ARCHBISHOP MARTINO COMMEMORATES "PACEM IN TERRIS"

VATICAN CITY, APR 9, 2003 (VIS) - Last evening in Padua, Italy, Archbishop Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace participated in a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of John XXIII's Encyclical "Pacem in Terris."

"It would be absolutely detrimental," affirmed Archbishop Martino, "if current international conflicts were to provoke paralysis or even a crisis in important international organisms, especially the United Nations."

The president of Justice and Peace indicated that "as in the time of 'Pacem in terris', also in the hours that we are living humanity suffers trials, wars and divisions in international organisms. ... International conflicts, which sadden and worry us so much, require once again that the Church offer humanity the same heart of its eternal message, that of the Gospel of peace."

He concluded: "We would have all liked the 40th anniversary of 'Pacem in terris', which will be commemorated on April 11, to have been celebrated in an international climate marked with fewer tensions. Even more so today, its message acquires particular importance, provided that we know how to grasp in depth all the elements of the current times, among them, the relation between peace and terrorism, peace and the new world order, peace and the unity of the human family."

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