Peace statements of recent popes Peace Statements of Recent Popes COMPILED BY THE N. C. W. C. JOINT COMMITTEE ON PEACE Reprinted from the N. C. W. C. REVIEW, July, 1930. National Catholic Welfare Conference 1313 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. ^^]PEACE Statements of Recent Popes’^ is issued from the A N. C. W. C. Joint Committee on Peace composed of representatives of the N. C. W. C. Social Action Department, the National Council of Catholic iVIen, and the National Council of Catholic Women. The Committee came into be- ing at the request of the Administrative Committee of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. ^Teace Statements of Recent Popes^’ has been formally adopted by the govern- ing bodies of the departments mentioned. The quotations herein are statements made by the recent Popes. They appeal to Catholics to promote the ^Teace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ.’^ This pamphlet can be used in conjunction with study out- lines on international relations. The N. C. W. C. Joint Peace Committee has issued also ^The Christian Way to Peace’ ^ which contains an outline for use by study clubs. BELVEDERE PRESS, INC.. ' BALTIMORE, MARYLAND DeatMMf Peace Statements of Recent Popes Compiled by N. C. W. C. Joint Committee on Peace L CHRIST, THE KING OF THE WORLD The Fact. ^^The Creator and Redeemer of human nature, the Son of God, is King and Lord of the world and holds absolute sovereignty over men both as individuals and as members of society/’ Leo XIII — Christ the Redeemer. The Universal Kingship. ^^His Empire extends not only over Catholic nations and those who, having been duly washed in the waters of holy Baptism, belong of right to the Church although erroneous opinions keep them astray or dissent from her teaching cuts them off from her care; it comprises also all of those wdio are deprived of the Christian faith so that the wdiole human race is most truly under the power of Jesus Christ.” Leo XIII — Annum Sacrum. Recognition of His Kingship is the Way to Peace. ^^There never would arise a sure hope of lasting peace among the peoples of the world as long as individuals and nations con- tinued to deny or refused to acknowledge the rule of Christ our Saviour. . . . Manifestly the vaster the Kingdom of Christ and the more widely it embraces m.ankind, so much the more will men become conscious of the bond of brother- hood which unites them one with another. As the conscious- ness of brotherhood banishes conflicts, so, too, it softens bitter feelings and turns them into feelings of love. If the Kingdom of Christ, which de jure embraces all men, should in fact embrace all, would we then despair of that peace which the King of Peace brought to earth?” Pius XI — Quas Primas. 3 4 Peace Statements of Recent Popes II. JUSTICE AND CHARITY, THE BONDS OF THE NATIONS The Principle. peace is born from order, it follows that for States as for individuals concord rests principally on justice and charity. Clearly it is in the care one takes of injuring no one, of respecting the sacred rights of others, of practicing mutual confidence and benevolence that we must look for the strong and immutable bonds of concord, the virtue of which is so efficacious that it has the power to destroy the very germs of enmity and jealousy.^’ Leo XIII—Consistoriol Allocution, 1889. ‘^The Church teaches (she alone has been given by God the mandate and the right to teach with authority) that not only our acts as individuals but also as groups and nations must conform to the eternal law of God.’’ Pius XI—Ubi Arcano Dei. 1. Justice Justice versus the Causes of War. ^‘To repress ambition and covetousness and envy—the chief instigators of war — nothing is more fitting than the Christian virtues and, in particular, the virtue of justice; for by its exercise, both the law of nations and the faith of treaties may be maintained inviolate and the bonds of brotherhood continue unbroken, if men are but convinced that justice exalteth a nation.^^ Leo XIII—The Reunion of Christendom. Might Does not Make Right. ^^Nature allows man to de- fend his right by forces and by arms; but what nature does not allow is that force be the source of right.” Leo XIII — Consistorial Allocution, 1889. “The fundamental point must be that the moral force of right must be substituted for the. material force of arms.” Benedict XV — Letter, August 1, 1917. Peace Statements of Recent Popes 5 2. Charity Charity Will Insure Peace. ^‘Every kind of peace is un- stable, all treaties are inefficacious in spite of the long and laborious negotiations of the authors and in spite of the sacred character of the seals, as long as a reconciliation in- spired by mutual charity does not put an end to hatred and enmity/’ Benedict XV — Pacem. International Charity. ^^There is nothing that Christ recom- mended more frequently and more insistently to his disciples than the precept of mutual charity, and that because it em- braces all others; Christ called it the new precept. His com- mandment, and He wished to make it a characteristic mark of Christians, by which they would be distinguished from the rest of mankind. . . . The Gospel does not contain one law of charity for individuals and another law, different from the first, for cities and nations.” Benedict XV — Pacem. ^ ^Whoever thinks that he owes charity only to those with whom he is united by blood and by race fails in this duty. . . . The characteristic of Christian charity is that it is all inclusive.” Leo XIII — Reputantibus. Its Extent and Import. ^^Christian Charity does not stop at asking that we love our enemies like brothers instead of hating them; it bids us, besides, to lend them, after the ex- ample of the Redeemer, a benevolent help.” Benedict XV — Pacem. 3. What the Neglect of Christian Principles Causes ^ ^Consequent upon the repudiation of those Christian prin- ciples which had contributed so efficaciously to unite the nations in the bonds of brotherhood and to bring all humanity 6 Peace Statements of Recent Popes into one great family, there has arisen little by little, in the international order, a system of jealous egoism, in conse- quence of which the nations now watch each other, if not with hate, at least with the suspicion of rivals. Hence, in their great undertakings they lose sight of the lofty princi- ples of morality and justice and forget the protection which the feeble and the oppressed have a right to demand.^ ^ Leo XIII — Review of His Pontificate. III. PATRIOTISM AND CHRIST’S KINGSHIP The Duty of Patriotism. “The natural law enjoins us to love devotedty and to defend the country in which we had birth, and in which we were brought up, so that every good citizen hesitates not to face death for his native land.’’ Leo XIII — Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens. Patriotism is Subordinate to ChrisVs Laws. “Patriotism — the stimulus of so many virtues and of so many noble acts of heroism when kept within the bounds of the law of Christ.” Pius XI — Ubi Arcano Dei. Patriotism is Not Extreme Nationalism. “Love of country becomes merely an occasion, an added incentive to grave in- justice when true love of country is debased to the condition of an extreme nationalism, when we forget that all men are our brothers and members of the same great human family, that other nations have an equal right with us both to life and to prosperity.” Pius XI — Ubi Arcano Dei. IV. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION 1. An Association of Nations The Nations are More Closely Interdependent. “Besides the motive of charity, there is at the end of a war, a motive of necessity that seems to direct events towards a general Peace Statements of Recent Popes 7 and mutual reconciliation among nations: the natural rela- tions of reciprocal dependance and good offices which link nations together have become closer than ever in virtue of the growing sentiment of civilization and of the marvel- lously greater facility of intercourse/^ Benedict XV — Pacem. The Nations Should Form One Society. ^^When all will be restored according to the order prescribed by justice and charity and nations will be reconciled, it is most desirable that all States, putting aside all their mutual suspicions, unite to form only one society, or even better, one family both for the defense of their respective liberties and the main- tenance of the social order/’ Benedict XV — Pacem. The Aims and Tasks of Such a Society. ^This society of nations answers—not to mention a multitude of other con- siderations—the generally acknowledged necessity of mak- ing every effort to suppress or reduce military budgets of which the States cannot much longer bear the crushing burden; to render impossible, for the future, wars so disas- trous, or at least to remove the menace of them as far as possible; and to insure to each nation, within the limits of its legitimate boundaries, its independence as well as the integrity of its territory.” Benedict NN—Pacem. What the Society of Nations Must not he. ^^We see ripening before our eyes the idea which the most dangerous fomenters of disorder wish for and hope to see realized, the advent of an universal republic, based on the principles of absolute equality among men and of the community of all goods, from which would be eliminated all national distinctions, which would recognize neither the father’s authority over his children, nor that of governments over citizens, nor of 8 Peace Statements of Recent Popes God over mankind. If they were put into practice, these theories would release a regime of unheard-of terror. Benedict XV — Motu proprio—Bonum Sane, Merely Human Institutions are not Enough. ^^No merely human institution of today can be as successful in devising a set of international laws which will be in harmony with world conditions as the Middle Ages were in the possession of the true league of nations, Christianity. It cannot be denied that in the Middle Ages this law was often violated; still it always existed as an ideal, according to which one might judge the acts of nations. Pius XI — Ubi Arcano Dei. 2 . Simultaneous Reduction of Armaments The Principle. ^There is need of a fair agreement among all to reduce armaments simultaneously and mutually, ac- cording to the rules and guarantees to be established, in the measure necessary and sufficient for the maintenance of public order in each State.’’ Benedict XV — Letter, August 1, 1917. The Fallacy of an Armed Peace. ^^Numerous troops and an infinite development of military display can sometimes withstand hostile attacks but they cannot procure sure and stable tranquility. The menacing increase of armies tends even more to excite than to suppress rivalry and suspicion.” Leo XIII — Consistorial Allocution, 1889. The Peace Time Evils of an Armed Peace. ^ ^Robust young men are taken from agriculture or ennobling studies or trade or the arts to be put under arms. Hence the treasures of States are exhausted by the enormous expenditure, the na- tional resources are frittered away, and private fortunes im- paired; and this, as it were, armed peace, which now pre- Peace Statements of Recent Popes 9 vails, cannot last much longer. Can this be the normal con- dition of human society?^^ Leo XIII — Praeclara gratu- lationis. International Abolition of Compulsory Military Service. 'Tor the Holy See, the only system which is practical and which, further, could be applied easily with a little good will on both sides, would be the following: to suppress, by a commxon agreement, among civilized nations, compulsory military service.’^ Cardinal Gasparri—Letter to the Arch- bishop of Sens, October 7, 1917. 3. Compulsory Arbitration With International Sanctions . . As a substitute for armies, the institution of arbi- tration, with its high office as peace maker, according to norms to be agreed upon and sanctions to be determined against a state which would refuse either to submit international questions to arbitration or accept its decisions.’’ Benedict XV — Letter, August 1, 1917. V. THE CHURCH AND WORLD PEACE The Mission of the Church is a Mission of Peace. "The spirit of the Church is a spirit of humaneness, of mildness, of concord, of universal charity. Its mission, like that of Christ, is peaceful and peace-making by its nature, because it has for its object the reconciliation of man with God. Hence, results the efficacy of the religious power to translate into actuality true peace among men, not only in the domain of conscience as it does every day, but also in the public and social order, by reason of the liberty of action granted to it.” Leo XIII — Discourse on Disarmament, 1889. 10 Peace Statements of Recent Popes The Church is the Model of Internationalism. ‘^The Church is the most perfect model of a universal societ}^'^ Benedict XV — Paceni. ^^The Church, that holy, venerable, incomparable Mother of souls and hearts! She, indeed, is the true international institution which, as a matter of fact, covers the entire world, for even where culture, science, art or the industry of civilized peoples have not succeeded in penetrating, the word of the Apostles has reached . . . beyond all confines and all frontiers this divine international institution of the Catholic Church extends/’ Pius XI^—Discourse at Inter- national Pilgrimage of Catholic Youth, 1925. The Holy Eucharist is the Symbol and Means of Unity. ^The Council of Trent declared that Christ left the Eucharist in His Church as a symbol of that unity and charity whereb}^ He would have all Christians mutualty joined and united ... a symbol of that one body of which He is Himself the head, and to which He would have us, as members, attached by the closest bonds of faith, hope and charity.” Leo XIII—Mirae Caritatis. ^Tt is this mystery of unity and charity which can contri- bute most effectively to bringing about reconciliation among men.” Pius XI — Allocution: Ex quo Proximum. The Papacy, Guardian of International Law. ^^There ex- ists an institution able to safeguard the sanctity of the law of nations. This institution is a part of every nation; at the same time it is above all nations. She enjoys too the highest authority, the fullness of the teaching power of the Apostles. Such an institution is the Church of Christ. She alone is adapted to do this great work, for she is not only divinely commissioned to lead mankind, but moreover, because of Peace Statements of Recent Popes 11 her very make-up and the constitution which she possesses, by reason of her age-old traditions and her great prestige, which has not been lessened but has been greatty increased since the close of the War, she cannot but succeed in such a venture where others assuredly will fail/^ Pius XI—Uhi Arcano Dei. The Papacy, Alediator of the Nations. ^^In the name of the Divine Founder of the Church and in virtue of the age- old traditions, the August Ministry of the Pope possesses a sort of high investiture as mediator of peace. In fact, the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff extends beyond the bounds of nations; it embraces all peoples, in order to unite them in the true peace of the Gospel; his endeavor to promote the general welfare of humanity lifts him above the particular interests which the different heads of States have in view, and, better than anyone else, he knows how to make peoples, different in natural traits, tend to concord. Leo XIII — Letter to Queen WiJhelmina, 1899. The N. C. W. C. Joint Committeeon Peace in its pamphlet on ^^The Christian Way to Peace’ ^ deals with the causes of war, rules of just warfare, and means of promoting peace. The study outline in this pamphlet is well adapted for study club groups. Copies can be secured for five cents each at headquarters.