Pope Warns Against Repetition Of Munich

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28160, 26 December 1956, Page 8

Pope Warns Against Repetition Of Munich

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

VATICAN CITY, Dec. 23. In his Christmas broadcast today Pope Pius XII told the world’s 470,000,000 Roman Catholics that in the present circumstances they might lawfully go to war under certain conditions. “For our part we, as head of the Church, have up to now avoided, just as we did in previous cases, calling Christendom to a crusade.” said the Pope. “We can. however, call for full understanding of the fact that where religion is a vital living heritage, men do look upon the struggle unjustly forced on them by their enemy as a crusade.”

The Pope warned against a repetition of the fatal error of Munich. He also condemned the United Nations for applying two different scales in condemning aggression by member nations.

He said the exercise of United Nations rights should be denied to States which refused “even the admission of observers —thus showing that their concept of State sovereignty threatens the very foundations of the United Nations.”

The Pope called for greater solidarity among the nations of Europe. He condemned “fog tactics” which he said the Communists were using to promote closer contact with Roman Catholics, and deplored the support which some Roman Catholic priests and laymen had given to this manoeuvre.

“What purpose is served by trying to reason with each other when there is no common language, or how is it possible to meet each other if the ways diverge, if, that is, one side obstinately rejects and denies absolute common values, thus making impossible any form of coexistence in truth? “If only out of respect for the Christian name one should cease from lending oneself to those tactics because . . . one cannot reconcile the wish to sit at the table of God and at that of His enemies.”

“A Martyred People” “And if some people’s minds should still be irresolute, despite the dolorous testimony of 10 years of cruelty, the blood recently shed, and the immolation of many lives offered by a martyred people ought finally to persuade them.” Urging the nations of Europe to draw closer together, the Pope warned that this would have small value unless “all the associated nations understand that the political and economic defeats of some of them in any part of the world cannot produce true gains for the others “If unpleasant realities force us to set forth the terms of the struggle in clear language no-one can properly accuse us of favouring the stiffening of opposing blocs, and still less, of having in some fashion abandoned that mission of peace which flows from our Apostolic office. “Rather, if we kept silence we would have to fear the judgment of God. “There is no longer room for doubt concerning the aims and methods which rely on tanks when they noisily crash over borders, sowing death in order to force civilian peoples into a pattern of life they explicitly detest, when destroying, as it were, the stages of possible negotiation and mediation, the threat is made of using atomic weapons to gain certain demands, be they justified or not.” The Pope said that it was clear in the present circumstances the situation could arise in which the nation, having made every effort to avoid it. could lawfully engage in war for effective self-defence and with the hope of a favourable outcome against unjust attack.

“It would be a fatal error to repeat what in similar circumstances happened during the years preceding World War 11. when all threatened nations, and not merely the smallest, sought their safety at the expense of others, using them as shields so to speak, and even seeking very questionable economic and political advantages from their neighbours’ suffering. “In the end all together were overwhelmed in the holocaust.

“Hence a definite need of this period —a means of ensuring the whole world’s peace and fruitful share of its goods, a force which embraces too the peoples of Asia, Africa, the Near East and Palestine with its Holy Places — is the restoring of European solidarity. “But this unity Is not assured until all the associated nations realise that the political and economic defeats of some of them in any part of the world cannot produce true gains in the long run for the others “If, therefore, a body representative of the people and a government—both having been chosen by free elections —in a moment of extreme danger decide, by legitimate instruments of internal and external policy, on defensive precautions, and carry out the plans which they consider necessary, they do not act immorally.” United Nations Criticised

The Pope severely criticised the United Nations for what he termed "perverting absolute values” in the approach to two recent crises of different character—the Soviet action in Hungary and the British, French and Israeli action in Egypt. “No-one expects or demands the impossible. not even from the United Nations: but one should have a right to expect that their authority should have had its weight, at least through observers, in the places in which the essential values of man are in extreme danger.” The Pope said that the United Nations was the only institution at present capable of bringing about general disarmament, and he urged the adoption of a system cf control by aerial observation.

He said aerial observation “approaches almost the miraculous,” and would give a solid guarantee against movements of troops or artillery, or the building-up of vast stores of arms or industrial centres important for war production. *

The Pope concluded his 45-minute message with an appeal for prayers and for help for the people of Hungary. He ended by giving his Solemn Pontificial Blessing to “all those listening, and especially those suffering, to the humble and to the poor, to those who are enduring persecutions for justice’s sake.”