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GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, APRIL 11. 1963 New Techniques For World Community ~ aiiiAca iu latest papal encyclical, "Pacem et Terris** (Peace on Ean in an unusual ceremony that emphasized the importance attached to his first encyclical devoted exclusively to theme of peace. clearly show that the men of our time have become increas ingly conscious of their dig nity as human persons. This awareness prompts them to claim a share in the public ad ministration of their country, while it also accounts for the demand that their own inalien able and inviolable rights be protected by law. It also re quires that government offi cials be chosen in conformity with constitutional procedures, and perform their specific func tions within the limits of law Our predecessors have con stantly maintained, and we join them in reasserting, that politi cal communities are reciprocal ly subjects of rights and duties. This mean* that their relation ships also must be harmonized in truth, in justice, in a working solidarity, in liberty. The same I moral law which governs rela tions between individual human beings serves also to regulate the relations of political com munities with one another. This will be readily understood when one reflects that the individual representatives of political com munities cannot put aside their personal dignity while they are acting in the name and Interest of their countries. And that- they cannot therefore violate the very law of their being, which is the moral law. It would be absurd, moreover, even to imagine that men could surrender their own human at tributes, or be compelled to do so, by the very fact of their appointment to public office, whereas they have been given that noble assignment precisely because the wealth of their hu man endowments has earned them their reputation as out standing members of the body politic. Furthermore, authority is a necessary requirement of the moral order in human so ciety. It may not therefore be used against that order. And the very instant such an at tempt were made, it would cease to be authority, as the Lord has warned us: A word, then, for the kings’ cars to hear, kings’ hearts to heed: A message for you, rulers, wherever you be! Listen well, all you that have multitudes at your command, foreign hordes to do your bidding. Power is none but comes to you from the Lord, nor any royalty but from one who la above all. He It is that will call you to account for your doings with a scrutiny that reads your inmost thoughts.” (53) Lastly, it is to be borne in mind that also in the regulating of relations between political communities, authority is to be exercised for the achievement of the common good, which con stitutes the reason for its ex istence. But a fundamental factor of the common good la acknowl edgement of the moral order and respect for Its prescriptions. Order between the political communities must be built upon the unshakable and unchange able rock of the moral law, made manifest in the order of nature by the Creator himself and by Him engraved on the hearts of men with letters that may never be effaced. Like the rays of a gleaming beacon, its principles must guide the plans and policies of men and nations. These are the signals—of warn ing, safety and smooth sailing —they will have to heed if they would not see all their laborious efforts to establish a new order condemned to tempest and shipwreck. (54) In Truth First among the rules gov* erning the relations between states Is that of truth. This calls, above all, for the elimina tion of every trace of racism, and the consequent recognition of the principle that all states are by nature equal in dignity. Each of them, accordingly is vested with the right to exist ence, to self-development, to the m«ns fitting to its attainment and to be the one primarily re sponsible for this self-develop ment Add to that the right of each to its good name, and to the respect which is its due. Very often, experience has taught us, individuals will be found to differ considerably, in knowledge, virtue, talent and wealth. Yet these inequalities must never be held to excuse any man’s attempt to lord it over his neighbors unjustly. They constitute rather a source of greater responsibility in the contribution which each and everyone must make towards mutual improvement Similarly, political communi ties may have reached different levels of culture, civilization or economic development. Neither is that a sufficient reason for some to take unjust advantage of their superiority over others. Rather should they see in it an added motive for more serious commitment to the common cause of social progress. It is not true that some hu man beings are by nature su perior and others inferior. All men are equal in their natural dignity. Consequently, there are no political communities which are superior by nature and none which are inferior by nature. »A11 political communities are of equal natural dignity, since they are bodies whose member ship is made up of these same human beings. Nor must it be forgotten, in this connection, that peoples can be highly sen sitive, and with good reason, in matters touching their dignity and honor. Truth further demands that the various media of social com munications made available by modem progress, which enable the nations to know each other better, be used with serene ob jectivity. That need not. of course, rule out anv legitimate emphasis on the positive as pects of their way of life. But methods of information which fall short of the truth, and by the same token Impair the rep utation of this people or that, must be discarded. (55* In Justice Relations between political communities are to be further regulated by justice. This im plies, over and above recogni tion of their mutual rights, the fulfillment of their respective duties. Political communities have the right to existence, to self development and to the means necessary for this. They have the right to play the leading part in the process of their own development and the right to their good name and due hon ors. From which it follows as a simultaneous consequence *.hat they have also the correspond ing duty of respecting these rights in others and of avoiding any act of violation. Just as an individual man may not pursue his own interests to the detri ment of other men, so, on the international level, one state may not develop itself oy re stricting or oppressing other states. St. Augustine rightly says, “What are kingdoms with out justice but bands of rob bers?” (56) Not only can it happen, but it actually does happen that the advantages and conveniences which nations strive to acquire for themselves become objects of contention. Nevertheless, the resulting disagreements must be settled, not by force, nor by deceit or trickery, but rather in the only manner which is worthy of the dignity of man i.e., by a mutual assessment of the reasons on both sides of the dispute, by a mature and Jbjec- tive investigation of the situa tion, and by an equitable recon ciliation erf differences of opin ion. From the 19th century there has been a rather widespread tendency in historical evolution that political communities equate themselves to national communities. However, for vai- ious reasons, it has not always been possible to make geo graphical boundaries coincide with ethnic ones. This gives rise to the phenomenon of minori ties and to the relative complex problems. In the first place, it must be made dear that justice is seri ously violated by whatever is done to limit the strength and numerical increase of these lesser peoples. The injustice is even more serious if such sinful projects are aimed at the **ery extinction of these groups. On the other hand, the de mands of justice are admirably observed by those civil authori ties who promote the natural betterment of those citizens be longing to a smaller ethnic group, particularly when that betterment concerns their lan guage. the development oi their natural gifts, their ancestral customs, and their acc »mplish- ments and endeavors in ihe economic order. (57) It should be noted, however, that these minority groups, either because of a reaction to their present situation or be cause of their histoncal diffi culties are often inclined to ex alt beyond due measure any thing proper to thevr own people, so as to place them even above human values, as if that which is proper to humanity were to be at the service of that which is proper to the nation. Reason rather demands that these very people reu>gnize also the advantages that accrue to them from their peclliar cir cumstances. For instance, no small contribution is mute to wards the development of their particular talents and spirit by their daily dealings with people wuo have grown up in a differ ent culture. This, however, will be true only if they will know how to act as a bridge, which facJitates the circulation of life in its various expressions among ditterent traditions or civilizations, and not a zone of discord which can cause great damage and choke natural de velopment. Active Solidarity Certainly relations between states must be regulated by the norms of truth and justice, but they also derive great benefits from active solidarity, through mutual cooperation on various levels, such as, in our own times, has already taken place with laudable results in the economic, social, political, educational, health and sport spheres. We must remember that, of its very nature, civil authority exists, not to confine its people within the boundaries cf their nation, but rather to protect, above all else, the common good of that particular civil society, which certainly cannot be divorced from the common good of the entire human family. This entails not only that civ il societies should pursue their particular interests without hurting others, but also that they should join forces and plans whenever the efforts of an individual government can not achieve its desired goals. But in the execution of such common efforts, great care must be taken lest what helps some nations should injure others. Furthermore, the universal common good requires that in every nation friendly relations be fostered in all fields between the citizens and their interme diate societies. There are groupings of peo ple of more or less different racial backgrounds. However, the elements which character ize an ethnic group must not be transformed into a watertight compartment in which human beings are prevented from com municating with their fellow- men belonging to different eth nic groups. That would contrast with our contemporary situa tion. in which the distances separating peoples have been al most wiped out. Nor can one overlook the fact that, even though human beings differ from one another by virtue of their ethnic peculiarities, they all possess certain essential common elements, and are in clined by nature to meet each other in the world of spiritual values, whose progressive as similation opens to them the possibility of perfection without limits They have the right and duty therefore to live in com munion with one another. Proper Balances Between Population, Land and Capital As everybody knows, there are countries with an abundance of arable land and a scarcity of manpower, while in other coun tries there is no proportion be tween natural resources and the capital available. This demands that peoples should set up re lationships of mutual collabora tion, facilitating the circulation from one to the other of capi tal. goods and manpower. (58) Here we deem it opportune to remark that, whenever possible, the work to be done should be taken to the workers, not vice versa. In this way a possibility of a better future is offered to many persons without being forced to leave their own en vironment in order to seek resi dence elsewhere, which almost always entails the heartache of separation and difficult periods of adjustment and social inte gration. The sentiment of universal fatherhood which the Lord has placed in our heart makes us feel profound sadness in con sidering the phenomenon of po litical refugees: a phenomenon which has assumed large pro portions and which always hides numberless and acute suffer ings. Such expatriations show that there are some political regimes which do not guarantee for in dividual citizens a sufficient sphere of freedom within which their souls are allowed to breathe humanly. In fact, under those regimes even the lawful existence of such a sphere of freedom is either called into question or denied. This un doubtedly is a radical inversion of the order of human society, because the reason for the exist ence of public authority is to promote the common good, a fundamental clement of which is the recognition of that sphere of freedom and the safeguard ing of it. At this point it will not be superfluous to recall that such exiles are persons, and that all their rights as persons must be recognized, since they do not lose those rights on losing the citizenship of lands of which they are former members. Now among the rights of a human person there must be included that by which a man may enter a political communi ty where he hopes he can more fittingly provide a future for himself and his dependents. Wherefore, as far as the com mon good rightly understood permits, it is the duty of that state to accept such immigrants and to help to integrate them into itself as new members. Wherefore, on this occasion, we publicly approve and com mend every undertaking, found ed on the principles of human solidarity and Christian chari ty. which aims at making mi gration of persons from on* country to another less palnfub signal ror tne attention and gratitude of all right-minded persons the manifold word which specialized international agencies are carrying out in this very delicate field. On the other hand, it is with deep sorrow that w* note the enormous stocks of armaments that have been and still are be ing made in more economically developed countries, with a vast outlay of intellectual and eco nomic resources. And so it hap pens that, while the people of these countries are loaded with heavy burdens, other countries as a result are deprived of the collaboration they need in order to make economic and social progress. The production of arms is allegedly justified on the grounds that in present-day conditions peace cannot be pre served without an equal balance of armaments. And so, if one