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NEW
VATICAN ORIVE
FOR
WORLDPEACE
by
Keith W. Stump
Will the Pope succeed where others have failed ?
W
hat a paradox!
Nations everywhere
fervently claim to
de–
sire
peace. Yet peace remains as
elusive as ever. Why?
Why should the sword of nuclear
holocaust hang menacingly over us,
ready to fall, and fall
swiftly?
Why
shouldn't we have
peace?
Regrettably-as the Bible accu–
rately prophesied of ou r time–
"We looked for peace, but no good
carne ... " (J er. 8: 15). World lead–
ers conti nue to speak about
"'Peace, peace,' when there is no
peace" (J er. 8:1 1, RSY).
Did it ever occur to you that
there is a
cause
for every effect?
That there is a cause for wars and a
POLISH WOMEN in traditional garb
greeted Pope John Pau/11 during his June,
1979, visit to Warsaw.
January
1983
cause for peace? Why have leaders
failed to tell us of these causes?
Vatican Mo bili zi ng f o r Peac e
Certainly no diplomat or public fig–
ure is more popularly identified
with the continuing search for glo–
bal peace than is the Pope.
Papal pronouncements abou t
world peace are heard with great
regularity, especially during t he
Christmas season.
Many dismiss such papal appeals
with the famous question posed
mockingly by Stalin: "How many
divisions [of troops) has the Pope?"
Many wonder just what tangible
effect a Pope can really hope to
have in an age of hard política! real–
ities.
AFRICAN TOUR in February, 1982, took
the Pope to Benin (above), Gabon, Niger·
ia and Equatorial Guinea.
Are
papal appeals for peace mere
"words"?
Few people today really compre–
hend the role of the Catho li c
Church in world affairs. Few
understand how the Yatican views
its relationship to the governments
of this world, and the natu re of its
contribution to world peace.
Unrealized by most, the Vati–
can- as in centuries past-is again
becoming a power in the interna–
tional arena! l t is again exercising
inftuence in ways unrecognized by
the average person.
Yatican sources now reveal a
dramatic mobWzation
of effort
underway in Rome to promote
world peace. Pope John Paul 11 has
declared that given the destructive
BRAZILIAN VISIT in Ju/y, 1980, attracted
the greatest mass outpouring ever wil·
nessed in that country.
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