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The Southern Cross, October 7, —PAGE 3
Text Of Pope’s Address To United Nations
‘NO MORE WAR, WAR NEVER AGAIN,* Pope
Paul begged. “Let the weapons fall from your
hands.” As Pope Paul delivered his address to the
United Nations, behind him are seated (left to right)
U.N. Secretary General U Thant, General Assembly
president Amintore Fanfani, and C. V. Narasimhan,
U.N. Undersecretary. (NC Photos)
The text of the Holy Father’s
address to the UN General
Assembly follows:
As we commence our ad
dress to this unique world
audience , we wish to thank
your secretary general, U
Thant, for the invitation which
he extended to us to visit
the United Nations on the oc
casion of the 20th anniver
sary of the foundation of this
world institution for peace and
for collaboration between the
peoples of the entire earth.
Our thanks also to the presi
dent of the General Assembly,
Mr. Amintore Fanfani, who
has used such kind language
in our regard from the very
day of his election.
We thank all of you here
present for your kindt wel
come, and we present to each
one of you our deferential and
sincere salutation. In friend
ship you have invited us and
admitted us to this meeting;
and it is as a friend that we
are here today.
We express to you our cor
dial personal homage, and we
bring you that of the entire
Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council now meeting in Rome,
and represented here by the
eminent cardinals who accom -
pany us for this purpose.
In their name and in our
own, to each and every one
of you, honor and greeting!
This encounter, as you all
understand, marks a simple
and at the same time a great
moment. It is simple because
you have before you a humble
man; your brother; and among
you all, representatives of
sovereign states, the least-
invested, if you wish to think
of him thus, with a miniscule,
as it were symbolic, temporal
sovereignty, only as much as
is necessary to be free to ex
ercise his spiritual mission,
and to assure all those who
deal with him that he is in
dependent of every other so
vereignty of this world. But he,
who now addresses you, has no
temporal power, nor any am
bition to compete with you. In
fact, we have nothing to ask
for, no question to raise; we
have only a desire to express
and a permission to request;
namely, that of serving you in
sofar as we can, with disin
terest, with humility and love.
This is our first de
claration. As you can see, it
is so simple as to seem in
significant to this Assembly
which always treats of most
important and most difficult
matters.
We said also, however, and
all here today feel it, that this
moment is also a great one.
Great to us, great for you.
For us; You know well who
we are. Whatever may be the
opinion you have of the Pon
tiff of Rome, you know our mis
sion. We are the bearer of a
message for all mankind. And
this we are, not only in our
own personal name and in the
name of the great Catholic
family; but also in that of
those Christian brethren who
share the same sentiments
which we express here, par
ticularly of those who so kind
ly charged us explicitly to be
their spokesman here. Like a
messenger who, after a long
journey, finally succeeds in
delivering the letter which has
been entrusted to him, so we
appreciate the good fortune of
this moment, however brief,
which fulfills a desire
nourished in the heart for
nearly 20 centuries. For, as
you will remember, we are
very ancient; we here repre
sent a long history; we here
celebrate the epilogue of a
wearying pilgrimage in search
of a conversation with the en
tire world, ever since the
command was given to us: Go
and bring the good news to all
peoples. Now, you here repre
sent all peoples. Allow us to
tell you that we have a message,
a happy message, to deliver
to each one of you and to all.
1. We might call our mes
sage a ratification, a solemn
moral ratification of this lofty
institution. This message
comes from our historical
experience. As “an expert
in humanity,” we bring to this
organization the suffrage of
our recent predecessors, that
of the entire Catholic episco
pate and our own, convinced
as we are that this organiza
tion represents the obligatory
path of modern civilization
and of world peace. In saying
this, we feel we are making
our own the voice of the dead
and of the living; of the dead,
who fell in the terrible wars
of the past; of the living who
survived those wars, bearing
in their hearts a condemna
tion of those who would try
to renew wars; and also of
those living who rise up fresh
and confident, the youth of the
present generation, who
legitimately dream of abetter
human race. And we also make
our own the voice of the poor,
the disinherited, the suffering,
of those who hunger and thirst
for justice, for freedom
and progress. The peoples of
the earth turn to the United
Nations as the last hope of
concord and peace; we pre
sume to present here, with
their tribute of honor and of
hope, our own tribute also.
This is why this moment
is great for you, also.
2. We feel that you are
already aware of this. Hear
ken now to the continuation of
our message. It becomes a
message of good wishes for the
future. The edifice which you
have constructed must never
fall; it must be perfected, and
made equal to the needs which
world history will present.
You mark a stage in the
development of mankind, from
which retreat must never be
admitted, but from which it
is necessary that advance be
made.
To the pluralism of states,
which can no longer ignore
one another, you offer an ex
tremely simple and fruitful
formula of coexistence. First
of all, you recognize and dis
tinguish the ones and the
others. You do not confer exis
tence upon states; but you
qualify each single nation as
fit to sit in the orderly con
gress of peoples. That is,
you grant recognition, of the
highest ethical and juridical
value, to each single sovereign
national community, guaran
teeing it an honored interna
tional citizenship. This in it
self is a great service to the
cause of humanity, namely,
to define clearly and to honor
the national subjects of the
world community, and to
classify them in a juridical
condition, worthy thereby of
being recognized and re
spected by all, and from which
there may derive an orderly
and stable system of inter
national life. You give sanction
to the great principle that the
relations between peoples
should be regulated by rea
son, by justice, by law, by
negotiation; not by force, nor
by violence, not by war, not
by fear or by deceit. Thus it
must be. Allow us to con
gratulate you for having had
the wisdom to open this hall
to the young peoples, to those
states which have recently
attained independence and na
tional freedom. Their pre
sence is the proof of the uni
versality and magnanimity
which inspire the principles
of this institution.
Thus it must be. This is our
praise and our good wish; and,
as you can see, we do not
attribute these as from out
side; we derive them from in
side, from the very genius of
your institution.
3. Your charter goes fur
ther than this, and our mes
sage advances with it. You
exist and operate to unite
the nations, to bind states
together. Let us use this se
cond formula: to bring the
ones together with the others.
You are an association. You
are a bridge between peoples.
You are a network of rela
tions between states. We would
almost say that your chief
characteristic is a reflection,
as it were, in the temporal
field, of what our Catholic
Church aspires to be the spiri
tual field: unique and univer
sal. In the ideological con
struction of mankind, there is
on the natural level nothing
superior to this. Your vo
cation is to make brothers
not only of some, but of all
peoples. A difficult under
taking, indeed; but this it is,
your most noble undertaking.
Is there anyone who does not
see the necessity of coming
thus progressively to the
establishment of a world au
thority, able to act effica
ciously on the juridical and
political levels?
Once more we reiterate our
good wish: Advance always!
We will go further, and say:
Strive to bring back among you
any who have separated them
selves and study the right me
thod of uniting to your pact
of brotherhood, in honor and
loyalty, those who do not yet
share in it. Act so that those
still outside will desire and
merit the confidence of all;
and then be generous in grant
ing such confidence. You have
the good fortune and the honor
of sitting in this assembly of
peaceful community, hear
us as we say; Ensure that the
reciprocal trust which here
unites you, and enables you to
do good and great things, may
never be undermined or be
trayed.
4. The inherent logic ofthis
wish, which might be con
sidered to pertain to the very
structure of your organiza
tion, leads us to complete it
with other formulas. Thus let
no one, inasmuch as he is a
member of your union, be su
perior to the others: never one
above the other. This is the
formula of equality. We are
well aware that it must be
completed by the evaluation
of other factors besides
simple membership in this
institution; but equality, too,
belongs to its constitution. You
are not equal, but here you
make yourselves equal. For
several among you, this
may be an act of high vir
tue; allow us to say this to
you, as the representative of
a religion which accomplishes
salvation through the humility
of its Divine Founder. Men
cannot be brothers if they are
not humble. It is pride, no
matter how legitimate it may
seem to be, which provokes
tension and struggles for
prestige, for predominance,
colonialism, egoism; that is,
pride disrupts brotherhood.
5. And now our message
reaches it highest point,
which is, at first, a negative
point. You are expecting us
to utter this sentence, and
we are well aware of its gra
vity and solemnity: not the
ones against the others, never
again, never more! It was
principally for this purpose
that the organization of the
United Nations arose: against
war, in favor of peace! Listen
to the lucid words of the great
departed John Kennedy, who
proclaimed four years ago,
“Mankind must put an end
to war or war will put an
end to mankind.” Many words
are not needed to proclaim
this loftiest aim of your in
stitution. It suffices to re
member that the blood of mil
lions of men, that number
less and unheard-of suffer
ings, useless slaughter and
frightful ruin are the sanc
tion of the pact which unites
you, with an oath which must
change the future history of
the world: No more war, war
never again! Peace, it is peace
which must guide the destinies
of peoples and of all mankind.
Gratitude to you, glory to
you, who for 20 years have
labored for peace. Gratitude
and glory to you for the con
flicts which you have pre
vented or have brought to an
end. The results of your ef
forts in recent days in favor
of peace, even if not yet proved
decisive, are such as to de
serve that we, presuming to
interpret the sentiments of
the whole world, express to
you both praise and thanks.
Gentlemen, you have per
formed and you continue to
perform a great work; the
education of mankind in the
ways of peace. The U.N. is
the great school where that
education is imparted and we
are today in the assembly
hall of that school. Every
one taking his place here be
comes a pupil and also a
teacher in the art of build
ing peace. When you leave
this hall, the world looks upon
you as the architects and con
structors of peace.
Peace, as you know, is not
built up only by means of po
litics, by the balance of forces
and of interests. It is con
structed with the mind, with
ideas, with works of peace.
You labor in this great con
struction. But you are still
at the beginnings. Will the
world ever succeed in chang
ing that selfish and bellicose
mentality which, up to now,
has been interwoven in so
much of its history? It is hard
to foresee; but it is easy to
affirm that it is toward that
new history, a peaceful, truly
human history, as promised
by God to men of good will,
that we must resolutely
march. The roads thereto are
already well marked out for
you; and the first is that of
disarmament.
If you wish to be brothers,
let the arms fall from your
hands. One cannot love while
holding offensive arms. Those
armaments, especially those
terrible arms which modern
science has given you, long
before they produce victims
and ruins, nourish bad feel
ings, create nightmares, dis
trust, and somber resolutions;
they demand enormous expen
ditures; they obstruct projects
of union and useful collabora
tion; they falsify the psycho
logy of peoples. As long as man
remains that weak, change
able and even wicked being that
he often shows himself to be,
defensive arms will, unfor
tunately, be necessary. You,
however, in your courage and
valiance, are studying the ways
of guaranteeing the security of
international life, without hav
ing recourse to arms. This is
a most noble aim. This the
people expect of you, this must
be obtained! Let unanimous
trust in this institution grow,
let its authority increase; and
this aim, we believe, will be
secured.
Gratitude will be expressed
to you by all peoples, relieved
as they will then be from
the crushing expenses of
armaments and freed from
the nightmare of an ever im
minent war.
We rejoice in the knowledge
that many of you have con
sidered favorably our invita
tion, addressed to all states in
the cause of peace from Bom
bay last December, to divert
to the benefit of the develop
ing countries at least a part
of the savings which could be
realized by reducing arma
ments. We here renew that in
vitation, trusting in your sen
timents of humanity and gene
rosity.
6. In so doing, we become
aware that we are echoing
another principle which is
structural to the United
Nations, which is its positive
and affirmative high point:
namely, that you work here not
only to avert conflicts between
states, but also to make them
capable ofworkingthe ones for
the others. You are not
satisfied with facilitating
mere coexistence between na
tions: you take a much greater
step forward, one deserving of
our praise and our support—
you organize the brotherly
collaboration of peoples. In
this way a system of solidarity
is set up and its lofty civilized
aims win the orderly and un
animous support of all the
family of peoples for the com
mon good and for the good of
each individual. This aspect
of the organization of the
United Nations is the most
beautiful; it is its most truly
human visage; it is the ideal
of which mankind dreams on
its pilgrimage through time; it
is the world’s greatest hope;
it is, we presume to say, the
reflection of the loving and
transcendent design of God for
the progress of the human
family on earth—a reflection
in which we see the message of
the Gospel, which is heavenly
become earthly. Indeed, it
seems to us that here we hear
the echo of the voice of our
predecessors, and particu
larly of that of Pope John
xxni, whose message of Pa-
cem in Terris was so honor
ably and significantly received
among you.
You proclaim here the fun
damental rights and duties
of man, his dignity, his free
dom—and above all his re
ligious freedom. We feel that
you thus interpret the highest
sphere of human wisdom and,
we might add, its sacred char
acter. For you deal here above
all with human life; and the
life of man is sacred; no one
may dare offend it. Respect
for life, even with regard to
the great problem of birth,
must find here in your as
sembly its highest affirma
tion and its most reasoned de
fense. You must strive to mul
tiply bread so that it suffices
for the tables of mankind, and
not rather favor an artificial
control of birth, which would
be irrational, in order to di
minish the number of guests
at the banquet of life.
It does not suffice, how
ever, to feed the hungry; it
is necessary also to assure
to each man a life conformed
to his dignity. This too you
strive to perform. We may
consider this the fulfilment
before our very eyes, and by
your efforts, of that propheti
cal announcement so ap
plicable to your institution:
“They will melt down their
swords into plowshares, their
spears into pruning-forks”
(Isaia II, 4). Are you not using
the prodigious energies of the
earth and the magnificent in
ventions of science, no longer
as instruments of death but
as tools of life for humanity’s
new era?
We know how intense and
ever more efficacious are the
efforts of the United Nations
and its dependent world agen
cies to assist those govern
ments who need help to has
ten their economic and social
progress. We know how arden
tly you labor to overcome il
literacy and to spread good
culture throughout the world;
to give man adequate modern
medical assistance; to employ
in man’s service the marve
lous resources of science, of
technique and of organiza
tion—all of this is magni
ficent, and merits the praise
and support of all, including
our own.
We ourself wish to give
the good example, even though
the smallness of our means
is inadequate to the practical
and quantitative needs. We in
tend to intensify the develop
ment of our charitable insti
tutions to combat world hun
ger and fulfill world needs.
It is thus, and in no other
way, that peace can be built
up.
7. One more word, gentle
men, our final word: This
edifice which you are con
structing does not rest upon
merely material and earthly
foundations, for thus it would
be a house built upon sand;
above all, it is based on our
own consciences. The hour has
struck for our “conversion,”
for personal transformation,
for interior renewal. We must
get used to thinking of man in
a new way; and in a new way
also of men’s life in common;
with a new manner too of con
ceiving the paths of history and
the destiny of the world, ac
cording to the words of St.
Paul: “You must be clothed
in the new self, which is creat
ed in God’s image, justified
and sanctified through the
truth” (Eph. IV, 23). The hour
has struck for a halt, a mo
ment of recollection, of re
flection, almost of prayer.
A moment to think anew of
our common origin, our his
tory, our common destiny.
Today as never before, in our
era so marked by human pro
gress, there is need for an
appeal to the moral conscience
of man. For the danger comes,
not from progress, nor from
science—indeed, if properly
utilized, these could rather
resolve many of the grave pro
blems which assail mankind.
No, the real danger comes
from man himself, wielding
ever more powerful arms
which , could be employed
equally well for destruction or
for the loftiest conquests.
In a word, theft, the edi
fice of modern civilization
must be built upon spiritual
principles which alone can
not only support it, but even
illuminate and animate it. To
do this, such indispensable
principles of superior wisdom
cannot but be founded so, as
you are aware, we believe,
upon faith in God. That un
known God, of whom St. Paul
spoke to the Athenians in the
Areopagus, unknown by them,
although without realizing it
they sought Him and He was
close to them, as happens
also to many men of our times.
To us, in any case, and to
all those who accept the in
effable revelation which
Christ has given us of Him,
He is the living God, the Fa
ther Of all men,
PRESIDENT JOHNSON escorts Pope Paul VI to his limousine following their
historic conversations in New York on problems that threaten world peace.
(NC Photos)
U THANT welcomes Pope Paul VI to the United
Nations headquarters in New York for the address
in which the Pontiff called for peace and disarma
ment. (NC Photos)
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