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CATHOLIC CHURCH. POPE, 1963-

(PAULUS, VI). ON VATICAN COUNCIL II
AND ON WORLD PEACE.

POPE PAUL VI





ON THE

SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL

AND ON WORLD PEACE

POPE PAUL VI

Address Given on His ISante Day

June 24, 1965

We thank you sincerely for your wishes which you are
offering to us personally with such courtesy, and which

have been so nobly interpreted and expressed by your

cardinal dean in the name of the entire sacred college.

We thank you wholeheartedly. Our spirit draws great
comfort from them. We would almost rather not admit it,
adverse as we are—because of natural feeling and delib-
erate resolution—to having others interested in our person.

But the need to feel fraternally understood and spiritu-

ally sustained by you becomes stronger as we gradually

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assess and appreciate your generous service and as the

experience, two years old now, of the duties of our aposto-

lic office is gradually becoming more complex and grave.

Yes, this is the reality which is commensurate, not only

with the littleness of our powers but also with the quantity

and quality of the problems in every field of the life of the

Church as well as of the contemporary world.

We look with serenity at the complex problems which
weaken and weary our spirit and the spirit of anyone who

observes with vigilant and responsible attention the scene

of present day history, because we know that it is typical

of human life in the flow of time and that the transforma-

tions worked by modern progress in every sector of life

give rise to new problems of every kind, made more acute

for us, who are bound to remain firm and faithful to a

conception of the world and to a body of doctrine whose

precepts are not only unchanging, but also perennially

present and therefore fruitful for ever new and consistant

expressions.

On the one hand, there is an intensification of the

effort of the Church to understand better the divine design

in which we participate and to which we are pledged, as

a result of our Christian vocation, our apostolic mission

and our final destiny. On the other hand, there is more

urgency in our concern for pursuing the surrounding and

escaping world to which we owe our understanding, our

interest, our care and our comfort, in a word, our service,

which is rendered all the more necessary, in a manner of

speaking, the less it is desired and, on the other hand, the

more it is consoling and providential.

The bark of Peter sails in a rough sea. Everything

moves, everything is a problem. You know it very well.

And therefore your collaboration is most precious and

meritorious, since it is accompanied by the spiritual com-

munion which you now profess to us in the love of Jesus

Christ, Our Master and Lord, in prayer for the urgent

necessity and in dedication to common service.

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You also know which among the many ordinary ques-

tions are the extraordinary ones which engage our at-

tention more. There are too many to list. But we recom-

mend the principal ones from among these to your attentive

interest and prayers.

We are studying the statutes of episcopal conferences,
from the proper functioning of which we hope to derive

one of the means of better collaboration of our brothers

in the episcopate, which must ever more strengthen the

inner unity of the Church, honor the collegiality of the

bishops in communion with this Apostolic see and render

more uniform and efficient, in ordinary circumstances, the

pastoral action of the Church, strengthened by the aware-

ness of the one Faith, by the emulation of the manifold

forms in which it expresses itself historically and locally

and by the most active solidarity of Christian charity.

This is a delicate and complex question which is linked

with the more general question of the revision of the Code

of Canon Law, already begun in the creation of organs

which will have to implement it and in the collecting of

material which is to be submitted to the most thoughtful

examination. Moreover, it is also connected with those

improvements and changes to be made in the delicate and

traditional organism which is experienced in the central

government of the Church and which is called the Roman

curia.

It is always possible and necessary to be better. And

this is what we are trying to do by means of gradual

restoration, even though it may not always appear as new
and arbitrary.

As you know, two other very important questions en-

gage our vigilant care: the canonical discipline of mixed

marriages (a delicate question which requires some fur-

ther reflection) and the teaching of the Church regarding

norms of the birth rate. This latter is a theme we mentioned

on this same occasion last year, promising to speak of it

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again more fully and authoritively after the studies to

which we submitted it had reached a conclusion, making

use of the varied and combined competencies of a numerous

and excellent commission. The commission worked worthily

but has not yet completed its enquiries which we do not

wish to interrupt but for which we are solicitous with all

respectful concern, so that we hope before long to be able

to say a few words on a theme of such vital importance,

supported by the light of human science while we ask of

God that it be the light of His wisdom.

We shall say nothing here of many and heavy extra-
ordinary problems of an administrative nature which are

keeping the competent offices vigilantly active, such as the

radical and indispensible restoration of the Lateran Palaces

and the planned construction of the new hall for general

audiences. While they make us feel the blessed restriction

of our limited financial resources, they do not distract us

from our proposal of multiplying as much as possible our

help for world hunger and the missionary, pastoral and

charitable needs which are reported to us from many sides.

In this respect the words of the Lord admonish us: Do not

be anxious (Matt. 6, 31), and we are consoled by the signs

of the piety and generosity of so many of our sons who are

concerned not to let the Church want for temporal means,

which testifies to their heart and blesses their hand.

Rather we mention two main questions which weigh

on our spirit and which now mark our pontificate in the

eyes of all. We mean the conclusion of the ecumenical
Council and peace in the world.

In fact, among the events of which the goodness of

the Lord has desired us to be the witness or participant in

this past year, the development of the third session of the

Second Vatican Ecumenical Council has found a prominent

place, at the end of which and following the deepened and

complete elaboration made by the venerable assembly of

the Fathers, we had the good fortune and joy to approve

and promulgate three important documents: the Constitu-

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tion on the Church and the Decrees on Ecumenism and on

the Oriental Catholic Churches.

It does not seem necessary to us to dwell and under-

line the significance of these texts and the vast influence

which they always will exercise on the life of the Church.

This is already attested to by the numerous comments,

analytical studies and applications which have been made

and those which are still to be made even more fully or

completely. This, the luminous conciliar teaching, will be

a reason and foundation for the renewal of the individual

and collective awareness of the divine and mysterious na-

ture of the Church, of vocations, of the dignity and order

of its members, as well as of the universal mission of sal-

vation entrusted to it by the Lord and which it faithfully

fulfills through the course of centuries and generations.

We have reason to be well pleased because of this
general reawakening of interest in ecclesiological doctrine,

desiring that it may lead to an always fuller and more

profound understanding of the conciliar decrees and to the

exact fulfillment of the norms they contain.

During the course of this year there also went into

force the reform of the sacred liturgy laid down in the

respective decrees of the preceding Council session for the

purpose of making it easier for the faithful—as is already
happening—to draw closer to the sources of a more au-
thentic spirituality and a deeper and more fruitful under-

standing of the contents and significance of the sacred

rites. We cannot therefore but rejoice in the manifold
undertakings of the liturgical apostolate, desiring that they

may correspond faithfully to the spirit and letter of the

conciliar constitution and of the relative instruction, as

well as to the norms propagated by the competent ecclesi-

astical authorities, so that the fruits which the faithful will

draw from them may be certain, well ordered and abundant.

Still in regard to the activity and orientations of the

Ecumenical Council, we believe we also ought to recall as

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particularly significant the institution of the Secretariat

for Non-Believers, a sign of the interest with which the

Church regards the problems of all men, even those fur-

thest away from her, in the desire of obtaining a more
exact and deeper knowledge of them so as to be better able
to offer aid in the loyal search for true solutions.

Now we are awaiting and preparing assiduously for
the fourth and conclusive session of the Council, in which

various schemas of decrees which have not yet been dis-

cussed will have to be debated, while the examination of

others must be reopened or completed.

Every one of you, my lord cardinals, knows how much
we have it at heart to bring to a happy conclusion this

providential and solemn Council. Its adherence to normal

rules of procedure, the importance of the deliberations

already made, the climate of fervor stirred up in every

strata of the ecclesiastic bodies, the conversation full of

respect and promise begun with the separated brethren, the

attention aroused in the world for the Catholic Church

—

these are already results of very great value which enable

us to perceive and feel the help of the Holy Spirit given

this Apostolic See and the entire body of the Catholic

Church. We trust these beneficial fruits will be enormously
increased by the work and the final decrees of the forth-

coming fourth session.

Just as the Council began in exultancy and trust at its

first session, so we wish that it should end in the most

serene and fraternal concord, in the mutual promise of

friendship and solidarity, in the well ordered harmony of

the organic structures which compose this Holy Church

of God, in confirmed trust in its traditions, its laws and its

spiritual and pastoral methods, and action, in the deep and

almost ecstatic awareness of the most blessed mystery it

carries within itself, in increased vigor for the fulfilment

of its humble and divine mission of service, apostolate and

salvation in the midst of mankind. It is necessary that the

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Council end well, in speedy and constructive work, in a

peace filled with the spirit of Christ.

For this reason we have encouraged the work of the

various commissions, to which we must already pay the

tribute of our thanks for the assiduous toil undergone. For

this reason we have sought that the schemas of the con-

ciliar questions still pending should be most accurate and

sustained by free and thorough preparatory discussions and

for this reason we ask you, my lord cardinals, to continue
your most attentive and devoted cooperation with us. This

invitation of ours extends naturally to all our brothers in

the episcopate, to all members of the great synod, as well

to all those who can in different forms contribute to its

serene development and to its happy conclusion: consul-

tors, experts, publicists and faithful.

Let the harmonious and positive action of all these

sons be with us. Let their prayers be with us so that the

historic hour we are about to experience may have its
light and its blessing.

We also rely not only on the presence, for us desir-
able and a matter of honor, of the observers of the sepa-

rated brethren who will intervene at the conciliar reunions,

but also on their courteous goodness and on the common

hope that one day every obstacle which still prevents us

from celebrating together the perfect unity to which Christ

calls us may crumble as it should.

The Council, we hope, will be able to speak in a definite

way regarding the themes proposed in its program. This

will not end all the questions concerning the life of the

Church. Indeed, the Council itself opens many new and

great ones which, once the Council is over, we will take up

reverently and seek to treat and solve, not without the

cooperation and the counsel of the episcopate, as well as

with the cooperation of Religious and of the faithful them-

selves who have the qualification to do so in the best ways.

Life goes on!

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There is then the other major question which, al-

though indirectly, concerns and engages our apostolic min-

istry as we said—peace in the world.
Many times in recent months we have raised our

grieving voice at the fact of sorrowful conflicts which,

while they were and are the cause of deaths and bloodshed

for innocent populations, threatened to extend themselves

and perturb peace even more deeply.

Thanks to the infinite benignity of the Most High,

nothing irreparable has happened. But the threat is far

from over. Indeed it has become more serious, and new

fires of discord have been kindled in other parts of the

globe.

Therefore, let no one resent it if we again preach the

cause of peace. It is still in danger. It is necessary to halt,

to speak to responsible men while there is time. The spark

not yet extinguished can provoke a fire whose proportions

frighten the very imagination.

Humanity still has fresh in its memory the misfortunes

and still carries in its flesh the scars of a general conflict.

It looks with trepidation at events, and desires that it be

spared new and most sorrowful trials.

We cannot hide our uneasiness. Our spirit, the spirit of
all men worthy of the name, shrinks with horror before

the prospect of a war which may employ those terrible

instruments of destruction which science and technology

have discovered. It would be a tragic, irreversible, fatal

eventuality. It would be the end, not of difficulties, but of

civilization.

Let those who wish to prolong or contribute to the

prolonging of a conflict which cannot have sufficient justi-

fication bear in mind the lessons of history. Events may

get beyond men who think they can dominate them.

War—and the experience of this last one also proves
it—does not solve problems. It creates new and more com-

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plex ones. Salvation lies in frank, honest and loyal

negotiation.

Therefore we wish to express our satisfaction to those

statesmen who show loyal and honorable intentions for

peace and who also take positive steps, some of them truly

unusual and daring, to draw contending parties together

and induce them to enter into negotiations, substituting

them for armed conflicts and working them out in new

forms of balance, of mutual respect, of observance of trea-

ties and of brotherly cooperation among free peoples. May

our encouragement sustain these noble efforts and may our

prayer render our wish efficacious and beneficial for all.

Thus the expression of our gratitude goes to all those

who have responded to the proposal we made during our

journey to Bombay last December to turn over at least part

of the savings which individual nations can realize by

adopting plans for effective disarmament to aid needy and

hungry nations in the world and developing nations. Our

suggestion to institute an international fund with these

means and for this purpose has been well received in prin-

ciple by competent and authoritative quarters, so as to give

rise to the hope that the undertaking may have a practical

and most beneficial and exemplary implementation in the

not too distant future.

The heart opens to comforting visions of a better

future for the peaceful and fraternal coexistence of peoples.

Yet this does not prevent it from suffering bitterly because

of the bloody and ruinous struggle which rages in Vietnam

and which causes so many sorrows for those populations to

whom we have sent several times, through the active and
generous Catholic hierarchy there, our words of consola-

tion and our good wishes for peace. Likewise to the Congo,

tried by ferocious internecine conflicts, we have not failed

to send our appeal for concord and peace. Likewise to the

Dominican Republic, which we still hope will find again in

civil and Christian concord the ways for its free and re-

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newed prosperity. Another young nation, Algeria, keeps

our spirit in suspense these days. To that people also go

good wishes for fruitful, civil concord.

My lord cardinals, we have tested your patience with
this long speech of ours. But your goodness encourages us

to pour into your souls our apprehensions and our hopes.

Let your indulgence sustain us and let your fidelity to the

cause of Christ and of the Church and to the cause of the

concord and prosperity of all peoples fortify us. And let our

apostolic blessing speak to each of you as well as to the

whole sacred college of your devotion and our gratitude.

Translation provided by NCWC News Service

1965

National Catholic Welfare Conference

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. • Washington, D. C. 20005

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