those responsible

for the destinies of peoples in the aftermath of the great world conflicts.

This has enabled the city of Geneva to be chosen as the location of an

imposing number of international institutions, and has obtained for us the

pleasure of meeting you today.

16



By your various governments, gentlemen, you are accredited to these

institutions, and we are happy to greet, in your persons, men who have
faith in these international organizations, who appreciate their work, and
who contribute as far as they can to ensure its success. Allow us to felicitate
you for this.

It is a characteristic of our times, this unusual amplitude attained by

international problems and by the organisms which strive to solve them.

It may be said of those who, like yourselves, sustain these organisms by

active collaboration, that they truly work for the good of all mankind, and

that their action merits esteem and respect.

That action is, perhaps, not always appreciated as it would deserve;

this is because there is need of a whole new education in international life

and activity and because, like any other kind of education, this requires

much time and patience. Be then, gentlemen, the skillful builders of this

training! For collaborating as you do, on the international level, is the

same as putting concord in the place of distrust; it is therefore the same

as working in a positive way towards the construction of that edifice, so

fragile, unceasingly threatened, yet so very desirable, which is called

peace among peoples.

The Catholic Church appreciates and encourages such efforts; she

wishes to be present herself each time that the true good of man is involved;

and that is why the Holy See makes it a point to be represented at several

of these organisms to which you yourselves are accredited. This fact

suffices to prove the high value she attributes to those services rendered to

the human community by this work carried on at the international level.

With all our heart, then, gentlemen, do we express our wishes for the
success of your activities. May God render them fruitful! May He deign

to bless them, as we ourself bless them in His Name; while we invoke His
assistance and His all-powerful protection upon yourselves, your families,

and your respective nations.

SPEECH IN UNITED NATIONS PARK

Greetings, beloved sons of the Swiss Confederation

Greetings to all of you who have done us the honor of coming here to

meet us! We have long known and loved your country, and we have learned

17



to follow the itinerary of your shrines: Einsiedeln, Engelberg, Sachseln,

Saint-Maurice, Locarno. . .how many cherished memories are awakened
in our heart by these names, by the names of your cities, your lakes, your
mountains! How we would wish to have the time to evoke them all.

Rather now do we desire to tell you of one thing which struck us
during our visits to Switzerland: that is, the welcome of your peoples, their

cordial hospitality, the atmosphere of peace and of beneficial relaxation

you so generously offer to your guests.

Indeed, it seems to us that if you spread peace about you, it is because

you have learned to practice peace among yourselves first of all. You give

the world the example of a people among whom ethnic, linguistic and even
religious differences have in no way impeded the deep unity of the country
and good understanding among its citizens.

We felicitate you on this, for you thus enable your fatherland to exer-
cise among nations a most beneficial influence in the service of peace.
Thanks to its peaceful character, Switzerland is able to welcome to its soil

highly qualified international institutions. And with great pleasure do we
greet among you the officials and employees of the United Nations, and of

several other international institutions which have their headquarters in

this land. We rejoice at the thought that so much fine energy is at work
here for peace and for the good of men.

As for you, beloved sons of Switzerland, we can only exhort you to be

faithful to the traditional virtues of your people: in this way you will bring

down upon your people divine assistance and benevolence.

We now invoke these upon you, by the intercession of St. Nicholas
de Flue—your beloved "bruder Klaus,” potent protector in heaven—and
with all our heart we impart to you, as well as to your families, your cantons,
and all the Swiss people, our apostolic blessing.

TO SWISS CATHOLICS

Address Given in St. Nicholas de Flue Church

Gentlemen, and dear sons:

We cannot come to Geneva without dedicating a few moments to the
distinguished members of the clergy and laity, so well-deserving in the

18



eyes of the Church, without greeting very specially the international

Catholic organizations and the other Catholic institutions which do such

good work here, and without meeting also the good sons of this country

who have served in our Swiss Guard. And we could not have found better
patronage for this meeting than that of the great heavenly protector of

Switzerland, the dear St. Nicholas de Flue, to whom this church is dedi-
cated.

Welcome all within this shrine, where we are happy to greet you each
and every one with the most fatherly affection.

We would like you to take away from this meeting a pass-word, a
motto, which each can then apply in the field of his activities. We borrow
this watch-word from the Lord Himself. At the moment of His taking leave

of His disciples to return to heaven. He manifested His last wishes by these

simple words: eritis mihi testes: "You shall be my witnesses.”

These words contained a whole program: the program of their lives.

May it be also that of your lives. You shall bear witness to Jesus Christ,

first al all, by your competence in your professional activities, for it is

expected of a Christian that he will, more than others, take care to do well

what his duty binds him to. You shall bear witness by your honesty: "let

what you say be simply 'yes' or no' " (Matt. 5:37). Honesty is a virtue

which the modern world is rightly astounded at not finding in a disciple of

Christ, who was so opposed to every hypocrisy and untruth. You shall

bear witness also by your personal disinterest and by the sincere interest

which you will be able to contribute to all good causes. You shall bear

witness, finally, by a profession of your faith marked by discretion, yet

which will not be the less frank, courageous and love-filled for that.

That, dear sons, we think is the watch-word which the Lord gives you
today through us. May He deign to fill up Himself, by the abundance of
His graces, all that the shortness of this meeting does not allow us to say

to you: and may He bless you, as we ourself whole-heartedly do in His
name: you, your activities, your families and your nations.

TO SWISS BISHOPS AND ABBOTS

Venerable brothers and beloved sons.

The joy of this journey would not have been complete if we had not
been able to have a meeting, however brief, with those who personify and
represent the Catholic Church in Switzerland.

19



Two eminent members of the Sacred College are of Swiss nationality,
and this is a unique event in your history: they are Cardinal Benno Gut,

whom we have placed over the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship:
and Cardinal Charles Journet, who has been a teacher and a friend to us
for so many years. To them goes your first greeting.

To you also, venerable brothers, members of the Swiss episcopate,

we extend our most cordial greeting. In past years we have visited regions
of this land belonging to several of your dioceses, and with our own eyes
we have seen the fruits of your zeal. May God continue to bless your
persons and your pastoral work, become difficult here, today, as it is

everywhere!

We wish to greet also with particular affection the abbots of the
venerable monasteries which do such honor to your land, and in several of

which we have ourself been guests in past years. How many sweet mem-
ories come to mind when we simply evoke the holy places of Swiss land:

Einsiedeln, Engelberg, Saint-Maurice d'Agaune, Melchtal, Sachseln!

How much we would wish to speak of each of them now. But the time at
our disposition is limited. Be sure, at least, beloved brothers and sons

present at this meeting, of the paternal heart with which we invoke upon
you the protection of your great friends in heaven: St. Nicholas de Flue,

St. Francis de Sales, St. Peter Canisius: while we impart to you, to your
families, your dioceses, your monasteries, and all those you represent here

today, our warm and affectionate apostolic blessing.

TO WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

Mr. General Secretary, brothers in Christ,

We deeply appreciate your welcoming words, and thank God for
this opportunity to pay a fraternal Christian visit to the center of the

World Council of Churches. Is not the World Council a marvelous

movement of Christians, of "children of God who are scattered abroad"

(John 11,52), who are now searching for a recomposition in unity? Is

not the meaning of our coming here, at the threshold of your house,

found in that joyous obedience to an unseen impulse which, by the

merciful command of Christ, makes our ministry and mission what it is?

Truly a blessed encounter, a prophetic moment, dawn of a day to come

and yet awaited for centuries!

20



We are here among you. Our name is Peter. Scripture tells us
which meaning Christ has willed to attribute to this name, what duties He

lays upon us: the responsibilities of the Apostle and his successors. But

permit us to recall other titles which the Lord wishes to give to Peter in

order to signify other charisma. Peter is fished of men. Peter is shepherd.

In what concerns our persons, we are convinced that without merit on

our part, the Lord has given us a ministry of communion. This charism

has been given to us not indeed to isolate us from you or to exclude

among us understanding, collaboration, fellowship and ultimately, the

recomposition of unity, but to allow us to carry out the command and
the gift of love in truth and humility (cf. Ephesians 4, 15: John 13,

14). And the name Paul which we have assumed sufficiently points out
the orientation which we have wanted to give to our apostolic ministry.

You have placed the visit this afternoon in the historical context

of our relations. We also see in this gesture a clear sign of the Christian
fellowship which already exists between all the baptized, and thus between

the member churches of the World Council and the Catholic Church.

The present communion between the Christian Churches and commu-

nities is regretfully only imperfect: but, as we believe, the Father of
mercies, in His spirit, is leading and inspiring us. He is guiding all

Christians in the search for the fullness of that unity which Christ wills

for His one and only church, in order that it may better reflect the ineff-

able union of the Father and the Son and fulfil its mission in the world

of which Jesus is the Lord: "In order that the world may believe" (John

17. 21).

This supreme desire of Christ, and the deep need of men who be-
lieve in Him and have been redeemed by Him, keep our spirit in a con-

stant tension of humility, of regret for the present divisions among the

followers of Christ: of a hope-filled desire for the restoration of unity

among all Christians: of prayer and reflection on the mystery of the

Church which is committed, for its sake and that of the world, to give

witness to the revelation made by God the Father, through the Son and

in the Holy Spirit. You may understand how at this moment this tension
reaches a high degree of emotion in us, but far from troubling us. it

rather makes our conscience clearer than ever.

You have also referred to the visit to this same center in Febru-

ary, 1965, of the beloved Cardinal Bea, and to the setting up of a joint

working group. Since the creation of this group, we have followed its
work with interest, and we wish to express, without hesitation, our pro-
found appreciation for the development of these relations between the

21



World Council and the Catholic Church, two bodies indeed very

different in nature, but whose collaboration has proved to be fruitful.

In common accord with our Secretariat for Promoting Christian
Unity, competent Catholics have been invited to participate in your

activities in various ways. The ideological, the theological reflection

on the unity of the Church, the search for a better understanding of

Christian worship, the deep formation of the laity, the consciousness of

our common responsibilities and the coordination of our efforts for
social and economic development and for peace among the nations

—

these are some examples of areas where this cooperation has taken

shape. There are plans also to find the possibilities of a common
Christian approach to the phenomenon of unbelief, to the tensions

between the generations, and to relations with the non-Christian

religions.

These realizations witness our desire to see the present under-

taking develop according to our future possibilities in men and in

resources. Such development supposes that at the local level the

Christian people are prepared for dialogue and for ecumenical colla-

boration. Is it not for this that in the Catholic Church the promotion

of the ecumenical effort has been confided to the bishops for their

diligent promotion and prudent guidance (Cf. Decree on Ecumenism,

N. 4), according to the norms set down by the Vatican Council and

given precision in the ecumenical directory?

Our primary concern, of course, is more the quality of this manifold

cooperation than the mere multiplication of activities. "There can be no

ecumenism worthy of the name without conversion. For it is from newness

of attitudes of mind (cf. Ephesians 4, 23), from self-denial and unstinted

love, that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way"

(Decree on Ecumenism, N. 7). Fidelity to Christ and to His word, humility

before the workings of His spirit in us, service to one another and to all

men—these virtues will give a Christian quality to our reflection and work.
Only then will collaboration among all Christians vividly express that union

which already exists among them and set in clearer relief the features of

Christ the servant (cf. ibid., N. 12).

Because of this growing cooperation in so many areas of common

concern, the question is sometimes asked: Should the Catholic Church

become a member of the World Council? What can we answer at this

moment? In fraternal frankness we do not consider that the question

of the membership of the Catholic Church in the World Council is so

22



mature that a positive answer could or should be given. The question

still remains a hypothesis. It contains serious theological and pastoral

implications. It thus requires profound study and commits us to a

way that honesty recognizes could be long and difficult. But this

does not prevent us from assuring you of our great respect and deep

affection. The determination which animates us and the principles

which guide us will always be the search, filled with hope and pastoral

realism, for the unity willed by Christ.

Mr. General Secretary, we pray to the Lord that we may move

forward in our effort to fulfill together our common calling to the glory
of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we conclude with the
very words of Jesus, which will be our prayer:

"That they all may be one.

Even as thou, father, are in me, and I in thee.

That they also may be in us,

So that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them.
That they may be one even as we are one,
I in them and thou in me.

That they may become perfectly one.

So that the world may know that thou hast sent me
And hast loved them even as thou hast loved me . . .
I made known to them thy name.

And I will make it known.

That the love with which thou hast loved me
May be in them, and I in them" (John 17, 21-23, 26).

TO SWISS NON-CATHOLIC CHURCHES

Gentlemen, dear brothers in Christ and if you will permit it dear

friends.

It is a joy for us to complete, as it were, our visit to the World

Council of Churches by consecrating a few moments to the representa-

tives of the churches of Geneva who are united with us in faith in Christ
the Saviour.

23



Without doubt, because of the events that have marked its
religious history and set the direction of its spirit, Geneva is one of the
cities of the world where one is most painfully conscious of division be-
tween Christians. But the climate of serenity and mutual esteem so
happily inaugurated in our days allows us to gauge more objectively
than in the past what unites and what divides us.

Allow us to say in this respect, dear brothers, that we rejoice
deeply to have proof of the good relations that exist between your pari-

shes and the Catholic parishes, both in this city and the rest of Switzer-

land. These good relations also exist at present, thank God, between the

respective ecclesiastical authorities.

The spirit that animates us, one side and the other—the spirit so
well evoked by the name of the center which gives us welcome—is the
spirit of healthy ecumenism.

This spirit lays down, as the first basis of every fruitful contact

between different confessions, that each profess his own faith loyally. It

calls for recognition, with no less loyalty, of the positive, Christian,

evangelical values found in the other confessions. Finally, it is open to

every possibility of collaboration in the fields where, already, common
action seems possible and desirable: for instance, in the field of charity

and in the search for peace between peoples.

Animated by this spirit we come to you, animated by the sole

care of the glory of God and the accomplishment of His will for men.

May we be, as we so much desire, the pilgrim of reconciliation.

Such is the prayer that we express before you, dear brothers and

friends: such is the meaning of the brotherly greetings which we address

to you. While thanking you for having come here to meet us. we unite

ourself to you in a humble and trustful invocation of the Holy Spirit,

and we wholeheartedly call down upon you yourselves, upon your reli-
gious families, upon those whom you represent here, and upon all who
are dear to you. His divine light in abundance.

SERMON AT MASS IN
DOWNTOWN PARK IN GENEVA

Venerable brothers, beloved sons.

What happiness, what joy it is for us to be able to meet you, toward

24



the end of this historic day, to join our prayer to yours, faithful mem-
bers of the Catholic Church and loyal citizens of your free and noble

country, Switzerland! How restful, how comforting, how filled with grace
it is for us, the pilgrim pastor! What an overflowing fullness of human

and spiritual feeling fills our heart, as we remember other visits, private
and hidden visits, which in long ago years we were able to make to this
lovable and hospitable land! How many memories of beloved and vene-
rated persons, of marvelous welcoming places, come thronging to our

mind!

And now, once again, Switzerland offers us a moment of relaxation

and reflection. Our thanks and our greetings to all of you. To all, and to

each of you. We would name explicitly, besides the two cardinals of this
nation whom we have called to closer collaboration with us, your bishop,
the Most Rev. Francois Charriere, pastor of this threefold diocese. To

him, and to the other Swiss bishops present here today, as an encourag-

ing pledge of fruitful ministry among their peoples, we impart our apos-
tolic blessing.

But now, as we celebrate the sacred mysteries which call down among
us the real sacramental presence of the body and blood of Christ, per-

petuating the sacrifice of His redeeming passion, we adopt as our own,
addressing them to you, His words—and, as apostle and witness of His
Gospel, we must for the moment become the echo of His voice. Beloved
brothers and sons, it is not then our voice but His, the voice of Our

Lord Jesus Christ, which you hear, this eternal word of His which we now
say to you:

"Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called sons of

God."'

It seems to us that this message is suited to our ministry, and also

to your mission as Catholics and as sons of the Swiss nation, that it is

also suited to the present moment and to the future history of the

modern world.

We have very often striven, and do so today more than ever, to
affirm the essential relationship existing between justice and peace: peace

derives from justice. Now, however, we can establish a more inward and

active bond, the relationship existing between love and peace.

We might say that two opposing forces agitate the world: love and
hate. They resemble high and low tides which unceasingly move the

25



ocean of mankind. Their conflict appears to increase as time goes on,

for it sets not only city against city or nation against nation, but con-

tinent against continent.

The Gospel revelation of the God of love has transformed the

spiritual situation of mankind with regard to God. Henceforth man must

either say yes to a God who is love and asks for our love, our supreme
love; and in this case, mankind is raised up by a force and a hope still

unknown in the history of mankind. Or else man must refuse the God of
love, and in that case mankind will be shaken to its very foundations, with

the advent of subjugation to absolute hate, absolute violence, the folly

of worldwide war.

For it is love which builds, and hate which tears down. At times hate,

because it sets free forces which were previously convergent—such as takes

place in the disintegration of the atom—may seem to be stronger. This,
however, is an illusion. Hate and violence destroy all, they destroy each

other, they tend toward nothingness. It is love that is strong, love that is

the stronger of the two. Following the footsteps of Jesus, the saints

understood this. At every point of time and space in which they lived,

the saints show us a single ray of light, derived from the infinite holi-

ness of Jesus. The life of each of them is, for the period in which he or

she lived, the existential and immediate realization, as it were, of one of

the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. The story of your great

national saint is typical of this. St. Nicholas de Flue lived, for the period

of his existence, the beatitude we have just recalled, the beatitude of

those of whom Our Savior said: "blessed are the peace-makers, for they
shall be called sons of God."

Peace is defined, according to the well-known formula of St. Augu-

stine, as "the tranquility of order" {De Civ. Dei, 19, 1, XXX Dei, 19,
11, 1). It is not a weakness but a strength and a power. It is the order of

love, a supreme harmony, a constant victory of love over the contrasting

passions and desires which inhabit man's heart. Justice can prepare for

and be a condition of peace, but by itself cannot create peace. Only the

uniting strength and vis unitiva of love can create peace (S. T. Il-ll,

Q. XXIX, Art. 3 Ad Rum).

The God of love is a God of peace, that "God of peace and love" of

whom St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians (II Cor. XIII, 11).

The saints when immersing themselves in God's love also plunged

into God's peace and, when they return to us, it is God's peace they

26



bring us. They are peace-makers, makers of divine peace among men.

And once again we hear the Gospel refrain: "Blessed are the peace-
makers, for they shall be called sons of God."'

Nicholas de Flue, in whose sight we are gathered here, was a man of
God and a peace-maker. The secret message which Heini Am Grund
came seeking in the silent little cell of Ranft, during the night between

the 21st and 22nd of December in 1481, was sufficient to dissipate the
hate and stifle civil war (cf. C. Journet: St. Nicholas de Flue , Seuil, 1947,

Pp. 74-76).

Your saint believed in the victory of the spirit of peace. "Peace,"'

he said, "is always in God, for God is peace. And peace cannot be de-

stroyed, but discord destroys itself." How far this is from the thoughts
of those who declare that war is more fruitful than peace, and proclaim
that hate is more noble than love!

The last words of the letter of Nicholas to his fellow-citizens are

most moving: "I have no doubt," he said to them, "that you are good

Christians. I write to warn you so that, if the evil spirit tempts you, you

may resist him all the more, like true knights. That is all. God be with

you" (Ibid., P. 86).

Thus you see that the words of your saint follow from the words of

Christ. The ascetic and prophetic figure of Our Lord Jesus is impres-

sively reflected in him, in whom, as he said himself, "the Swiss saw their

"better self'" (Ibid., Op. 75).

How full of light and mystery are these reflections! How eloquent
even today are these echoes which penetrate the ears of our soul through

the tumultuous experiences of histroy!

Let us strive then to be sensitive to the impressions of the spirit, to

the signs of the times! Let us strive, like true strong men of our day,

like Christians desirous of being faithful disciples of the Divine Master,

like Catholics living in the mystery of truth and charity called the Holy

Church of God, let us strive, whether in the interior chamber of our soul,

in our families, our immediate social relations, or the wider external

world in which Providence has placed us, let us strive to be generous

makers of peace in charity. We shall then receive the recompense of the
Gospel beatitude, which is valid both for this life and the life to come:

we shall be numbered among the sons of God.

May it truly be thus, with our apostolic blessing.

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TO ETHIOPIAN EMPEROR

Your Imperial Majesty,

It gives us great pleasure to meet you today in this famous center of

world activities—activities reaching out for the betterment of the human
race. It has pleased us to have had this opportunity of talking with you on

problems of our mutual concern, and once again we have found ourselves
both earnestly striving for the same goals of peace and unity among men.

The concern of Your Imperial Majesty for the cause of peace is

well known, and your unceasing toil and efforts to this end have earned

the admiration of all right-thinking men. Since we also yearn for peace,
we express our sincere gratitude for your untiring endeavors which we
have supported with enthusiasm.

Peace, however, is not only a negative operation: true peace is

positive—it involves unity, charity, understanding, toleration and forgive-
ness. This positive aspect of peace also appears prominently in the works

of Your Imperial Majesty for the welfare of mankind, and especially in

that great task which you have accepted and worked for with courage—un-
ion in Africa.

Yet all the works of well-meaning men, who, according to their own

lights, try for a better world, are of no avail unless they take into ac-

count the great Divinity—unless they take into account the higher destiny
of man.

In this respect Your Imperial Majesty has earned the regard of

all by following in all your works the higher nature of man, and by

showing an example of personal spiritual courage in a life not without

suffering.

We wish to continue to work in friendship and cooperatkm, for
the ideals we both desire, and we pray constantly that these ideals may

be achieved. We specially pray also, that Your Imperial Majesty, and
all your beloved people, may receive an abundance of heavenly

blessing.

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FINAL STATEMENT—GENEVA AIRPORT

Mr. President, Mr. Director General, and all who come to be pre-

sent at our departure.

We cannot quit the hospitable soil of this country without ad-
dressing to all a heartfelt greeting marked with the most lively

gratitude.

Gratitude towards you first of all, Mr. President of the Helvetic

Confederation, for the courtesy of the welcome which the authorities and

people of Switzerland have given us.

Gratitude towards the International Labor Organization and

towards its worthy director general, whose kind invitation prompted

this journey.

Gratitude toward the World Council of Churches which has given

us a welcome that was so deferential and, for us, so moving.

Gratitude, finally, towards our dear Catholic sons of Switzerland,

towards their hierarchy, their priests, and all whom Providence has per-
mitted us to meet during this day. Many thanks to you all, from the

bottom of our heart. Que Dieu vous le rende! Verged es Gotti

That a Pope could come to Geneva and there have such cordial

contacts with international authorities and with high representatives of

non-Catholic religious families, truly seems to us one of the "signs of

the times" which the Christian optimism of our unforgettable precedessor

John XXIII excelled in discovering in the midst of the immense trans-

formation of the modern world.

We too greet with hope-filled heart the happy development of
minds and hearts which has permitted this journey and made possible

such fruitful contacts. All that tends to bring men closer, to make them

overcome out-of-date historical situations in order to collaborate in

positive tasks—all it seems to us, cannot fail to be blessed by God and
approved by all upright men.

We wish that these seeds of a greater brotherhood, both on the
temporal and religious level, will grow and develop increasingly. And
thanking the Lord for the fruitful day He has permitted us to pass in

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this country, we invoke upon all who have given us welcome, and, first
of all, upon you, Mr. President, and upon you Mr. Director General,

the abundance of divine blessings.

COMMENTS UPON ARRIVAL IN ROME

Mr. Prime Minister,

After the space of a few hours, we have returned to Rome after
our intense day in Geneva.

It is an honor for us, as we stand once more upon the soil of
Italy, to meet him who presides over the government of Italy, and to
hear from him words so noble and cordial. Your words bring us the

pleasure of noting in them an echo of the sentiments that have deeply

moved our mind on the occasion of our visit to the central office of the

International Labor Organization in Geneva for the celebration of the

50th anniversary of the foundation of this great and meritorious

institution.

We were already convinced and assured of that echo, but the
authoritative and open expression which we hear from your lips brings
us much consolation. We find in it a faithful confirmation of the first
title of humanity and modernity with which the Italian constitution

defines this renewed country: a republic founded upon labor; a republic,

therefore, that gives to labor a primacy of interest and dignity. We note
in it an echo of those principles which vindicate a superior importance

for the human factor in labor, namely the worker, and which, therefore,

reserves primary care and affection for that factor, from which the other

values derived from labor, such as social development and economic

prosperity, draw life and order. This harmony reminds us to what

school you, Mr. Prime Minister, give the honor of your witness, and

gives us further conviction that the name of Christian is not without

cause given to this land that is being reborn and that is so dear to us.

From our heart, therefore, come spontaneous feelings of lively

appreciation, and good wishes for every improved growth for the country

and for Italian labor; feelings and wishes with which we express to you,
Mr. Prime Minister, to your colleagues and collaborators, and to all

the authorities and personalities present, our sincere appreciation and

our greetings which is always accompanied by a blessing.

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