If You Believe In Peace It Is

For Peace Is Not Simply The Absence Of Warfare, Based On A Precarious Balance Of Power; It Is Fashioned By Efforts Directed Day After Day Toward The Establishment Of The Ordered Universe Willed By God, With A More Perfect Form Of Justice Among Men.

The Hungry Nations Of The World Cry Out To The Peoples Blessed With Abundance. And The Church, Cut To The Quick By This Cry, Asks Each And Every Man To Hear His Brother's Plea And Answer It Lovingly.

There Are Those Who Ask What Authority, What Theological Qualification, The Council Intended To Give To Its Teachings, Knowing That It Avoided Issuing Solemn Dogmatic Definitions Backed By The Church's Infallible Teaching Authority. The Answer Is Known By Those Who Remember The Conciliar Declaration Of March 6, 1964, Repeated On November 16, 1964. In View Of The Pastoral Nature Of The Council, It Avoided Proclaiming In An Extraordinary Manner Any Dogmata Carrying The Mark Of Infallibility.

The World Calls For And Expects From Us Simplicity Of Life, The Spirit Of Prayer, Charity Towards All, Especially Towards The Lowly And The Poor, Obedience And Humility... Without This Mark Of Holiness, Our Word Will Have Difficulty In Touching The Heart Of Modern Man. It Risks Being Vain And Sterile.

Man's Genius Has With God's Help Produced Marvelous Technical Inventions From Creation, Especially In Our Times. The Church, Our Mother, Is Particularly Interested In Those Which Directly Touch Man's Spirit And Which Have Opened Up New Avenues Of Easy Communication Of All Kinds Of News, Of Ideas And Orientations.