LABOUR IN HOPE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23273, 16 February 1939, Page 17

LABOUR IN HOPE

LOYE OF MANKIND PIUS XI POPE OF PEACE JUSTICE AND CHARITY GREAT CALL TO THE WORLD "Each Pope lias his own figure and feature, character and temperament, vision and outlook, with which to grapple with the needs, conditions, problems,'evils of the day: tliis Pope bore the burden of office with serenity and laboured in hope for the Church and for all mail, because of his rooted belief in God's power and Christ's supreme claims," said Bishop Liston, in paying a tribute to the lato Pope Pius Xi. at the Pontifical Requiem Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday morning. "May the welcome of God and the light of heaven be now the reward of the soul of Pius Xi.," added the bishop. "Such is our prayer on this occasion, greatly honoured as it is by the presence of the Mayor of Auckland, of representatives of our own Government of New Zealand, and, through the members of the Consular Corps, of the representatives of other Governments of the world, of His Grace Archbishop Averill and the chairmen and members of many public bodies. The Hand of a Master "Volumes will be written about the 17 years of Pius XI., his activities and achievements. History will speak of him as the Pope of peace, the herald of the Reign of Christ in the world, the Crusader, maybe the greatest of all time, for Catholic Missions to pagan lands, the indefatigable promoter of the Catholic layman's apostolate, the patron of studies, art and science; the Pope who, by solving the Roman Question, has opened up the way for the spiritual mission of the Church, both in Italy and throughout the world. "With a master's hand he has defined the constitution of States, the ideals of the family, and the Christian education of the young. He has sustained and'encouraged his own Catholic children, he has been the intrepid defender of the Faith, and of the rights of man, in days when the State in some lands, with its huge and seemingly irresistible power, is placing itself above God and crushing the soul of man. The world has heard his answer to these arrogant and blasphemous claims: 'One may ask for our death, but not for our silence.' " Concern for Ordinary Man Bishop Liston said that to him the late Pope's chief claim to greatness lay in that, while he had asserted and expounded the rights of God in a world so largely from Him, he had thought with concern and love of the ordinary man who was oppressed by the great evils of injustice, war and the fear gf war. Moved with compassion for the multitude he had called for nothing less than the reconstruction of society, and for that, not in the iniquitous way of class warfare or racial persecution, but in the spirit ol justice and charity.

In a series of letters, notably in the Encyclical, "Guadragesimo Anno," lie had unfolded the most significant social as well as religious programme of the now age. Men everywhere had recognised in him the authentic spokesman for the Christian solution of the world's problems. The title he merited beyond all doubt or question was "Pope of the working man.'' Yet Pope Pius did not patronise the toiler by telling him only of his rights. He reminded him that in a reconstructed social order he had his duties. A Family Sorrow "It is really the most natural thing for the Father of the Faithful to concern himself with the well-being of the people," said Bishop Liston. "It is not his office to put forward technical solutions, but it is his duty to recall the world, in the name of Christ whose Vicar he is, to a spirit of justice without which there can be no pence. "Pius XI. has gone to the Supreme Judge, as all of us must do." said Bishop Liston in conclusion, "to give an account of lonsj years of life and of the 17 years of his Pontificate, and to receive, we prav and hope, the great reward. He has gone with prayer 111 his last moments, he who in every letter and direction stressed the truth that the first care of the Catholic, and his last, must be prayer—union with God.

"He has been our spiritual Father, and this is a family sorrow; but he has taken to his heart the whole world of men, and the streams of their admiration and affection have flowed in to him. .May his brave, noble, fatherly, priestlv soul rest in peace and plead with God for the world's peace."