UBI ARCANO DEI CONSILIO
(On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ)
Pope Pius XI
Encyclical promulgated on 23 December
1922
To our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries in
Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
1. From the very hour when in the inscrutable
designs of God, We though unworthy, were elevated
to this Chair of Truth and Love, We earnestly
desired to address a heartfelt message to you,
Venerable Brothers, and to all Our beloved children
who are under your immediate direction and care.
This Our desire found its inspiration in the
solemn benediction—Urbi et Orbi—which
We gave to an immense multitude from the balcony
of the Vatican Basilica following Our election
to the Supreme Pontificate. This blessing of
Ours was received with every manifestation of
joy and gratitude by you, by people from every
part of the world, and by the Sacred College
of Cardinals. This fact was for Us a most comforting
assurance, added to that other which comes from
Our trust in the divine assistance, in preparing
Us to take up the tremendous office which quite
unexpectedly We have been called upon to assume.
2. We, therefore, write to you now,
"our mouth is open to you" (II Cor.
vi, 11) as the birthday of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and the New Year approach, and wish this letter
to be not only a message of glad greetings but
a Christmas gift as well from a father to his
loving children.
3. Many reasons prevented Us up to this
time from fulfilling Our wish to write. In the
first place, there was what one might call a
contest of filial devotion by reason of which
there came to us in letters without number the
good wishes of Our brothers and children from
every quarter of the globe, messages which bespoke
a welcome to the newly elected Successor of
St. Peter and offered him the well-wishes born
of a devoted homage.
4. Following close upon these messages
We were called upon to experience personally
and for the first time what St. Paul has called
"my daily instance, the solicitude for
all the churches." (II Cor. xi, 28) To
Our everyday duties there were added many extraordinary
ones, as for example, those most important affairs
already well advanced towards a solution before
Our election and which We had to rush to completion,
which had to do with the Holy Places, which
affected the welfare of Christianity itself,
or the status of dioceses numbered among the
most important of the Catholic world. Then there
were to be considered international meetings
and treaties which deeply influenced the future
of whole peoples and of nations. Faithful to
the ministry of peace and reconciliation which
has been confided to Our care by God, We strove
to make known far and wide the law of justice,
tempered always by charity, and to obtain merited
consideration for those values and interests
which, because they are spiritual, are none
the less grave and important. As a matter of
fact, they are much more serious and important
than any merely material thing whatsoever. We
were occupied, too, with the almost unbelievable
sufferings of those peoples, living in districts
far remote from Us, who had been stricken with
famine and every kind of calamity. We hastened
to send them all the help which Our own straitened
circumstances permitted, and did not fail to
call upon the whole world to assist Us in this
task. Finally, there did not escape Us those
uprisings accompanied by acts of violence which
had broken out in the very midst of Our own
beloved people, here where We were born, here
where the hand of Divine Providence has set
down the Chair of St. Peter. For a time these
troubles seemed to threaten the very future
of Our country, nor could We rest until We had
done everything within Our power to quiet such
serious disorders.
There were, on the other hand, certain extraordinary
events which filled Our soul with joy. Such
were, for example, the Twenty-Sixth International
Eucharistic Congress and the Three Hundredth
Anniversary of the establishment of the Sacred
Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith.
These celebrations brought to Us such inexpressible
consolation and such great spiritual joy that
We never imagined such a thing possible at the
very outset of Our Pontificate. We also saw
at that time practically all the members of
the hundreds of bishops who had come to Rome
from every part of the world. Under normal circumstances
it would have taken several years to interview
a like number of bishops. We gave audience also
to many thousands of the faithful and blessed
with Our fatherly blessing large and dignified
representations of that immense family "from
every tribe, tongue, people, and nation"
as we read in the Book of the Apocalypse, (v,
9) which God has confided to Us. Together with
them We were privileged to assist at spectacles
which were little short of divine, for We witnessed
Our Blessed Redeemer reassume His rightful place
as King of all men, of all states, and of all
nations when, though hidden behind the veils
of the Eucharistic species, He was carried in
a magnificent and truly royal triumph of faith
through the streets of Our own city, Rome, accompanied
by an immense concourse of people representing
every nation on earth. We beheld, too, the Holy
Spirit, as it were, descend into the hearts
of both priests and faithful as He did on the
first Pentecost Sunday, to rekindle in them
the spirit of prayer and of the apostolate.
We were overjoyed to behold the fervent faith
of the inhabitants of Rome proclaimed once again
to the world, to the great glory of God and
to the edification of souls.
5. The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of
God and Our own dear Mother, who had most lovingly
looked down on us at the Sanctuaries of Czestochowa
and of Ostrabrama as well as at the miraculous
grotto of Lourdes and from the lofty spires
of Our own city of Milan, to say nothing of
that most holy Sanctuary of the Rho, deigned
to accept the homage of Our love on the occasion
when We gave back to the Venerable Basilica
of Loreto, which had been restored after the
serious damage caused to it by fire, her beautiful
statue which had been not only done over at
Our behest but had been blessed and crowned
as well by Our own hands. That occasion was
without question a veritable triumph for Mary.
During the passage of her statue from Rome to
Loreto, the faithful of each town rivaled one
another in acclaiming her by a spontaneous and
continuous outburst of profoundly religious
sentiment, which showed forth a most tender
affection for Our Blessed Lady, as well as a
devoted attachment to the Vicar of Jesus Christ.
6. These different events, some sad
and some joyful, the history of which We wish
to record for the edification of posterity,
spoke most eloquently to Us, making more and
more clear to Our mind those objectives which
seem to claim the foremost place in Our Apostolic
Ministry and of which it behooves Us to speak
now in as solemn a manner as possible in this,
Our very first message to you.
7. One thing is certain today. Since
the close of the Great War individuals, the
different classes of society, the nations of
the earth have not as yet found true peace.
They do not enjoy, therefore, that active and
fruitful tranquillity which is the aspiration
and the need of mankind. This is a sad truth
which forces itself upon us from every side.
For anyone who, as We do, desires profoundly
to study and successfully to apply the means
necessary to overcome such evils, it is all-important
that he recognize both the fact and the gravity
of this state of affairs and attempt beforehand
to discover its causes. This duty is imposed
upon Us in commanding fashion by the very consciousness
which We have of Our Apostolic Office. We cannot
but resolve to fulfill that which is so clearly
Our duty. This We shall do now by this Our first
encyclical, and afterward with all solicitude
in the course of Our sacred ministry.
8. Since the selfsame sad conditions
continue to exist in the world today which were
the object of constant and almost heartbreaking
preoccupation on the part of Our respected Predecessor,
Benedict XV, during the whole period of his
pontificate, naturally We have come to make
his thoughts and his solutions of these problems
Our own. May they become, too, the thoughts
and ideals of everyone, as they are Our thoughts,
and if this should happen we would certainly
see, with the help of God and the co-operation
of all men of good will, the most wonderful
effects come to pass by a true and lasting reconciliation
of men one with another.
9. The inspired words of the Prophets
seem to have been written expressly for our
own times: "We looked for peace and no
good came: for a time of healing, and behold
fear," (Jer. viii, 15) "for the time
of healing, and behold trouble." (Jer.
xiv, 19) "We looked for light, and behold
darkness . . . we have looked for judgment,
and there is none: for salvation, and it is
far from us." (Isaias lix, 9, 11)
10. The belligerents of yesterday have
laid down their arms but on the heels of this
act we encounter new horrors and new threats
of war in the Near East. The conditions in many
sections of these devastated regions have been
greatly aggravated by famine, epidemics, and
the laying waste of the land, all of which have
not failed to take their toll of victims without
number, especially among the aged, women and
innocent children. In what has been so justly
called the immense theater of the World War,
the old rivalries between nations have not ceased
to exert their influence, rivalries at times
hidden under the manipulations of politics or
concealed beneath the fluctuations of finance,
but openly appearing in the press, in reviews
and magazines of every type, and even penetrating
into institutions devoted to the cultivation
of the arts and sciences, spots where otherwise
the atmosphere of quiet and peace would reign
supreme.
11. Public life is so enveloped, even
at the present hour, by the dense fog of mutual
hatreds and grievances that it is almost impossible
for the common people so much as freely to breathe
therein. If the defeated nations continue to
suffer most terribly, no less serious are the
evils which afflict their conquerors. Small
nations complain that they are being oppressed
and exploited by great nations. The great powers,
on their side, contend that they are being judged
wrongly and circumvented by the smaller. All
nations, great and small, suffer acutely from
the sad effects of the late War. Neither can
those nations which were neutral contend that
they have escaped altogether the tremendous
sufferings of the War or failed to experience
its evil results almost equally with the actual
belligerents. These evil results grow in volume
from day to day because of the utter impossibility
of finding anything like a safe remedy to cure
the ills of society, and this in spite of all
the efforts of politicians and statesmen whose
work has come to naught if it has not unfortunately
tended to aggravate the very evils they tried
to overcome. Conditions have become increasingly
worse because the fears of the people are being
constantly played upon by the ever-present menace
of new wars, likely to be more frightful and
destructive than any which have preceded them.
Whence it is that the nations of today live
in a state of armed peace which is scarcely
better than war itself, a condition which tends
to exhaust national finances, to waste the flower
of youth, to muddy and poison the very fountainheads
of life, physical, intellectual, religious,
and moral.
12. A much more serious and lamentable
evil than these threats of external aggression
is the internal discord which menaces the welfare
not only of nations but of human society itself.
In the first place, we must take cognizance
of the war between the classes, a chronic and
mortal disease of present-day society, which
like a cancer is eating away the vital forces
of the social fabric, labor, industry, the arts,
commerce, agriculture—everything in fact
which contributes to public and private welfare
and to national prosperity. This conflict seems
to resist every solution and grows worse because
those who are never satisfied with the amount
of their wealth contend with those who hold
on most tenaciously to the riches which they
have already acquired, while to both classes
there is common the desire to rule the other
and to assume control of the other's possessions.
From this class war there result frequent interruptions
of work, the causes for which most often can
be laid to mutual provocations. There result,
too, revolutions, riots, and forcible repression
of one side or other by the government, all
of which cannot but end in general discontent
and in grave damage to the common welfare.
To these evils we must add the contests between
political parties, many of which struggles do
not originate in a real difference of opinion
concerning the public good or in a laudable
and disinterested search for what would best
promote the common welfare, but in the desire
for power and for the protection of some private
interest which inevitably result in injury to
the citizens as a whole. From this course there
often arise robberies of what belongs rightly
to the people, and even conspiracies against
and attacks on the supreme authority of the
state, as well as on its representatives. These
political struggles also beget threats of popular
action and, at times, eventuate in open rebellion
and other disorders which are all the more deplorable
and harmful since they come from a public to
whom it has been given, in our modern democratic
states, to participate in very large measure
in public life and in the affairs of government.
Now, these different forms of government are
not of themselves contrary to the principles
of the Catholic Faith, which can easily be reconciled
with any reasonable and just system of government.
Such governments, however, are the most exposed
to the danger of being overthrown by one faction
or another.
13. It is most sad to see how this revolutionary
spirit has penetrated into that sanctuary of
peace and love, the family, the original nucleus
of human society. In the family these evil seeds
of dissension, which were sown long ago, have
recently been spread about more and more by
the fact of the absence of fathers and sons
from the family fireside during the War and
by the greatly increased freedom in matters
of morality which followed on it as one of its
effects. Frequently we behold sons alienated
from their fathers, brothers quarreling with
brothers, masters with servants, servants with
masters. Too often likewise have we seen both
the sanctity of the marriage tie and the duties
to God and to humankind, which this tie imposes
upon men, forgotten.
14. Just as the smallest part of the
body feels the effect of an illness which is
ravaging the whole body or one of its vital
organs, so the evils now besetting society and
the family afflict even individuals. In particular,
We cannot but lament the morbid restlessness
which has spread among people of every age and
condition in life, the general spirit of insubordination
and the refusal to live up to one's obligations
which has become so widespread as almost to
appear the customary mode of living. We lament,
too, the destruction of purity among women and
young girls as is evidenced by the increasing
immodesty of their dress and conversation and
by their participation in shameful dances, which
sins are made the more heinous by the vaunting
in the faces of people less fortunate than themselves
their luxurious mode of life. Finally, We cannot
but grieve over the great increase in the number
of what might be called social misfits who almost
inevitably end by joining the ranks of those
malcontents who continually agitate against
all order, be it public or private.
15. It is surprising, then, that we
should no longer possess that security of life
in which we can place our trust and that there
remains only the most terrible uncertainty,
and from hour to hour added fears for the future?
Instead of regular daily work there is idleness
and unemployment. That blessed tranquillity
which is the effect of an orderly existence
and in which the essence of peace is to be found
no longer exists, and, in its place, the restless
spirit of revolt reigns. As a consequence industry
suffers, commerce is crippled, the cultivation
of literature and the arts becomes more and
more difficult, and what is worse than all,
Christian civilization itself is irreparably
damaged thereby. In the face of our much praised
progress, we behold with sorrow society lapsing
back slowly but surely into a state of barbarism.
16. We wish to record, in addition to
the evils already mentioned, other evils which
beset society and which occupy a place of prime
importance but whose very existence escapes
the ordinary observer, the sensual man—he
who, as the Apostle says, does not perceive
"the things that are of the Spirit of God"
(I Cor. ii, 14), yet which cannot but be judged
the greatest and most destructive scourges of
the social order of today. We refer specifically
to those evils which transcend the material
or natural sphere and lie within the supernatural
and religious order properly so-called; in other
words, those evils which affect the spiritual
life of souls. These evils are all the more
to be deplored since they injure souls whose
value is infinitely greater than that of any
merely material object.
17. Over and above the laxity in the
performance of Christian duties which is so
widespread, We cannot but sorrow with you, Venerable
Brothers, over the fact that very many churches,
which during the War had been turned to profane
uses, have not yet been restored to their original
purpose as temples of prayer and of divine worship;
moreover, that many seminaries whose existence
is vital for the preparation and formation of
worthy leaders and teachers of the religious
life have not yet been reopened; that the ranks
of the clergy in almost every country have been
decimated, either because so many priests have
died on the battlefield in the exercise of their
sacred ministry or have been lost to the Church
because they proved faithless to their holy
vocation, due to the unfavorable conditions
under which they were compelled to live for
so long; and, finally, that in many places even
the preaching of the Word of God, so necessary
and so fruitful for "the edifying of the
body of Christ" (Ephesians iv, 12) has
been silenced.
18. The evil results of the Great War,
as they affect the spiritual life, have been
felt all over the world, even in out-of-the-way
and lonely sections of far-off continents. Missionaries
have been forced to abandon the field of their
apostolic labors, and many have been unable
to return to their work, thus causing interruptions
to and even abandonment of those glorious conquests
of the Faith which have done so much to raise
the level of civilization, moral, material,
and religious. It is quite true that there have
been some worthwhile compensations for these
great spiritual misfortunes. Among these compensations
is one which stands out in bold relief and gives
the lie to many ancient calumnies, namely, that
a pure love of country and a generous devotion
to duty burn brightly in the souls of those
consecrated to God, and that through their sacred
ministry the consolations of religion were brought
to thousands dying on the fields of battle wet
with human blood. Thus, many, in spite of their
prejudices, were led to honor again the priesthood
and the Church by reason of the wonderful examples
of sacrifice of self, with which they had become
acquainted. For these happy results we are indebted
solely to the infinite goodness and wisdom of
God, Who draws good from evil.
19. Our letter so far has been devoted
to a recital of the evils which afflict present-day
society. We must now search out, with all possible
care, the causes of these disorders, some of
which have already been referred to. At this
point, Venerable Brothers, there seems to come
to Us the voice of the Divine Consoler and Physician
Who, speaking of these human infirmities says:
"All these evil things come from within."
(Mark vii, 23.)
20. Peace indeed was signed in solemn
conclave between the belligerents of the late
War. This peace, however, was only written into
treaties. It was not received into the hearts
of men, who still cherish the desire to fight
one another and to continue to menace in a most
serious manner the quiet and stability of civil
society. Unfortunately the law of violence held
sway so long that it has weakened and almost
obliterated all traces of those natural feelings
of love and mercy which the law of Christian
charity has done so much to encourage. Nor has
this illusory peace, written only on paper,
served as yet to reawaken similar noble sentiments
in the souls of men. On the contrary, there
has been born a spirit of violence and of hatred
which, because it has been indulged in for so
long, has become almost second nature in many
men. There has followed the blind rule of the
inferior parts of the soul over the superior,
that rule of the lower elements "fighting
against the law of the mind," which St.
Paul grieved over. (Rom. vii, 23)
21. Men today do not act as Christians,
as brothers, but as strangers, and even enemies.
The sense of man's personal dignity and of the
value of human life has been lost in the brutal
domination begotten of might and mere superiority
in numbers. Many are intent on exploiting their
neighbors solely for the purpose of enjoying
more fully and on a larger scale the goods of
this world. But they err grievously who have
turned to the acquisition of material and temporal
possessions and are forgetful of eternal and
spiritual things, to the possession of which
Jesus, Our Redeemer, by means of the Church,
His living interpreter, calls mankind.
22. It is in the very nature of material
objects that an inordinate desire for them becomes
the root of every evil, of every discord, and
in particular, of a lowering of the moral sense.
On the one hand, things which are naturally
base and vile can never give rise to noble aspirations
in the human heart which was created by and
for God alone and is restless until it finds
repose in Him. On the other hand, material goods
(and in this they differ greatly from those
of the spirit which the more of them we possess
the more remain to be acquired) the more they
are divided among men the less each one has
and, by consequence, what one man has another
cannot possibly possess unless it be forcibly
taken away from the first. Such being the case,
worldly possessions can never satisfy all in
equal manner nor give rise to a spirit of universal
contentment, but must become perforce a source
of division among men and of vexation of spirit,
as even the Wise Man Solomon experienced: "Vanity
of vanities, and vexation of spirit." (Ecclesiastes
i, 2, 14)
23. The same effects which result from
these evils among individuals may likewise be
expected among nations. "From whence are
wars and contentions among you?" asks the
Apostle St. James. "Are they not hence
from your concupiscences, which war in your
members?" (James iv, 1, 2)
24. The inordinate desire for pleasure,
concupiscence of the flesh, sows the fatal seeds
of division not only among families but likewise
among states; the inordinate desire for possessions,
concupiscence of the eyes, inevitably turns
into class warfare and into social egotism;
the inordinate desire to rule or to domineer
over others, pride of life, soon becomes mere
party or factional rivalries, manifesting itself
in constant displays of conflicting ambitions
and ending in open rebellion, in the crime of
lese majeste, and even in national parricide.
25. These unsuppressed desires, this
inordinate love of the things of the world,
are precisely the source of all international
misunderstandings and rivalries, despite the
fact that oftentimes men dare to maintain that
acts prompted by such motives are excusable
and even justifiable because, forsooth, they
were performed for reasons of state or of the
public good, or out of love for country. Patriotism—the
stimulus of so many virtues and of so many noble
acts of heroism when kept within the bounds
of the law of Christ—becomes merely an
occasion, an added incentive to grave injustice
when true love of country is debased to the
condition of an extreme nationalism, when we
forget that all men are our brothers and members
of the same great human family, that other nations
have an equal right with us both to life and
to prosperity, that it is never lawful nor even
wise, to dissociate morality from the affairs
of practical life, that, in the last analysis,
it is "justice which exalteth a nation:
but sin maketh nations miserable." (Proverbs
xiv, 34)
26. Perhaps the advantages to one's
family, city, or nation obtained in some such
way as this may well appear to be a wonderful
and great victory (this thought has been already
expressed by St. Augustine), but in the end
it turns out to be a very shallow thing, something
rather to inspire us with the most fearful apprehensions
of approaching ruin. "It is a happiness
which appears beautiful but is brittle as glass.
We must ever be on guard lest with horror we
see it broken into a thousand pieces at the
first touch." (St. Augustine de Civitate
Dei, Book iv, Chap. 3)
27. There is over and above the absence
of peace and the evils attendant on this absence,
another deeper and more profound cause for present-day
conditions. This cause was even beginning to
show its head before the War and the terrible
calamities consequent on that cataclysm should
have proven a remedy for them if mankind had
only taken the trouble to understand the real
meaning of those terrible events. In the Holy
Scriptures we read: "They that have forsaken
the Lord, shall be consumed." (Isaias i,
28) No less well known are the words of the
Divine Teacher, Jesus Christ, Who said: "Without
me you can do nothing" (John xv, 5) and
again, "He that gathereth not with me,
scattereth." (Luke xi, 23)
28. These words of the Holy Bible have
been fulfilled and are now at this very moment
being fulfilled before our very eyes. Because
men have forsaken God and Jesus Christ, they
have sunk to the depths of evil. They waste
their energies and consume their time and efforts
in vain sterile attempts to find a remedy for
these ills, but without even being successful
in saving what little remains from the existing
ruin. It was a quite general desire that both
our laws and our governments should exist without
recognizing God or Jesus Christ, on the theory
that all authority comes from men, not from
God. Because of such an assumption, these theorists
fell very short of being able to bestow upon
law not only those sanctions which it must possess
but also that secure basis for the supreme criterion
of justice which even a pagan philosopher like
Cicero saw clearly could not be derived except
from the divine law.
Authority itself lost its hold upon mankind,
for it had lost that sound and unquestionable
justification for its right to command on the
one hand and to be obeyed on the other. Society,
quite logically and inevitably, was shaken to
its very depths and even threatened with destruction,
since there was left to it no longer a stable
foundation, everything having been reduced to
a series of conflicts, to the domination of
the majority, or to the supremacy of special
interests.
29. Again, legislation was passed which
did not recognize that either God or Jesus Christ
had any rights over marriage—an erroneous
view which debased matrimony to the level of
a mere civil contract, despite the fact that
Jesus Himself had called it a "great sacrament"
(Ephesians v, 32) and had made it the holy and
sanctifying symbol of that indissoluble union
which binds Him to His Church. The high ideals
and pure sentiments with which the Church has
always surrounded the idea of the family, the
germ of all social life, these were lowered,
were unappreciated, or became confused in the
minds of many. As a consequence, the correct
ideals of family government, and with them those
of family peace, were destroyed; the stability
and unity of the family itself were menaced
and undermined, and, worst of all, the very
sanctuary of the home was more and more frequently
profaned by acts of sinful lust and soul-destroying
egotism—all of which could not but result
in poisoning and drying up the very sources
of domestic and social life.
30. Added to all this, God and Jesus
Christ, as well as His doctrines, were banished
from the school. As a sad but inevitable consequence,
the school became not only secular and non-religious
but openly atheistical and anti-religious. In
such circumstances it was easy to persuade poor
ignorant children that neither God nor religion
are of any importance as far as their daily
lives are concerned. God's name, moreover, was
scarcely ever mentioned in such schools unless
it were perchance to blaspheme Him or to ridicule
His Church. Thus, the school forcibly deprived
of the right to teach anything about God or
His law could not but fail in its efforts to
really educate, that is, to lead children to
the practice of virtue, for the school lacked
the fundamental principles which underlie the
possession of a knowledge of God and the means
necessary to strengthen the will in its efforts
toward good and in its avoidance of sin. Gone,
too, was all possibility of ever laying a solid
groundwork for peace, order, and prosperity,
either in the family or in social relations.
Thus the principles based on the spiritualistic
philosophy of Christianity having been obscured
or destroyed in the minds of many, a triumphant
materialism served to prepare mankind for the
propaganda of anarchy and of social hatred which
was let loose on such a great scale.
31. Is it to be wondered at then that,
with the widespread refusal to accept the principles
of true Christian wisdom, the seeds of discord
sown everywhere should find a kindly soil in
which to grow and should come to fruit in that
most tremendous struggle, the Great War, which
unfortunately did not serve to lessen but increased,
by its acts of violence and of bloodshed, the
international and social animosities which already
existed?
32. Up to this We have analyzed briefly
the causes of the ills which afflict present-day
society, the recital of which however, Venerable
Brothers, should not cause us to lose hope of
finding their appropriate remedy, since the
evils themselves seem to suggest a way out of
these difficulties.
33. First, and most important of all,
for mankind is the need of spiritual peace.
We do not need a peace that will consist merely
in acts of external or formal courtesy, but
a peace which will penetrate the souls of men
and which will unite, heal, and reopen their
hearts to that mutual affection which is born
of brotherly love. The peace of Christ is the
only peace answering this description: "let
the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts."
(Colossians iii, 15) Nor is there any other
peace possible than that which Christ gave to
His disciples (John xiv, 27) for since He is
God, He "beholdeth the heart" (I Kings
xvi, 7) and in our hearts His kingdom is set
up. Again, Jesus Christ is perfectly justified
when He calls this peace of soul His own for
He was the first Who said to men, "all
you are brethren." (Matt. xxiii, 8) He
gave likewise to us, sealing it with His own
life's blood, the law of brotherly love, of
mutual forbearance—"This is my commandment,
that you love one another, as I have loved you."
(John xv, 12) "Bear ye one another's burdens;
and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ."
(Galatians vi, 2)
34. From this it follows, as an immediate
consequence, that the peace of Christ can only
be a peace of justice according to the words
of the prophet "the work of justice shall
be peace" (Isaias xxxii, 17) for he is
God "who judgest justice." (Psalms
ix, 5) But peace does not consist merely in
a hard inflexible justice. It must be made acceptable
and easy by being compounded almost equally
of charity and a sincere desire for reconciliation.
Such peace was acquired for us and the whole
world by Jesus Christ, a peace which the Apostle
in a most expressive manner incarnates in the
very person of Christ Himself when he addresses
Him, "He is our peace," for it was
He Who satisfied completely divine justice by
his death on the cross, destroying thus in His
own flesh all enmities toward others and making
peace and reconciliation with God possible for
mankind. (Ephesians ii, 14) Therefore, the Apostle
beholds in the work of Redemption, which is
a work of justice at one and the same time,
a divine work of reconciliation and of love.
"God indeed was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself." (II Corinthians
v, 19) "God so loved the world, as to give
his only begotten Son." (John iii, 16)
35. Thomas Aquinas, the Angel of the
Schools, also discovered in this fact the very
formula and essence of our belief, for he writes
that a true and lasting peace is more a matter
of love than of justice. The reason for his
statement is that it is the function of justice
merely to do away with obstacles to peace, as
for example, the injury done or the damage caused.
Peace itself, however, is an act and results
only from love. (Summa Theologica, II-II, Q.
29 Art. 3, Ad. III)
36. Of this peace of Christ, which dwells
in our hearts and is, in effect, the love of
God, We can repeat what the Apostle has said
of the kingdom of God which also rules by love—"the
kingdom of Christ is not meat and drink."
(Romans xiv, 17) In other words, the peace of
Christ is not nourished on the things of earth,
but on those of heaven. Nor could it well be
otherwise, since it is Jesus Christ Who has
revealed to the world the existence of spiritual
values and has obtained for them their due appreciation.
He has said, "For what doth it profit a
man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer
the loss of his own soul?" (Matt. xvi,
26) He also taught us a divine lesson of courage
and constancy when He said, "Fear ye not
them that kill the body, and are not able to
kill the soul: but rather fear him that can
destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt.
x, 28; Luke xii, 14)
37. This does not mean that the peace
of Christ, which is the only true peace, exacts
of us that we give up all worldly possessions.
On the contrary, every earthly good is promised
in so many words by Christ to those who seek
His peace: "Seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his justice, and all these things shall
be added unto you." (Matt. vi, 33; Luke
xii, 31)
38. This peace of Christ, however, surpasses
all human understanding—"the peace
of God which surpasseth all understanding"
(Philippians iv, 7), and for this very reason
dominates our sinful passions and renders such
evils as division, strife, and discord, which
result solely from the unrestrained desire for
earthly possessions, impossible. If the desire
for worldly possessions were kept within bounds
and the place of honor in our affections given
to the things of the spirit, which place undoubtedly
they deserve, the peace of Christ would follow
immediately, to which would be joined in a natural
and happy union, as it were, a higher regard
for the value and dignity of human life. Human
personality, too, would be raised to a higher
level, for man has been ennobled by the Blood
of Christ and made kin to God Himself by means
of holiness and the bond of brotherly love which
unites us closely with Christ, by prayer and
by the reception of the Sacraments, means infallibly
certain to produce this elevation to and participation
in the life of God, by the desire to attain
everlasting possession of the glory and happiness
of heaven which is held out to all by God as
our goal and final reward.
39. We have already seen and come to
the conclusion that the principal cause of the
confusion, restlessness, and dangers which are
so prominent a characteristic of false peace
is the weakening of the binding force of law
and lack of respect for authority, effects which
logically follow upon denial of the truth that
authority comes from God, the Creator and Universal
Law-giver.
40. The only remedy for such state of
affairs is the peace of Christ since the peace
of Christ is the peace of God, which could not
exist if it did not enjoin respect for law,
order, and the rights of authority. In the Holy
Scriptures We read: "My children, keep
discipline in peace." (Ecclesiasticus xli,
17) "Much peace have they that love the
law, O Lord." (Psalms cxviii, 165) "He
that feareth the commandment, shall dwell in
peace." (Proverbs xiii, 13) Jesus Christ
very expressly states: "Render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's." (Matt. xxii,
21) He even recognized that Pilate possessed
authority from on High (John xiv, 11) as he
acknowledged that the scribes and Pharisees
who though unworthy sat in the chair of Moses
(Matt. xxiii, 2) were not without a like authority.
In Joseph and Mary, Jesus respected the natural
authority of parents and was subject to them
for the greater part of His life. (Luke ii,
51) He also taught, by the voice of His Apostle,
the same important doctrine: "Let every
soul be subject to higher powers: for there
is no power but from God." (Romans xiii,
1; cf. also 1 Peter ii, 13, 18)
41. If we stop to reflect for a moment
that these ideals and doctrines of Jesus Christ,
for example, his teachings on the necessity
and value of the spiritual life, on the dignity
and sanctity of human life, on the duty of obedience,
on the divine basis of human government, on
the sacramental character of matrimony and by
consequence the sanctity of family life—if
we stop to reflect, let Us repeat, that these
ideals and doctrines of Christ (which are in
fact but a portion of the treasury of truth
which He left to mankind) were confided by Him
to His Church and to her alone for safekeeping,
and that He has promised that His aid will never
fail her at any time for she is the infallible
teacher of His doctrines in every century and
before all nations, there is no one who cannot
clearly see what a singularly important role
the Catholic Church is able to play, and is
even called upon to assume, in providing a remedy
for the ills which afflict the world today and
in leading mankind toward a universal peace.
42. Because the Church is by divine
institution the sole depository and interpreter
of the ideals and teachings of Christ, she alone
possesses in any complete and true sense the
power effectively to combat that materialistic
philosophy which has already done and, still
threatens, such tremendous harm to the home
and to the state. The Church alone can introduce
into society and maintain therein the prestige
of a true, sound spiritualism, the spiritualism
of Christianity which both from the point of
view of truth and of its practical value is
quite superior to any exclusively philosophical
theory. The Church is the teacher and an example
of world good-will, for she is able to inculcate
and develop in mankind the "true spirit
of brotherly love" (St. Augustine, De Moribus
Ecclesiae Catholicae, i, 30) and by raising
the public estimation of the value and dignity
of the individual's soul help thereby to lift
us even unto God.
43. Finally, the Church is able to set
both public and private life on the road to
righteousness by demanding that everything and
all men become obedient to God "Who beholdeth
the heart," to His commands, to His laws,
to His sanctions. If the teachings of the Church
could only penetrate in some such manner as
We have described the inner recesses of the
consciences of mankind, be they rulers or be
they subjects, all eventually would be so apprised
of their personal and civic duties and their
mutual responsibilities that in a short time
"Christ would be all, and in all."
(Colossians iii, 11)
44. Since the Church is the safe and
sure guide to conscience, for to her safe-keeping
alone there has been confided the doctrines
and the promise of the assistance of Christ,
she is able not only to bring about at the present
hour a peace that is truly the peace of Christ,
but can, better than any other agency which
We know of, contribute greatly to the securing
of the same peace for the future, to the making
impossible of war in the future. For the Church
teaches (she alone has been given by God the
mandate and the right to teach with authority)
that not only our acts as individuals but also
as groups and as nations must conform to the
eternal law of God. In fact, it is much more
important that the acts of a nation follow God's
law, since on the nation rests a much greater
responsibility for the consequences of its acts
than on the individual.
45. When, therefore, governments and
nations follow in all their activities, whether
they be national or international, the dictates
of conscience grounded in the teachings, precepts,
and example of Jesus Christ, and which are binding
on each and every individual, then only can
we have faith in one another's word and trust
in the peaceful solution of the difficulties
and controversies which may grow out of differences
in point of view or from clash of interests.
An attempt in this direction has already and
is now being made; its results, however, are
almost negligible and, especially so, as far
as they can be said to affect those major questions
which divide seriously and serve to arouse nations
one against the other. No merely human institution
of today can be as successful in devising a
set of international laws which will be in harmony
with world conditions as the Middle Ages were
in the possession of that true League of Nations,
Christianity. It cannot be denied that in the
Middle Ages this law was often violated; still
it always existed as an ideal, according to
which one might judge the acts of nations, and
a beacon light calling those who had lost their
way back to the safe road.
46. There exists an institution able
to safeguard the sanctity of the law of nations.
This institution is a part of every nation;
at the same time it is above all nations. She
enjoys, too, the highest authority, the fullness
of the teaching power of the Apostles. Such
an institution is the Church of Christ. She
alone is adapted to do this great work, for
she is not only divinely commissioned to lead
mankind, but moreover, because of her very make-up
and the constitution which she possesses, by
reason of her age-old traditions and her great
prestige, which has not been lessened but has
been greatly increased since the close of the
War, cannot but succeed in such a venture where
others assuredly will fail.
47. It is apparent from these considerations
that true peace, the peace of Christ, is impossible
unless we are willing and ready to accept the
fundamental principles of Christianity, unless
we are willing to observe the teachings and
obey the law of Christ, both in public and private
life. If this were done, then society being
placed at last on a sound foundation, the Church
would be able, in the exercise of its divinely
given ministry and by means of the teaching
authority which results therefrom, to protect
all the rights of God over men and nations.
48. It is possible to sum up all We
have said in one word, "the Kingdom of
Christ." For Jesus Christ reigns over the
minds of individuals by His teachings, in their
hearts by His love, in each one's life by the
living according to His law and the imitating
of His example. Jesus reigns over the family
when it, modeled after the holy ideals of the
sacrament of matrimony instituted by Christ,
maintains unspotted its true character of sanctuary.
In such a sanctuary of love, parental authority
is fashioned after the authority of God, the
Father, from Whom, as a matter of fact, it originates
and after which even it is named. (Ephesians
iii, 15) The obedience of the children imitates
that of the Divine Child of Nazareth, and the
whole family life is inspired by the sacred
ideals of the Holy Family. Finally, Jesus Christ
reigns over society when men recognize and reverence
the sovereignty of Christ, when they accept
the divine origin and control over all social
forces, a recognition which is the basis of
the right to command for those in authority
and of the duty to obey for those who are subjects,
a duty which cannot but ennoble all who live
up to its demands. Christ reigns where the position
in society which He Himself has assigned to
His Church is recognized, for He bestowed on
the Church the status and the constitution of
a society which, by reason of the perfect ends
which it is called upon to attain, must be held
to be supreme in its own sphere; He also made
her the depository and interpreter of His divine
teachings, and, by consequence, the teacher
and guide of every other society whatsoever,
not of course in the sense that she should abstract
in the least from their authority, each in its
own sphere supreme, but that she should really
perfect their authority, just as divine grace
perfects human nature, and should give to them
the assistance necessary for men to attain their
true final end, eternal happiness, and by that
very fact make them the more deserving and certain
promoters of their happiness here below.
49. It is, therefore, a fact which cannot
be questioned that the true peace of Christ
can only exist in the Kingdom of Christ—"the
peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ."
It is no less unquestionable that, in doing
all we can to bring about the re-establishment
of Christ's kingdom, we will be working most
effectively toward a lasting world peace.
Pius X in taking as his motto "To restore
all things in Christ" was inspired from
on High to lay the foundations of that "work
of peace" which became the program and
principal task of Benedict XV. These two programs
of Our Predecessors We desire to unite in one—the
re-establishment of the Kingdom of Christ by
peace in Christ—"the peace of Christ
in the Kingdom of Christ." With might and
main We shall ever strive to bring about this
peace, putting Our trust in God, Who when He
called Us to the Chair of Peter, promised that
the divine assistance would never fail Us. We
ask that all assist and co-operate with Us in
this Our mission. Particularly We ask you to
aid us, Venerable Brothers, you, His sheep,
whom Our leader and Lord, Jesus Christ, has
called to feed and to watch over as the most
precious portion of His flock, which comprises
all mankind. For, it is you whom the "Holy
Ghost hath placed to rule the Church of God"
(Acts xx, 28), you to whom above all, and principally,
God "hath given the ministry of reconciliation,
and who for Christ therefore are ambassadors."
(II Cor. v, 18, 20) You participate in His teaching
power and are "the dispensers of the mysteries
of God." (I Cor. iv, 1) You have been called
by Him "the salt of the earth," "the
light of the world" (Matt. v, 13, 14),
fathers and teachers of Christian peoples, "a
pattern of the flock from the heart" (I
Peter v, 3), and "you shall be called great
in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. v, 19)
In fine, you are the links of gold, as it were,
by which "the whole body of Christ, which
is the Church, is held compacted and fitly joined
together" (Ephesians iv, 15, 16), built
as it is on the solid rock of Peter.
50. Of your praiseworthy industry, We
have had a quite recent proof on the occasion
of the International Eucharistic Congress held
in Rome and of the celebration of the Centenary
of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation
of the Faith, when several hundred bishops from
all sections of the globe were reunited with
Us before the tomb of the Holy Apostles. That
brotherly reunion, so solemn, because of the
great number and high dignity of the bishops
who were present, carried our thoughts to the
possibility of another similar meeting of the
whole episcopate here in the center of Catholic
unity, and of the many effective results which
might follow such a meeting toward the re-establishment
of the social order after the terrible disorders
through which we have just passed. The very
proximity of the Holy Year fills Us with the
solemn hope that this Our desire may be fully
realized.
51. We scarcely dare to include, in
so many words, in the program of Our Pontificate
the reassembling of the Ecumenical Council which
Pius IX, the Pontiff of Our youth, had called
but had failed to see through except to the
completion of a part, albeit most important,
of its work. We as the leader of the chosen
people must wait and pray for an unmistakable
sign from the God of mercy and of love of His
holy will in this regard. (Judges vi, 17)
52. In the meantime, though We are quite
conscious that it is not necessary for Us to
exhort you to greater and more zealous efforts
but rather to bestow on you the praise which
you so richly deserve, yet the very consciousness
of Our Apostolic Office, of the fact that We
are the Common Father of all, constrains Us
to beseech you to exhibit at all times a very
special and tender love toward that large family
of spiritual children which is, in a very special
way, committed to your immediate supervision.
From the reports received from you by Us and
by public fame, which is amply confirmed in
the press and in many other ways, We know only
too well what thanks we should, in union with
you, render to the Good God for the great work
which, as the occasion permitted, He has done
through you and through your predecessors, both
for your clergy and for your faithful people,
a work which has come to maturity in our own
times and which We see being multiplied on all
sides in a most fruitful manner.
53. In particular, We refer to the numberless
and diverse activities initiated for the education
and development, as well as for the sanctification
of both the clergy and laity, the organizations
of clergy and laity formed to aid the missions
in their manifold activities, both physical
and moral, of the natural and the supernatural
order, by the spreading far and wide of the
Kingdom of Christ. We refer to the various organizations
of young people which have helped to develop
such ardent and true love for the Holy Eucharist
and such tender devotion for the Blessed Virgin,
virtues which have made certain their faith,
their purity, and their union one with another:
to the solemn celebrations in honor of the Blessed
Sacrament, at which the Divine Prince of Peace
is honored by truly royal triumphal processions,
for about the Sacred Host, center of peace and
love, gather multitudes from every country and
the representatives of all peoples and nations,
joined together in a union most wonderful by
one and the same faith, in adoration, in prayer,
and in the enjoyment of all heavenly graces.
54. The fruits of such piety are manifest,
the widespread diffusion and great activity
of the apostolate which, by prayer, word of
mouth, by the religious press, by personal example,
by works of charity seeks in every way possible
to lead souls to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and
to restore to the same Sacred Heart His sovereign
rule over the family and over society. We refer
also to the holy battle waged on so many fronts
to vindicate for the family and the Church the
natural and divinely given rights which they
possess over education and the school. Finally,
We include among these fruits of piety that
whole group of movements, organizations, and
works so dear to Our fatherly heart which passes
under the name of "Catholic Action,"
and in which We have been so intensely interested.
55. All these organizations and movements
ought not only to continue in existence, but
ought to be developed more and more, always
of course as the conditions of time and place
seem to demand. There can be no question of
the fact that these conditions are at times
very difficult and exact of both pastors and
the faithful a great and increasing amount of
sacrifice and labor. But since such work is
vitally necessary, it is without question an
essential part of our Christian life and of
the sacred ministry and is therefore indissolubly
bound up with the restoration of the Kingdom
of Christ and the re-establishment of that true
peace which can be found only in His Kingdom—"the
peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ."
56. Tell, therefore, your clergy, Venerable
Brothers, whom We know have labored so devotedly
in these different fields of activity for the
Church of Christ, and whose work We have seen
at close range and have even participated in
and which We appreciate so highly, tell them
that when they co-operate with you, they are
united with Christ and guided by Him through
you; that at the same time they also co-operate
with Us, and that We bless them with Our fatherly
blessing.
57. It is scarcely necessary to add,
Venerable Brothers, how much We depend on the
regular clergy to aid in the successful execution
of the different parts of Our program. You know
as well as We what a magnificent contribution
they have made to the interior life of the Church
and to the spread of the Kingdom of Christ.
They are actuated not only by the precepts but
by the counsels of Christ. Both in the holy
silence of the cloister and in pious works outside
convent walls they exhibit the high ideals of
Christian perfection by their works of true
piety, by their keeping uppermost in the minds
of Christian people the pure ideals of Christ,
by the example which they give due to their
self-sacrificing renunciation of all worldly
comforts and material goods, by their acquisition
of spiritual treasures. Because of the consecration
of their whole being to the common good, they
undertake truly miraculous activities which
succor every ill spiritual and bodily, and help
all in finding a sure remedy or assistance from
the evils which we must encounter. As the history
of the Church bears witness, members of the
religious orders under the inspiration of God's
love, have often gone to such lengths in their
work of preaching the Gospel that they have
given up their lives for the salvation of souls,
thus by their death spreading the unity of the
faith and the doctrine of Christian brotherhood
and at the same time extending farther and farther
the boundaries of the Kingdom of Christ.
58. Tell your faithful children of the
laity that when, united with their pastors and
their bishops, they participate in the works
of the apostolate, both individual and social,
the end purpose of which is to make Jesus Christ
better known and better loved, then they are
more than ever "a chosen generation, a
kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased
people," of whom St. Peter spoke in such
laudatory terms. (I Peter ii, 9) Then, too,
they are more than ever united with Us and with
Christ, and become great factors in bringing
about world peace because they work for the
restoration and spread of the Kingdom of Christ.
Only in this Kingdom of Christ can we find that
true human equality by which all men are ennobled
and made great by the selfsame nobility and
greatness, for each is ennobled by the precious
blood of Christ. As for those who are in authority,
they are, according to the example of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but ministers of the good, servants
of the servants of God, particularly of the
sick and of those in need.
59. However, these very social changes,
which have created and increased the need of
cooperation between the clergy and laity to
which We have just referred, have themselves
brought along in their wake new and most serious
problems and dangers. As an after-effect of
the upheaval caused by the Great War and of
its political and social consequences, false
ideas and unhealthy sentiments have, like a
contagious disease, so taken possession of the
popular mind that We have grave fears that even
some among the best of our laity and of the
clergy, seduced by the false appearance of truth
which some of these doctrines possess, have
not been altogether immune from error.
60. Many believe in or claim that they
believe in and hold fast to Catholic doctrine
on such questions as social authority, the right
of owning private property, on the relations
between capital and labor, on the rights of
the laboring man, on the relations between Church
and State, religion and country, on the relations
between the different social classes, on international
relations, on the rights of the Holy See and
the prerogatives of the Roman Pontiff and the
Episcopate, on the social rights of Jesus Christ,
Who is the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord not only
of individuals but of nations. In spite of these
protestations, they speak, write, and, what
is more, act as if it were not necessary any
longer to follow, or that they did not remain
still in full force, the teachings and solemn
pronouncements which may be found in so many
documents of the Holy See, and particularly
in those written by Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict
XV.
61. There is a species of moral, legal,
and social modernism which We condemn, no less
decidedly than We condemn theological modernism.
62. It is necessary ever to keep in
mind these teachings and pronouncements which
We have made; it is no less necessary to reawaken
that spirit of faith, of supernatural love,
and of Christian discipline which alone can
bring to these principles correct understanding,
and can lead to their observance. This is particularly
important in the case of youth, and especially
those who aspire to the priesthood, so that
in the almost universal confusion in which we
live they at least, as the Apostle writes, will
not be "tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness
of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they
lie in wait to deceive." (Ephesians iv,
14)
63. From this Apostolic Center of the
Church of Christ, We turn Our e
