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Handout #282 |
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The Encyclical Pacem in Terris of John XXIII (11 April 1963) |
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To Our Venerable Brothers, the Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and Other Local Ordinaries in Peace and
Communion with the Apostolic See ... To the Clergy and Faithful of the Whole
World...The progress of learning and the inventions of technology clearly
show that, both in living things and in the forces of nature, an astonishing
order reigns, and they all bear witness to the greatness of man, who can
understand that order and create suitable instruments to harness those
forces of nature and use them to his benefit.
Every human being has the right of life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for the proper development of life. These means are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and finally the necessary social services. Every human being has the right to honor God according to the dictates of an upright conscience, and the right to profess his religion privately and publicly. Human beings have, in addition, the right to choose freely the state of life which they prefer... Human beings have the natural right to free initiative in the economic field and the right to work. An act of the highest importance performed by the United Nations was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved in the General Assembly on December 10, 1948. It is our earnest prayer that the United Nations - in its structure and in its means - may become ever more equal the magnitude and nobility of its tasks. May the day come as quickly as possible when every human being will find therein an effective safeguard for the lights which derive directly from his dignity as a person, and which are therefore universal, inviolable and inalienable rights. There is an immense task incumbent on all men of good will namely the task of restoring the relations of the human family in truth, injustice, in love and in freedom - the relations between individual human beings; between citizens and their respective political communities; between political communities themselves; between individuals, families, intermediate associations and political communities on the one hand, and the world community on the other. This is a most exalted task, all will agree, for it is the task of bringing about true peace in the order established by God Vatican II. |
