Evening star., 1949-12-24
Text of Pope Plus Christmas MESSAGE the World

i III GIU CAT 7
(From Yesterdays Last Edition.
BY the Associated Press
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 23.-
FOLLOWING is a partial tert OF
the official English translation
of the Pope's Christmas mes
sage today:
From the entire church Of
Christ which has spread its men,
bers to every region of our planet,
eyes are fixed these days on
Rome, on this Apostolic See, the
perennial fountain of truth, sal
vation and benediction.
We know what great hopes you
have placed in this Holy Year.
Stanch in our heart is the trust
the Divine Providence may deign
to work in 1t and through it the
marvels of His mercy for the hu-
man family. And we are sup
ported by the hope that the angel
of the Lord may not encounter
any obstacles on his journey, but
rather find the ways made
straight and hearts opened by
that good will which draws
heaven towards earth.
We ourselves, to whom Divine
Providence has reserved the
privilege of proclaiming and
granting it to the whole world al
ready foresee its Importance for
the coming half century.
1t seems to us that the Holy
Year of 1850 must be decisive
especially for the longed-for
religious renewal of the modern
world. And that it must solve
that spiritual crisis which op-
presses the souls of our age.
Decisive Year for Church.
It should be decisive as we'll
for the future of the church, en-
gagged within an effort to render
more pure and widespread the
sanctity of its members, while
exteriorly she strives to infuse and
spread her spirit Of justice and
love even in civil institutions.
Animated by these sentiments
and hopes. deeply affected by the
dignity of tradition which goes
back to the times of our prede-
cessor, Boniface VIII, in opening
the holy door with three strokes
of a hammer. we shall pe con-
scious of performing no mere
traditional act. but a symbolic
rite of high import not only for
Christians but for the whole
human race. We like to hope
that this triple stroke may re-
echo deep down in the souls of
all those who have ears to hear
(CFR. 55,115) whether they are
far away because Of careless
and agnostic attitude towards the
most important problem of life;
or whether they say they are
satisfied with a fictitious notion
of the universe in which the neces-
sary place is denied to the primary
spiritual principle of what exists
or can exist: or whether intolerant
of his indestructible presence and
foolishly jealous of his supreme
dominion. they declare ridiculous
war against him and attempt to
suppress the witness that all
and even their own
hearts give him; all these people
are enduring the pang of exile,
supreme loneliness, the emptiness
Of desert, to which they have
condemned themselves by accept
ing atheism. For them there is
only one remedy-return; a return
to the deep and calm considera-
tion Of the reason of things and
by rising step by step along the
scale Of beings from effect to
cause until the inquiring mind
rests in tranquil repose; a return
finally to the humility and docility
bef1tting a creature.
Our heart tells us that this
Holy Year will see many of these
returns. as it will see multiple
conversions to the Christian faith
or pagans in mission lands. It
will be a comfort to you to know
that since the jubilee of 1925 the
number Of Catholics in those far
of countries has more than dou-
bled.
And in some districts of Africa
the visible church has become
the foundation Of social life,
thanks to the deep Christian in
fluence exerted both in private
and public life. But with the
greatest grief of soul we cannot
help thinking of the grave dan
gers threatening or already af-
flicting religion and its institu-
tions in other countries of Eu-
rope and Asia, like limitless China
where revolutionary upheavals in
conditions that were already un-
stable have converted fields -four
ishing with life into cemeteries of
death.
Return for Sinners.
May the Holy Year mark the
return to the Redeemer, Jesus
Christ, for souls allured by sinful
attractions and living far from
the Fathers house. There are
believers and Catholics whose
spirit is weak, also, as the flesh
makes them traitors to their
rightful duties and forgetful of
the real treasures, and who live
in a continual sequence Of deser-
ton and lapses. They are wrong
If they think they possess the
Christian life and are pleasing to
God unless sanctifying grace
dwells habitually in their souls.
Owing to easy compromises be-
tween earth and heaven. time and
eternity. matter and spirit, they
are drawn into the danger of dying