Reflection
Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) is a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII. It is one of the most famous of 20th century encyclicals and established principles that underpin some of the documents of the Second Vatican Council and of later popes. It was the last encyclical drafted by John XXIII, who died two months after its completion. In the encyclical, four clear principles are enumerated as criteria for the proper establishment of a humane peaceful order in the world. They are: Freedom, Justice, Faith, and Solidarity.
“Human society… demands that men be guided by justice, respect the rights of others and do their duty. It demands too that they be animated by such love as will make them feel the needs of others as their own, and induce them to share their goods with others, and to strive in the world to make all men alike heirs to the noblest of intellectual and spiritual values. Nor is this enough; for human society thrives on freedom, namely, on the use of means which are consistent with the dignity of its individual members, who, being endowed with reason, assume responsibility for their own actions.
Pacem in Terris
Prayer
Let there be peace on earth.
Action
How can we support a public morality that respects freedom without perverting into license? How can we support social and interpersonal justice? How can we support and establish habits of solidarity?
Find some time to read sections of Pacem in Terris.
Suggested Reading
Selections from Pacem in Terris.
Peace is but an empty word, if it does not rest upon that order…that is founded on truth, built up on justice, nurtured and animated by charity and brought into effect under the auspices of freedom…. Human resources alone, even though inspired by the most praiseworthy good will, cannot hope to achieve it. God himself must come to our aid…
Truth calls for the elimination of every trace of racial discrimination.
The best interests of justice are served by those public authorities who do all they can to improve human conditions of the members of minority groups obliged to live within the territories of a nation of different ethnic origin, especially in what concerns their language, culture, ancient traditions, and their economic activity and enterprise.
Before a society can be considered well-ordered, creative, and consonant with human dignity, it must be based on truth. St. Paul expresses this as follows: Putting away lying, speak the truth every man with his neighbour, for we are members of one another.
And yet there is a disunity among individuals and among nations which is in striking contrast to this perfect order of the universe. One would think that the relationships that bind men together could only be governed by force. But the world’s Creator has stamped man’s inmost being with an order revealed to man by his conscience; and his conscience insists on his preserving it.
There are many parts of the world where we find groupings of people of more or less different ethnic origin. Nothing must be allowed to prevent reciprocal relations between them.
Pope John XXiii