Principles for Peace: Selections from Papal Documents—Leo XIII to Pius XII ed. by Rev. Harry C. Koenig (review)

BOOK REVIEW Principles for Peace: Selections from Papal Documents-Leo XIII to Pius XII. Edited by REv. HARRY C. KoENIG. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1948. Pp. :xxv +894, with ip.dex. $7.50. We must be deeply grateful to the Most Reverend Members of the American Hierarchy who serve on the Bishop's Committee on the Pope's Peace Points for undertaking to present to us this generous volume of Papal documents, which can serve as a sure guide for Catholic thinking on peace and the making of peace. The words of the Holy Fathers from Leo XIII to Pius XII are directed for the most part to the Catholics of the world; on Catholics rests the burden of bringing peace to the world. As Pius XII boldly stated in his message last Christmas: " The progress of mankind in the present confusion of ideas has been a progress without God and even against God; without Christ and even against Christ. In saying this we do not wish or intend to offend the erring ones; they are and remain our brethren. It is fitting, however, that Christians reflect on that share of responsibility which belongs to them for the P.,esent afflictions. Have not many Christians made concessions to those false ideas and ways of life which have been so many times disapproved of by the teaching authority of the Church? " Catholics, then, above all others should ponder over and study carefully these words of Christ's Vicars on earth. First of all, they should with grateful hearts humbly thank Almighty God for having so disposed the ways of His Providence that in the crises of the past decades we have had such leaders as Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, and Pius XII. The rest of us have had a difficult time trying to follow where they led; in fact, we have for the most part fallen far behind them, either ignoring their appeals or timidly apologizing for their audacity. Perhaps this grouping of their inspired utterances within the covers of one volume may arouse us from our lethargy. Secondly, Catholics should draw great comfort from this succession of Papal documents.. Since the outbreak of the war numerous writers have appeared in books, magazines and newspapers with critical analyses of the evils that precipitated the conflict. Place alongside these diagnoses some of the warnings of Leo XIII: they read like prophecies, until one remembers that a Catholic thinker does not have to recur to the trial and error method nor is he bound down by the experience he can gain in his own short lifetime; rather he has behind him the wisdom of centuries, above him the wisdom of God, with which he can without difficulty predict rather accurately the outcome of men's weary journeying away from God and 264 BOOK REVIEW 265 Christ. This prophetic tone is especially discernible in the writings of Leo XIIT; perhaps because we can so easily verify their fulfilment. In view· of this we should not accuse the present Pontiff of pessimism when he threatens future war and destruction if the voice of Christ and His Church remains unheeded. God could not be so unmerciful as to give us peace while we still reject Him and His Son. The world is on the wrong road; as· yet there is little evidence that it intends to return to the right road: why then be optimistic? The reader will find in this volume a minute analysis of the causes of war and of division among men; causes that are individual, social and international. There are, among others, egoism, envy, greed, hatred, false liberalism, unequal distribution of economic goods, diversity of language. With the exception of the last, they can all be remedied, for they all spring from perverse human wills. In these pages you will find no hopeless falling back on determinism, economic, geographic, political, historical or what you will. The Popes place the blame squarely on the shoulders of human beings; they do not hesitate (and here they are practically alone) to remind the rulers of the world of their obligation in conscience and before God to put an end to the causes of...