THE HOLY FATHER AND PEACE

New Zealand Tablet, 11 May 1916, Page 13

THE HOLY FATHER AND PEACE

A LENTEN LETTER,

The Holy Father, on the approach of Lent, addressed the following letter to his Vicar-General, Cardinal Basilio Pompili (writes the Rome correspondent of the Catholic Times):

My Lord Cardinal, —As universal Pastor of souls we could not, without failing in the sacred duties imposed upon us by the sublime mission of peace and love entrusted to us by God, remain indifferent to the frightful conflict by which Europe is torn to pieces, or witness it in silence. Therefore from the beginning of our Pontificate we have repeatedly endeavored, in the anguish of soul which such an atrocious spectacle caused, to induce the contending nations by means of exhortations and good advice to lay down their arms and compose their differences through an amicable understanding in the manner demanded by the dignity of man. Casting ourselves, so to speak, in the midst of the belligerents, like a father in the midst of his sons who are at strife, we have besought them in the name of God, Who is justice and infinite love, to renounce their purpose of mutual destruction and, once and for all, to explain clearly, either directly or indirectly, the desires of each side, and to take account, in the measure of what is just and possible, of the aspirations of the peoples, accepting, where necessary, in accordance with equity and for the common welfare of the community of nations, the obligatory and necessary sacrifices of selflove and particular interests. This was and is the only way to put an end to the dreadful conflict according to the rules of justice and to secure a peace advantageous, not to one alone of the parties, but to all, and therefore just and enduring. '

Cannot Remain Silent.

But our paternal voice has not up to the present been listened to, and the war with all its horrors continues to rage furiously. Notwithstanding, my Lord Cardinal, we >cannot, we ought not, remain silent. It is not lawful for •a father whose sons are fiercely struggling to cease to admonish them simply because they resist his prayers and .his tears. And you know, on the other hand, that if our repeated cry for peace has not had the desired effect it Las nevertheless been deeply re-echoed and has descended like balm into the hearts of the belligerent peoples, aye, of the peoples of the whole world, and has excited there a keen, lively desire to see the sanguinary conflict ended as soon as possible. We cannot, then, refrain from lifting up our voice once more against this war which appears to us to be the suicide of civilised Europe. We ought not to neglect suggesting and indicating when circumstances permit any means that may contribute to attain the desired object

Prayers and Mortification.

A favorable occasion presents itself to us now, my Lord Cardinal. Some pious ladies have manifested the intention to form amongst themselves, on the approach of the holy season of Lent, a spiritual union of prayer and mortification in order to obtain more easily from the infinite mercy of God the cessation of the frightful scourge. Such a project could not fail to be most acceptable to us who have often recommended assiduous prayer and Christian penitence as the only consolation for our heart and for every human heart in the affliction caused by this horrible fratricidal war and the most efficacious means of imploring from the Lord the peace that is longed for. We have therefore blessed the proposal with all our heart and we wish now to praise it publicly, hoping that all the faithful will make it their own. We trust, then, that not only in Rome but in the whole of Italy and of the other belligerent countries all the Catholic families will assemble, especially in the days that are approaching which ane consecrated by the Church to penance, and, far from worldly entertainments and amusements, cultivate more fervent and assiduous prayer and practise Christian mortification, which makes more acceptable to the Lord the supplications of His children and which appears, under the present circumstances, peculiarly timely and in harmony with . the sentiments of every pious soul.

To the Relatives of the Combatants.

We specially exhort all the mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters of ■■ the combatants, who. in their tender and gentle souls feel and realise more keenly than any others the immense misfortune of this frightful war, to use their example and kindly power in the domestic circles for the purpose of getting all the members of their families to raise to God in this acceptable time,’ ‘these days of salvation,’ continuous and’’ more fervent prayer and to present at His Divine Throne an offering of voluntary sacrifices which shall appease His just anger. We should also be glad if the Catholic families of all the combatant nations devoted themselves to this work of piety in a particular manner on the day sacred to the commemoration of the sublime sacrifice of the Man-God Who willed through sufferings to redeem and make brothers of all the children of Adam, asking from Him in those hours made eternally memorable by His Infinite Lovethrough the intercession of the Mother of Sorrows, His Invincible Mother, the Queen of Martyrsgrace to bear with fortitude and Christian resignation the anguish and the sad losses caused by the war, and praying to Him to put an end to a trial so long and terrible.

Almsgiving Recommended.

And since sins are atoned for and the justice of God is appeased also by almsgiving, we desire that each family, in a measure proportionate to its resources, make an offering for distribution to the poor and the unfortunate, so dear to Jesus Our Redeemer, and in a special manner for the relief of the unhappy children of those who have lost their lives in the war.

Catholics in Neutral Lands Asked to Co-operate.

Finally, in the hope that families in the neutral countries also, moved by a tender sentiment of humap compassion and still more strongly by supernatural charity, which ought to unite the sons of the same Heavenly Father, will join in these works of Christian piety, we from bur heart impart the Apostolic Benediction to you, my Lord Cardinal, and the Catholic ladies and families mentioned.

From the Vatican, March 4, 1916.

BENEDICT XV., Pope.