Evening star., 1943-12-24
"S0mbre Atmosphere"

"Sombre Atmosphere"
Today the Pope, speaking in what
he said was ''sombre atmosphere
of death and hate" said the world
beholos only a conflict which de-
generates into that form of warfare
that excludes all restriction and re-
straint, as if it were the apocalyptic
expression of civilization in which
ergrowing technical progress is
accompanied by an ever greater de-
cline in the realm of the soul and of
morality
1T is a form of war which pro-
ceeds without intermission on it's
horrible way and piles up slaughter
of such kind that the most blood
stained and horrible pages of past
history pale in comparison with it.
The peoples have had to witness
q new and incalculable perfection of
the means and arts of destruction
while at the same time they see an
interior decadence which, starting
from the weakening and deviation
of the moral sense, is hurtling down.
ward towards the state where every
human sentiment is being crushed
and the light of reason is eclipsed." "
vehement Desire of Peace"
This was despite the fact, the said,
that the approach of "the magnifi-
cent feast of peace and love" of
Christmas, when is felt "the gentle
message of Bethlehem" had raised
in the great Christmas family the
"timid hopes and inspired longing,
the vehement desires of peace"
Christ alone can drive out the
dreadful spirits of error and sin
which have subjected mankind to a
tyrannical and degrading servitude,"
he added.
Those who had placed their faith
In a world expansion of economic
life, thinking this would draw the
peoples together in a spirit of
brotherhood with its gigantic con-
facts and superabundant division
and multiplication of labor and
wealth, had been disillusioned, he
said
These developments had contrib
uted in thousand ways to general
ize and accentuate the crisis of
mankind" he said.
Il-omened Effects.
Terrifying want on one side and
proud and provoking opulence on
the other" were ill-omened effects
(which are not the last link in a
chain of causes which led to the
immense tragedy of today" he de-
clared.
Those eXponents of Goddess sci
ence" which was averse to recogniz-
ing the Creator of the universe also
had been deluded, the pontiff said.
Many persons in the world, the
Pope said, had looked for happiness
in earthly life, bodily energies, opu-
lence, superabundance of comfort or
the possession of force and power.
But see how today, in the whirl-
wind of war, the vigor and beauty
of so much of our youth, developed
and perfected on fields of sport, de-
clines or loses its burnish in the
military hospital" he exclaimed,
while many young people wander,
physically and morally mutilated or
unfit, through the streets of their
native land, which in the cities of
some of its finest regions, has been
reduced to heap of ruins by aerial
bombardment and by military op-
erations."
"People Bled White"
Young men, by reason of strain
ing work and hardship, "are losing
the possibility of giving to a people
bled white that healthy increase of
body and spirit which promotes the
life and education of those children
without whom the future of their
native land is threatened with a
tragic eclipse" the Pope continued.
AS a result of harmful relaxation
of marriage and family relations" in
wartime conditions, the Pope added,
physical deterioration and moral
perversion are growing which can
be cured "only after many genera
tions OF process of healing and
preventive education"
Those who sought opulence and
sheer enjoyment of life now stand
dumb AND perplexed," he added,
before the destruction which has
swept over their own property like
a destructive hurricane Their
wealth and homes are brought to
nought by fire and sword"
Even those who aspired to the
possession of force and mastery now
contemplate with horror the ocean
of blood and tears that bathes the
world, the tombs and graves full OF
corpses multiplied and scattered
over every region of the earth and
through the isles of the sea. the
gradual eclipse of civilization, the
progressive disappearance of even
material prosperity, the destruction
OF famous monuments"
Can't End War Suddenly.
"But all our efforts cannot cause
this horrible war to cease of a sud