SUMMI
PONTiFicsrns

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

POPE PIUS XII

EXI7IORTING UNITY IN V >
OPPOSING WORLD feviLS



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Summi Pontificatus

(With Discussion Club Outline)
SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE LIBRARY

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

To Our Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, Bishops and Other Ordinaries in Peace and

Communion With the Apostolic See.

POPE PIUS XII

Venerable Brethren,

Health and Apostolic Benediction;

1. In the very year which marks the fortieth anniversary of

the consecration of mankind to Our Redeemer’s Most Sacred

Heart, the inscrutable counsel of the Lord, for no merit of Ours,

has laid upon Us the exalted dignity and grave care of the

Supreme Pontificate; for that consecration was proclaimed by

Our immortal predecessor, Leo XIII, at the beginning of the
Holy Year which closed the last century.

2. And We, as a newly-ordained priest, then just empowered
to recite “I will go in to the altar of God,” ^ hailed the Encyclical

Annum Sacrum with genuine approval, enthusiasm and delight
as a message from heaven. We associated Ourselves in fervent
admiration with the motives and aims which inspired and directed

the truly providential action of a Pontiff so sure in his diagnosis

of the open and hidden needs and sores of his day. It is only

natural, then, that We should today feel profoundly grateful to
Providence for having designed that the first year of Our Pon-
tificate should be associated with a memory so precious and so
dear of Our first year of priesthood, and that We should take
the opp>ortunity of pa^ng homage to the King of kings and
Lord of lords ^ as a kind of Introit prayer to Our Pontificate,
in the spirit of Our renowned predecessor and in the faithful

1 Psalm ilii. 4. 2 1 Timothy vi. IS; Apocalypse zix . 6 .

[ 1 ]



accomplishment of his designs, and that, in fine. We should make
of it the Alpha and Omega of Our aims, of Our hopes, of Our

teaching, of Our activity, of Our patience and of Our sufferings,

by consecrating them all to the spread of the Kingdom of Christ.

Significance of Leo's Action

3. As We review from the standpoint of eternity the past
forty years in their exterior events and interior developments,

balancing achievements against deficiencies. We see ever more
clearly the sacred significance of that consecration of mankind

to Christ the King. We see its inspiring symbolism; We see its
power to refine and to elevate, to strengthen and to fortify souls.

We see, besides, in that consecration a penetrating wisdom which
sets itself to restore and to ennoble ^1 human society and to

promote its true welfare. It unfolds itself to Us ever more

clearly as a message of comfort and a grace from God not only

to His Church, but also to a world in all too dire need of help

and guidance; to a world which, preoccupied with the worship

of the ephemeral, has lost its way and spent its forces in a vain

search after earthly ideals. It is a message to men who, in ever-

increasing numbers, have cut themselves off from faith in Christ

and, even more, from the recognition and observance of His law*;

a message opposed to that philosophy of life for which the doc-

trine of love and renunciation preached in the Sermon on the

Mount and the Divine act of love on the Cross seem to be a

stumbling block and foolishness.

Mighty Cry of Entreaty

4. Even as the precursor of the Lord proclaimed one day to

those who sought and questioned him: “Behold the Lamb of

God,’’ ® in order to warn them that the desired of the nations
^

dwelt, though as yet unrecognized, in their midst, so, too, the

representative of Christ addressed his mighty cry of entreaty:

“Behold your King” ^ to the renegades, to the doubters, to the

wavering, to the hesitant, who either refused to follow the glorious

Redeemer, living ever and working in His Church,’ or followed

Him with carelessness and sloth.

5. From the widening and deepening of devotion to the

Divine Heart of the Redeemer, which had its splendid culmina-

tion in the consecration of humanity at the end of the last cen-

tury, and further in the introduction, by Our immediate prede-

cessor of happy memory, of the Feast of Christ the King, there

3 St. John i. 29, 4C/. Aggeus ii. 8.

[ 2 ]

5 St. John xix. 14.



have sprung up benefits beyond description for numberless

souls—^as the stream of the river which maketh the City of God
joyful.® What age had greater need than ours of these benefits?

What age has been, for all its technical and purely civic progress,

more tormented than ours by spiritual emptiness and deep-felt

interior poverty? May we not, perhaps, apply to it the pro-

phetic words of the Apocalypse: ^‘Thou sayest: I am rich, and

made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that

thou axt wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and

naked?’’
^

Chief Duty of the Hour

6. Can there be. Venerable Brethren, a greater or more

urgent duty than to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ®

to the men of our time? Can there be anything nobler than to

unfurl the “Ensign of the King” before those who have followed

and still follow a false standard, and to win back to the victori-

ous banner of the Cross those who have abandoned it? What

heart is not inflamed, is not swept forward to help at the sight

of so many brothers and sisters who, misled by error, passion,

temiptation and prejudice, have strayed away from faith in the

true God and have lost contact with the joyful and life-giving

message of Christ?

7. Who among “the Soldiers of Christ”— ecclesiastic or
layman— does not feel himself incited and spurred on to a
greater vigilance, to a more determined resistance, by the sight

of the ever-increasing host of Christ’s enemies; as he perceives

the spokesmen of these tendencies deny or in practice neglect

the vivifying truths and the values inherent in belief in God and

in Christ; as he perceives them wantonly break the Tables of

God’s Commandments to substitute other tables and other stand-

ards stripped of the ethical content of the Revelation on Sinai,

standards in which the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and

of the Cross has no place? Who could observe without profound
grief the tragic harvest of such desertions among those who in

days of calm and security were numbered among the followers

of Christ, but who—Christians unfortunately more in name than
in fact—^in the hour that called for endurance, for effort, for
suffering, for a stout heart in face of hidden or open persecution,

fell victims of cowardice, weakness, uncertainty; who, terror-

stricken before the sacrifices entailed by a profession of their

Christian Faith, could not steel themselves to drink the bitter

chalice awaiting those faithful to Christ?

6 Psalm zlv. 5. 7 Apocalypse iii. 17.

[3]

8 Ephesians iii. 8.



Renewal of Allegiance to Christ

8. In such dispositions of time and temperament, Venerable

Brethren, may the approaching Feast of Christ the King, on

which this. Our first Encyclical, will reach you, be a day of grace

and of thorough renewal and revival in the spirit of the Kingdom

of Christ. May it be a day when the consecration of the human
race to the Divine Heart, which should be celebrated in a particu-

larly solemn manner, will gather the faithful of all peoples and all

nations around the throne of the Eternal King, in adoration and

in reparation, to renew now and for ever their oath of allegiance

to Him and to His law of truth and of love.

9. May it be for the faithful a day of grace, on which the fire
that Our Lord came to cast upon the earth will kindle with ever

greater light and purity. May it be a day of grace for the luke-
warm, for the weary, for the afflicted, that their hearts, which have

become faint, may give proofs of interior renewal and regenera-

tion of spirit. May it be a day of grace also for those who have
not known Christ or who have lost Him; a day when from mil-

lions of faithful hearts will rise to Heaven the prayer that ^^the

Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world’’ ®

may make clear to them the way of salvation, that His grace may

stir in the “troubled heart” of the wanderers a homesickness for

things eternal, a homesickness that impels them to return to

Him, Who from His sorrowful throne of the Cross thirsts for their
souls also and Who is consumed by a desire to become for them
too “the Way, and the Truth and the Life.”

Grounds of Confidence—Catholic Unity
10. As, with a heart full of confidence and hope. We place

this first Encyclical of Our Pontificate under the Seal of Christ

the King, We feel entirely assured of the unanimous and enthusi-
astic approval of the whole flock of Christ. The difficulties,

anxieties and trials of the present hour arouse, intensify and re-

fine, to a degree rarely attained, the sense of solidarity in the

Catholic family. They make all believers in God and in Christ

share the consciousness of a common threat from a common dan-

ger. We witnessed a consoling and memorable display of this
Catholic solidarity, greatly intensified in su'ch difficult circum-

stances—the serried ranks, the assurance, the resolution, the will
to win—in those days when, with faltering step but with confi-
dence in God, We took possession of the Chair left vacant by the
death of Our great predecessor.

11. We cherish the memory of the many testimonies of filial
attachment to the Church and to the Vicar of Christ, and of the

9 St. John i. 9. lo St. John xiv. 6.

[ 4 ]



ovation so genuine, so enthusiastic, and so spontaneous accorded

to Us on the occasion of Our election and coronation; and We
gladly take this opportune occasion to address to you. Venerable

Brethren, and to all who belong to the flock of the Lord, a word

of sincere gratitude for that orderly manifestation of reverent

love and of steadfast loyalty to the Papacy, in which one could

see recognition of the God-given mission of the High Priest and

of the Supreme Pastor.

Loyalty to the Rock of Peter

12. For, W’e well know it, all those manifestations were not

and could not have been addressed to Our poor person but to the

singular and exalted office to which the Lord had raised Us. And

though from that first moment We felt all the great weight of re-
sponsible cares inseparable from the supreme power given to Us

by Divine Providence, it was a consolation to see that magnificent

and tangible demonstration of the indissoluble unity of the Catho-

lic Church rallying all the closer to the impregnable Rock of

Peter, to form around it a wall and a bulwark as the enemies of

Christ become bolder. This same manifestation of world-wide

Catholic solidarity and of supernatural brotherhood of peoples

around their Common Father, seemed to Us all the richer in fair

hopes in view of the tragic circumstances, both material and

spiritual, of the moment. That memory has continued to com-

fort Us also in the first months of Our Pontificate in which We
have already witnessed the toil, the anxiety, and the trials with

which the path of the Spouse of Christ across the world is strewn.

Good Will of Non-Cofholics

13. Nor can We pass over in silence the profound impression
of heartfelt gratitude made on Us by the good wishes of those who,

though not belonging to the visible body of the Catholic Church,

have given noble and sincere expression to their appreciation of

all that unites them to Us in love for the Person of Christ or in

belief in God. We wish to express Our gratitude to them all. We
entrust them one and all to the protection and to the guidance

of the Lord and We assure them solemnly that one thought only
fills Our mind: to imitate the example of the Good Shepherd in

order to bring true happiness to all men: ^That they may have
life, and may have it more abundantly.”

Friendliness of Many Nations—Especially Italy
14. But We must, in obedience to an inner prompting, make

special mention of Our gratitude for the tokens of reverent hom-

age which we have had from the Sovereigns, heads of States and
11 St. John X. 10.

[S]



Governments of those nations with which the Holy See is in

frie.ndly relations. Our heart is joyous especially at the thought

that We can, in this first Encyclical directed to the whole Chris-
tian people scattered over the world, rank among such friendly

powers Our dear Italy, fruitful garden of the Faith, which was

planted by the Princes of the Apostles. For, as a result of the

Lateran Pacts, her representative occupies a place of honor among

those officially accredited to the Apostolic See. ^^The Peace of

Christ restored to Italy,” like a new dawn of brotherly union in

religious and in civil intercourse, had its beginning in these Pacts.

We pray God that, in the serene atmosphere of that peace. He
may pervade, revivify, strengthen and fortify the hearts of the

Italian people, so close to Us, in the midst of which We live, with
which We share the very air We breathe. We hope and trust that
that people, so dear to Our predecessors and to Us, may be faith-

ful to its glorious Catholic tradition, and experience through the

Divine Protection ever more that truth of the Psalmist: ^^Happy

is that people whose God is the Lord.”

15. This happy new juridical and spiritual position which that

achievement, destined to make an indelible mark in history, has

secured and sealed for Italy and for the whole Catholic world,

never appeared to Us so impressive in its unifying effects as

when,, from the lofty loggia of the Vatican Basilica, We opened
and raised Our arms and Our hand for the first time in blessing

over Rome—Rome, the Seat of the Papacy and Our own dear
birthplace—over Italy reconciled with the Church, and over the
peoples of the entire world.

Will Give Testimony to the Truth

16. As Vicar of Him Who in a decisive hour pronounced be-
fore! the highest earthly authority of that day, the great words:

‘Tor this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I

should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the

truth, heareth My voice.” We feel We owe no greater debt
to Our office and to Our time than to testify to the truth with

Apostolic firmness: “to give testimony to the truth.” This duty

necessarily entails the exposition and confutation of errors and

human faults; for these must be made known before it is possible

to tend and to heal them. “You shall know the truth and the

truth shall make you free.” In the fulfillment of this. Our

duty, we shall not let Ourselves be influenced by earthly con-

siderations nor be held back by mistrust or opposition, by rebuffs

or lack of appreciation of Our words, nor yet by fear of miscon-

ceptions and misinterpretations. We shall fulfill Our duty, ani-

12 Psalm cxliii. IS. is St. John xviii. 37. 14 St. John viii. 32.

[ 6 ]



mated ever with that paternal charity which, while it suffers from

the evils which afflict Our children, at the same time points out to

them the remedy. We shall strive to imitate the Divine Model of
shepherds, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Who is light as well as love:

^^Doing the truth in charity.’’

In Christ Alone Is Salvation

17. At the head of the road which leads to the spiritual and

moral bankruptcy of the present day stand the nefarious efforts

of not a few to dethrone Christ; the abandonment of the law of

truth which He proclaimed and of the law of love which is the

life breath of His Kingdom.

‘18. In the recognition of the royal prerogatives of Christ and

in the return of individuals and of society to the law of His truth

and of His love lies the only way to salvation.

19. Venerable Brethren, as We write these lines the terrible
news comes to Us that the dread tempest of war is already raging

despite all Our efforts to avert it. When We think of the wave
of suffering that has come on countless people who, but yesterday,

enjoyed in the environment of their homes some little degree of

well-being. We are tempted to lay down Our pen. Our paternal
heart is torn by anguish as We look ahead to all that will yet
come forth from the baneful seed of violence and of hatred for

which the sword today ploughs the blood-drenched furrow. But

precisely because of this apocalyptic foresight of disaster, immi-

nent and remote. We feel We have a duty to raise with still greater
insistence the eyes and hearts of those in whom there yet remains

good will to the One from Whom alone comes the salvation of the
world—to One Whose almighty and merciful Hand can alone
calm this tempest—to One Whose truth and Whose love can
enlighten the intellects and inflame the hearts of so great a sec-

tion of mankind plunged in error, selfishness, strife and struggle,

so as to give it a new orientation in the spirit of the Kingship of

Christ.

Good May Come Out of Evil

20. Perhaps—God grant it—one may hope that this hour of
direst need may bring a change of outlook and sentiment to those
many who, till now, have walked with blind faith along the path

of popular modern errors unconscious of the treacherous and in-

secure ground on which they trod. Perhaps the many who have
not grasped the importance of the educational and pastoral mis-

sion of the Church will now understand better her warnings,

scouted in the false security of the past. No defense of Christi-

16 Ephesians iv. IS.

[ 7 ]



anity could be more effective than the present straits. From the

immense vortex of error and anti-Christian movements there has

come forth a crop of such poignant disasters as to constitute a

condemnation surpassing in its conclusiveness any merely theoreti-

cal refutation.

21. Hours of painful disillusionment are often hours of

grace
—

^^a passage of the Lord,” when doors which in other cir-

cumstances would have remained shut, open at Our Saviour^s

words: ^^Behold, I stand at the gate and knock” God knows

that Our heart goes out in affectionate sympathy and spiritual

joy to those who, as a result of such painful trials, feel within

them an effective and salutary thirst for the truth, justice and

peace of Christ. But for those also for whom as yet the hour

of light from on high has not come, Our heart knows only love.

Our lips move only in prayer to the Father of Light that He may

cause to shine in their hearts, indifferent as yet or hostile to

Christ, a ray of that Light which once transformed Saul into

Paul; of that Light which has shown its mysterious power

strongest in the times of greatest difficulty for the Church.

Drift Toward Chaos

22. A full statement of the doctrinal stand to be taken in
face of the errors of today, if necessary, can be put off to another

time unless there is disturbance by calamitous external events;

for the moment We limit Ourselves to some fundamental observa-
tions.

23. The present age. Venerable Brethren, by adding new

errors to the doctrinal aberrations of the past, has pushed these

to extremes which lead inevitably to a drift towards chaos. Be-

fore all else, it is certain that the radical and ultimate cause of

the evils which We deplore in modem society is the denial and
^rejection of a universal norm of morality as welF forTndividual

aud social life as for international relations. We mean the dis-
regard, so common nowadays, and the forgetfulness of the natural

law itself, which has its foundation in God, Almighty Creator and

Father of all, supreme and absolute Lawgiver, all-wise and just

Judge of human actions. When God is hated, every basis of

morality is undermined; the voice of conscience is stilled or at

any rate grows very faint, that voice which teaches even to the

illiterate and to uncivilized tribes what is good and what is bad,

what lawful, what forbidden, and makes men feel themselves re-

sponsible for their actions to a Supreme Judge.

24. The denial of the fundamentals of morality had its origin,

in Europe, in the abandonment of that Christian teaching of

16 C/. Exodus xii. 11. 17 Apocalypse iii. 20.

[ 8 ]



which the Chair of Peter is the depository and exponent. That

teaching had_piice given spiritual cohesion to aEurope which,

educated, ennobledaiid^ivilized b^TThe Cross, had reached such

a degree of civil progress as to become the teacher of other

peoples, of other continents. But, cut off from the infallible

^ching^authority of the Church, not a few s^pafatedbrethren

Have^gon^o far as to~overthrow the central dogma of Christi-

anity, t^ Divinity o f_ the Saviour, and have hastened thereby the
progress of spiritual decay.

Rejection of Christ Means Darkness and Disorder

25. The Holy Gospel narrates that when Jesus was crucified

“there was darkness over the whole earth”; a terrifying symbol

of what happened and what still happens spiritually wherever in-

credulity, blind and proud of itself, has succeeded in excluding

Christ from modern life, especially from public life, and has un-

dermined faith in God as well as faith in Christ. The consequence

is that the moral values by which in other times public and

private conduct was gauged have fallen into disuse; and the

much vaunted civilization of society, which has made ever more

rapid progress, withdrawing man, the family and the State from

the beneficent and regenerating effects of the idea of God and

the teaching of the Church, has caused to reappear, in regions

in which for many centuries shone the splendors of Christian

civilization, in a manner ever clearer, ever more distinct, ever

more distressing, the signs of a corrupt and corrupting pagan-

isrnL“There was darkness when they crucified Jesus.”

26. Many perhaps, while abandoning the teaching of Christ,

were not fully conscious of being led astray by a mirage of glitter-

ing phrases, which proclaimed such estrangement as an escape

from the slavery in which they were before held; nor did they then

foresee the bitter consequences of bartering the truth that sets

free, for error which enslaves. They did not realize that, in re-

nouncing the infinitely wise and paternal laws of God, and the

unifying and elevating doctrines of Christ’s love, they were re-

signing themselves to the whim of a poor, fickle human wisdom;

they spoke of progress, when they were going back; of being^

raised, when they grovelled; of arriving at man’s estate, when

they stooped to servility. They did not perceive the inability of

all human effort to replace the law of Christ by anything equal to

it; “they became vain in their thoughts.”

27. With the weakening of faith in God and in Jesus Christ,

and the darkening in men’s minds of the light of moral principles,

18 Matthew xxvii. 45. 19 Roman Breviary, Good Friday, Response Five.

20 Romans i. 21.

[9]



there disappeared the indispensable foundation of the stability

and quiet of that internal and external, private and public order,

which alone can support and safeguard the prosperity of States.

Error Chief Enemy of Peace

28. It is true that even when Europe had a cohesion of

brotherhood through identical ideals gathered from Christian

preaching, she was not free from divisions, convulsions and wars

which laid her waste; but perhaps they never felt the intense

pessimism of today as to the possibility of settling them, for

they had then an effective moral sense of the just and of the un-

just, of the lawful and of the unlawful, which, by restraining out-

^br^aks of passion, left the way open to an honorable settlement.

In Our days, on the contrary, dissensions come not only from

the surge of rebellious passion, but also from a deep spiritual crisis

which has overthrown the sound principles of private and public

morality.

29. Among the many errors which derive from the poisoned

source of religious and moral agnosticism. We would draw your
attention. Venerable Brethren, to two in particular, as being those

which more than others render almost impossible or at least pre-

carious and uncertain, the peaceful intercourse of
,

peoples.

Common Origin and Equality of All Men

30. The first of these pernicious errors, widespread today, is

the forgetfulness of that law of human solidarity and charity

which is dictated and imposed by our common origin and by the

equality of rational nature in all men, to whatever people they be-

long, and by the redeeming Sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on the

Altar of the Cross to His Heavenly Father on behalf of sinful

mankind.

31. In fact, the first page of the Scripture, with magnificent sim-

plicity, tells us how God, as a culmination to His creative work,

made man to His Own image and likeness
;

and the same Scrip-

ture tells us that He enriched man with supernatural gjfts and

privileges, and destmeJ^hiuTfiT^h^ ineffable happiness.

It shows us besides how other men took their origin from the first

couple, and then goes on, in unsurpassed^vividness of language,

to recount their division into different groups and their dispersion

to various parts of the world. Even when they abandoned their

Creator, God did not cease to regard them as His children, who,

according to His merciful plan, should one day be reunited once

more in His friendship.^^

21 C/. Genesis i. 26, 27. 22 C/. Genesis xii 3.

[ 10 ]



32. The Apostle of the Gentiles later on makes himself the

herald of this truth which associates men as brothers in one great

family, when he proclaims to the Greek world that God ‘^hatlT

made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole face of the

earth, determining appointed times, and the limits of their habita-

tion, that they should seek God.’’ ^

Unity of Mankind

33. A marvelous vision, which makes us see the human race
^' 4 in the unity of one common origin in God “one God and Father

of all. Who is above all, and through all, and in us all; in the

unity of nature which in every man is equally composed of mate-

^
rial body and spiritual, immortal soul; in the unity of the imme-

diate end and mission in the world; in the unity of dwelling

place, the earth, of whose resources all men can by natural right

avail themselves, to sustain and develop life; in the unity of the

supernatural end, God Himself, to Whom all should tend; in the

4 r unity of means to secure that end.

34. It is the same Apostle who portrays for us mankind in

the unity of its relations with the Son of God, image of the in-

visible God, in Whorn_al]^hin^s^ h^^ ^Tn Him were

all things created^’; in the unity of its ransom, effected for all

by Christ, Who, through His Holy and most bitter Passion, re-

stored the original friendship with God which had been broken,

making Himself the Mediator between God and men: “For there

is one God, and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ

Jesus.”

35. And to render such friendship between God and mankind

more intimate, this same Divine and universal Mediator of salva-

tion and of peace, in the sacred silence of the Supper Room, be-

fore He consummated the Supreme Sacrifice, let fall from His

Divine Lips the words which reverberate mightily down the cen-

turies, Inspiring heroic charity in a world devoid of love and torn

by hate: “This is My commandment that you love one another,
as I have loved you.”

The Strongest Bond of Union

36. These are,_supernatjjralJ:xuth which form a solid basis

and the strongest possible bond of a union, that is reinforced by

the love of God and of our Divine Redeemer, from Whom all re-
ceive salvation “for the edifying of the Body of Christ: until we

all meet into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son

of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the

fullness of Christ.”

23 Acts xvii. 26, 27. 24 Ephesians iv. 6 . 25 Colossians i. 16.

20 1 Timothy ii. S. 27 St. John xv. 12 . 28 Ephesians iv. 12
,
13

[ 11 ]



37. In the light of this unity of all mankind, which exists in

law and in fact, individuals do not feel themselves isolated units,

like grains of sand, but united by the very force of their nature

and by their eternal destiny, into an organic, harmonious mutual

relationship which varies with the changing of times.

Notional Life Does Not Breok Unity

38. And the nations, despite a difference of development due

to diverse conditions of life and of culture, are not destined to

break the unity of the human race, but rather to enrich and em-

bellish it by the sharing of their own peculiar gifts and by that

reciprocal interchange of goods which can be possible and effica-

cious only when a mutual love and a lively sense of charity unite

all the sons of the same Father and all those redeemed by the

same Divine Blood.

39. The Church of Christ, the faithful depository of the

teaching of Divine Wisdom, cannot and does not think of deprecat-

ing or disdaining the particular characteristics which each people,

with jealous and intelligible pride, cherishes and retains as a pre-

cious heritage. Her aim is a supernatural union in all-embracing

love, deeply felt and practiced, and not the unity which is ex-

clusively external and superficial and by that very fact weak.

40. The Church hails with joy and follows with her maternal

blessing every method of guidance and care which aims at a wise

and orderly evolution of particular forces and tendencies having

their origin in the individual character of each race, provided

that they are not opposed to the duties incumbent on men from

their unity of origin and common destiny.

The Church's Respect for Notional Characteristics

41. She has repeatedly shown in her missionary enterprises

that such a principle of action is the guiding star of her universal

apostolate. Pioneer research and investigation, involving sacri-

fice, devotedness and love on the part of her missionaries of every

age, have been undertaken in order to facilitate the deeper ap-

preciative insight into the most varied civilizations and to put

their spiritual values to account for a living and vital preaching

of the Gospel of Christ. All that in such usages and customs is

not inseparably bound up with religious errors will always be

subject to kindly consideration and, when it is found possible, will

be sponsored and developed.

42. Our immediate predecessor, of holy and venerated mem-

ory, applying such norms* to a particularly delicate question, took

some generous decisions which are a monument to his insight and

[ 12 ]



to the intensity of his apostolic spirit. Nor need We tell you,
Venerable Brethren, that We intend to proceed without liesitation

along this way. Those who enter the Church, whatever be their

origin or their speech, must know that they have equal rights as

children in the House of the Lord, where the law of Christ and the

peace of Christ prevail.

43. In accordance with these principles of equality, the

Church devotes her care to forming cultured native clergy and

gradually increasing the number of native Bishops. And in order

to give external expression to these. Our intentions. We have
chosen the forthcoming Feast of Christ the King to raise to the

Episcopal dignity at the Tomb of the Apostles twelve represent-

atives of widely different peoples and races. In the midst of the

disruptive contrasts which divide the human family, may this

solemn act proclaim to all Our sons, scattered over the world, that

the spirit, the teaching and the work of the Church can never be

other than that which the Apostle of the Gentiles preached:

“putting on the new (man), him who is renewed unto knowledge,

according to the image of Him that created him. Where there is

neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, bar-

barian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all and in all.^’

Love of One's Country Approved by Church

44. Nor is there any fear lest the consciousness of universal

brotherhood aroused by the teaching of Christianity, and the

spirit which it inspires, be in contrast with love of traditions or

the glories of one’s fatherland, or impede the progress of pros-

perity or legitimate interests. For that same Christianity teaches

that in the exercise of charity we must follow a God-given order,

yielding the place of honor in our affections and good works to

those who are bound to us by special ties. Nay, the Divine

Master Himself gave an example of this preference for His Own

country and fatherland, as He wept over the coming destruction

of the Holy City. But legitimate and well-ordered love of our

native country should not make us close our eyes to the all-

embracing nature of Christian Charity, which calls for considera-

tion of others and of their interests in the pacifying light of love.

45. Such is the marvelous doctrine of love and peace which

has been such an ennobling factor in the civil and religious prog-

ress of mankind. And the heralds who proclaimed it, moved by

supernatural charity, not only tilled the land and cared for the

sick, but above all they reclaimed, moulded and raised life to

divine heights, directing it toward the summit of sanctity in which

everything is seen in the light of God. They have raised mansions

and temples which show to what lofty and kindly heights the
29 Colossians iii. 10, 11.

[ 13 ]



Christian ideal urges man; but above all they have made of men,

wise or ignorant, strong or weak, living temples of God and

branches of the very vine which is Christ. They have handed on

to future generations the treasures of ancient art and wisdom and

have secured for them that inestimable gift of eternal wisdom

which links men as brothers by the common recognition of a

supernatural ownership.

46. Venerable Brethren, forgetfulness of the law of universal

charity—of that charity which alone can consolidate peace by ex-
tinguishing hatred and softening envies and dissensions—is the
source of very grave evils for peaceful relations between nations.

Civil Authority Subject to God

47. But there is yet another error no less pernicious to the

well-being of the nations and to the prosperity of that great

human society which gathers together and embraces within its

confines all races. It is the error contained in those ideas which

do not hesitate to divorce civil authority from every kind of de-

pendence upon the Supreme Being—First Source and absolute
Master of man and of society—and from every restraint of a
Higher Law derived from God as from its First Source. Thus

they accord the civil authority an unrestricted field of action that

is at the mercy of the changeful tide of human will, or of the dic-

tates of casual historical claims, and of the interests of a few.

48. Once the authority of God and the sway of His law are

denied in this way, the civil authority as an inevitable result

tends to attribute to itself that absolute autonomy which belongs

exclusively to the Supreme Maker. It puts itself in the place of

the Almighty and elevates the State or group into the last end of

life, the supreme criterion of the moral and juridical order, and

therefore forbids every appeal to the principles of natural reason

and of the Christian conscience. We do not, of course, fail to
recognize that, fortunately, false principles do not always exercise

their full influence, especially when age-old Christian traditions,

on which the peoples have been nurtured, remain still deeply,

even if unconsciously, rooted in their hearts.

49. None the less, one must not forget the essential insuffi-

ciency and weakness of every principle of social life which rests

upon a purely human foundation, is inspired by merely earthly

motives and relies for its force on the sanction of a purely external

authority.

Merely Human Law Lacks Moral Force

50. Where the dependence of human right upon the Divine

is denied, where appeal is made only to some insecure idea of a

LT4]



merely human authority, and an autonomy is claimed which rests

only upon a utilitarian morality, there human law itself justly for-

feits in its more weighty application the moral force which is the

essential condition for its acknowledgment and also for its de-

mand of sacrifices.

51. It is quite true that power based on such weak and un-

steady foundations can attain at times, under chance circum-

stances, material successes apt to arouse wonder in superficial

observers.

52. But the moment comes when the inevitable law triumphs,

which strikes down all that has been constructed upon a hidden

or open disproportion between the greatness of the material and

outward success, and the weakness of the inward value and of

its moral foundation. Such disproportion exists whenever pub-

lic authority disregards or denies the dominion of the Supreme

Lawgiver, Who, as He has given rulers power, has also set and

marked its bounds.

State Must Aim at Perfection of Men

53. Indeed, as Our great predecessor, Leo XIII, wisely

taught in the Encyclical Immortale Dei, it was the Creator’s

will that civil sovereignty should regulate social life after the

dictates of an order changeless in its universal principles; should

facilitate the attainment in the temporal order, by individuals,

of physical, intellectual and moral perfection; and should aid

them to reach their supernatural end.

54. Hence, it is the noble prerogative and function of the

State to control, aid and direct the private and individual activi-

ties of national life that they converge harmoniously towards the

common good. That good can neither be defined according to

arbitrary ideas nor can it accept for its standard primarily the

material prosperity of society, but rather it should be defined

according to the harmonious development and the natural per-

fection of man. It is for this perfection that society is designed

by the Creator as a means.

The ''Absolufe State'' Harmful

55. To consider the State as something ultimate to which

everything else should be subordinated and directed, cannot fail

to harm the true and lasting prosperity of nations. This can

happen either when unrestricted dominion comes to be conferred

on the State as having a mandate from the nation, people, or even

a social order, or when the State arrogates such dominion to itself

as absolute master, despotically, without any mandate whatsoever.

[151



If, in fact, the State lays claim to and directs private enterprises,

these, ruled as they are by delicate and complicated internal

principles which guarantee and assure the realization of their

special aims, may be damaged to the detriment of the public

good, by being wrenched from their natural surroundings, that is,

from responsible private action.

Rights of the Family Prior and Sacred

56. Further, there would be danger lest the primary and

essential cell of society, the family, with its well-being and its

growth, should come to be considered from the narrow standpoint

of national power, and lest it be forgotten that man and the

family are by nature anterior to the State, and that the Creator

has given to both of them powers and rights and has assigned

them a mission and a charge that correspond to undeniable nat-

ural requirements.

57. The education of the new generation in that case would

not aim at the balanced and harmonious development of the

physical powers and of all the intellectual and moral qualities,

but at a one-sided formation of those civic virtues that are con-

sidered necessary for attaining political success, while the virtues

which give society the fragrance of nobility, humanity and rev-

erence would be inculcated less, for fear they should detract from

the pride of the citizen.

58. Before Us stand out with painful clarity the dangers We
fear will accrue to this and coming generations from the neglect

or non-recognition, the minimizing and the gradual abolition of

the rights peculiar to the family. Therefore We stand up as
determined defenders of those rights in the full consciousness of

the duty imposed on Us by Our Apostolic office. The stress of

our times, as well external as internal, material and spiritual

alike, and the manifold errors with their countless repercussions

are tasted by none so bitterly as by that noble little cell, the

family.

Life Calls for Courage

59. True courage and a heroism worthy in its degree of

admiration and respect, are often necessary to support the hard-

ships of life, the daily weight of misery, growing want and restric-

tions on a scale never before experienced, whose reason and

necessity are not always apparent. Whoever has the care of

souls and can search hearts, knows the hidden tears of mothers,

the resigned sorrow of so many fathers, the countless bitternesses

of which no statistics tell nor can tell. He sees with sad eyes

the mass of sufferings ever on the increase; he knows how the

[ 16 ]



powers of disorder and destruction stand on the alert ready to

make use of all these things for their dark designs. No one of

good will and vision will think of refusing the State, in the excep-

tional conditions of the world of today, correspondingly wider

and exceptional rights to meet the popular needs. But even in

such emergencies, the moral law, established by God, demands

that the lawfulness of each such measure and its real necessity

be scrutinized with the greatest rigor according to the standards

of the common good.

The State Cannot Demand the Soul

60. In any case, the more burdensome the material sacrifices

demanded of the individual and the family by the State, the more

must the rights of conscience be to it sacred and inviolable.

Goods, blood it can demand; but the soul redeemed by God,

never. The charge laid by God on parents to provide for the

material and spiritual good of their offspring and to procure for

them a suitable training saturated with the true spirit of religion,

cannot be wrested from them without grave violation of their

rights.

61. Undoubtedly, that formation should aim as well at the

preparation of youth to fulfill with intelligent understanding and

pride those offices of a noble patriotism which give to one’s

earthly fatherland all due measure of love, self-devotion and

service. But, on the other hand, a formation which forgot or,

worse still, deliberately neglected to direct the eyes and hearts

of youth to the heavenly country would be an injustice to youth,

an injustice against the inalienable duties and rights of the Chris-

tian family and an excess to which a check must be opposed, in

the interests even of the people and of the State itself.

Irreligious Education Beors Bitter Fruit

62. Such an education might seem perhaps to the rulers

responsible for it, a source of increased strength and vigor; it

would be, in fact, the opposite, as sad experience would prove.

The crime of high treason against the ^^King of kings and Lord

of lords” perpetrated by an education that is either indifferent

or opposed to Christianity, the reversal of ‘^Suffer the little chil-

dren to come unto Me,” would bear most bitter fruits. On
the contrary, the State which lifts anxiety from the bleeding

and tom hearts of fathers and mothers and restores their rights,

only promotes its own internal peace and lays foundations of a

happy future for the country. The souls of children given to

their parents by God and consecrated in Baptism with the royal

80 1 Timothy vi. IS; cf. Apocalypse xix. 6. 8i St. Matthew xix. 14,

[ 17 ]



character of Christ, are a sacred charge over which watches the

jealous love of God. The same Christ Who pronounced the words
“Suffer little children to come unto Me’’ has threatened, for all

His mercy and goodness, with fearful evils, those who give scandal

to those so dear to His heart.

Education Which Alienates from Christ Is Deadly

63. Now what scandal is more permanently harmful to gen-
eration after generation, than a formation of youth which is

misdirected towards a goal that alienates from Christ “the Way
and the Truth and the Life” and leads to open or hidden apos-

tasy from Christ? That Christ from Whom they want to alienate
the youthful generations of the present day and of the future, is

the same Christ Who has received from His Eternal Father all
power in Heaven and on earth. He holds in His omnipotent

Hand the destiny of States, of peoples and of nations. His it is

to shorten or prolong life: His to grant increase, prosperity and

greatness. Of all that exists on the face of the earth, the soul

alone has deathless life. A system of education that should not
respect the sacred precincts of the Christian family, protected by

God’s holy law, that should attack its foundations, bar to the

yoimg the way to Christ, to the Saviour’s fountains of life and

joy,®2 that should consider apostasy from Christ and the Church

as a proof of fidelity to the people or to the governing party’s

creed, is evil and will not stand: “They that depart from thee,

shall be written in the earth.”

Unlimifed State Authority a Menace to Peace

64. The idea which credits the State with unlimited authority

is not simply an error harmful to the internal life of nations, to

their prosperity, and to the larger and well-ordered increase in

their well-being, but likewise it injures the relations between

peoples, for it breaks the unity of supra-national society, robs

the law of nations of its foundation and vigor, leads to violation

of others’ rights and impedes agreement and peaceful intercourse.

65. A disposition, in fact, of the divinely-sanctioned natural
order divides the human race into social groups, nations or States,

which are mutually independent in organization and in the direc-

tion of their internal life. But for all that, the human race is

bound together by reciprocal ties, moral and juridical, into a

great commonwealth directed to the good of all nations and ruled

by special laws which protect its unity and promote its pros-

perity.

82 C/. Isaias xii. 3.

[ 18 ]

33 Jeremiah xvii. 13.



66. Now no one can fail to see how the claim to absolute

autonomy for the State stands in open opposition to this natural

way that is inherent in man—nay, denies it utterly—and, there-
fore, leaves the stability of international relations at the mercy

of the will of rulers, while it destroys the possibility of true union

and fruitful collaboration directed to the general good.

Internationol Natural Law Must Be Observed

67. So, Venerable Brethren, it is indispensable for the exis-

tence of harmonious and lasting contacts and of fruitful relations,

that the peoples recognize and observe these principles of inter-

national natural law which regulate their normal development

and activity. Such principles demand respect for corresponding

rights to independence, to life and to the possibility of con-

tinuous development in the paths of civilization; they demand,

further, fidelity to compacts agreed upon and sanctioned in con-

formity with the principles of the law of nations.

68. The indispensable presupposition, without doubt, of all

peaceful intercourse, between nations, and the very soul of the

juridical relations in force among them, is mutual trust: the

expectation and conviction that each party will respect its

plighted word; the certainty that both sides are convinced that

“better is wisdom, than weapons of war,’’ and are ready to

enter into discussion and to avoid recourse to force or to threats

of force in case of delays, hindrances, changes or disputes, because

all these things can be the result not of bad will, but of changed

circumstances and of genuine interests in conflict.

69. But on the other hand, to tear the law of nations from

its anchor in Divine law, to base it on the autonomous will of

States, is to dethrone that very law and deprive it of its noblest

and strongest qualities. Thus it would stand abandoned to the

fatal drive of private interest and collective selfishness exclusively

intent on the assertion of its own rights and ignoring those of

others.

Unfair Treaties Should Be Modified, Not Arbitrarily

Rescinded

70. Now, it is true that with the passage of time ar_d the

substantial change of circumstances, which were not and perhaps

could not have been foreseen in the making of a treaty, such a

treaty or some of its clauses can in fact become, or at least seem

to become, unjust, impracticable or too burdensome for one of

the parties. It is obvious that should such be the case, recourse

34 Ecclesiastes ix. 18.

[ 19 ]



should be had in good time to a frank discussion with a view

to modifying the treaty or making another in its stead. But to

consider treaties on principle as ephemeral and tacitly to assume

the authority of rescinding them unilaterally when they are no

longer to one’s advantage, would be to abolish all mutual trust

among States. In this way, natural order would be destroyed

and there would be seen dug between different peoples and

nations trenches of division impossible to refill.

On the Brink of the Abyss

71. Today, Venerable Brethren, all men are looking with

terror into the abyss to which they have been brought by the

errors and principles which We have mentioned, and by their
practical consequences. Gone are the proud illusions of limit-

less progress. Should any still fail to grasp this fact, the tragic *

situation of today would rouse them with the prophet’s cry:

‘^Hear, ye deaf and ye blind, behold.” What used to appear

on the outside as order, was nothing but an invasion of disorder:

confusion in the principles of moral life. These principles, once

divorced from the majesty of the Divine law, have tainted every

field of human activity.

72. But let us leave the past and turn our eyes towards that

future which, according to the promises of the powerful ones

of this world, is to consist, once the bloody conflicts of today

have ceased, in a new order founded on justice and on prosperity.

Will that future be really different; above all, will it be better?

Will treaties of peace, will the new international order at the

end of this war be animated by justice and by equity towards all,

by that spirit which frees and pacifies? Or will there be a

lamentable repetition of ancient and of recent errors?

Complete Victory in War a Savage Temptation

73. To hope for a decisive change exclusively from the

shock of war and its final issue is idle, as experience shows. The

hour of victory is an hour of external triumph for the party to

whom victory falls, but it is in equal measure the hour of

temptation. In this hour the angel of justice strives with the

demons of violence; the heart of the victor all too easily is

hardened
;

moderation and far-seeing wisdom appear to him

weakness; the excited passions of the people, often inflamed by

the sacrifices and sufferings they have borne, obscure the vision

even of responsible persons and make them inattentive to the

warning voice of humanity and equity, which is overwhelmed or

35 Isaias zlii. 18.

[ 20 ]



drowned in the inhuman cry, ''Vae victis, woe to the conquered/’

There is danger lest settlements and decisions bom in such con-

ditions be nothing else than injustice under the cloak of justice.

74. No, Venerable Brethren, safety does not come to peoples

from external means, from the sword, which can impose condi-

tions of peace but does not create peace. Forces that are to

renew the face of the earth should proceed from within, from the

spirit.

Spiritual and Religious Re-education of Mankind

Necessary

75. Once the bitterness and the cruel strifes of the present

have ceased, the new order of the world, of national and inter-

national life, must rest no longer on the quicksands of change-

able and ephemeral standards that depend only on the selfish

interests of groups and individuals. No, they must rest on the

unshakable foundation, on the solid rock of natural law and of

Divine Revelation. There the human legislator must attain to

that balance, that keen sense of moral responsibility, without

which it is easy to mistake the boundary between the legitimate

use and the abuse of power. Thus only will his decisions have

internal consistency, noble dignity and religious sanction, and

be immune from selfishness and passion.

76. For true though it is that the evils from which mankind

suffers today come in part from economic instability and from

the struggle of interests regarding a more equal distribution of

the goods which God has given man as a means of sustenance

and progress, it is not less true that their root is deeper and more

intrinsic, belonging to the sphere of religious belief and moral

convictions which have been perverted by the progressive aliena-

tion of the peoples from that unity of doctrine, faith, customs

and morals which once was promoted by the tireless and benefi-

cent work of the Church. If it is to have any effect, the re-

education of mankind must be, above all things, spiritual and

religious. Hence, it must proceed from Christ as from its indis-

pensable foundation; must be actuated by justice and crowned

by charity.

Regeneration of Mankind the Task of the Church

77. The accomplishm,ent of this task of regeneration, by

adapting her means to the altered conditions of the times and to

the new needs of the human race, is an essential and maternal

office of the Church. Committed to her by her Divine Foimder,

the preaching of the Gospel, by which is inculcated to men truth,

[ 21 ]



justice and charity and the endeavor to implant its precepts

solidly in mind and conscience, is the most noble and most fruitful

work for peace. That mission would seem as if it ought to

discourage by its very grandeur the hearts of those who make

up the Church Militant. But that co-operation in the spread of

the Kingdom of God which in every century is effected in differ-

ent ways, with varying instruments, with manifold hard struggles,

is a command incumbent on everyone who has been snatched

by Divine Grace from the slavery of Satan and called in Baptism

to citizenship of the Kingdom of God.

78. And if belonging to it, living according to its spirit,

laboring for its increase and placing its benefits at the disposition

of that portion of mankind also which as yet has no part in them,

means in our days having to face obstacles and oppositions as

vast and deep and minutely organized as never before, that does

not dispense a man from the frank, bold profession of our Faith.

Rather, it spurs one to stand fast in the conflict even at the

price of the greatest sacrifices. Whoever lives by the spirit of

Christ refuses to let himself be beaten down by the difficulties

which oppose him, but on the contrary feels himself impelled to

work with all his strength and with the fullest confidence in

God. He does not draw back before the straits and the necessities

of the moment but faces their severity ready to give aid with

that love which flees no sacrifice, is stronger than death, and will

not be quenched by the rushing waters of tribulation.

Co-operation of the Laity an Inspiring Joy

79. It gives Us, Venerable Brethren, an inward strength, a

heavenly joy, for which We daily render to God Our deep and
humble thanks, to see in every region of the Catholic world

evident signs of a spirit which boldly faces the gigantic tasks of

our age, which with generous decision is intent on uniting in

fruitful harmony the first and essential duty of individual sanc-

tification, and apostolic activity for the spread of the Kingdom

of God. From the movement of the Eucharistic Congresses fur-

thered with loving care by Our predecessors and from the col-

laboration of the laity formed in Catholic Action towards a deep

realization of their noble mission, flow forth fountains of grace

and reserves of strength, which could hardly be sufficiently prized

in the present time, when threats are more numerous, needs

multiply and the conflict between Christianity and anti-Chris-

tianity grows intense.

80. At a moment when one is forced to note with sorrow the

disproportion between the number of priests and the calls upon

^
22 ]



them, when one sees that even today the words of Our Saviour

apply: ‘‘The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few,”

the collaboration of the laity in the Apostolate of the Hierarchy,

a collaboration indeed given by many and animated with ardent

zeal and generous self-devotion, stands out as a precious aid

to the work of priests and shows possibilities of development

which justify the brightest hopes. T^e prayer of the Church to

the Lord of the Harvest that he send workers into his vineyard

has been granted to a degree proportionate to the present needs,

and in a manner which supplements and completes the powers,

often obstructed and inadequate, of the priestly apostolate. Num-

bers of fervent men and women, of youth obedient to the voice

of the Supreme Pastor and to the directions of their Bishops,

consecrate themselves with the full ardor of their souls to the

works of the apostolate in order to bring back to Christ the

masses of peoples who have been separated from Him.

81. To them in this moment so critical for the Church and

for mankind go out Our paternal greeting, Our deep-felt gratitude.

Our confident hope. These have truly placed their lives and their

work beneath the standard of Christ the King; and they can

say with the Psalmist: “I speak my words to the King.”®®

“Thy Kingdom come” is not simply the burning desire of their

prayers; it is besides, the guide of their activity.

Faithful Laymen Ministers to Christ

82. This collaboration of the laity with the priesthood in all

classes, categories and groups reveals precious industry and to

the laity is entrusted a mission than which noble and loyal

hearts could desire none higher nor more consoling. This apos-

tolic work, carried out according to the mind of the Church,

consecrates the layman as a kind of “Minister to Christ” in the

sense which St. Augustine explains as follows: “When, Brethren,

you hear Our Lord saying: where I am there too will My servant
be, do not think solely of good bishops and clerics. You, too,

in your way minister to Christ by a good life, by almsgiving, by

preaching His Name and teaching to whom you can. Thus every

father should recognize that it is under this title that he owes

paternal affection to his family. Let it be for the sake of Christ

and for life everlasting, that he admonishes all his household,

teaches, exhorts, reproves, shows kindness, corrects; and thus

36 St. Matthew ix, 37; St. Luke i. 2.

87 C/. St. Matthew ix. 37; St. Luke x. 2.

[ 23 ]

S8 Psalm lUv. 1.



in his own home he will fulfill an ecclesiastical and in a way

an episcopal office ministering to Christ, that he may be for ever

with Him.”

Christian Homes the Stronghold of Christian Life

83. In promoting this participation by the laity in the apos-

tolate, which is so important in our times, the family has a special

mission, for it is the spirit of the family that exercises the most

powerful influence on that of the rising generation. As long as

the sacred flame of the Faith burns on the domestic hearth, and

the parents forge and fashion the lives of their children in

accordance with this Faith, youth will be ever ready to acknowl-

edge the royal prerogatives of the Redeemer, and to oppose those

who wish to exclude Him from society or wrongly to usurp His

rights.

84. When churches are closed, when the Image of the Cruci-

fied is taken from the schools, the family remains the providential

and, in a certain sense, impregnable refuge of Christian life.

And We give thanks to God as We see that numberless families
accomplish this, their mission, with a fidelity undismayed by

combat or by sacrifice. A great host of young men and women,

even in those regions where faith in Christ means suffering and

persecution, remain firm around the Throne of the Redeemer

with a quiet, steady determination that recalls the most glorious

days of the Churches struggles.

Liberty of Action the Due of the Church

85. What torrents of benefits would be showered on the

world; what light, order, what peace would accrue to social life;

what unique and precious energies would contribute towards the

betterment of mankind, if men would everywhere concede to the

Church, teacher of justice and love, that liberty of action to

which, in virtue of the Divine Mandate, she has a sacred and

indisputable right! What calamities could be averted, what

happiness and tranquillity assured, if the social and international

forces working to establish peace would let themselves be per-

meated by the deep lessons of the Gospel of Love in their struggle

against individual or collective egoism! There is no opposition

between the laws that govern the life of faithful Christians and

the postulates of a genuine humane humanitarianism, but rather

unity and mutual support. In the interests of suffering mankind,

shaken to the depth both materially and spiritually, We have no
more ardent desire than this: that the present difficulties may

89 On the Gospel according to St. John, tract 51, n. 13.

[241



open the eyes of many to see Onr Lord Jesus Christ and the

mission of His Church on this earth in their true light, and that

all those who are in power may decide to allow the Church a

free course to work for the formation of the rising generation

according to the principles of justice and peace.

86. This work of pacification presupposes that obstacles are

not put to the exercise of the mission which God has entrusted

to His Church; that the field of this activity is not restricted,

and that the masses, and especially youth, are not withdrawn

from her beneficent influence.

87. Accordingly We, as representative on earth of Him Who

was proclaimed by the Prophet ^Trince of Peace” appeal to

the rulers of the peoples, and to those who can in any way

influence public life, to let the Church have full liberty to fulfill

her role as educator by teaching men truth, by inculcating justice,

and by inflaming hearts with the Divine Love of Christ.

The Church Is Indispensable

88. While the Church cannot renounce the exercise of this,

her mission, which has for its final end to realize here below

the Divine plan and to “re-establish all things in Christ, that are

in heaven and on earth” her aid, none the less, is shown to

be indispensable as never before, now that sad experience teaches

that external means and human provisions and political expedi-

ents of themselves bring no efficacious healing to the ills which

affect mankind.

89. Taught precisely by the sad failure of human expedients

to stave off the tempest that threatens to sweep civilization away,

many turn their gaze with renewed hope to the Church, the rock

of truth and of charity, to that Chair of Peter from which, they

feel, can be restored to mankind that unity of religious teaching

and of the. moral code which of old gave consistency to pacific

international relations.

90. Unity, towards which, so many, answerable for the des-

tiny of nations, look with regretful yearning as they experience

from day to day the vanity of the very means in which once they

had placed their trust! Unity, the desired of those many legions

of Our sons who daily call upon “The God of Peace and of

Love.” Unity, the hope of so many noble minds separated

from Us, who yet in their hunger and thirst for justice and peace

turn their eyes to the See of Peter and from it await guidance

and counsel!

40 Isaias ix. 6. 41 Ephesians i. 10.

t2S]

42 2 Corinthians xiii.



Catholic Principles Hove Stood the Test of

Two Thousand Years

91. These last are recognizing in the Catholic Church prin-

ciples of belief and life that have stood the test of two thousand

years; the strong cohesion of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, which

in union with the Successor of Peter spends itself in enlightening

minds with the teaching of the Gospel, in guiding and sanctify-

ing men, and which is generous in its material condescension

towards all, but firm when, even at the cost of torments or mar-

tyrdom, it has to say: '^Non licet; it is not allowed!’’

92. And yet. Venerable Brethren, the teaching of Christ,

which alone can furnish man with such solid bases of belief as

will greatly enlarge his vision, and divinely dilate his heart and

supply an efficacious remedy to the very grave difficulties of

today—this and the activity of the Church in teaching and
spreading that doctrine, and in forming and modeling men’s

minds by its precepts, are at times an object of suspicion, as if

they shook the foundations of civil authority or usurped its rights.

Church Seeks to Serve, Not Dominate

93. Against such suspicions We solemnly declare with Apos-
tolic sincerity that—without prejudice to the declarations regard-
ing the power of Christ and of His Church made by Our prede-

cessor, Pius XI, of venerable memory, in his Encyclical Quas

Primas of December 11, 1925—any such aims are entirely alien
to that same Church, which spreads its maternal arms towards

this world not to dominate but to serve. She does not claim to

take the place of other legitimate authorities in their proper

spheres, but offers them her help after the example and in the

spirit of her Divine Founder Who “went about doing good.”

94. The Church preaches and inculcates obedience and re-

spect for earthly authority which derives from God its whole

origin and holds to the teaching of her Divine Master Who said:

“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” she

has no desire to usurp, and sings in the liturgy: “He takes away

no earthly realms who gives us the celestial.” She does not

suppress human energies but lifts them up to all that is noble and

generous and forms characters which do not compromise with

conscience. Nor has she who civilizes the nations ever retarded

the civil progress of mankind, at which on the contrary she is

pleased and glad with a mother’s pride. The end of her activity

was admirably expressed by the Angels over the cradle of the

Word Incarnate, when they sang of glory to God and announced

44 St. Matthew xxii. 21 45 Hymn for Feast of Epiphany.

[ 26 ]

3 Acts X. 38.



peace to men of good will: “Glory to God in the highest; and on

earth peace to men of good will/’

No Peace for Those Who Resist God

95. This peace, which the world cannot give, has been left as

a heritage to His disciples by the Divine Redeemer Himself:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you”; and thus
following the sublime teaching of Christ, summed up by Himself

in the twofold precept of love of God and of the neighbor, mil-

lions of souls have reached, are reaching and shall reach peace.

History, wisely called by a great Roman “The Teacher of Life,”

has proved for close on two thousand years how true is the word

of Scripture that he will not have peace who resists God.^® For

Christ alone is the “Corner Stone” on which man and society

can find stability and salvation.

96. On this Corner Stone the Church is built, and hence

against her the adversary can never prevail: “The gates of hell

shall not prevail,” nor can they ever weaken her; nay, rather,

internal and external struggles tend to augment the force and

multiply the laurels of her glorious victories.

97. On the other hand, any other building which has not been

founded solidly on the teaching of Christ rests on shifting sands

and is destined to perish miserably.®^

Hour of Darkness

98. Venerable Brethren, the hour when this Our first Encyclical

reaches you is in many respects a real “Hour of Darkness,”®^ in

which the spirit of violence and of discord brings indescribable suf-

fering on mankind. Do We need to give assurance that Our pater-
nal heart is close to all Our children in compassionate love, and

especially to the afflicted, the oppressed, the persecuted? The na-

tions swept into the tragic whirlpool of war are perhaps as yet only

at the “beginnings of sorrows,”®^ but even now there reigns in thou-

sands of families death and desolation, lamentation and misery.

The blood of countless human beings, even noncombatants, raises a

piteous dirge over a nation such as Our dear Poland, which, for

its fidelity to the Church, for its services in the defense of Chris-

tian civilization, written in indelible characters in the annals of

history, has a right to the generous and brotherly sympathy of

the whole world, while it awaits, relying on the powerful inter-

cession of Mary, Help of Christians, the hour of a resurrection in

harmony with the principles of justice and true peace.

46 St. Luke ii. 14. 47 St. John xiv. 27.
48 Cf. Job ix. 4. 49 Ephesians ii. 20.
50 St. Matthew xvi. 18. 5i Cf. St. Matthew vii. 26, 27
62 Cf. St. Luke xiii. S3. 53 St. Matthew xxiv. 8.

[ 27 ]



Peace Appeals Disregarded

99. What has already happened and is still happening, was

presented, as it were, in a vision before Our eyes when, while

still some hope was left. We left nothing undone in the form
suggested to Us by Our Apostolic office and by the means at Our

disposal, to prevent recourse to arms and to keep open the way to

an understanding honorable to both parties. Convinced that the

use of force on one side would be answered by recourse to arms

on the other. We considered it a duty inseparable from Our
Apostolic office and of Christian Charity to try every means to

spare mankind and Christianity the horrors of a world conflagra-

tion, even at the risk of having Our intentions and Our aims mis-

understood. Our advice, if heard with respect, was not, however,

followed, and while Our pastoral heart looks on with sorrow and

foreboding, the Image of the Good Shepherd comes up before

Our gaze, and it seems as though We ought to repeat to the world
in His name: ^^If thou . . . hadst known . . . the things that are

to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes.”

Christ Near in the Hour of Trial

100. In the midst of this world which today presents such a

sharp contrast to “The Peace of Christ in the Reign of Christ,”

the Church and her faithful are in times and in years of trial

such as have rarely been known in her history of struggle and

suffering. But in such times especially, he who remains firm in

his faith and strong at heart knows that Christ the King is never

so near as in the hour of trial, which is the hour for fidelity. With

a heart torn by the sufferings and afflictions of so many of her

sons, but with the courage and the stability that come from the

promises of Our Lord, the Spouse of Christ goes to meet the

gathering storms. This she knows, that the truth which she

preaches, the charity which she teaches and practices, will be the

indispensable counsellors and aids to men of good will in the re-

construction of a new world based on justice and love, when

mankind, weary from its course along the way of error, has tasted

the bitter fruits of hate and violence.

101. In the meantime, however, Venerable Brethren, the

world and all those who are stricken by the calamity of the war

must know that the obligation of Christian love, the very founda-

tion of the Kingdom of Christ, is not an empty word, but a living

reality. A vast field opens up for Christian Charity in all its
forms. We have full confidence that all Our sons, especially
those who are not being tried by the scourge of war, will be mind-

ful in imitation of the Divine Samaritan, of all these who, as vic-

tims of the war, have a right to compassion and help.

54 St. Luke xix 42

[ 28 ]



Church Awaits Hand of Christ the King

102. The ^‘Catholic Church, the City of God, whose King is

Truth, whose law love and whose measure eternity,” preaching

fearlessly the whole truth of Christ and toiling as the love of

Christ demands with the zeal of a mother, stands as a blessed

vision of peace above the storm of error and passion awaiting

the moment when the all-powerful Hand of Christ the King shall

quiet the tempest and banish the spirits of discord which have

provoked it.

103. Whatever We can do to hasten the day when the dove
of peace may find on this earth, submerged in a deluge of discord,

somewhere to alight. We shall continue to do, trusting in those
statesmen, who before the outbreak of war, nobly toiled to avert

such a scourge from the peoples; trusting in the millions of souls

of all countries and of every sphere, who call not for justice alone

but for love and mercy; above all, trusting in God Almighty to

Whom We daily address the prayer: “In the shadow of thy wings
will I hope, until iniquity pass away.”

104. God can do all things. As well as the happiness and the

fortunes of nations, He holds in His hands human counsels and

sweetly turns them in whatever direction He wills: even the

obstacles are for His Omnipotence means to mould affairs and

events and to direct minds and free wills to His all-high purposes.

United and Unceasing Prayer to the Prince of Peace

Our Surety

105. Pray then, Venerable Brethren, pray without ceasing;

pray especially when you offer the Divine Sacrifice of Love. Do

you, too, pray, you whose courageous profession of the faith en-

tails today hard, painful and not rarely, heroic sacrifices; pray

you, suffering and agonizing members of the Church; when Jesus

comes to console and to heal your pains, and do not forget with

the aid of a true spirit of mortification and worthy practice of

penance to make your prayers more acceptable in the eyes of Him
Who “lifteth up all that fall: and setteth up all 'that are cast
down” that He in His mercy may shorten the days of trial and
that thus the words of the Psalmist may be verified: “Then they
cried to the Lord in their affliction: and He delivered them out of
their distresses.”

106. And you, white legions of children who are so loved
and dear to Jesus, when you receive in Holy Communion the
Bread of Life, raise up your simple and innocent prayers and

unite them with those of the Universal Church. The Heart of

66 St. Augustine, Ep. CXXXVIII Ad Marcellinum, C. 3, N. 17.
6« Psalm Ivi. 2. 67 Psalm cxiv. 14. 68 Psalm cvi. 13.

[ 29 ]



Jesus, Who loves you, does not resist your suppliant innocence.
Pray every one, pray uninterruptedly: “Pray without ceasing.’’

107. In this way you will put into practice the sublime pre-

cept of the Divine Master, the most sacred testament of His

Heart, “That they all may be one” that all may live in that

unity of faith and of love, from which the world may know the

power and efficacy of Christ’s mission and of the work of His

Church.

108. The early Church understood and practiced this Divine

Precept, and expressed it in a magnificent prayer; do you asso-

ciate yourselves with those sentiments which answer so well to

the necessities of the present hour: “Remember, O Lord, Thy
Church, to free her from all evil and to perfect her in Thy love;

and sanctify and collect her from the four winds into Thy King-

dom, which Thou hast prepared for her, because Thine is the

power, and the glory forever.”

109. In the confidence that God, the Author and Lover of

Peace, will hear the supplications of the Church, We impart to
you all as a pledge of the abundance of Divine Grace, from the

fullness of Our paternal heart, the Apostolic Benediction.

110. Given at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, on the twentieth

day of October, in the year of Our Lord 1939, the first of Our

Pontificate. PIUS PP. XII.

69 1 Thessalonians v. 17. 60 St. John xvii. 21.

61 Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, C. 10.

DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

QUESTIONS

I

(Paragraphs 1 to 21)

What has Leo XIII’s consecration of mankind to the Sacred Heart of

Jesus meant to Pius XII personally?

To whom, and in what way is it a message?

Does the world of today need Christ the King?

What should we do about it? Whom may we hope to benefit?

What evidences and tokens of good will inspire the Holy Father with

gratitude, hope and confidence?

In what way have the Lateran pacts been productive of good?

What is the supreme duty of the Pope?

What facts prove the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of our times?

What is the sole way of salvation for mankind?

How may good come out of the evils and miseries of today?

[ 30 ]



II

(Paragraphs 22 to 46)

From what root do present-day evils grow?

From what seed has that root sprung?

To what has the rejection of Christ led?

Did modern deserters of Christ know what they were doing?

What remedy for healing the wounds of war does the world lack

today, which it had five hundred years ago?

What widespread error most gravely imperils peaceful relations between

races and nations today?

Why should there be a “brotherhood of man”?

Is this universal brotherhood compatible with the division of men into

races and nations? Does it forbid, prevent, or hamper the reasonable

development of any nation? What is the stand of the Church in this

regard ?

How has Pius XII shown adherence to the principle that all men, no
matter what their origin or speech, have equal rights in the house of God?

Does the Christian law of love for all men prohibit a special love for

one’s own country?

III

(Paragraphs 47 to 63)

What second grave error of the day is deadly to the welfare of nations

and of human society?

What happens when the State is made independent of God?

Can human laws which ignore God bind the consciences of men?

Can States which disdain God achieve lasting success?

What should be the guiding principles and the main objectives of the

State ?

By what standard is the “common good” to be determined?

What factors essential to true prosperity are particularly endangered

by undue exaltation of the State?

Why and how do States which set themselves above God give their
citizens a one-sided, warped and distorted education?

What may the State demand from its citizens in emergencies?

What standard must it observe and what rights must it respect at all
times?

Will it profit a State, or its people, to give its youth a training and

education which forgets or deliberately neglects man’s spiritual welfare, and

thereby leads to open or hidden apostasy from Christ and His Church?

IV

(Paragraphs 64 to 84)

Can a State whose rulers claim or exercise an unlimited authority be

counted on to live in amity and peace with other States?

What do the principles of international natural law demand of every
State and nation?

[ 31 ]



What is the indispensable condition of peaceful intercourse between

nations ?

Can international law survive, cut loose from Divine law?

What should be done when treaties between nations are unjust, im-

practicable, or too burdensome for one of the parties?

What will be the inevitable outcome of treating them as “scraps of

paper” ?

Can war, carried to complete victory, ensure a treaty of peace animated

by justice, equity, and good will?

On what foundations must new treaties be based if the new order
of the world is to be better and more secure than the old?

What is the chief source of the evils which afflict mankind at the

present time?

How is the sick world to be cured ? With what remedies and by whom ?

On w^iom is co-operation in that work incumbent?

May any of us be excused because the task is great, strenuous, and
calls for sacrifice?

How are the children of the Church rallying to the cause of Christ?

How may one merit the title: Minister to Christ?

Where is the rising generation most powerfully influenced?

What is the last stronghold of the Faith in a hostile world?

V

(Paragraphs 85 to 110)

How may the rulers of the world best avert calamity, and bring light,
order, justice and peace into social life?

Do Catholics stand alone in looking to the Church as the bulwark of

sanity and the one hope of humanity?

Are the rulers of the world justified in their jealousy and suspicion

of the Church?

Does she seek to usurp their rights, prerogatives, and authority?

Does she inculcate respect and obedience to them ?

What is her supreme aim? Can she fail? Can any other society,

political or religious, take her place and accomplish her work?

What should be our feelings toward the victims of the present war?

What might the Holy Father justly say to the warring world?

What should give us all courage and stability in these dark hours?

What duty is especially incumbent on us now?

How can we best aid the weary, suffering world?

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