The Christian desire for peace is practical and realistic. Its immediate goal is to remove or to at least reduce the causes of tension which materially and morally aggravate the danger of war. These causes are, among others, especially the relative limitedness of the national territory and the scarcity of resources.
Therefore, instead of sending with great expenses food to the displaced populations, why not ease the emigration and immigration of families, directing it to the regions where they will more readily find the sustenance which they need? And instead of restricting production, often without just reasons, why not leave to the people the possibility of producing according to their normal productivity, and in such a way as to earn the daily bread as a product of their activity, rather than receiving it as a gift? Finally, instead of lifting up barriers to prevent the reciprocal access to goods, why not render its use and trade free from all unnecessary bonds, especially those which create a harmful inequality of economic conditions?
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The faithfulness of the Catholic Christian to the divine patrimony of truth, left by Christ to the Magisterium of the Church, does not condemn him in any way -- as not a few believe or seem to believe -- to a timid doubt or to a cold indifference regarding the grave and urgent duties of the present hour.
On the contrary, the spirit and the example of the Lord, who came to find and to save what had been lost; the precept of love and, in general, the social sense which irradiates from the Gospel; the History of the Church, which shows how she has always been the most firm and constant support of all forces for good and peace; the teachings and exhortations of the Roman Pontiffs, especially in the past few decades, on the conduct of Christians towards their neighbors, society, and the State -- all of which proclaim the obligation of the believer to concern himself, according to his position and possibilities, with disinterest and courage, with the matters which an afflicted and agitated world must solve in the field of social justice, not less than in the international order of law and of peace.
An earnest Christian cannot confine himself to a comfortable or egotistic "isolationism", when he is a witness to the needs and miseries of his brethren; when the cries for help from the economically weak reach him; when he knows the aspirations of workers for more normal and fairer living conditions; when he becomes aware of the abuses of an economic system which places money above social obligations; when he does not ignore the deviations of an uncompromising nationalism, which denies or violates the solidarity among the various peoples, a solidarity which demands from each one multiple duties towards the great family of Nations.
Pius XII
Radio Message «Gravi ed ad un tempo»
December 24, 1948
Radio Message «Gravi ed ad un tempo»
December 24, 1948
