Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-04-12
John and the Antichrist

Pope Johns encyclical on peace con-
tainS passages that will strike many per-
sons as being little more than highly
generalized and rather wishful restate-
mentS Of points that have been made
repeatedly, for years past, by large
company Of men equally worried about
the way the world is drifting in our
supremely deadly nuclear age.
Nevertheless, although 1t says moth
ing really new in that respect, the pom
tiff's Holy Thursday message adds up
to an eloquent appeal to mankinds mind
and heart. 1t is an appeal for disar-
mament and for the establishment of
an international society in which all
peoples could prosper spiritually and
materially, living out their lives not
in quiet desperation, or In constant
fear Of humiliation, but with sense of
enduring security and an ever-present
opportunity to better themselves.
John XIII, of course, is not naive.
Wholly apart from the guidance made
available to him by the Vatican's impos-
ing intelligence-gathering resources, he
has had considerable personal experience
in international diplomacy. He knows
that the good society he emissions will
remain dream as long as communism,
the antichrist, keeps on trying to dom
mate and enslave the world. AS to that,
however, the Pope apparently is not I'M
hopeful At any rate, in probably the
most significant part of his 15,000-word
encyclical, he has had this to say:
The doctrinal principles outlined in this
document derive from or are suggested by
requirements inherent in human nature itself,
and are, for the most part, dictates Of the
natural law. They provide Catholics. there
fore, with vast field in which they can
meet and come to an understanding both
with Christians separated from this Apostolic
See, and also with human beings who are
not enlightened by faith in Jesus Christ,
but who are endowed with the light Of reason
and with natural and operative honesty
=. one must never confuse error and
the person who errs. The person who
errs is always and above all human being,
and he retains In every case his dignity as a
human person; and he must be always re-
garded and treated in accordance with that
lofty dignity Meetings and agreements in
the various sectors of daily life, between be-
levers and those who do not believe, or believe
can be occasion for discovering truth and pay
ing homage to it. -.
1t can happen. then, that a drawing
nearer together or a meeting for the attain
ment OF some practical end, which was for
merly deemed inopportune or unproductive,
might now or in the future be considered op-
perfume and useful
We have quoted here at length be-
cause the words seem to be freighted
with an extraordinarily significant sug-
gestion-a suggestion that may startle,
and perhaps dismay, many people around
the world, Catholics and non-C Catholics
alike. The suggestion is simply this:
That the Holy Father may be seriously
entertaining the idea of receiving Nikita
Khrushchev and trying to do business
with him.
If this is the fact of the matter, then
the new encyclical is a document of
exceptionally high Importance. For 1t
suggests that the Vatican is opening It
self to the far left, Just as the Italian
government has done, and as Europe in
general seems to be doing. In other
words, Soviet Premier Khrushchev
may be dealt with by Pope John in a
way that could give Red totalitarianism
a degree Of responsibility 1t does not
enjoy at present. Mystical as 1t may
seem, however, the idea of opposing the
antichrist still has a certain powerful
logic in 1t.