MESSAGE FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE FOR 1 JANUARY 2003
In the Message, Pacem in Terris: A Permanent Commitment, John
Paul II observes the 40th anniversary of Bl. John XXIII's Letter on
peace published in 1963. At the time John XXIII gave a positive
message to a world that was in turmoil due to the Berlin Wall and the
Cuban missile crisis. Pope John XXIII stressed the four pillars: truth,
justice, love and freedom. John Paul II notes the expanded consciousness
of human dignity and human rights. He speaks of the universal common
good and a world order based on the bond between truth and peace. No
human activity takes place outside the sphere of moral judgment. World
leaders will be held accountable for their actions. The Pope calls for a
new constitutional organization of the human family to meet the
universal demand for participatory ways of exercising political
authority and for accountability at every level of public life. The Holy
Father called on world leaders to defuse the explosive situation in the
Middle East.
1. Almost forty years ago, on Holy Thursday, 11 April 1963, Pope John
XXIII published his epic Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris.
Addressing himself to "all men of good will", my Venerable
Predecessor, who would die just two months later, summed up his message
of "peace on earth" in the first sentence of the Encyclical:
"Peace on earth, which all men of every era have most eagerly
yearned for, can be firmly established and sustained only if the order
laid down by God be dutifully observed" (Introduction: AAS,
55 [1963], 257).
Speaking peace to a divided world
2. The world to which John XXIII wrote was then in a profound
state of disorder. The twentieth century had begun with great
expectations for progress. Yet within sixty years, that same century had
produced two World Wars, devastating totalitarian systems, untold human
suffering, and the greatest persecution of the Church in history.
Only two years before Pacem in Terris, in 1961, the
Berlin Wall had been erected in order to divide and set against each
other not only two parts of that City but two ways of understanding and
building the earthly city. On one side and the other of the Wall, life
was to follow different patterns, dictated by antithetical rules, in a
climate of mutual suspicion and mistrust. Both as a world-view and in
real life, that Wall traversed the whole of humanity and penetrated
people's hearts and minds, creating divisions that seemed destined to
last indefinitely.
Moreover, just six months before the Encyclical, and just as the
Second Vatican Council was opening in Rome, the world had come to the
brink of a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The road to a
world of peace, justice and freedom seemed blocked. Humanity, many
believed, was condemned to live indefinitely in that precarious
condition of "cold war", hoping against hope that neither an
act of aggression nor an accident would trigger the worst war in human
history. Available atomic arsenals meant that such a war would have
imperiled the very future of the human race.
The four pillars of peace
3. Pope John XXIII did not agree with those who claimed that
peace was impossible. With his Encyclical, peace—in all its
demanding truth—came knocking on both sides of the Wall and of all the
other dividing walls. The Encyclical spoke to everyone of their
belonging to the one human family, and shone a light on the shared
aspiration of people everywhere to live in security, justice and hope
for the future.
With the profound intuition that characterized him, John XXIII
identified the essential conditions for peace in four precise
requirements of the human spirit: truth, justice, love and freedom
(cf. ibid., I: l.c., 265-266). Truth will build
peace if every individual sincerely acknowledges not only his rights,
but also his own duties towards others. Justice will build
peace if in practice everyone respects the rights of others and actually
fulfils his duties towards them. Love will build peace if
people feel the needs of others as their own and share what they have
with others, especially the values of mind and spirit which they
possess. Freedom will build peace and make it thrive if,
in the choice of the means to that end, people act according to reason
and assume responsibility for their own actions.
Looking at the present and into the future with the eyes of faith and
reason, Blessed John XXIII discerned deeper historical currents at work.
Things were not always what they seemed on the surface. Despite wars and
rumours of wars, something more was at work in human affairs, something
that to the Pope looked like the promising beginning of a spiritual
revolution.
A new awareness of human dignity and inalienable human rights
4. Humanity, John XXIII wrote, had entered a new stage of its journey
(cf. ibid., I: l.c., 267-269). The end of
colonialism and the rise of newly independent States, the protection of
workers' rights, the new and welcome presence of women in public life,
all testified to the fact that the human race was indeed entering a new
phase of its history, one characterized by "the conviction that
all men are equal by reason of their natural dignity" (ibid.,
I: l.c., 268). The Pope knew that that dignity was
still being trampled upon in many parts of the world. Yet he was
convinced that, despite the dramatic situation, the world was becoming
increasingly conscious of certain spiritual values, and
increasingly open to the meaning of those pillars of peace—truth,
justice, love, and freedom (cf. ibid., I: l.c.,
268-269). Seeking to bring these values into local, national and
international life, men and women were becoming more aware that their
relationship with God, the source of all good, must be the solid
foundation and supreme criterion of their lives, as individuals and in
society (cf. ibid.). This evolving spiritual intuition
would, the Pope was convinced, have profound public and political
consequences.
Seeing the growth of awareness of human rights that was then emerging
within nations and at the international level, Pope John XXIII caught
the potential of this phenomenon and understood its singular power
to change history. What was later to happen in central and eastern
Europe would confirm his insight. The road to peace, he taught in the
Encyclical, lay in the defence and promotion of basic human rights,
which every human being enjoys, not as a benefit given by a different
social class or conceded by the State but simply because of our
humanity: "Any human society, if it is to be well-ordered and
productive, must lay down as a foundation this principle, namely, that
every human being is a person, that is, his nature is endowed with
intelligence and free will. Indeed, precisely because he is a person he
has rights and obligations, flowing directly and simultaneously from his
very nature. And as these rights and obligations are universal and
inviolable so they cannot in any way be surrendered" (ibid.,
259).
As history would soon show, this was not simply an abstract idea; it
was an idea with profound consequences. Inspired by the conviction that
every human being is equal in dignity, and that society therefore had to
adapt its form to that conviction, human rights movements soon
arose and gave concrete political expression to one of the great
dynamics of contemporary history: the quest for freedom as an
indispensable component of work for peace. Emerging in virtually every
part of the world, these movements were instrumental in replacing
dictatorial forms of government with more democratic and participatory
ones. They demonstrated in practice that peace and progress could only
be achieved by respecting the universal moral law written on the
human heart (cf. John Paul II, Address to the United Nations
General Assembly, 5 October 1995, n. 3).
The universal common good
5. On another point too Pacem in Terris showed itself
prophetic, as it looked to the next phase of the evolution of world
politics. Because the world was becoming increasingly interdependent and
global, the common good of humanity had to be worked out on the
international plane. It was proper, Pope John XXIII taught, to speak of
a "universal common good" (Pacem in Terris, IV:
I.c., 292). One of the consequences of this evolution was the
obvious need for a public authority, on the international level,
with effective capacity to advance the universal common good; an
authority which could not, the Pope immediately continued, be
established by coercion but only by the consent of nations. Such a body
would have to have as its fundamental objective the "recognition,
respect, safeguarding, and promotion of the rights of the human
person" (ibid., IV: I.e., 294).
Not surprisingly therefore John XXIII looked with hope and
expectation to the United Nations Organization, which had come into
being on 26 June 1945. He saw that Organization as a
credible instrument for maintaining and strengthening world peace, and
he expressed particular appreciation of its 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which he considered "an
approximation towards the establishment of a juridical and political
organization of the world community" (ibid., IV:
I.c., 295). What he was saying in fact was that the Declaration
set out the moral foundations on which the evolution of a world
characterized by order rather than disorder, and by dialogue rather than
force, could proceed. He was suggesting that the vigorous defence of
human rights by the United Nations Organization is the indispensable
foundation for the development of that Organization's capacity to
promote and defend international security.
Not only is it clear that Pope John XXIII's vision of an effective
international public authority at the service of human rights, freedom
and peace has not yet been entirely achieved, but there is still in fact
much hesitation in the international community about the obligation to
respect and implement human rights. This duty touches all fundamental
rights, excluding that arbitrary picking and choosing which can lead to
rationalizing forms of discrimination and injustice. Likewise, we are
witnessing the emergence of an alarming gap between a series of new
"rights" being promoted in advanced societies—the result of
new prosperity and new technologies—and other more basic human rights
still not being met, especially in situations of underdevelopment. I am
thinking here for example about the right to food and drinkable water,
to housing and security, to self-determination and independence—which
are still far from being guaranteed and realized. Peace demands that
this tension be speedily reduced and in time eliminated.
Another observation needs to be made: the international community,
which since 1948 has possessed a charter of the inalienable rights of
the human person, has generally failed to insist sufficiently on
corresponding duties. It is duty that establishes the limits
within which rights must be contained in order not to become an
exercise in arbitrariness. A greater awareness of universal human
duties would greatly benefit the cause of peace, setting it on the
moral basis of a shared recognition of an order in things which
is not dependent on the will of any individual or group.
A new international moral order
6. Nevertheless it remains true that, despite many
difficulties and setbacks, significant progress has been made over
the past forty years towards the implementation of Pope John's noble
vision. The fact that States throughout the world feel obliged to honour
the idea of human rights shows how powerful are the tools of moral
conviction and spiritual integrity, which proved so decisive in the
revolution of conscience that made possible the 1989 non-violent
revolution that displaced European communism. And although distorted
notions of freedom as licence continue to threaten democracy and free
societies, it is surely significant that, in the forty years since Pacem
in Terris, much of the world has become more free, structures
of dialogue and cooperation between nations have been strengthened, and
the threat of a global nuclear war, which weighed so heavily on Pope
John XXIII, has been effectively contained.
Boldly, but with all humility, I would like to suggest that the
Church's fifteen-hundred-year-old teaching on peace as "tranquillitas
ordinis—the tranquillity of order" as Saint Augustine
called it (De Civitate Dei, 19, 13), which was brought to
a new level of development forty years ago by Pacem in Terris,
has a deep relevance for the world today, for the leaders of nations as
well as for individuals. That there is serious disorder in world affairs
is obvious. Thus the question to be faced remains: What kind of order
can replace this disorder, so that men and women can live in
freedom, justice, and security? And since the world, amid its disorder,
continues nevertheless to be "ordered" and organized in
various ways—economic, cultural, even political—there arises another
equally urgent question: On what principles are these new forms of world
order unfolding?
These far-reaching questions suggest that the problem of order in
world affairs, which is the problem of peace rightly understood, cannot
be separated from issues of moral principle. This is another way of
saying that the question of peace cannot be separated from the question
of human dignity and human rights. That is one of the enduring truths
taught by Pacem in Terris, which we would do well to
remember and reflect upon on this fortieth anniversary.
Is this not the time for all to work together for a new
constitutional organization of the human family, truly
capable of ensuring peace and harmony between peoples, as well as their
integral development? But let there be no misunderstanding. This does
not mean writing the constitution of a global super-State. Rather, it
means continuing and deepening processes already in place to meet the
almost universal demand for participatory ways of exercising
political authority, even international political authority, and for
transparency and accountability at every level of public life. With
his confidence in the goodness he believed could be found in every human
person, Pope John XXIII called the entire world to a nobler vision of
public life and public authority, even as he boldly challenged the world
to think beyond its present state of disorder to new forms of
international order commensurate with human dignity.
The bond between peace and truth
7. Against those who think of politics as a realm of necessity
detached from morality and subject only to partisan interests, Pope John
XXIII, in Pacem in Terris, outlined a truer picture
of human reality and indicated the path to a better future for all.
Precisely because human beings are created with the capacity for moral
choice, no human activity takes place outside the sphere of moral
judgment. Politics is a human activity; therefore, it too is subject
to a distinctive form of moral scrutiny. This is also true of
international politics. As the Pope wrote: "The same natural law
that governs the life and conduct of individuals must also regulate the
relations of political communities with one another" (Pacem in
Terris, III: I.c., 279). Those who imagine that
international public life takes place somewhere outside the realm of
moral judgment need only reflect on the impact of human rights
movements on the national and international politics of the
twentieth century just concluded. These developments, anticipated by the
teaching of the Encyclical, decisively refute the claim that
international politics must of necessity be a "free zone" in
which the moral law holds no sway.
Perhaps nowhere today is there a more obvious need for the correct
use of political authority than in the dramatic situation of the
Middle East and the Holy Land. Day after day, year after year, the
cumulative effect of bitter mutual rejection and an unending chain of
violence and retaliation have shattered every effort so far to engage in
serious dialogue on the real issues involved. The volatility of the
situation is compounded by the clash of interests among the members of
the international community. Until those in positions of responsibility
undergo a veritable revolution in the way they use their power and go
about securing their peoples' welfare, it is difficult to imagine how
progress towards peace can be made. The fratricidal struggle that daily
convulses the Holy Land and brings into conflict the forces shaping the
immediate future of the Middle East shows clearly the need for men and
women who, out of conviction, will implement policies firmly based on
the principle of respect for human dignity and human rights. Such
policies are incomparably more advantageous to everyone than the
continuation of conflict. A start can be made on the basis of this
truth, which is certainly more liberating than propaganda, especially
when that propaganda serves to conceal inadmissible intentions.
The premises of a lasting peace
8. There is an unbreakable bond between the work of peace and respect
for truth. Honesty in the supply of information, equity in
legal systems, openness in democratic procedures give citizens a sense
of security, a readiness to settle controversies by peaceful means, and
a desire for genuine and constructive dialogue, all of which constitute the
true premises of a lasting peace. Political summits on the regional
and international levels serve the cause of peace only if joint
commitments are then honoured by each party. Otherwise these meetings
risk becoming irrelevant and useless, with the result that people
believe less and less in dialogue and trust more in the use of force as
a way of resolving issues. The negative repercussions on peace resulting
from commitments made and then not honoured must be carefully assessed
by State and government leaders.
Pacta sunt servanda, says the ancient maxim. If at all
times commitments ought to be kept, promises made to the poor should
be considered particularly binding. Especially frustrating for them is
any breach of faith regarding promises which they see as vital to their
well-being. In this respect, the failure to keep commitments in the
sphere of aid to developing nations is a serious moral question and
further highlights the injustice of the imbalances existing in the
world. The suffering caused by poverty is compounded by the loss of
trust. The end result is hopelessness. The existence of trust in
international relations is a social capital of fundamental value.
A culture of peace
9. In the end, peace is not essentially about structures but
about people. Certain structures and mechanisms of peace—juridical,
political, economic—are of course necessary and do exist, but they
have been derived from nothing other than the accumulated wisdom and
experience of innumerable gestures of peace made by men and women
throughout history who have kept hope and have not given in to
discouragement. Gestures of peace spring from the lives of people
who foster peace first of all in their own hearts. They are the
work of the heart and of reason in those who are peacemakers (cf. Mt
5,9). Gestures of peace are possible when people appreciate
fully the community dimension of their lives, so that they
grasp the meaning and consequences of events in their own communities
and in the world. Gestures of peace create a tradition and a
culture of peace.
Religion has a vital role in fostering gestures of peace and in
consolidating conditions for peace. It exercises this role all the
more effectively if it concentrates on what is proper to it: attention
to God, the fostering of universal brotherhood and the spreading of a
culture of human solidarity. The Day of Prayer for Peace which I
promoted in Assisi on 24 January 2002, involving representatives of many
religions, had this purpose. It expressed a desire to nurture peace by
spreading a spirituality and a culture of peace.
The legacy of 'Pacem in Terris'
10. Blessed Pope John XXIII was a man unafraid of the future.
He was sustained in his optimism by his deep trust in God and in man,
both of which grew out of the sturdy climate of faith in which he had
grown up. Moved by his trust in Providence, even in what seemed like a
permanent situation of conflict, he did not hesitate to summon the
leaders of his time to a new vision of the world. This is the legacy
that he left us. On this World Day of Peace 2003 let us all resolve to
have his same outlook: trust in the merciful and compassionate God who
calls us to brotherhood, and confidence in the men and women of our time
because, like those of every other time, they bear the image of God in
their souls. It is on this basis that we can hope to build a world of
peace on earth.
At the beginning of a new year in our human history, this is the hope
that rises spontaneously from the depths of my heart: that in the spirit
of every individual there may be a renewed dedication to the noble
mission which Pacem in Terris proposed forty years ago to all men
and women of good will. The task, which the Encyclical called
"immense", is that "of establishing new relationships in
human society, under the sway and guidance of truth, justice, love, and
freedom". Pope John indicated that he was referring to
"relations between individual citizens, between citizens and their
respective States, between States, and finally between individuals,
families, intermediate associations and States on the one hand, and the
world community on the other". He concluded by saying that "to
bring about true peace in accordance with divinely established
order" was a "most noble task" (Pacem in Terris,
V: l.c., 301-302).
The fortieth anniversary of Pacem in Terris is an apt
occasion to return to Pope John XXIII's prophetic teaching. Catholic
communities will know how to celebrate this anniversary during the year
with initiatives which, I hope, will have an ecumenical and
interreligious character and be open to all those who have a heartfelt
desire "to break through the barriers which divide them, to
strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to learn to understand one another
and to pardon those who have done them wrong" (l.c., 304).
I accompany this hope with a prayer to Almighty God, the source of
all our good. May he who calls us from oppression and conflict to
freedom and cooperation for the good of all help people everywhere to
build a world of peace ever more solidly established on the four pillars
indicated by Blessed Pope John XXIII in his historic Encyclical: truth,
justice, love, freedom.
From the Vatican, 8 December 2002.
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