CSDC 494

Peace is a value ¹⁰¹⁵ Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 1986 World Day of Peace, 1: AAS 78AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 78 (1986) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1986), 278-279. and a universal duty ¹⁰¹⁶ Cf. Paul VI, Message for the 1969 World Day of Peace: AAS 60AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 60 (1968) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1968), 771; John Paul II, Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace, 4: AAS 96AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 96 (2004) at vatican.va — list of its scanned parts (2004), 116. founded on a rational and moral order of society that has its roots in God himself, “the first source of being, the essential truth and the supreme good”.¹⁰¹⁷ John Paul II, Message for the 1982 World Day of Peace 4: AAS 74AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 74 (1982) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1982), 328. Peace is not merely the absence of war, nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.¹⁰¹⁸ Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 78: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1101-1102. Rather it is founded on a correct understanding of the human person ¹⁰¹⁹ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 51: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 856-857. and requires the establishment of an order based on justice and charity. Peace is the fruit of justice,¹⁰²⁰ Cf. Paul VI, Message for the 1972 World Day of Peace: AAS 63AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 63 (1971) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1971), 868. (cf. Is 32:17) understood in the broad sense as the respect for the equilibrium of every dimension of the human person. Peace is threatened when man is not given all that is due him as a human person, when his dignity is not respected and when civil life is not directed to the common good. The defence and promotion of human rights is essential for the building up of a peaceful society and the integral development of individuals, peoples and nations.¹⁰²¹ Cf. Paul VI, Message for the 1969 World Day of Peace: AAS 60AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 60 (1968) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1968), 772; John Paul II, Message for the 1999 World Day of Peace, 12: AAS 91AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 91 (1999) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1999), 386-387. Peace is also the fruit of love. “True and lasting peace is more a matter of love than of justice, because the function of justice is merely to do away with obstacles to peace: the injury done or the damage caused. Peace itself, however, is an act and results only from love”.¹⁰²² Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Ubi Arcano: AAS 14AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 14 (1922) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1922), 686. In the Encyclical, reference is made to Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 29, a. 3, ad 3um: Ed. Leon. 8, 238; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 78: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1101-1102.