Problems Of The Pacifist: Notes For A Talk On Peace

Extract

In the fortieth annual social week held in Pau, France, this year the subject under discussion was ‘Peace'. There was a brief note in the Denver Register calling attention to a letter of Monsignor Montini, pro-Secretary of State, which said that this examination of the problems of peace by men of faith, thought and action is most timely today when men's souls are more troubled than ever before. Never in human history has greater discord been known. This world-wide dissension invades the daily lives of the people. It feeds and maintains social conflict. Its origins are of an ideological as much as of an economic nature. It eats into the very hearts of families and institutions. Its psychological effects sap the will-power and cloud judgment. Even the flag of peace, unfurled for partisan ends, frequently divides mankind.