The message of Bethlehem and problems of the day : 1955 Christmas message ...


MARY’S COfcteeFtIBRARY

The Message of Bethlehem

and Problems of the Day

1955 Christmas Message

of Pope Pius XII

’The Diumization of Man**

Technical Achievements and Human Security

Irreconcilability of Communism with Christian Teachings

Christians in Public Life

False Nationalism

Nuclear Arms and Armament Control

Colonialism



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THE INWARD JOY OF THE NATIVITY

1. With a heart open to welcome the sweet joy which the
Birth of the Redeemer will once again bring to the hearts
of the faithful, We desire to express good wishes to you,
beloved sons and daughters, and to all men without distinc-
tion. We shall draw the subject of Our address, as in the
past, from the inexhaustible mystery of light and grace
which shone forth from the cradle of the Divine Infant on
the holy night in Bethlehem, whose brilliance will never
be extinguished so long as one will hear on this earth the
steps of those who, in sorrow, seek amid the thorns the
path of true life.

2. 0 how We could wish that all men, scattered over the
continents, in cities and towns, in valleys and across the
deserts, on steppes and on vast reaches of glacier wastes,
and on the seas, throughout the whole world could again
hear, as coming to each of them in particular, the voice of
the angel announcing the mystery of the divine grandeur
and of the infinite love which closed a past of darkness and
condemnation and ushered in the reign of truth and salva-
tion. "‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news
of great joy which shall be to all the people; for there has
been born to you today in the town of David, a Saviour,
who is Christ the Lord.’' (Luke 2:10, 11)

.

3. 0 We could wish that, like the simple shepherds who
were among the first to hear in silent adoration the mes-
sage of salvation, men of today were won over and con-
quered by that same sense of wonder which surpasses
human words and which turns the mind to meditative adora-
tion when a sublime majesty is revealed to their gaze, that
of God Incarnate.

1

MODERN MAN AND THE TRUTH OF THE
NATIVITY

(A) The Admirers of External Human Power

4.

There is reason, indeed, for asking with fear and anxiety
if modern man is still disposed to allow himself to yield to
a supernatural truth so sublime, to be penetrated by the joy
it has to offer : This man so convinced of his own increasing

1



power, inclined to measure his stature according to the
power of his instruments, his organizations, his weapons,
the precision of his calculations, the vastness of his produc-
tion, of the distance he can reach with his words, his gaze,
and influence

;
this man who speaks at length with pride of

an age of easy prosperity as if one just had to reach out
a hand for it; who is so sure of himself and his future he
dares all, urged by an insatiable desire to know nature's
deepest secrets, to bend its forces to his own will, eager to
penetrate in his own person the interplanetary spaces.

5. In truth modern man, precisely because he is in posses-
sion of all that the mind and labor of man have produced,
ought to recognize even more the inflnite distance between
what he can do and what proceeds from the limitless power
of God.

6. But the reality is quite different, because the false or
limited concepts of the world and of life accepted by men
not only hinder them from drawing a sense of admiration
and joy from the works of God, and especially from the In-
carnation of the Word, but make it impossible for them to
recognize that indispensable principle which gives constancy
and harmony to all human works. Not a few indeed permit
themselves to be dazzled by the limited splendor deriving
from these works, refusing to follow that internal prompting
to seek their source and end, outside of and above the world
of science and technology.

7. Like the construction of the Tower of Babel, they are
dreaming false dreams, “The Divinization of Man,” suitable
and sufficient for every exigency of the physical and spiritual
life. In them, the Incarnation of Man and “His dwelling
amongst us” (John 1:14) do not arouse either profound
interest or fruitful emotions.

8. The Nativity has not for them any other content or
message than that which expresses a birth: sentiments
more or less lively, but only human when indeed they have
not been stifled by worldly and noisy customs which pro-
fane even the simple value, aesthetic and familiar which
the Nativity, in the manner of a distant reflection, radiates
of the grandeur of its mystery.

(B) The Devotees of a False Interior Life

2



9. Others on the contrary, in the opposite way, condemn
the works of God, excluding themselves in this way from
access to the hidden joys of the Nativity. Formed by the
hard experience of the last twenty years, which have shown,
as they say, modern society’s brutality clothed in a human
form, they denounce bitterly the external lustre of its ap-
pearance, denying all credit to man and his works; nor do
they hide the deep disgust which man’s excessive exultation
provokes in their souls. At the same time, they hope that
man may renounce all this feverish external and, above all,
technological dynamism, that he may enter within himself,
where he will find the richness of an interior life, all his,
exclusively human, such as will satisfy every possible exi-
gency.

10. And yet, this entirely human interior life is incapable
of maintaining the promise it gives to measure up to all the
demands of men. It is rather a withdrawing from life
prompted by arrogance, almost despair, by the fear and an
incapacity to give oneself to the external order and has
nothing in common with a genuine interior life which is
complete, dynamic, and fruitful.
11. In the true interior life man is not alone, but lives
with Christ, sharing in His thoughts and actions, associating
with Him as a friend, a disciple and, as it were, a collabora-
tor, and, in turn, is assisted and sustained by Him in facing
the world according to the divine precepts because He is
the pastor and guardian of our souls (cfr. 1 Pet. 2, 23).

(C) The Indifferent and Insensible

12. Between this first and second type, whom a wrong and
erroneous conception of man have withdrawn from the guid-
ing and salutary influence of God Incarnate, stand the vast
class of those who neither feel pride in the external splendor
of modern society nor intend to withdraw into a solitary life
of the spirit. They are those who say they are satisfied to
live for the moment, interested and desirous of nothing else
than to be sure of enjoying the goods of the world in abun-
dance and to be free from any fear lest tomorrow bring a
lowering of their standard of life. Neither the grandeur of
God nor the dignity of man, both marvellously and visibly
exalted in the mystery of the Nativity, make an impression
on these poor souls who have become insensible and in-
capable of giving any meaning to their lives.

3



13. The presence of God Incarnate having been ignored or
cast aside in such manner, modern man has constructed a
world in which the marvelous is confused with the miserable,
overcome with incongruities, like a road without an exit or
a house furnished with everything, but which, through the
lack of a roof, is incapable of giving security to its inhab-
itants. In some nations indeed, notwithstanding the enor-
mous development of prosperity and although every class of
people is assured of material sustenance, there is spreading
and increasing an indefinable sense of forboding, an anxious
awaiting of something which seems bound to happen. One
recalls the expectancy of the simple shepherds of the coun-
tryside of Bethlehem; They by their prompt reaction can
teach the proud men of the Twentieth Century where it is
necessary to seek what is lacking. “Let us go over to Beth-
lehem,” they say, “and see this thing that has come to pass,
which the Lord has made known to us.” (Luke 2:15). The
event took place 2,000 years ago but its truth and influence
must continue to take possession of men’s consciences, that
is, God came unto his own (John 1:11).

14. Now mankind can no longer, without guilt, reject and
forget the coming and dwelling of God on earth because it
is, in the economy of Providence, essential for the establish-
ment of order and harmony between man and what is his,
and between that and God. The Apostle, St. Paul, has de-
scribed the totality of this order in an admirable synthesis

:

“All are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”
(1 Cor. 3:23). Those who would want to allow God and
Christ to fall from this indestructible order, retaining only
of these words of the Apostle the right of man over other
creatures, would effect an essential breach in the design of
the Creator. St. Paul himself would urge the warning:
“Therefore let no one take pride in men.” {1 Cor. 3:22).
Who does not see how much this admonition applies to
men of our times, so proud of their inventors and discover-
ers, who no longer are oppressed by the hardships of lone-
liness as formerly, but on the contrary have seized on the
imagination of the crowd, yes, even the watchful attention
of statesmen?

15. However, it is one thing to attribute to them due honor,
and still another to await from them and their discoveries
the solution of the fundamental problem of life. At the same

4



time the wealth and labor, the projects and inventions, the
boasts and torments of our modern age must be considered
in relation to man, the image of God.

16. If, therefore, what is called progress is not reconcilable
with the divine laws of the world order it is most certainly
not progress, but marks the way to ruin. Neither the most
perfected art of organization, nor the highly developed
methods in the field of calculations will put off the inevitable
results. They have no power to create man's essential stead-
fastness, much less can they substitute for it.

II

CHRIST IN THE HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE
OF THE HUMAN RACE

17. Jesus Christ alone gives to man that interior stead-
fastness. ‘‘When fullness of time came" {Gal., 4:4), the
Word of God entered upon this life on earth, taking a true
human nature, and in that form entered also into the his-
torical and social life of the human race, here also “being
made like unto men" {Phil. 2,7) through God from all eter-
nity. His coming indicates in fact that Christ intended to
set Himself as a guide for men and as their support in his-
tory and in society. The fact that man has won in the pres-
ent technical and industrial era a marvelous power over
both the organic and inorganic materials of the world does
not establish a right to be free from the duty of submission
to Christ, the Lord of history, nor does it diminish the need
that man has to be sustained by Him. And indeed, the un-
easy search for security has become more urgent.

18. Present day experience clearly shows that forgetfulness
or negligence of Christ’s presence in the world has provoked
the sense of bewilderment, and that absence of security and
stability peculiar to the technical era. Forgetfulness of
Christ has brought about also the ignoring of the reality
of human nature, fixed by God as a basic factor of social
life in space and time.

PRINCIPLES OF TRUE HUMAN NATURE A
FOUNDATION OF MAN’S SECURITY

19. In what direction, then, should the search be made for
the security and interior stability of social life, if not by

5



leading minds back to preserve and put new life into the
principles of true human nature willed by God? There is
in fact a natural order, even if its outward appearance
changes with historical and social developments; but the
essential lines were, and ever remain, the same: family
and property as the basis of provision for individuals

;
then,

as complementary factors of security, local and professional
groups and finally, the state.

20. Up to the present, in accordance with these principles
and directives, men strengthened by Christianity were
moved to put into force, in theory and practice, to the ex-
tent of their power, the order which guarantees security.
But, in a manner different from that of moderns, our an-
cestors knew—as well by the errors from which their posi-
tive application had not been exempt—that human forces,
in the establishment of security, are of their nature limited

;

and therefore, they had recourse to prayer to obtain that a
much higher power might make good their own inadequacy.
The abandonment of the use of prayer in the so-called indus-
trial era is a most revealing symptom of the pretensions to
self-sufficiency of which modern man boasts. There are too
many today who no longer pray for security, thinking that
the petition "‘Give us this day our daily bread’’ (Matt. 6:11),
which Our Lord put on men’s lips, has been superseded by
technical achievement, or, alternatively, they repeat it out-
wardly with lips without an interior conviction of its en-
during necessity.

FALSE APPLICATIONS OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC
AND TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS TO SECURITY

21. But can it be truly asserted that man has attained, or
is on his way to attain, full self-sufficiency? Modern achieve-
ments, certainly remarkable, in scientific and technical de-
velopment will assuredly be able to give man an extensive
mastery over the forces of nature, over sickness and even
over the beginning and the end of human life

;
but it is also

certain that such mastery will not be able to transform the
earth into a paradise of assured enjoyment. How, then,
will every one of man’s powers be reasonably cared for if
the realities of new false developments, and also of new
weaknesses, show the one-sided character of an idea which
would wish to control life exclusively on the foundation of

6



quantitative analysis and synthesis? Its application to so-
cial life is not only false, but also a simplification of many
complex processes which is dangerous in practice. Condi-
tions being what they are modern man needs also to pray,
and if he is wise, he is ready to pray for security as well.

22. Yet this does not mean that man must abandon new
ways, that is to say, give up adapting to present conditions
for his own security, the order just referred to which has
regard for true human nature. There is no objection to
security ensuring its own stability by also making use of
results in technique and industry, yet it is necessary to
resist the temptation to gain support for order and security
from the above-mentioned purely quantitative method which
takes no account of the order of nature, as is the wish of
those who entrust man's destiny to the tremendous indus-
trial power of the present age. They think they are estab-
lishing complete security on the ever-increasing produc-
tivity and on the uninterrupted flow of an ever greater and
fruitful production in the nation’s economy. This, they say
—on basis of a full and ever more perfect automatic system
of production, and supported by better methods of organi-
zation and accountancy—will guarantee to all workers a
continuous and progressive return for their labor. In a
subsequent phase this will become so great that, by means
of community measures, it will be able to satisfy the se-
curity of those who are not yet, or no longer, able to work

—

the young children, the old, the sick. To establish security,
they conclude, there will therefore no longer be any necessity
to have recourse to property either private or collective,
either in nature or in goods. Even so, this manner of or-
ganizing security is not one of those forms of adaptation
of natural principles to new developments, but a kind of
attack on the essence of man’s natural relationships with
his fellow men, with work, with society. In this excessively
artificial system, man’s security over his own life is danger-
ously separated from arrangements and forces for the or-
ganization of the community which are inherent in true
human nature itself and which alone render possible a re-
sponsible association of men. Somehow, though with neces-
sary adjustments to the times, family and property must re-
main among the fundamentals of the free settlement of
persons. Somehow, the lesser social units and the state must

7



be able to come together as complementary agents of se-
curity.

23. Therefore it once more appears true that a quantitative
method, however perfected, neither can, nor ought to, con-
trol the social and historical reality of human life. The ever-
quickening pulse of life, the constantly multiplying technical
productivity are not criteria which, of themselves provide
authority for declaring that there is a genuine improvement
in the economic life of a nation. Only a one-sided view of
the present, or perhaps of the immediate future, and no
more, can be satisfied with such a test. From this premise
there results—sometimes over a long period—a rash con-
sumption of reserves and of the treasures of nature, and,
to excess, even of the available human power to work; and
later there gradually results an ever greater disproportion
between the need to maintain the cultivation of the soil of
the country in reasonable adaptations to all the possibilities
of producing, and an excessive crowding together of work-
ers. There are, in addition, the decay of social union, and
especially of the family, and in each and every worker and
consumer the growing danger of insurance of life based on
income from property of all kinds, which is so exposed to
every form of currency depreciation and the risk in placing
that security exclusively on the immediate return for labor.

24. In this industrial age, the man who accuses, and rightly
accuses, communism of having deprived of freedom the
people over whom it holds sway, should not omit to note
that, in the other part of the world also, liberty will be a
very dubious possession if man’s security is not derived
to a greater extent from a condition of things which cor-
responds to his true nature.

25. The erroneous belief which makes security rest on the
ever-mounting process of social production is a superstition,
perhaps the only one, of our rationalistic age of industry.
But it is also the most dangerous, because it seems to deem
impossible, economic crises which always bring in their
train risk of a return to dictatorship.

26. Moreover, that superstition is in no sense suited to the
setting up of a sound bulwark against communism, because
in it participate the communists as well as a considerable
number of the non-communists. In this erroneous belief the

8



two sides find a meeting ground, thus establishing a tacit
agreement of such a kind as to be able to beguile the ap-
parent realists of the West into the dream of a possible
genuine co-existence.

THE MIND OF THE CHURCH ON COMMUNISM
27. In the Christmas radio message last year We set forth
the mind of the Church on this topic and We now intend
once again to ratify it. We reject communism as a social
system by virtue of Christ’s doctrine, and We have a par-
ticular obligation to proclaim the fundamental principles of
natural law. For the same reasons We also reject the opinion
that the Christian ought today to see communism as a
phenomenon or a stage in the passage of history, one of the
necessary “moments,” as it were, of its evolution, and con-
sequently to accept it as if decreed by Divine Providence.

WARNINGS TO CHRISTIANS IN THE PRESENT
INDUSTRIAL AGE

28. But at same time We again warn Christians of the in-
dustrial age, in the spirit of Our immediate predecessors in
the supreme pastoral and teaching office, against being
satisfied with an anti-communism founded on the slogan
and the defense of a liberty which is devoid of content:
Rather We urge them to build up a society in which man’s
security rests on that moral order of which We have very
often set forth the need and the consequences, and which
has regard for true human nature.

29. Now Christians, to whom here more particularly We
address Ourselves, ought to know better than others that
the Son of God made Man is the one steadfast support of
the human race in the social and historical life also, and
that He, by taking to himself human nature, has borne
witness to its dignity as the basis and rule of that moral
order. It is therefore their primary duty to act with a view
to bringing about the return of modern society in its or-
ganizations to the sources made sacred by the Word of God
made flesh. If ever Christians neglect this duty of theirs
by leaving inactive the guiding forces of the Faith in their
public life, to the extent that they are responsible, they
would be committing treason against the God-Man Who ap-

9



peared in visible form among us in the cradle of Bethlehem.
Let the seriousness and deep motive of the Christian action
be an effective testimony in the world and at same time
avail to dispel the very suspicion of a supposed aiming at
worldly power on the part of the Church.

30. If, therefore, Christians unite to this end in various
institutions and organizations, they are setting before them-
selves no other objective save the service willed by God for
the benefit of the world. For the sake of this motive, and
not out of weakness, let Christians group themselves to-
gether. But let them—and more so than others—remain
open to every healthy undertaking and to all genuine prog-
ress, and not withdraw themselves into a sealed enclosure
as if to preserve themselves from the world. Committed to
promote the advantage of all men, let them not despise
others who, at any rate if they are submissive to the light
of reason, both could and should accept from the teaching
of Christianity at least what is based on the natural law.

31. Be on your guard against those who undervalue this
Christian service to the world and oppose to it a so-called
“pure,” “spiritual” Christianity. They have not understood
the divine institution—to begin from its fundamental prin-
ciple—Christ is true God but also true man. The Apostle
St. Paul makes known to us the full essential will of God
made Man, which aims at setting aright the earthly world
also, when he pays to Him the tribute of honor with two very
expressive titles, “Mediator,” and “Man” {Timothy, 2:5).
Yes, man, as is everyone of those redeemed by Him.

Ill

NECESSARY INTEGRATION AND STABILITY OF
EACH HUMAN LIFE IN CHRIST

32. Jesus Christ is not only the steadfast support of the

human race in the social and historical life, but also in that
of the individual Christian, so that as “all things were made
through Him, and without Him was made nothing that has
been made” (John 1; 1,3), so no one will ever be able to
carry out works worthy of the Divine Wisdom and glory
without Him. The concept of the necessary integration and
stability of each life in Christ was strongly presented to
the faithful from the earliest days of the Church: by St.

10



Peter the Apostle, when, at the portico of the temple of
Jerusalem, he proclaimed Christ as the “ton archegon tes
zoes” {Acts 3,15), that is, the “Author of Life,’' and by the
Apostle of the Gentiles, who frequently pointed out what
ought to be the foundation of the new life received in Bap-
tism. “You,” he wrote, “are not carnal but spiritual, if in-
deed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
(Cfr. Rom., 8,9). Everyone, therefore, who is redeemed,
as being “reborn” in Christ, likewise exists through Him
“unto salvation by the faith” (Cfr. John 3, 3; 1 Peter 1,5).

LIMITS OF HUMAN POWER
33. Besides, how could the individual, even a non-Christian,
left to himself, reasonably believe in his own autonomy,
completeness and stability, if reality confronts him on every
side with limits within which nature restricts him, and
which could indeed be extended, but not entirely demolished ?

34. The law of limitation is proper to life on earth, nor
would Jesus Christ as man withdraw Himself from its
rule, for there were fixed limits to His actions, according to
the inscrutable designs of God, and in conformity with the
mysteriously linked working of Divine grace and human
freedom. Nevertheless, while the Christ-Man, limited during
the period of His earthly life, consoles and strengthens us
in our limitations, Christ as God fills us with a higher free-
dom for He has the fullness of wisdom and power.
35. On the basis of this reality, the Christian who pre-
pares himself boldly with all the natural and supernatural
means for building the world, according to the natural and
supernatural order willed by God, will constantly raise his
gaze to Christ and will confine his actions within the limits
fixed by God. Not to recognize that would be to will a world
contrary to the Divine plan, and hence disastrous for social
life itself.

36. We have just now indicated the damaging results which
fiow from the false over-valuation of human power and from
the undervaluing of the objective reality which, with the
sum of its principles and laws—religious, moral, economic
and social,—establishes limits and points out the true path
of human actions. Now the same errors with the same re-
sults are being repeated in the field of human labor, and

11



particularly in that of economic activity and production.

37. In the face of the astonishing development of tech-
nology and, more often, by means of suggestions received,
the worker feels himself absolute master and lord of his
existence, completely capable of pursuing every objective,
of giving actuality to every dream. By confining the whole
of reality within the limits of tangible nature, he discerns
in the vitality of production the way for man to become
ever more perfect. Productive society, which forever ap-
pears to the worker as the sole living reality and as the
power which keeps all in existence, gives the measure to
his whole life : It is therefore his one sure support for both
the present and the future. In it he lives and moves and has
his being : It grows in the end for him into a substitute for
religion. In such manner—the thought goes—there will
arise a new type of man, that, namely, which surrounds his
work with the aureole of the highest ethical value, and
worships the workers’ society with a kind of religious
fervor.

THE HIGH MORAL VALUE OF WORK

38. There is now being asked the question whether the
creative power of work truly constitutes the steady support
of man independently of other values not purely technical,
and if, consequently, it deserves to be, as it were, worshipped
by modern man. Certainly not

;
for no power whatsoever or

other activity of an economic nature can be so regarded.
Even in the technical era, the human person, created by God
and redeemed by Christ, remains elevated in its being and
in its dignity, and therefore its creative power and its work
have a very much higher permanence. Thus firmly estab-
lished, human work is also a profound moral force, and the
human race of workers is a society which not only produces
objects, but also glorifies God. Man can consider his work as
a true instrument of his sanctification because by working
he makes perfect in himself the image of God, fulfills his
duty and the right to gain for himself and his dependents
the necessary sustenance, and makes himself a useful unit
of society. Bringing this order into existence will obtain
for him security, and, at the same time, the “peace on earth”
proclaimed by the angels.

12



THE QUESTION OF PEACE
39. And yet it is precisely against him, the religious and
Christian man, that the charge will be brought by some of
being an obstacle to peace, of opposing the peaceful co-
existence of men, of nations, of different systems, because
he does not keep his religious convictions unspoken in the
privacy of his conscience, but makes them effective even
in traditional and powerful organizations, in all the ac-
tivities of life both public and private. It is asserted that
this kind of Christianity makes a man overbearing, biased,
oversure and satisfied with himself; that it leads him to
defend positions which no longer have any significance, in-
stead of being open to everything and everybody, and having
confidence that, in a general co-existence, the interior living
faith, like ‘‘spirit and love” at least in the Cross and the
Sacrifice, would furnish a definite contribution to the com-
mon cause. In this false idea of a religion and Christianity
have we not once more before us that erroneous worship of
the human subject and of his positive life-force carried over
to the supernatural plane? Man, face to face with opinions
and systems opposed to the true religion, is, of course, al-
ways bound by the limits established by God in the natural
and supernatural order. In obedience to this principle, our
peace program cannot approve of an indiscriminate co-
existence at all costs with everybody; certainly not at the
cost of truth and justice. These irremovable boundary
marks, in effect, demand complete observance. Where this
is so, including today in the question of peace, religion is
in a sure manner protected against abuse from the political
quarter; whereas when it has been restricted to purely in-
terior life, religion itself is more exposed to that danger.

NUCLEAR ARMS AND ARMAMENT CONTROL
40. This thought of its own accord leads Us on to the ever
acute question of peace which constitutes an object of solici-
tude always present to Our heart and at this moment one
of its partial problems begs for special consideration. We
propose to direct Our attention to a recent proposal which
aims at putting a check on experiments in nuclear weapons
by means of an international agreement. There has been
talk also of taking further steps toward conventions through
which the use of those weapons would be renounced and all

13



states subjected to effective arms control. Thus there would
be a question of three steps: renunciation of experimenta-
tion with atomic weapons, renunciation of the use of such,
and general control of armaments.

41. The supreme importance of these proposals is tragically
illustrated if one stops to consider what science thinks it
can predict about such actions, and which We think it use-
ful to sum up briefly here.

42. As for the experiments of atomic explosions, the opinion
of those who fear the effects produced if they are multiplied
would seem to be finding greater acceptance. Too many
such explosions would in time cause an increased density
of radioactive products in the atmosphere, whose diffusion
depends on elements not under man’s control; thus would
be generated conditions very dangerous for many living
beings.

43. Concerning the use : in a nuclear explosion an enormous
amount of energy equivalent to several thousand million
kilowatts is developed in an exceedingly short time; this
energy is composed of electromagnetic radiations of very
great density distributed within a vast gamut of wave
lengths even to the most penetrating, and of tiny bodies
produced by nuclear disintegration which are hurled at
nearly the speed of light. This energy is transferred to the
atmosphere and within thousandths of a second increases
the temperature of surrounding air masses by hundreds of
degrees; their displacement is violent, propagated at the
speed of sound. On the earth’s surface, in an area of many
square kilometres, reactions of unimaginable violence take
place, materials volatilized and utterly destroyed by direct
radiation, by heat, by mechanical action, while an enormous
amount of radioactive materials of varying life-span com-
pletes and continues the destruction through their activity.

44. This is the spectacle offered to the terrified gaze as
the result of such use; entire cities, even the largest and
richest in art and history, wiped out; a pall of death over
pulverized ruins, covering countless victims with limbs
burnt, twisted and scattered while others groan in their
death agony. Meanwhile the spectre of a radioactive cloud
hinders survivors from giving any help and inexhorably
advances to snuff out any remaining life. There will be no

14



song of victory, only the inconsolable weeping of humanity,
which in desolation will gaze upon the catastrophe brought
on by its own folly.

45. Concerning control: Inspection by properly equipped
planes has been suggested for the purpose of watching
over any atomic activities in large territories. Others might
perhaps think of the possibility of a worldwide network of
observation posts, each one staffed by experts of different
countries and protected by solemn international pacts. Such
centers would have to be equipped with delicate and precise
meteorological and seismic instruments, with equipment
for chemical analysis, with vast spectographs and such like

;

they would render possible the real control of many, unfortu-
nately not of all, of the activities which antecedently would
be outlawed in the field of atomic experimentation.

46. We do not hesitate to declare, as We have in previous
allocutions, that the sum total of those three precautions as
an object of international agreement is an obligation ii?
conscience of nations and of their leaders. We said, sum
total of those precautions, because the reason they are mor-
ally binding is also that equal security be established for all.
If, however, only the first point, concerning experimentation,
were put into effect, the result would be that that condition
would not be verified, the more so that there would be given
sufficient reason to doubt a sincere desire to put into
effect the other two conventions. We speak so frankly be-
cause the danger of insufficient proposals concerning peace
depends in large part on the mutual suspicions that often
trouble the dealings of the powers concerned, each accusing
the other in varying degrees of mere tactics, even of the lack
of sincerity in a matter basic to the fate of the whole human
race.

PREVENTIVE PACIFICATION

47. For the rest, efforts toward peace must consist not only
in measures aimed at restricting the possibility of waging
war, but even more in preventing, eliminating or lessening
with time the quarrels between nations which might lead
to war.

48. To this kind of preventive pacification statesmen must
devote themselves with great vigilance, imbued with a
spirit of impartial justice and also generosity, within the

15



limits of the course of a healthy realism. In last year’s
Christmas message We indicated the points of dispute noted
in relations between Europeans and those non-Europeans
who aspire to full political independence. Can those disputes
be allowed to run their course, so to speak—a procedure
which might easily increase their gravity, sow hatred in
men’s souls and create so-called traditional enmities? And
might not a third party come to profit from such enmities,
a third party which neither of the others really wants, and
cannot want? At any rate, let not those peoples be denied
a fair and progressive political freedom nor hindered in
its pursuit. To Europe, however, they will give credit for
their advancement

; to that Europe without whose influence,
extended to all fields, they might be drawn by a blind na-
tionalism to plunge into chaos or slavery.

49. On the other hand, the Western peoples, especially
those of Europe, should not, in the face of such problems,
remain passive in futile regret over the past or in mutual
recrimination over colonialism. Rather they should set
themselves constructively to work to extend where it has not
yet been done those true values of Europe and the West
which have produced so many good fruits in other con-
tinents. The more Europeans strive for this the more help
will they be to the just freedom of young nations which in
turn will be saved from the pitfalls of false nationalism.
This, in truth, is their real enemy, which would pit them
one day against each other, to the advantage of third par-
ties. Such a forecast, not unfounded, cannot be neglected or
forgotten by those who handle their problems of peace at
congresses where, unfortunately, there gleams the splendor
of a unity that is external and predominantly negative. We
think that in such considerations and in such modes of pro-
cedure there is a valuable assurance of peace, in some re-
spects even more important than an immediate prevention
of war.

CONCLUSIONS

50. Beloved sons and daughters : If even today the birth of
Christ spreads through the world rays of joy and quickens
profound emotion in the heart, it is because the immense
yearnings of generations of men are contained in the lowly
crib of the Incarnate Son of God. In Him, with Him and

16



through Him is the salvation, the security, the temporal and
eternal destiny of humankind. To each and every man the
way is clear to approach that crib to attain through the
teaching, the example, the goodness of the God-Man his
proper share of grace and the things necessary for this life
and the life to come.

51. Where that is not done, either because of individual
sloth or because of other hindrances, it would be useless to
seek it elsewhere, for on all sides the darkness of error,
of selfishness, of vanity and sin, of disappointment and un-
certainty weighs heavily. The disappointing experiences
of peoples, of systems, of individuals, who were unwilling to
seek from Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life, should be
seriously studied and meditated on by whoever thinks he
can do all by himself. Today’s humanity, cultured, power-
ful, dynamic, possesses perhaps a greater title to earthly
happiness in security and peace, but will not be able to
realize that happiness as long as there does not enter the
loftiest and most infiuential factor into its plans and dis-
cussions: God and His Christ. Let the God-Man return
among men, their Lord acknowledged and obeyed, as, at
every Christmas He returns in spirit to the crib and offers
himself to all. Such is the wish We express today to man-
kind’s great family in the certainty that We are showing it
the path to salvation and happiness.

52. May the Divine Infant deign to hear Our fervent prayer
so that His presence in today’s world be felt almost sensibly,
as in the days of His dwelling on earth. Living in the midst
of men, may He enlighten the minds and strengthen the
wills of those who rule over nations

;
to these latter may He

assure justice and peace; may He encourage the zealous
apostles of His Divine message, sustain the good, draw the
errant to Himself, console those persecuted for His Name
and for His Church, succour the poor and oppressed, as-
suage the pains of the sick, the imprisoned, the exiled. May
He give to all a spark of His divine love so that everywhere
on earth His peaceful kingdom may triumph. Amen.

17



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