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Christmas Message

New Year’s Day Message

Prayer For Peace

POPE PAUL VI

UNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE





Christmas Message

December 23, 1967

Brothers, sons, friends, all men of good will:

Christmas once again proposes for our consideration the theme

of peace. And the message which this holy season places on our

lips for you and for the world cannot pass over in silence the wish

of peace which Christ brought to this earth of ours, so avid for

peace and so in need of it, yet so fraught with ever more serious and

fearsome offenses and menaces which seem to compromise peace.

Allow us, brothers, to repeat in our Christmas greeting that

same wish which descended from heaven during the mysterious

night of the birth of Jesus Christ here among us, on the soil of our

earth, this small atom in the universe, and, at the precise moment

that comprises our history, in the immense flow of thousands of

centuries.

It is to us men, the privileged beings of the cosmos because

we are marked with the image and likeness of God, that peace was

announced, as a gift crowning all the other gifts granted to us

together with this present life, and giving to life its value and its

motive for being worthily and happily lived.

Peace to all of you, brothers, who enjoy the creative and

redemptive benevolence of God. Peace on this blessed day which,

since it is dedicated to the birth of life, to the life of Christ, the

first-born of all creation
,

1 and prototype of the human race, sheds

its transfiguring light upon every day of our time, and upon every

member of the human family. Peace to you, all men, whom we sin-

cerely love, each and every one of you, in Christ. And to you

1



especially who, by faith and love, belong to that people whom a

most tender yet most grave command obliges us, and even in a

certain sense enables us, to love as ours and to guide as Christ’s

peace, peace to all.

But while this wish, so simple yet so full of meaning, rises from

our heart, a number of weighty and difficult questions come to

trouble it: After all, what is peace? why, if it is so closely linked

with the perfection of our existence, must it always be sought for

as a lacking or insufficient element? Are words of good wishes

enough to create peace in our day-to-day experience, or does it

not demand, as we all realize, many other factors besides fine

courteous words, in order that peace be real and lasting? How

then can be it secured, how maintained, how can peace be made the

stable adornment, characteristic of a civilization like ours of today,

which claims to be advanced and mature?

We raise these questions so that, on this its feastday, peace

may be meditated upon, even if such meditation should come to a

bitter conclusion—and unfortunately many, whether from instinct
or logic, draw such a conclusion—namely, that it is impossible to
attain peace, much less preserve it and make it bring forth ever

more orderly developments. If this were so, wishes for peace would

be a mockery, would almost provoke us to pessimism and despair.

But today the conclusion reached by such meditation is quite

different, because the Saviour, Christ “our peace” 2 has come into

the world to give us His peace
,

3
to pour forth among us His spirit,

whose primary gift is peace: 4 where Christ is, there is peace of

soul. Such is the wish of the Apostle Paul: “Let the peace of Christ

rule in your hearts.” 5 Where His Gospel is welcomed, peace is at

least virtually ensured, not only by a promulgation of intention, but

also by a mysterious energy which stimulates peace of soul, brings

it forth, transforms it from a need into a duty, from a desire into a

gift and a wise ability to generate and enjoy peace.

This simple reflection leads to the thought which should

characterize our fraternal Christmas message, and it is this: We

speak often, very often, of peace—indeed, we have just invited the
world to dedicate a special thought to peace in human comity on

2



the first day of the civil year (and this theme deserves to be repeated

here, for the threatening condition of the world imposes it at every

moment). As all are aware, however, we usually speak of peace

between nations, between classes of society, between the members

of the human community. We talk of external peace, political,

military, social, communitarian peace, which concerns the right

balance in relationships between men. Today, however, inspired by

the spirituality of Christmas. We would invite you to consider

another peace, that interior personal peace which every human

spirit should have, or yearn for, within itself, as the light of its

conscience, as the orderly command of its faculties, as the synthesis

and superior expression of its personality, and as the deepest

fruitful root of exterior peace.

We mean: peace of heart: true self-possession, true origin of

virtue, serenity and happiness, true source of wise and good speech

in its strongest and most intelligent expression.

Brothers, do we possess peace of heart?

The answer to this question is undoubtedly difficult. Perhaps

we would like to escape it as being an indiscreet query, or discredit

it by assimilating peace of heart to the passive resignation of one

who, convinced of his own weakness and lacking in courageous

energy, puts his mind at peace, thus abandoning himself to a sort of

invincible fatalism, which is a false imitation of true peace of soul.

Sometimes noble and thoughtful men would derive it from the

higher school of stoicism, which throws off the immediate experi-

ence of disturbing passions and worrisome events in order to accept,

freely and enforcedly at the same time, the profound reality of the

laws of nature, a stoicism which considers a manly and serene

insensibility to disagreeable contingent things to be peace of heart.

There is indeed a wide scale of various forms of spurious peace

of heart in modern life, which serve to placate the intimate demands

of human thought, disappointed in its search for truth, and of

human love, disappointed in its search for true happiness, by sub-

stituting for them either indifference to the things of the soul, or the

narcotic of a subtle scepticism, or the breathless engagement in

3



feverish external activities, excluding any thoughtful meditation

upon the true destiny of man, or else, unfortunately, by substi-

tuting the quest for refined experiences of pleasure, or the sophisti-

cated affectation of contempt for every form of well-bred social

coexistence.

Is this peace of heart? Our answer must unfortunately be no.

In general, modern man lacks true interior peace.

We have such great esteem and love for man, as Christ teaches,

that we would always willingly presume that in every human mind

there lies hidden a profound connatural aspiration, a nostalgia, a

hope of enjoying one day real peace of heart: that true, new peace,

which redeems us from our common misery and makes us feel that

we are indeed men and sons of God.

So, then, we wish to announce in a loud voice, without enter-

ing into explanations rendered almost unnecessary by this feast of

Christmas, or rather, we proclaim with a quiet voice which pene-

trates gently and persuasively into men’s minds, that peace of

heart does exist, it is possible, it is near at hand, and today it is

offered to us as the great gift of Christmas. Indeed, this is our

wish, this today is our message.

Who will receive it? To whom in particular is it addressed?

We proclaim it thus: Peace to you who suffer, for you can be con-

soled. Peace to you who hunger both for bread and for justice, for

men have been declared by Christ to be brothers
,

6 and hence all

those who can are obliged to give you the material and moral food

you need. Peace to you who meditate and study, for truth does

exist, and the drama of your sleepless research may discover

marvelous solutions: all things come from the word of God, and so

all things are, at least in a measure, intelligible. Peace to you who

bear the anxious burden of the right government of the world, for

it is not vain to hope that at last men will realize that they can and

must love one another, and not arm themselves to the point of

fatal risks, not fight one another, and not kill each other.

At this point, brothers, you become aware of a simple and

wonderful thing: namely, that to a great extent external peace

4



derives from and depends upon interior peace. Peace must be in

men’s hearts before it can be made real in civil institutions and the

events of history. The road may be long, because the ways of the

heart are long and often rough and difficult. They are individual

and changeable, it is true, but it is this that constitutes the drama

of man, which Christmas comes to enrich with positive and, con-

sidered in themselves, resolutive energies.

In fact, peace is a kind of orderliness, and order presupposes

a perfection of relationships. Among all those which are necessary

for human existence, there is also, first and indispensable, the rela-

tionship with God. We know we are now asserting a truth which

many men of today refuse to admit: you can live well without

religion. They say, you can even live better. Religion is so mysteri-

ous, it poses extremely complex problems, it does not give peace to

man’s mind but takes it away. This is not so, brothers: we have an

insatiable need of God, we cannot do without Him, our very life

is by its nature dependent on Him. To forget God means to put out

light in our lives, for without Him all becomes dark. God is neces-

sary for the human spirit, God is our happiness, God is life. To be

united to Him, reconciled with Him, observant of the plan of His

holy will—therein is our primary interior peace. Holy Scripture
says “there is no peace for those who are without God.” 7 But there

is peace for whoever enters into the divine will: “In his will is our

peace,” in the beautiful and true words of Dante at the beginning

of his Paradise.
s We are well aware of how strongly this first

foundation of interior peace, and consequently of external peace

as well, is opposed today. Religion, in its positive and active sense,

is refused citizenship, not only in the kingdom of Caesar where

Caesar is sovereign, and where laicism may actually be a dutiful

recognition of the limits of temporal government at the frontier of

the kingdom of God, but even in the realm of the spirit, in which

religion is called upon to assert its own kingdom, a source of

interior peace and, thereby, of external peace also.

How can one think of a social international order without

relying upon a personal moral order in those men who govern the

world or are its components? How can such a personal moral order

5



be sincere, secure and stable, without reference to those absolute

transcendental principles which religion alone inspires and guaran-

tees? Peace with God is the source of that moral strength, that

manly righteousness and fundamental wisdom, from which there

may spring forth peace with men. How can one discover the art of

getting men to agree without recognizing the primacy of human

brotherhood in politics, without recognizing forgiveness of wrongs

undergone or shared as the principle which solves human conflicts?

Are not these the basic criteria of earthly peace, founded as they

are on teachings which only religion can suggest and maintain? We

mean, the religion of Christ and of Christmas. And we say no more,

since these words of ours are not a lesson, but a message of good

wishes.

Perhaps this message may prove to be prophetic. May God

grant it, in the twofold perspective that this humble voice of ours, a

weak echo of the Christmas annunciation, may one day be listened

to, and bring joy and new vitality to a world brought nearer to

Christ. And that good believing souls, from now on, filled with

the spirit of Christ, may experience the ineffable consolation of His

interior peace, telling themselves and witnessing to their brothers

how true, how joyful, how hopeful is the peace which Christ has

brought us, which without Him the world cannot fully attain . 9

To you, then, brothers, to you, beloved sons, to you, all men

of good will, goes our Christmas wish to that interior peace of

God, which passes all understanding, (to) keep your hearts and

your minds in Christ Jesus
,

10
in whose name we bless you with all

our heart.

* * * *

1

Col. 1:15.

2
Eph. 2:14.

Cf. John 14:27.

' Dv. Gal. 5:22.

'Co. 3:15.
0
Matt. 23:8.

7
Cf. Is. 48:22; 55:21.

8
III, 85.

°Cf. John 14:27.
10

Phil. 4:8.

6



Message on Peace

Day of Peace

January i, 1968

Brothers and Sons! All men who hear our voice!

Peace! Peace! is our announcement. Peace! Peace! in the New

Year is our fervent wish. Peace to you present here today, citizens

of Rome, which expressed and confirmed its civilization by its “Pax

Romana” founded upon the universal extension of the equality of

rights of its citizens, who were proudly free through the dynamic

wisdom of Rome’s juridical ordinances—be conscious and worthy
of so great a heritage! Peace also to you, guests of Rome, visitors,

pilgrims, who have come here from Italy and from all other

countries, and who are associated here, not as strangers but as

friends, at this fraternal affirmation of a high, universally shared

human sentiment! And peace to all those who have welcomed our

invitation to dedicate to the high ideal of peace this first day of the

civil year, to make this day, as it were, the hope and pledge of every

day and every activity of the time to come. We thank you all,

especially you, the guides of nations, the magistrates of justice, the

professors and seekers of truth and culture, the veterans whose

physical and moral scars, inflicted on your flesh and your spirit

by recent wars, help you to know better than others how great a

conquest is peace, you also, the young, the workers, the ordinary

folk so sincere and intuitive in regard to the true good of modern

society—we thank you all for your adherence to this general cele-
bration of peace.

7



Wherever that blessed word is heard today, we send our fra-

ternal and fatherly greeting and our good wishes for peace and for

all those things which peace implies: order, serenity, joy, fraternity,

freedom, hope, the energy and security of good work, the resolution

to begin anew and to progress, the healthy welfare of all, and that

mysterious ability to enjoy life by discovering its relationships with

its inmost principle and its supreme end: the God of peace.

This should conclude our words, for the present, concerning

this immense and formidable theme.

However, merely by pronouncing and repeating this prophetic

word peace, so supremely human and friendly, a sentiment arises

in our spirit which we cannot pass over in silence, especially be-

cause it tries to smother our cry of peace, and disappoint, as it were,

the hope which accompanies it. This sentiment is the feeling of the

difficulties which oppose the securing of peace. The very present

conditions of the world reveal and impose these difficulties with an

energy which seems to proclaim them as fatal and insuperable. As

an example, peace today does not exist in a region which is mate-

rially distant from us but spiritually very near. You know well

that we are alluding to Vietnam; and while, from the dispassionate

analysis of the civil interests in question and of the honor of the

conflicting parties, it seems to us that the way of peace, even though

complex and gradual, is still open and possible, behold new, terri-

ble obstacles arise to complicate, with new problems and new

threats, this intricate question, increasing dangers, rancors, ruins,

tears and victims.

We would wish to ward off the tremendous disaster of a

spreading war, an endless war. We dare to exhort the powers

involved in the conflict to attempt every possible means that could

lead to an honorable solution of the sorrowful dispute. The same

entreaty we place before international bodies which might be able

to intervene. And today again we beg the parties in conflict to

establish a sincere and lasting truce in the civil struggle which is so

grave and merciless. It is not perhaps desirable by all, and is it not

perhaps possible in a practical way that fair negotiations might

reestablish peace between the inhabitants of that beloved and noble

8



country, guaranteeing their independence and liberty? We think so.

We hope so “in spe, contra spem,” hoping against hope.

In this hope we are cheered by the prolongation by some hours

of the truce previously fixed for this New Year, in accordance with

the spirit of our call for a Day of Peace: a small sign, purely

symbolic as it were, but very gracious and meaningful, and one that

to us, as without doubt to all, is greatly pleasing, as a presage of

happier issues.

This very sad example of Vietnam is sufficient to show how

difficult peace is, even when it might be attained. Peace becomes

difficult when the struggle is an ideological one. In such circum-

stances, the situation is aggravated by confusion of judgment and

opinion. The world looks on, is aroused, deplores, comments, try-

ing to understand on which side justice lies; and, because of the

difficulty of finding the correct solution, feels a growing temptation

to relegate peace among the other Utopias as a great ideal, worthy

of being included among the finest energies motivating history, but

fated always to remain fallacious.

This aspect of peace, namely, the difficulty of attaining and

preserving it, is the aspect that primarily stirs us to speak of it, and

constrains us to declare, even if it is against all appearances, that

peace is possible, always; that peace is a duty, always. It is from

this confidence, from this duty, that our campaign for peace is pos-

sible, because men are basically good, are orientated toward reason,

order and the common good; it is possible because it is in the heart

of the new men, of youth, of people who are perceptive of the path

of civilization; it is possible, because it is called for by the dearest

voices, those of the children, those of the victims of the conflicts

of mankind, the wounded, the refugees, the ravaged, those of the

weeping mothers, of the widows, and of the fallen; voices which all

together implore peace, peace! Yes, it is possible, because Christ

has come into the world, He has proclaimed universal brotherhood

and has taught us love.

Admittedly it is difficult, because, before it is found in ex-

ternal events and arrangements, peace must be found in men’s

9



minds, which harbor selfishness, pride, dreams of power and

domination, the ideology of exclusivism, of oppression, of rebellion

with thirst for vengeance and blood.

Brothers and sons, it is to this overcoming of inhuman ideas,

of arrogant instincts and warlike passions, that the Day of Peace

is dedicated; and it is to the formation of hearts that are strong in

goodness and in the awareness that all men are brothers, that human

life is sacred, that generosity in forgiving and the capacity for

reconciliation are a great social and political art, that our effort for

the victory of peace is directed.

What can our effort achieve? Is not this too one more vain

attempt which increases the number of the unsuccessful endeavors?

So it would be, brothers and sons, if a higher assistance, that of

God, the good and merciful Father, did not inspire and sustain it.

That is the aid that prayer can obtain and insert into the complica-

tions of human conflicts in order to resolve them in an unexpectedly

auspicious manner.

To prayer then do we invite you, to prayer with one voice and

one heart alone, for peace in the world.

* * * *

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January i, 1968

O Lord, the God of peace, You Who have created men and

show them Your benevolence so that they may share as sons in

your Glory, we bless You and we give thanks to You because You

have sent us Jesus, Your well-beloved Son, and through the mystery

of His Resurrection You have made Him the worker of all salva-

tion, the source of all peace, and bond of all brotherhood.

We give thanks to You for the desires, the efforts, the achieve-

ments stirred up by Your spirit of peace in our time to replace

hate by love, mistrust by understanding, indifference by inter-

dependence.

Open our minds and our hearts ever wider to the real demands

of the love of all our brothers, so that we may become more com-

pletely peacemakers.

Remember, O Father of mercy, all those who struggle, suffer

and die to bring forth a world of closer brotherhood.

May your kingdom of justice, of peace and of love come to

men of every race and every tongue and may the earth be filled

with Your glory! Amen.