Pacem In Terris Essay Example

or by deceit, or trickery” (Pacem in Terris, 93). The pope was definite on nuclear weapons. He wrote, “Nuclear weapons must be banned” (Pacem in Terris, 112). The Kennedy assassination can be taken in the light of a very basic human right. According to the Holy Father, “…we must first speak of man’s right. Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity” (Pacem in Terris, 11). The encyclical was expansive as it was lengthy.

It would be difficult for the reader to follow the Holy Father’s thoughts. There were parts when one can not tell the drift. The hook came at the 166th part and after finishing all of 172, one can liken it to the sermon at the pulpit that at some point the preacher had lost his audience. However, an encyclical was not for ordinary and leisure reading. It was meant for the scholarly, the theologians and the elite group of the Catholic Church. Pacem in Terris was a very thorough and insightful papal letter. It was spiritually enriching as it was informative.

It touched all aspects of peace, its origin, how it had been lost, and how it can be won back. There is promise in the words of Pope Pius XII “nothing is lost by peace, everything may be lost in war” (Pacem In Terris, 116). Pope John XXIII had added a new dimension and definition for peace as that of a divine established order. Peace was so interestingly expounded by the Vicar of the Prince of Peace. After reading the encyclical, the Peace that we know as the absence of war and conflict will not be simply

that. It will be the Peace that was seen through the heart and mind of a holy man.