Evening star., 1940-12-24
Summary of Pope's Talk
Pontiff Outlines Principles Needed
For Peaceful Postwar Europe
By the Associated Press.

For Peaceful Post
By the Associated Press.
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 24.-The
official English summary OF the
Pope's address tolloi1s:
The holy joy of the Feast of the
Nativity of our Lord, the intimate
happiness which rises spontaneous
ly in the hearts of the faithful of
Christ, does not depend on external
events nor can it be diminished or
disturbed by them.
Whosoever grasps the intimate
meaning of the Christmas hymn
and has tasted even one drop Of the
sweet nectar of the truth of love
which it contains knows where,
amidst the confused succession of
events, sufferings and trials Of these
tempestuous days he may find a
haven of safety, and he will refrain
as much from undue optimism,
which disregards reality, as from
the still less apostolic tendency to-
ward cowardly depressing pessimism.
Let us be infinitely grateful to
our Lord that in this, our own day,
our church is not lacking in such
elect staintly courageous souls, found
alike in the ranks of the clergy and
laity, who give strong evidence of
heroism, generally overlooked by the
world, and of unwavering fidelity.
Enormous Demands.
The material and the spiritual
condition of the present age brings
into being and imposes on the apos-
tolate enormous demands, not only
for the duration of this dreadful
war, but still more for that day at
the conclusion Of the war when the
people will be obliged to dedicate
themselves to the task of repairing
the deep-seated evils which will be
their bitter social and economic
heritage; when disorganized nations
find themselves at the wars conclu-
sion with spiritual wounds which
will certainly demand assiduous and
watchful care, that their pernicious
effects may be forestalled or mini
mized.
Among the many misfortunes
arising from this cruel conflict one
in particular which Immediately
brought sorrow to our heart con-
tinues to grieve us-namely the mis-
fortunes of the prisoners of war,
which become progressively more
distressing for us with the ever di-
minishing possibility of our hasten
ing in our paternal solicitude to
bring aid through efficacious relief
and consolation where the victims
are most numerous, the misery most
pitiable
Mindful of what we ourselves in
the August name of the sovereign
pontiff, Benedict XIV of happy men,
ory, were able to accomplish during
the last war for the relief of the
moral and material distress of many
prisoners of war, we had hoped that
in the present instance as we'll there
might be left open the way for the
religious and charitable initiatives
of the church.
Able to Aid Some Prisoners.
However, although our aim has
been frustrated in some countries,
our efforts have not been in vain
everywhere since we have succeeded
in bringing many material and spir-
itual evidences of our concern to
at least a portion of the Polish pris-
oners, and indeed other more fire.
quent evidences of that same solici-
tude to Italian prisoners and
internees. especially in Egypt, Aus
tralia and Canada.
Nor was it our desire that the
holy feast of Christmas should
dawn in the world without our con-
veying through the medium of our
representatives some definite mani
festation of our encouraging remem-
brance and benedicition to English
and French prisoners in Italy, to
Germans in England and Greeks in
Albania, and to Italians scattered
throughout various parts of the Brit
ish Empire, especially in Egypt,
Palestine and India.
Eager, therefore, to make our
own the anxieties of families, fear
full for the lot of their separated
and unfortunate relations. we have
undertaken and are actively ad-
vancing and developing yet anoth-
er task of no small magnitude
namely, that of requesting and
transmitting information wherever
1t is possible and permissible to do
So Not only concerning countless
prisoners, but also concerning
refugees and those whom the pres
ent calamities have so sadly sep
arated from fatherland and home
War Delays Use of Plan.
In this way we have been able
to feel close to our own, the beats
of thousands of hearts with the
disturbed tumult of their most in
innate feelings, either in strained
tension or under the terrible in
cubus of uncertainty, or in the ex-
ultant joy of renewed assurance OF
in profound suffering and quiet
resignation regarding the state OF
their loved ones.
No less Q. <.nforting is it to us to
have been In a position to console
with the moral and spiritual as
sistance of our representatives or
with an offering of our resources
the large numbers of refugees ano
expatriates and emigrants, includ-
ing "non-Aryans."
We were enabled in our aid to