From the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution "Gaudium et spes" on the Church in the modern world
The promotion of peace |
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Peace
is not the mere absence of war or the simple maintenance of a balance
of power between forces, nor can it be imposed at the dictate of
absolute power. It is called, rightly and properly, a work of justice.
It is the product of order, the order implanted in human society by its
divine founder, to be realized in practice as men hunger and thirst for
ever more perfect justice.
The common good of the human race is subject to the
eternal law as its primary principle, but its requirements in practice
keep changing with the passage of time. The result is that peace is
never established finally and for ever; the building up of peace has to
go on all the time. Again, the human will is weak and wounded by sin;
the search for peace therefore demands from each individual constant
control of the passions, and from legitimate authority untiring
vigilance.
Even this is not enough. Peace here on earth cannot be
maintained unless the good of the human person is safeguarded, and men
are willing to trust each other and share their riches of spirit and
talent. If peace is to be established it is absolutely necessary to have
a firm determination to respect other persons and peoples and their
dignity, and to be zealous in the practice of brotherhood. Peace is
therefore the fruit also of love; love goes beyond what justice can
achieve. Peace on earth, born of love for one’s neighbour, is the sign
and the effect of the peace of Christ that flows from God the Father. In
his own person the incarnate Son, the Prince of Peace, reconciled all
men to God through his death on the cross. In his human nature he
destroyed hatred and restored unity to all mankind in one people and one
body. Raised on high by the resurrection, he sent the Spirit of love
into the hearts of men.
All Christians are thus urgently summoned to live the
truth in love, and to join all true peacemakers in prayer and work for
peace. Moved by the same spirit, we cannot but praise those who renounce
violence in defence of rights, and have recourse to means of defence
otherwise available to the less powerful as well, provided that this can
be done without injury to the rights and obligations of others or of
the community.
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