Social
Pacem in terris
By Fr. Alphonse de Valk

Hardcopy Issue Date: April 2003
Online Publication Date: Apr 24, 2003, 11:12

At the time of writing (March 5), the Middle East is about to experience war again. Everyone seems to expect the United States and Great Britain to move against Iraq shortly. Catholic world opinion seems to be just as divided as that of everyone else, with some assuming that all war is evil and that that should be the end of it. Others point out that "just war" standards are not quite as simple as that (see under "Vatican," "United States," and the article "'Presumptuous' Catholics and "Just War").

The current situation is a good reason to recall the fortieth anniversary of the encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on earth) by the now Blessed Pope John XXIII, issued on April 11th, 1963, Holy Thursday in the (Latin-rite) Church calendar of that year.

Pacem in Terris created quite a stir in 1963, as Pope John Paul II recalled in his New Year's day message of January 1, 2003. After two world wars, the world was once again on the brink of war. Only two years earlier, in 1961, the Soviet regime in East Germany had erected the Berlin wall as a symbol of control and total opposition to Western influence. Only six months earlier, the Cuban missile crisis had brought the world to the edge of war. The "cold war" was at its height and it was feared that even an accident might set off a nuclear holocaust.

Pope John was already famous for calling an ecumenical Council, the first session of which lasted from October to December 1962. A mere two months after his April 1963 encyclical, the Pope would be dead, to be succeeded by Paul VI. The encyclical was hailed for the same reason that people hailed the idea of holding a Council. It seemed to break through a gloomy old mould which stifled hope.

Pacem in terris deals with peace in four precise requirements of the human spirit: truth, justice, love and freedom. These four pillars are preceded by the opening sentence: "Peace on earth, which all people 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."

Once this crucial point was established, Pope John embarked on looking more deeply into history. Was the situation really so hopeless as many thought? It seemed to him that despite living on the edge of war he could discern a development which might even bring about a spiritual revolution. What was it? A new awareness of human dignity and inalienable human rights. Humanity, the Pope wrote, had entered a new stage of its journey.

What proof was there for this? Well, there was the end of colonialism in Asia and Africa and the rise of dozens of newly independent states; there was the growing protection of workers' rights throughout the world; there was the new and welcome presence of women in public life; also, people demanded more participation in the government of their nations. Yes, dictatorship and abuse were by no means defeated. Everywhere, however, there was a growing conviction that "all men and women are equal by reason of their natural dignity."

The road to peace, Pope John wrote, lies in the defence and promotion of basic human rights, which every human being enjoys, not as a benefit given by a particular 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."

The encyclical had a second emphasis. 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 today of a "universal common good." This, in turn, required an international public authority with effective capacity to advance it. This authority could not, the Pope immediately continued, be established by coercion but only by the consent of nations. Its objective should be the "recognition, respect, safeguarding, and promotion of the rights of the human person."

Not surprisingly, says Pope John Paul II, Pope John looked with hope to the Unted Nations Organization which had come into being on June 26, 1945. Today there is much discussion about the authority of this body, and the effects of "unilateral action."

John Paul II heartily endorses the United Nations, but he sees a serious weakness. The U.N. possesses‹since 1948‹a Charter of the inalienable rights of the human person, but, he says, it "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 be become an exercise in arbitrariness."

The same criticism applies to the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It, too, is silent about duties and responsibilities.