Showing posts with label 1942. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1942. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Monday, August 30, 1943. Hornets

CV-12, the second aircraft carrier of World War Two to be named the USS Hornet, was launched.

CV-12 being launched.

CV-8, the USS Hornet that had been in the Doolittle Raid, was sunk in October, 1942.

CV-12 was the eighth U.S. Navy ship to bear that name, the first being a merchant sloop acquired by the infant U.S. Navy in 1775 and captured by the Royal Navy during the Revolution.  A second USS Hornet, also a sloop, was acquired in the Mediterranean during the First Barbary War, but served for only a year.

CV-8 was named in honor of a sloop of war commissioned in 1805.  She's served in the War of 1812, but had been lost due to a material failure at sea in 1829, going down with all hands.

The foundering of CV-8's namesake.

The fourth was a schooner acquired in 1814 that mostly served the Navy by running messages.

The fifth ship to bear that name was a captured and renamed Confederate steam ship.  Its career with the US Navy was brief, and she then went on to a brief career with filibusters, being renamed Cuba.


The Red Army captured Sokolovskym Yelna, and Taganrog.

In his second act of heroism, Lt. Kenneth Walsh, would push his deeds over the top as a Marine Corp aviator and win the Medal of Honor.  His citation reads:
For extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron 124 in aerial combat against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area. Determined to thwart the enemy's attempt to bomb Allied ground forces and shipping at Vella Lavella on 15 August 1943, 1st Lt. Walsh repeatedly dived his plane into an enemy formation outnumbering his own division 6 to 1 and, although his plane was hit numerous times, shot down 2 Japanese dive bombers and 1 fighter. After developing engine trouble on 30 August during a vital escort mission, 1st Lt. Walsh landed his mechanically disabled plane at Munda, quickly replaced it with another, and proceeded to rejoin his flight over Kahili. Separated from his escort group when he encountered approximately 50 Japanese Zeros, he unhesitatingly attacked, striking with relentless fury in his lone battle against a powerful force. He destroyed 4 hostile fighters before cannon shellfire forced him to make a dead-stick landing off Vella Lavella where he was later picked up. His valiant leadership and his daring skill as a flier served as a source of confidence and inspiration to his fellow pilots and reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service.

Lt. Walsh had joined the Marine Corps in 1933 and retired in 1962, flying again in action during the Korean War.  He died at age 81 in 1998. 

The Lackawanna Limited wreck occurred when a Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad passenger train, the New York-Buffalo Lackawanna Limited collided with a freight train. Twenty-seven people were killed in the collision, and about twice that number injured, many from steam that poured into the railroad cars.




Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Sunday, July 25, 1943. The surreal end of Mussolini's Premiership.

Having been voted out of office the night prior, Mussolini left the meeting of the Fascist Grand Council that had voted to remove him, he went to award prizes at a farm festival and carried on business as usual.  The Fascist Grand Council reported its decision to King Victor Emmanuel III, who ordered Mussolini to report and asked him to resign.  Mussolini asked for more time and was arrested.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed Premier.


Badoglia had been Chief of Staff of the Italian army from 1925 to 1940, but had resigned following the disastrous performance of the Italian Army in Greece.

On the same day in the same country, Ubaldo Pugnaloni won the Giro d'Italia.

The Navy commissioned the USS Harmon, a destroyer named after Leonard Roy Harmon, a mess attendant who had been killed at Guadalcanal saving a fellow shipmate.  It was the first ship named after an African American in the U.S. Navy.


Harmon's citation reads:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Mess Attendant First Class Leonard Roy Harmon, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty in action against the enemy while serving on board the Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38), during action against enemy Japanese naval forces near Savo Island in the Solomon Islands on the night of on 12–13 November 1942. With persistent disregard of his own personal safety, Mess Attendant First Class Harmon rendered invaluable assistance in caring for the wounded and assisting them to a dressing station. In addition to displaying unusual loyalty in behalf of the injured Executive Officer, he deliberately exposed himself to hostile gunfire in order to protect a shipmate and, as a result of this courageous deed, was killed in action. His heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, maintained above and beyond the call of duty, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

 


Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Sunday, July 4, 1943. First Broadcast of the Armed Forces Radio Network.


American Armed Forces Radio Network began broadcasting from the United Kingdom. While the organization had been formed in 1942, this was its very first broadcast.

Subhas Chandra Bose became president of the Indian Independence League at its meeting in Singapore.

Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski, Prime Minister of Poland and former Polish army officer, and the then head of its government in exile, died in a plane crash at Gibraltar.  While the British ruled the crash an accident due to mechanical failure, suspicions remain that it may have been sabotage.

Friday, June 30, 2023

The Steer. 1942.


 Annual agricultural show at the state experimental farm at Presque Isle, Maine. Prizewinning "baby beef", raised by a daughter of a Farm Security Administration client.



Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Thursday, May 10, 1923. The bizarre actions of Maurice Conradi.

Soviet delegate to the Conference of Lausanne was shot dead by former Russian White officer and émigré Maurice Conradi in the Cecil Hotel.  Two other members of the Soviet mission were wounded when they attempted to resist.  Conradi then handed his gun to a waiter and asked him to call the police, which they did.

Conradi.

Conradi was born to Swiss parents in 1896.  They were living in St. Petersburg at the time, where they ran a candy factory.  Most of Conradi's family were killed during the Russian Revolution, with several being executed by the Bolsheviks.  During this period he married his wife,  Vladislava Lvovna Svartsevich, and he immigrated to Switzerland following the defeat of Wrangel's army.

Conradi and his confederate Arkady Polunin were tried that following November and defended themselves on moral grounds, introducing evidence of Communist horrors. The prosecution fell into this, oddly enough, and introduced evidence of the happiness of Soviet citizens, something that would have had to have involved an element of delusion.  The jury found that all the elements of murder were present, but failed to convict him 5 to 4 anyhow, leading to a rupture in diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the Soviet Union.

In 1925 the Conradi's moved to Paris. They divorced in 1929.  Conradi then joined the French Foreign Legion, returning to Switzerland and remarrying in 1942.  He died in 1947.  Polunin went to Paris as well and died under mysterious circumstances in 1933.

Of the Soviet survivors, one, was executed in Stalin's purges in 1938.  The other was killed in 1942 while serving in the Red Army.

About as much as can be said of this entire episode is that it was downright bizarre.

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Friday, April 2, 1943. Bulgaria says Не (no) in response to a German Bitte and the Little Big Inch

King Boris III of Bulgaria told German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that Bulgaria would not surrender its Jewish population to Germany.

Tsar Boris.

Tsar Boris, as he was also known, was on dangerous ground and he knew it.  He stuck to his position however and refused until his death later that year to yield on sending Jewish Bulgarians to the Germans.  Bulgaria ultimately conscripted Jewish men for labor on roads, but to some degree at least this seems to have been a pretext to help prevent their deportation.

Bulgaria, which did pass anti Semitic laws, had participated in the war as a German ally only to the extent of the war against Yugoslavia.  It wisely refused to declare war against the Western Allies or the Soviet Union, much to the irritation of Hitler.  Tsar Boris untimely death seems to have been due to the stress of dealing with the Germans, although it remains an open question if he was poisoned under orders of the Germans.

Sarah Sundin reports:

Today in World War II History—April 2, 1943: US War Production Board approves construction of the “Little Big Inch” pipeline to take refined oil from Texas to the northeast states.

We discussed the Big Inch earlier. 

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Friday, March 30, 1942. The Laconia comes home, Mussolini ponders Italian emigration.

The SS Laconia completed its circumnavigation of the globe, becoming the ship to complete an around the world pleasure cruise.


It had departed in November 1930 and, before returning to New York, would be at sea for 130 days and call on 22 ports.

She'd be sunk on September 12, 1942, by a U-boat.

Mussolini addressed emigration from Italy in a famous speech, which stated:

The Sig. Director has compromised me, because he has announced my speech. Now almost all Italians know that I do not like speeches, but I accept with joy and resign myself this morning to this exception. He was also moved because he recalled with a warm voice of passion the history of the school—a superb history which all of Milan knows and admires. Also in this area, which could be defined as related to the problem of emigration—without prejudice to the question of whether migration is good or bad—is the "Carlo Tenca" School, and it has done very well, since when discussing the thesis you can argue endlessly regarding a conclusion.

For better or for worse, emigration is a physiological necessity of the Italian people. We are forty million squeezed into our narrow but adorable peninsula, with its too many mountains, and its soil which cannot feed everyone. There are around Italy countries that have a population smaller than ours and a territory double the size of ours. Hence it is obvious that the problem of Italian expansion in the world is a problem of life or death for the Italian race. I say expansion: expansion in every sense: moral, political, economic, demographic. I declare that the Government intends to protect Italian emigration: it cannot be indifferent to those who cross the mountains and travel beyond the Ocean, it cannot be indifferent because they are men, workers, and above all Italians. And wherever there is an Italian there is the tricolour, there is the Fatherland, there is the Government's defense of these Italians.

I feel all the excitement of life that stirs this new powerful generation of the Italian race. You certainly have meditated a few times on what you might call a miracle in the history of mankind; it is not rhetoric, it is said that the Italian people are the immortal people who always find a spring for their hopes, for their passion, for their greatness. Some two thousand years ago Rome was the center of an empire that had no boundaries except in the extreme limits of the desert; the civilization that Rome had given, its great legal tradition, as solid as the monuments, to the world—Rome had built a huge miracle that still moves us even to our most intimate fibers.

Then the empire decayed and crumbled. But it is not true that all the centuries which followed the collapse of the Roman world were centuries of darkness and barbarism. However, after a few centuries the Italian spirit suffered from an eclipse, but during that period of rest it was powerfully reinforced by new achievements, and so here the Italian spirit blossomed again through the creation of the immortal Dante Alighieri.

We were great in 1300 when other people were ill or were not yet born to history. Here followed the superb centuries, the Renaissance; Italy was once again the bearer of civilization to all races, all peoples. Then followed another political eclipse of division and discord, but it was barely a century and the Italian people recover, regaining consciousness of their historical unity. Rome returned, still playing its fanfare of glory for all Italians, it recovered the use of weapons that are necessary when it comes to saving its freedom, its greatness and its future. Then followed small wars, one state, conspiracies, the revolution of a people, martyrs, tortures, jails, exile. And just a century after the last war we made our political unity. However, alongside this political unity and geographical unity, the Italian people lacked the moral consciousness of themselves and their own destinies, even though after a victorious war this formation of conscience was in place. Under our eyes Italy will gradually become indestructible in its unity.

My Government will abolish bell towers so that Italians may see the august image of the Fatherland. This is the work to which my Government intends all its passion and a sense of religious faith. I am confident, gentlemen, of the destinies of Italy! I am optimistic for a simple act of will, because the will is a great force in people's lives and the lives of peoples.

We must will, strongly will! We must want, strongly want! Only with this power of the will we can overcome any obstacle. We must be ready for all sacrifices.

Recollect, then, in a moment of meditation after this rapid advance into the past. We love our willingness to project proudly of our time into the future. This young Italian people—fierce, fearless, restless, but strong. I am most certain that Italy will march towards a future of freedom, prosperity and greatness. Recollect in this vision, we tend all our nerves and all our passion towards this future that awaits us and we cry with a religious fervor.

Viva l'Italia!

It's hard to know what to make of this speech, but the vague references to past empire offer a clue of future fascist actions.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Tuesday, March 22, 1943. Expanding Murder of European Jews by the Nazis, U.S. Army takes Maknassy, Tunisia, Italian port disaster.

Jewish women in Paris, 1942.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-N0619-506 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5367011

Germany began deportation of 4,000 Jews from occupied France.  They were sent to Sobibor, where only five of them would survive.

The initial deportation of 4,000 was shortly followed by an additional 1,000.

The Germans also began to deport Yugoslavian Jews from Skopje to Treblinka.

The Germans made the first executions of Gypsies at Auschwitz.

The Waffen SS attacked and destroyed Khatyn, Byelorussia in retaliation for the killing of four German officers, including Hans-Otto Woellke of the Order Police.  Woelke had been an Olympic shot putter.

Sarah Sundin notes:

Today in World War II History—March 22, 1943: Nazis extend work week in the occupied Netherlands to 54 hours. US II Corps under Lt. Gen. George Patton occupies Maknassy, Tunisia.

Sundin also has a very interesting photograph on her blog, of troops in Maknassy.  I wouldn't normally repost it, but the details are quite interesting.


The quality of the photograph isn't fantastic, but the details are really interesting as noted.  All of the soldiers except the one on the far right are wearing coveralls, suggesting they're armored vehicle crewmen.  They are armed, left to right, as follows:  M1903 Springfield, M1 Carbine, M1903 Springfield, M1903 Springfield, unclear, unclear.

British Colonel Edward Orlando Kellett DSO, parliamentarian, British Army officer, and big game hunter was killed in action during the fighting in Tunisia as a colonel of the Royal Armoured Corps. 

The U-524 and U-665 were sunk by Allied aircraft in the Atlantic.

The Allesandro Volta (Italy) exploded in port, devasting the harbor, after being hit by bombs from a B-24. The same raid took out the Franco M, the Labor, the Lentini, the Manzoni, the Maria Louisa, the Modena, the Mondovi,  hte Moni, the Renato, the Rosa and the Trentino.

It was a bad day for Italian shipping.

The German tanker Eurosee sank in an air raid on Wilhelmshaven.

The British Harbour Defense Motor Launches HMML 1157 and HMML 1212 sank in an air raid in Portugal.

The Imperial Japanese Army (yes, army) auxiliary transport ship Meigan Maru was sunk off of Java by the USS Gudgeon.

Clark Gable appeared on the cover of Look magazine in his airman attire.

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Thursday, December 31, 1942. New Year's Eve

Hitler's Order of the Day, in part, stated: "The year 1943 will perhaps be hard but certainly not harder than the one just behind us."

In fact, for the Germans, it would be harder than 1942, and in short order.

Franklin and Elanor Roosevelt hosted dinner and a midnight movie at the White House.

The Battle of the Barents Sea occurred between the Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy, with the Royal Navy escorting Convoy JW 51 B to the Kola Inlet.


All the merchant vessels made it safety to their destinations. The British lost the HMS Achates while the Kreigsmarine lost the Z16 Freiderich Ecoldt.

Emperor Hirohito gave permission for Japanese forces to withdraw from Guadalcanal.  The Japanese, accordingly, had officially suffered their first internally recognized defeat.

Friday, December 30, 2022

Wednesday, December 30, 1942. Sinatra breaks out, and Soviets starting to. And, Bobby Soxers.

Frank Sinatra appeared as a solo act for the first time, appearing before a screaming crowed of bobby soxers of 5,000 at the Paramount Theatre in New York City.

Sinatra on the radio with actress Alida Valli.*

Sinatra in some ways was the first example of a phenomenon that would attach to certain male performers of the mid 20th Century in which they were the subject of gigantic teenage female fascination.  We tend to think of personalities like Elvis in this category, but Sinatra had the same adulation prior to their experiencing it.

His appearance at this point in time raises certain interesting questions.

Sinatra was born into an Italian American family that endured rough circumstances, to some degree, but which also saw his father go from being a boxer to a fire captain, and which featured a dominant, highly driven mother.  The mother supported the son's endeavors.  Sinatra, who always performed under his own name, took an interest in music early and started singing professionally with bands at age 20.  He sang with Tommy Dorsey's band in the late 1930s, with his desire to break free from the band resulting in a legal battle and persistent rumors that Mafia boss Willie Moretti, who was Sinatra's Godfather, had held a gun to Dorsey's ear.  That rumor was incorporated by Mario Puzo in the novel, and later the movie, The Godfather to apply to a very much Sinatra like character.

Sinatra was a huge hit in the early 1940s, but being of conscript age, the logical question is why he wasn't drafted.  He was categorized by the Selective Service as 4-F, which provides the reason, due to a perforated ear drum, but Army files later indicated that he was regarded as psychologically unsuitable for military service due to emotional instability.  He did tour with the USA in the latter portion of the war.  A lack of wartime service did not hurt him, as it did not hurt John Wayne, which says something about the culture of the time.

He campaigned for Franklin Roosevelt in 1944.

Sinatra lived a long, and not uncontroversial, life, dying at age 82. As all that would really be too long to go into, will stop here, with the World War Two story told.

Bobby soxers should be noted.

Bobby soxers have come to be erroneously associated with the 1950s, but in fact were a 1940s phenomenon.  They were teenage girls and women in their very early 20s who were an early example of the emerging youth culture of the United States.  Indeed, they were in some ways its real pioneers.  They were called "bobby soxers" as, at the time, they wore short "bobbed" socks with saddle oxfords.

Saddle oxfords are a dress shoe now, but they've always had the reputation of being a semi casual dress shoe.  At some point they became heavily associated with students and young people.  They were introduced as a mass manufactured shoe in the early 1900s by the Spaulding Company, with the first example introduced in 1906. That's the same company, we'd note, famous for basketballs, etc., which says something, as at first, it was an athletic shoe, not a dress shoe.

Probably that origin as a sporting shoe caused its popularity.  It crossed over pretty quickly to dress wear, anticipating a later trend we have seen the past few decades of basketballs hoes in that use.  

The shoe came on the scene just as there was a real expansion of women in sports, so it was ideally timed  It became hugely popular with cheerleading teams.  By the 1930s it was approaching near universal adoption by schools as mandatory footwear for girls academic uniforms, although it remained popular with men.  They began to become school uniform shoes for boys in the period as well.

The same period saw a shortening of skirts. The combination of the shorter skirts, saddle shoes, and short socks lead to Bobby Soxers being the name for young women affecting the style.  The style endured until the 1950s, when it faded, but the shoes themselves retained widespread academic popularity until the decline of clothing standards started to set in during the late 1960s.

While it may seem odd now, the style was somewhat risqué.

President Roosevelt spent the morning visiting with Naval personnel, including Admirals King and Leahy, and the Secretary of the Navy.  He was in New York City at the time, and had a doctor's visit in the afternoon.

The Red Army was generally gaining ground everywhere to the south of Stalingrad.

Footnotes:

*Not really related to this entry but for this photograph, Alida Valli was an Italian actress coined by Mussolini as "the most beautiful woman in the world."  She truly was lovely.

Born to nobility, her real name and title was Freiin Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg.  She was born in a part of Italy that is now in Croatia, and which had once been part of Austria Hungary.  She was of mixed heritage, but considered herself Italian.

The photo must have been taken post 1943 as she was active in Italy at this time.  Married three times, her first husband was an Italian fighter pilot who was killed in action at Tobruk.

She was popular in Western films throughout her career, which again says something about the times.  Unlike hugely popular Italian actresses of a certain appearance, Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale, Valli had a more normal figure and rose to popularity in the "dirty" Italy period when Italy was regarded as, and truly was, fairly backwards.

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Tuesday, December 29, 1942 Retreats.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:
Today in World War II History—December 29, 1942: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 29, 1942: German army begins retreat from the Caucasus region. Japanese begin withdrawal from Buna area of New Guinea.



 

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Monday, December 28, 1942. Funding the Manhattan Project.


President Roosevelt authorized a major expenditure on the Manhattan Project, effectively significantly funding the project for the first time.

Hitler issued Directive No. 47.  This directive concerned the war in the southeast, and more particularly the Balkans and Crete, now that Allied attacks on those locations were a possibility.

On the same day, the costly but effective Tatsinskaya Raid ended in the East.

According to Sarah Sundin:

Today in World War II History—December 28, 1942: 80 Years Ago—Dec. 28, 1942: French Somaliland switches allegiance from Vichy to Free French, the final French territory in Africa to do so.

She also reports that the Germans began to experiment with sterilization of female prisoners at Buchenwald. 

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Sunday, December 27, 1942. Wars within wars.

Today in World War II History—December 27, 1942: Smolensk Committee

Sarah Sundin reports on the organization of this committee on this day, in 1942.  The Committee of Anti Stalin Soviet citizens would lead to the formation of the Russian Liberation Army, recruited from Soviet POWs. 

The RLA was only a portion of the body of Soviet citizenry that took up arms against the USSR, or which otherwise cooperated in the German war effort.  Motives for joining the German effort were mixed and varied, with some individuals being genuine anti-communists or non-Russian nationalist, and others just trying to avoid death and starvation at German hands.  While many of the other armed groups saw active service, the RLA wasn't deployed until the very end of the war, and at that time would not fully obey German orders.

RLA Flag.

Organization of formal units from Russian volunteers was slow in part due to the fact that liberating any Slavic lands was not part of the German war aim, and the Nazis generally despised the Slavic people.  For this reason, it tended to occur informally at the front first, where Cossacks in particular threw in with the Germans.

A Marine Corps attempt to take Mount Asten on Guadalcanal failed.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Tuesday, December 26, 1972. Harry S. Truman dies, Operation Lineback II resumes, the Soviet Union changes Chinese sounding names.

Harry S. Truman died at age 88.


His health had been in steady decline since 1964, when he sustained a fall.

The former President and his wife Bess held the first and second Medicare Cards, conveyed upon them by President Johnson in honor of their support for government health care, something he was far ahead of his time on, and depending upon your views, something that the country still has not caught up with.

220 American aircraft hit targets over North Vietnam over a fifteen-minute period.  A missile assembly facility together with airbases and radar installations were destroyed.

Truman was the last U.S. President who did not hold a university degree.  He had a fairly difficult early life, in no small part due to the economic conditions that prevailed in Missouri and his humble beginnings.  His service in World War One, which he entered through the Missouri National Guard and in which he became an officer, started his rise to later office.  Indeed, in no small way, the Missouri artilleryman of World War One would not have become President but for that experience.

This set the stage, combined with airstrikes over the next three days, for a return by North Vietnam to the Paris Peace Talks.

The Soviets changed the name of nine cities in Siberia that had been seized by Imperial Russia from China in the 1860. The prior names, the Soviets thought, sounded too Chinese.

Saturday, December 26, 1942. Halting at Buerat, wartime Santa.

Rommel halted in his retreat at Buerat, Libya, following an order from Mussolini.

The Saturday Evening Post featured Santa Claus busing through newspapers with news of the war.  The New Yorker featured a comedic illustration of a sailor bringing hot cocoa to the officers of the deck.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Friday, December 25, 1942. A wartime Christmas.

Old Radio: December 25, 1942: 'Victory Parade's Christmas Par...:   December 25, 1942: All day long, Coca-Cola sponsored Victory Parade's Christmas Party of Spotlight Band s, transmitted on NBC Blue N...

A monograph sponsored by the National Park Service states the following about the Victory Parade radio program:

An Overview of The Spotlight Bands Series

In the fall of 1941, the Coca Cola Company signed a twenty-six week con¬tract with the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) to air over 125 of its stations, the best of the big bands six nights a week. Monday through Friday, for a quarter of an hour from 10:15 to 10:30 pm Eastern Standard Time, five different bands appeared from the stage of the new Mutual Theater in New York City. The building which held a capacity of 1,000 guests had been the former Maxine Elliott Theater on West 39th Street that the network had acquired and renovated with the most modern of broadcasting equipment for the new series. Sixty percent of the programs originated from these facilities with the remaining forty percent being split between Chicago and Hollywood.

The Kay Kyser Orchestra was the first band to broadcast from the theater on November 3rd and for the next four evenings the melodies of Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye, Tommy Dorsey and Eddy Duchin were heard across the nation. The Saturday segment known as the 'Silver Platter' portion aired at the same time but was thirty min¬utes in length, 10:15-10:45 PM. However, unlike the Monday through Friday bands, the one on Saturday was not selected by the network. Rather, this time spot was kept open for the leader rolling up the largest nation-wide record sales during the previous week, thereby creating a mystery band for the listening audience each Saturday evening. The first 'Silver Platter' winner was the Freddy Martin Orchestra which had been selected because they had amassed the greatest amount of single sales the previous month with their recording of Tchaikovsky's classic, Piano Concerto in B Flat, featuring pianist Jack Fina.

Within a relatively short time, the Spotlight Band broadcasts became the most popular big band draw on the radio dial. The result was that the network rescheduled the series into an earlier primetime slot for greater audience exposure. With the February 2, 1942, program featuring the Benny Goodman band, a change was made to 9:30-9:45 PM Eastern War Time weekdays and 9:30-10:00 PM for Saturdays.

As the series neared its twenty-six week completion, negotiations between the network and the sponsor to renew stalled. The last performance aired on May 2, 1942 and featured the Harry James Orchestra from Hollywood. (As a footnote, the James band won the most 'Silver Platters' in the first series totaling seven including the last six Saturdays in a row because of their hit recording, Don't Want To Walk Without You, featuring vocalist Helen Forrest). 

Throughout the summer, negotiations with the network and Coca Cola con¬tinued but to no avail. For various reasons, the soft drink firm decided not to re-sign with Mutual. The “music trades” reported that the sponsor wished to become more involved in the war cause and were determined to return the program to the airwaves in the fall with a “new look”. By mid-August, Coca Cola had agreed to terms for a sec¬ond series with the Blue Network, soon to become the American Broadcasting Company or (ABC).

The first move toward the “new look” for the series was a name change to “The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands”. With America now in the War, Coca Cola insist¬ed that their presentation be geared as much to the entertainment of the fighting men on both the home and training fronts as to its civilian audience. The format of six different bands each week was retained, but the nightly broadcast time was extended to twenty five minutes, 9:30-9:55 PM EWT. The last five minutes of each half hour was devoted to local news. Another important new feature was that the listening audience became directly involved with the selection of the weekly bands. A combination of two polls rather than record sales now determined which band played and where. The first involved the civilian listeners who voted for the bands they wanted to hear each week and the second was the “Victory Poll” open only to service personnel and defense work¬ers who, with their votes, determined the different nightly locations. The most signifi¬cant difference from the original series was that the broadcasts now aired directly from the various military installations, hospitals, and war plants throughout the country. Not only did Coca Cola send the bands to these locations at their expense, but, each time, the bands were booked and paid to play a three hour engagement. Also, for the first time, the radio shows in this series were numbered by the network. The importance of this notation will become apparent shortly. (Ironically, the first band to start the second series on September 21, 1942, was the Harry James Orchestra performing from the Marine Base on Parris Island, North Carolina).

On December 25th, Coca Cola sponsored a special presentation entitled, “Uncle Sam's Christmas Tree of Spotlight Bands”. This big band bonanza went on the air at noon EWT with the Sammy Kaye Orchestra from Fort Monmouth at Red Bank, New Jersey, and with few interruptions moved west and closed at midnight featuring the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra at the San Pedro Naval Base, San Pedro, California. A total of forty-three different bands, including Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson, participated in fifteen minute segments from all over the country. The music marathon was the largest of its kind ever attempted on a coast to coast radio network.

As the twenty-six week contract with the Blue Network ended in March, 1943, the Coca Cola Company appeared pleased and signed on again for the next two years. At this time Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) became involved with their own version of the band series. AFRS began, on March 22, to record the network programs direct from radio and telephone line feeds onto acetate lacquers in their studio facili¬ties. Later the programs were remixed and edited down to a fifteen minute format elim¬inating any mention of the sponsor. A new musical introduction and announcements by an AFRS broadcaster were then added. These new versions were pressed onto 16-inch transcription discs and distributed via AFRS to radio stations within their network around the world. (As a further footnote, many of these discs have survived till today and have proved a valuable asset in logging the specific whereabouts of the hundreds of bands at the time as well as the contents of their performances).

The first band that AFRS recorded for their purposes was the Hal McIntyre Orchestra. This program was #157 in the network series and assigned #1 with AFRS. This meant that originally there was a numerical difference of 156 between the two list¬ings. However, in October a discrepancy occurred when there appeared to be no pro¬gram #177 in the AFRS series. Many theories have surfaced in an attempt to explain this error. However, to date, no explanation has held water. Therefore, from this point onward a numerical difference of 155 existed between the series. For the next two years the Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands program numbering continued through #858 on the network and #703 on AFRS until Saturday June 16, 1945 with the Eddie Oliver Orchestra. At this time Coca Cola ended its six nights a week broadcasts and long term relationship with ABC.

However, two nights later, on June 18th, the Spotlight Band programs were back on the air when Coca Cola again teamed with Mutual (MBS), their original network partner, from the fall of 1941. With this move came a cutback in airtime for the bands. Instead of six nights a week, they now only performed three nights: Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the same time. The first band to broadcast in the new week¬ly format and initiate the third Spotlight Band series was the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra followed on Wednesday by Vincent Lopez. The Friday spot was pre-empted. For the next nine months until the end of March 1946, the band series continued unchanged from various venues and military installations around the country. On March 29th, with the networks 979th program (AFRS #826), the Ray Herbeck Orchestra brought to a close the third Spotlight series.

The band show now embarked on its fourth and final association with Coca Cola. This involved three set bands, one for each of the same three nights of the week. On Monday April 1st, there was Guy Lombardo; Wednesday, April 3rd, Xavier Cugat; and Friday, April 5th, the Harry James Orchestra. Although the network at this time discon¬tinued numbering the programs, AFRS continued with theirs. Much success and radio exposure for the dozens of different big bands had transpired since the original series began in the fall of 1941, but the marketing value of these musical organizations was no longer what it had been. Coca Cola decided it no longer wanted to be in the band business and let its contract with Mutual expire on December 27, 1946. With the Harry James appearance of November 22, the great era of the Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands came to a close.

Wayne Knight, Music Historian

The British 8th Army captured Sirte.

Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, the French resistance royalist who had assassinated Admiral Darlan, was executed.  He was rehabilitated in 1945 on the basis that Darlan's assassination had been "in the interest of liberation of France" although you apparently have to be French to grasp how.

German soldiers at Stalingrad receive their last issuance of horsemeat. The Germans had by this point slaughtered all of their horses.

Christmas dinners were held for those far away from home, including this one at the Andrew Feruseth Club on Christmas Day.
















American families, like that of my father, went through their second wartime Christmas, but in some ways this one was significantly different.  Various types of rationing had set in, and the war was now over a year old with no end in sight, at least no end that most people could reasonably foresee.

Canadian ones, like my mothers, were going through their fourth wartime Christmas.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Thursday, December 24, 1942. Pope Pius XII's Christmas Address

Pope Pius XII delivered two speeches on this day.  One was by radio, which stated, per the Vatican website:

Il Santo Natale e la umanità dolorante

Con sempre nuova freschezza di letizia e di pietà, diletti figli dell'universo intero, ogni anno al ricorrere del Santo Natale, risuona dal presepe di Betlemme all'orecchio dei cristiani, ripercuotendosi dolcemente nei loro cuori, il messaggio di Gesù, Luce in mezzo alle tenebre; un messaggio che illumina con lo splendore di celestiali verità un mondo oscurato da tragici errori, infonde una gioia esuberante e fiduciosa ad un'umanità, angosciata da profonda e amara tristezza, proclama la libertà ai figli d'Adamo, costretti nelle catene del peccato e della colpa, promette misericordia, amore, pace alle schiere infinite dei sofferenti e tribolati, che vedono scomparsa la loro felicità e spezzate le loro energie nella bufera di lotta e di odio dei nostri giorni burrascosi.

E i sacri bronzi, annunziatori di tale messaggio in tutti i continenti, non pur ricordano il dono divino, fatto all'umanità, negli inizi dell'età cristiana; ma annunziano e proclamano anche una consolante realtà presente, realtà come eternamente giovane, così sempre viva e vivificante; realtà della «luce vera, la quale illumina ogni uomo, che viene in questo mondo» e non conosce tramonto. L'Eterno Verbo, via, verità e vita, nascendo nello squallore di una grotta e nobilitando in tal modo e santificando la povertà, così dava inizio alla sua missione di dottrina, di salute e di redenzione del genere umano, e diceva e consacrava una parola, che è ancor oggi la parola di vita eterna, valevole a risolvere i quesiti più tormentosi, insoluti e insolubili da chi vi porti vedute e mezzi effimeri e puramente umani; quesiti i quali si affacciano sanguinanti, esigendo imperiosamente una risposta, al pensiero e al sentimento di una umanità amareggiata ed esacerbata.

Il motto «Misereor super turbam» è per Noi una consegna sacra, inviolabile, valida e impellente in tutti i tempi e in tutte le situazioni umane, com'era la divisa di Gesù; e la Chiesa rinnegherebbe se stessa, cessando di essere madre, se si rendesse sorda al grido angoscioso e filiale, che tutte le classi dell'umanità fanno arrivare al suo orecchio. Essa non intende di prender partito per l'una o l'altra delle forme particolari e concrete, con le quali singoli popoli e Stati tendono a risolvere i problemi giganteschi dell'assetto interno e della collaborazione internazionale, quando esse rispettano la legge divina; ma d'altra parte, «colonna e base della verità» (1 Tm 3,15) e custode, per volontà di Dio e per missione di Cristo, dell'ordine naturale e soprannaturale, la Chiesa non può rinunziare a proclamare davanti ai suoi figli e davanti all'universo intero le inconcusse fondamentali norme, preservandole da ogni travolgimento, caligine, inquinamento, falsa interpretazione ed errore; tanto più che dalla loro osservanza, e non semplicemente dallo sforzo di una volontà nobile e ardimentosa, dipende la fermezza finale di qualsiasi nuovo ordine nazionale e internazionale, invocato con cocente anelito da tutti i popoli. Popoli, di cui conosciamo le doti di valore e di sacrificio, ma anche le angustie e i dolori, e ai quali tutti, senza alcuna eccezione, in quest'ora d'indicibili prove e contrasti, Ci sentiamo legati da profondo e imparziale e imperturbabile amore e da immensa brama di portare loro ogni sollievo e soccorso che in qualsiasi modo sia in Nostro potere.

Rapporti internazionali e ordine interno delle nazioni

L'ultimo Nostro Messaggio natalizio esponeva i principi, suggeriti dal pensiero cristiano, per stabilire un ordine di convivenza e collaborazione internazionale, conforme alle norme divine. Oggi vogliamo soffermarCi, sicuri del consenso e dell'interessamento di tutti gli onesti, con cura particolare e uguale imparzialità sulle norme fondamentali dell'ordine interno degli Stati e dei popoli. Rapporti internazionali e ordine interno sono intimamente connessi, essendo l'equilibrio e l'armonia tra le Nazioni dipendenti dall'interno equilibrio e dalla interna maturità dei singoli Stati nel campo materiale, sociale e intellettuale. Né un solido e imperturbato fronte di pace verso l'esterno risulta possibile di fatto ad attuarsi senza un fronte di pace nell'interno, che ispiri fiducia. Solo, quindi, l'aspirazione verso una pace integrale nei due campi varrà a liberare i popoli dal crudele incubo della guerra, a diminuire o superare gradatamente le cause materiali e psicologiche di nuovi squilibri e sconvolgimenti.

Duplice elemento della pace nella vita sociale

Ogni convivenza sociale, degna di tal nome, come trae origine dalla volontà di pace, così tende alla pace; a quella tranquilla convivenza nell'ordine in cui S. Tommaso, facendo eco al noto detto di S. Agostino,(2) vede l'essenza della pace. Due primordiali elementi reggono quindi la vita sociale: convivenza nell'ordine, convivenza nella tranquillità.

I. Convivenza nell'ordine

L'ordine, base della vita consociata di uomini, di esseri cioè, intellettuali e morali, che tendono ad attuare uno scopo consentaneo alla loro natura, non è una mera estrinseca connessione di parti numericamente diverse; è piuttosto, e ha da essere, tendenza e attuazione sempre più perfetta di una unità interiore, ciò che non esclude le differenze, realmente fondate, e sanzionate dalla volontà del Creatore o da norme soprannaturali.

Una chiara intelligenza dei fondamenti genuini di ogni vita sociale ha un'importanza capitale oggi più che mai, mentre l'umanità, intossicata dalla virulenza di errori e traviamenti sociali, tormentata dalla febbre della discordia di desideri, dottrine e intenti, si dibatte angosciosamente nel disordine, da essa stessa creato, e risente gli effetti della forza distruttrice di idee sociali erronee, le quali dimenticano le norme di Dio o sono ad esse contrarie. E poiché il disordine non può essere superato se non con un ordine, che non sia meramente forzato e fittizio (non altrimenti che l'oscurità coi suoi deprimenti e paurosi effetti non può essere bandita se non dalla luce, e non da fuochi fatui); la salvezza, il rinnovamento e un progressivo miglioramento non può aspettarsi e originarsi se non da un ritorno di larghi e influenti ceti alla retta concezione sociale; un ritorno che richiede una straordinaria grazia di Dio e una volontà incrollabile, pronta e presta al sacrificio, degli animi buoni e lungimiranti. Da questi ceti più influenti e più aperti per penetrare e ponderare la bellezza attraente delle giuste norme sociali, passerà e entrerà poi nelle moltitudini la convinzione della origine vera, divina e spirituale, della vita sociale, spianando in tal modo la via al risveglio, all'incremento e al consolidamento di quelle concezioni morali, senza cui anche le più orgogliose attuazioni rappresenteranno una Babele, i cui abitanti, se pure hanno mura comuni, parlano lingue diverse e contrastanti.

Iddio prima causa ed ultimo fondamento

della vita individuale e sociale

Dalla vita individuale e sociale conviene ascendere a Dio, Prima Causa e ultimo fondamento, come Creatore della prima società coniugale, fonte della società familiare, della società dei popoli e delle nazioni. Rispecchiando pur imperfettamente il suo Esemplare, Dio Uno e Trino, che col mistero dell'Incarnazione redense ed innalzò la natura umana, la vita consociata, nel suo ideale e nel suo fine, possiede al lume della ragione e della rivelazione un'autorità morale ed una assolutezza, travalicante ogni mutar di tempi; e una forza di attrazione, la quale, lungi dall'esser mortificata e scemata da delusioni, errori, insuccessi, muove irresistibilmente gli spiriti più nobili e più fedeli al Signore a riprendere, con rinnovata energia, con nuove conoscenze, con nuovi studi, mezzi e metodi, ciò che in altri tempi e in altre circostanze fu tentato invano.

Sviluppo e perfezionamento della persona umana

Origine e scopo essenziale della vita sociale vuol essere la conservazione, lo sviluppo e il perfezionamento della persona umana, aiutandola ad attuare rettamente le norme e i valori della religione e della cultura, segnati dal Creatore a ciascun uomo e a tutta l'umanità, sia nel suo insieme, sia nelle sue naturali ramificazioni.

Una dottrina o costruzione sociale, che rinneghi tale interna, essenziale connessione con Dio di tutto ciò che riguarda l'uomo, o ne prescinda, segue falso cammino; e mentre costruisce con una mano, prepara con l'altra i mezzi, che presto o tardi insidieranno e distruggeranno l'opera. E quando, misconoscendo il rispetto dovuto alla persona e alla vita a lei propria, non le conceda alcun posto nei suoi ordinamenti, nell'attività legislativa ed esecutiva, lungi dal servire la società, la danneggia; lungi dal promuovere e animare il pensiero sociale e attuarne le aspettative e le speranze, le toglie ogni valore intrinseco, servendosene come di frase utilitaria, la quale incontra in ceti sempre più numerosi risoluta e franca ripulsa.

Se la vita sociale importa unità interiore, non esclude però le differenze, cui suffragano la realtà e la natura. Ma quando si tiene fermo al supremo regolatore di tutto ciò che riguarda l'uomo, Dio, le somiglianze non meno che le differenze degli uomini trovano il posto conveniente nell'ordine assoluto dell'essere, dei valori, e quindi anche della moralità. Scosso invece tale fondamento, si apre tra i vari campi della cultura una pericolosa discontinuità, appare una incertezza e labilità di contorni, di limiti e di valori, talché solo meri fattori esterni, e spesso ciechi istinti, vengono poi a determinare, secondo la dominante tendenza del giorno, a chi spetti il predominio dell'uno o dell'altro indirizzo.

Alla dannosa economia dei passati decenni, durante i quali ogni vita civile venne subordinata allo stimolo del guadagno, succede ora una non meno dannosa concezione, la quale, mentre guarda tutto e tutti sotto l'aspetto politico, esclude ogni considerazione etica e religiosa. Travisamento e traviamento fatali, pregni di conseguenze imprevedibili per la vita sociale, la quale mai non è più vicina alla perdita delle sue più nobili prerogative di quando s'illude di poter rinnegare o dimenticare impunemente l'eterna fonte della sua dignità: Dio.

La ragione, illuminata dalla fede, assegna alle singole persone e particolari società nell'organizzazione sociale un posto fisso e nobile; e sa, per parlare solo del più importante, che tutta l'attività dello Stato, politica ed economica serve per l'attuazione duratura del bene comune; cioè, di quelle esterne condizioni, le quali sono necessarie all'insieme dei cittadini per lo sviluppo delle loro qualità e dei loro uffici, della loro vita materiale, intellettuale e religiosa, in quanto, da un lato, le forze e le energie della famiglia e di altri organismi, a cui spetta una naturale precedenza, non bastano, e, dall'altro, la volontà salvifica di Dio non abbia determinata nella Chiesa un'altra universale società a servizio della persona umana e dell'attuazione dei suoi fini religiosi.

In una concezione sociale, pervasa e sanzionata dal pensiero religioso, l'operosità dell'economia e di tutti gli altri campi della cultura rappresenta una universale nobilissima fucina di attività, ricchissima nella sua varietà, coerente nella sua armonia, dove l'uguaglianza intellettuale e la differenza funzionale degli uomini conseguono il loro diritto ed hanno adeguata espressione; in caso diverso si deprime il lavoro e si abbassa l'operaio.

Ordinamento giuridico della società e suoi scopi

Affinché la vita sociale, quale è voluta da Dio, ottenga il suo scopo, è essenziale un ordinamento giuridico, che le serva di esterno appoggio, di riparo e protezione; ordinamento la cui funzione non è dominare, ma servire, tendere a sviluppare e accrescere la vitalità della società nella ricca molteplicità dei suoi scopi, conducendo verso il loro perfezionamento tutte le singole energie in pacifico concorso e difendendole, con mezzi appropriati ed onesti, contro tutto ciò che è svantaggioso al loro pieno svolgimento. Un tale ordinamento, per garantire l'equilibrio, la sicurezza e l'armonia della società, ha anche il potere di coercizione contro coloro, che solo per questa via possono essere trattenuti nella nobile disciplina della vita sociale; ma proprio nel giusto compimento di questo diritto un'autorità, veramente degna di tal nome, non sarà mai che non senta l'angosciosa responsabilità di fronte all'Eterno Giudice, al cui tribunale ogni falsa sentenza, e soprattutto ogni sconvolgimento delle norme da Dio volute, riceverà la sua immancabile sanzione e condanna. 

Le ultime, profonde, lapidarie, fondamentali norme della società non possono essere intaccate da intervento d'ingegno umano; si potranno negare, ignorare, disprezzare, trasgredire, ma non mai abrogare con efficacia giuridica. Certamente, col tempo che volge, mutano le condizioni di vita; ma non si dà mai manco assoluto, né perfetta discontinuità tra il diritto di ieri e quello di oggi, tra la scomparsa di antichi poteri e costituzioni e il sorgere di nuovi ordinamenti. Ad ogni modo, in qualsiasi cambiamento o trasformazione, lo scopo di ogni vita sociale resta identico, sacro, obbligatorio: lo sviluppo dei valori personali dell'uomo, quale immagine di Dio; e resta l'obbligo di ogni membro dell'umana famiglia di attuare i suoi immutabili fini, qualunque sia il legislatore e l'autorità, a cui ubbidisce. Rimane quindi sempre e non cessa per opposizione alcuna anche il suo inalienabile diritto, da riconoscersi da amici e nemici, ad un ordinamento e una prassi giuridica, che sentano e comprendano esser loro essenziale dovere di servire al bene comune.

L'ordinamento giuridico ha inoltre l'alto e arduo scopo di assicurare gli armonici rapporti sia tra gli individui, sia tra le società, sia anche nell'interno di queste. A ciò si arriverà, se i legislatori si asterranno dal seguire quelle pericolose teorie e prassi, infauste alla comunità e alla sua coesione, le quali traggono la loro origine e diffusione da una serie di postulati erronei. Tra questi è da annoverare il positivismo giuridico, che attribuisce una ingannevole maestà alla emanazione di leggi puramente umane, e spiana la via ad un esiziale distacco della legge dalla moralità; inoltre la concezione, la quale rivendica a particolari nazioni o stirpi o classi l'istinto giuridico, quale ultimo imperativo e inappellabile norma; infine quelle varie teorie, le quali, diverse in sé e procedenti da vedute ideologiche contrastanti, si accordano però nel considerare lo Stato o un ceto, che lo rappresenti, come entità assoluta e suprema, esente da controllo e da critica, anche quando i suoi postulati teorici e pratici sboccano e urtano nell'aperta negazione di dati essenziali della coscienza umana e cristiana.

Chi consideri con occhio limpido e penetrante la vitale connessione tra genuino ordine sociale e genuino ordinamento giuridico, e tenga presente che l'unità interna nella sua multiformità dipende dal predominio di forze spirituali, dal rispetto della dignità umana in sé e negli altri, dall'amore alla società e agli scopi da Dio ad essa segnati, non può meravigliarsi sui tristi effetti di concezioni giuridiche, le quali, allontanatesi dalla via regale della verità, procedono sul terreno labile di postulati materialistici; ma scorgerà subito la improrogabile necessità di un ritorno ad una concezione spirituale ed etica, seria e profonda, riscaldata dal calore di vera umanità e illuminata dallo splendore della fede cristiana, la quale fa mirare nell'ordinamento giuridico una rifrazione esterna dell'ordine sociale, voluto da Dio, luminoso frutto dello spirito umano, anch'esso immagine dello spirito di Dio. 

Su questa concezione organica, la sola vitale, in che la più nobile umanità e il più genuino spirito cristiano fioriscono in armonia, sta scolpita la sentenza della Scrittura, illustrata dal grande Aquinate: «Opus iustitiae pax»,(3) che si applica così al lato interno, come al lato esterno della vita sociale.

Essa non ammette né contrasto, né alternativa: amore o diritto, ma la sintesi feconda: amore e diritto.

Nell'uno e nell'altro, entrambi irradiazioni dello stesso spirito di Dio, sta il programma e il suggello della dignità dello spirito umano; l'uno e l'altro a vicenda s'integrano, cooperano, si animano, si sostengono, si danno la mano nel cammino della concordia e della pacificazione, mentre il diritto spiana la via all'amore, l'amore mitiga il diritto e lo sublima. Entrambi elevano la vita umana in quella atmosfera sociale, dove, pur tra le manchevolezze, gli impedimenti e le durezze di questa terra, si rende possibile una fraterna convivenza. Ma fate che il cattivo spirito di idee materialistiche domini; che la tendenza al potere e al prepotere concentri nelle sue rudi mani le redini degli eventi; voi allora vedrete apparirne ogni giorno più gli effetti disgregatori, scomparire amore e giustizia; tristo preannunzio di minaccianti catastrofi su una società, apòstata da Dio.

II. Convivenza nella tranquillità

Il secondo elemento fondamentale della pace, verso cui tende quasi istintivamente ogni società umana, è la tranquillità. O beata tranquillità, tu non hai nulla di comune con il fissarsi duro e ostinato, tenace e infantilmente caparbio in ciò che è; né con la riluttanza, figlia di ignavia e d'egoismo, a porre la mente nei problemi e nelle questioni, che il volgere dei tempi e il corso delle generazioni coi loro bisogni e col progresso fanno maturare, e traggon seco come improrogabili necessità del presente. Ma per un cristiano, cosciente della sua responsabilità anche verso il più piccolo dei suoi fratelli, non vi è tranquillità infingarda, né si dà fuga, ma lotta, ma azione contro ogni inazione e diserzione nel grande agone spirituale, dove è proposta in palio la costruzione, anzi l'anima stessa della società futura.

Armonia fra tranquillità e operosità

Tranquillità nel senso dell'Aquinate e ardente operosità non contrastano, ma si accoppiano piuttosto in armonia per colui che è compreso della bellezza e della necessità del sostrato spirituale della società, e della nobiltà del suo ideale. E proprio a voi giovani, inclini a volgere le spalle al passato e rivolgere al futuro l'occhio delle aspirazioni e speranze, diciamo, mossi da vivo amore e da paterna sollecitudine: esuberanza e audacia da sé non bastano, se non siano, come bisogna, poste al servizio del bene e di una bandiera immacolata. Vano è l'agitarsi, l'affaticarsi, l'affannarsi senza riposarsi in Dio e nella sua legge eterna. Conviene che siate animati dal convincimento di combattere per la verità, e di farle dedizione delle proprie simpatie ed energie, degli aneliti e dei sacrifici; di combattere per le eterne leggi di Dio, per la dignità della persona umana, e per il conseguimento dei suoi fini. Dove uomini maturi e giovani, sempre ancorati nel mare della eternamente viva tranquillità di Dio, coordinano le diversità di temperamento e di attività in genuino spirito cristiano, là, se l'elemento propulsore si accoppia con l'elemento infrenatore, la differenza naturale tra le generazioni non diverrà mai pericolosa, ma condurrà anzi vigorosamente all'attuazione delle leggi eterne di Dio nel mutevole corso dei tempi e delle condizioni di vita.  

Il mondo operaio

In un campo particolare della vita sociale, dove durante un secolo sorsero movimenti e aspri conflitti, si trova oggi calma, almeno apparente; nel mondo, cioè, vasto e sempre crescente del lavoro, nell'esercito immenso degli operai, dei salariati e dei dipendenti. Se si considera il presente, con le sue necessità belliche, come un dato di fatto, questa tranquillità potrà dirsi esigenza necessaria e fondata; ma se si guarda lo stato odierno dal punto di vista della giustizia, di un legittimo e regolato movimento operaio, la tranquillità non resterà che apparente finché tale scopo non sia raggiunto.

Mossa sempre da motivi religiosi, la Chiesa condannò i vari sistemi del socialismo marxista, e li condanna anche oggi, com'è suo dovere e diritto permanente di preservare gli uomini da correnti e influssi, che ne mettono a repentaglio la salvezza eterna. Ma la Chiesa non può ignorare o non vedere, che l'operaio, nello sforzo di migliorare la sua condizione, si urta contro qualche congegno, che, lungi dall'essere conforme alla natura, contrasta con l'ordine di Dio e con lo scopo, che Egli ha assegnato per i beni terreni. Per quanto fossero e siano false, condannabili e pericolose le vie, che si seguirono; chi, e soprattutto qual sacerdote o cristiano, potrebbe restar sordo al grido, che si solleva dal profondo, e il quale in un mondo di un Dio giusto invoca giustizia e spirito di fratellanza? Ciò sarebbe un silenzio colpevole e ingiustificabile davanti a Dio, e contrario al senso illuminato dell'apostolo, il quale, come inculca che bisogna essere risoluti contro l'errore, sa pure che si vuol essere pieni di riguardo verso gli erranti e con l'animo aperto per intenderne aspirazioni, speranze e motivi.

Dio, benedicendo i nostri progenitori, disse loro: «Crescete e moltiplicatevi e riempite la terra e soggiogatela» (Gn 1,28). E al primo capo di famiglia diceva poi: «Nel sudore della tua fronte ti ciberai di pane» (Gn 3,19). La dignità della persona umana esige dunque normalmente come fondamento naturale per vivere il diritto all'uso dei beni della terra; a cui risponde l'obbligo fondamentale di accordare una proprietà privata, possibilmente a tutti. Le norme giuridiche positive; regolanti la proprietà privata, possono mutare e accordare un uso più o meno circoscritto; ma se vogliono contribuire alla pacificazione della comunità, dovranno impedire che l'operaio, che è o sarà padre di famiglia, venga condannato ad una dipendenza e servitù economica, inconciliabile con i suoi diritti di persona.

Che questa servitù derivi dal prepotere del capitale privato o dal potere dello Stato, l'effetto non muta; anzi, sotto la pressione di uno Stato, che tutto domina e regola l'intera vita pubblica e privata, penetrando fino nel campo delle concezioni e persuasioni e della coscienza, questa mancanza di libertà può avere conseguenze ancora più gravose, come l'esperienza manifesta e testimonia.

Cinque punti fondamentali per l'ordine e la pacificazione della società umana

Chi pondera al lume della ragione e della fede i fondamenti e gli scopi della vita sociale, che noi abbiamo tracciati in brevi linee, e li contempla nella loro purezza ed altezza morale e nei loro benefici frutti in tutti i campi, non può non avere la convinzione dei potenti principi di ordine e di pacificazione, che energie rivolte a grandi ideali e risolute ad affrontare gli ostacoli potrebbero regalare, o diciamo meglio, restituire ad un mondo, interiormente scardinato, quando avessero abbattute le barriere intellettive e giuridiche, create da pregiudizi, errori, indifferenza, e da un lungo processo di secolarizzazione del pensiero, del sentimento, dell'azione, che venne a staccare e sottrarre la città terrena dalla luce e dalla forza della città di Dio.

Oggi più che mai scocca l'ora di riparare; di scuotere la coscienza del mondo dal grave torpore, in cui i tossici di false idee, largamente diffuse, l'hanno fatto cadere; tanto più che, in questa ora di sfacelo materiale e morale, la conoscenza della fragilità e della inconsistenza di ogni ordinamento puramente umano è sul disingannare anche coloro, che, in giorni apparentemente felici, non sentivano in sé e nella società la mancanza di contatto coll'eterno, e non la consideravano come un difetto essenziale delle loro costruzioni.

Ciò che chiaro appariva al cristiano, che, profondamente credente, soffriva dell'ignoranza altrui, chiarissimo ci presenta il fragore della spaventosa catastrofe dell'odierno sconvolgimento, che riveste la terribile solennità di un giudizio universale, persino agli orecchi dei tiepidi, degl'indifferenti, degl'inconsiderati: una verità, cioè, antica, che si manifesta tragicamente in forme sempre nuove, e tuona di secolo in secolo, di gente in gente, per bocca del Profeta: «Omnes qui Te derelinquunt, confundentur: recedentes a Te in terra scribentur: quoniam dereliquerunt venam aquarum viventium, Dominum» (Ier 17,13).

Non lamento, ma azione è il precetto dell'ora; non lamento su ciò che è o che fu, ma ricostruzione di ciò che sorgerà e deve sorgere a bene della società. Pervasi da un entusiasmo di crociati, ai migliori e più eletti membri della cristianità spetta riunirsi nello spirito di verità, di giustizia e di amore al grido: Dio lo vuole! pronti a servire, a sacrificarsi, come gli antichi Crociati. Se allora trattavasi della liberazione della terra santificata dalla vita del Verbo di Dio incarnato, si tratta oggi, se possiamo così esprimerci, del nuovo tragitto, superando il mare degli errori del giorno e del tempo, per liberare la terra santa spirituale, destinata a essere il sostrato e il fondamento di norme e leggi immutabili per costruzioni sociali di interna solida consistenza.

Per sì alto fine, dal presepe del Principe della pace, fiduciosi che la sua grazia si diffonda in tutti i cuori, Noi Ci rivolgiamo a voi, diletti figli, che riconoscete e adorate in Cristo il vostro Salvatore, a tutti quelli che sono con noi uniti almeno col vincolo spirituale della fede in Dio, a tutti infine, quanti anelano a liberarsi dai dubbi e dagli errori, bramosi di luce e guida; e vi esortiamo con scongiurante paterna insistenza non solo a comprendere intimamente l'angosciosa serietà di quest'ora, ma anche a meditare le sue possibili aurore benefiche e soprannaturali, e a unirvi e operare insieme per il rinnovamento della società in spirito e verità.

Scopo essenziale di questa Crociata necessaria e santa è che la stella della pace, la stella di Betlemme, spunti di nuovo su tutta l'umanità nel suo rutilante fulgore, nel suo pacificante conforto, qual promessa e augurio di un avvenire migliore più fecondo e più felice.

Vero è che il cammino dalla notte a un luminoso mattino sarà lungo; ma decisivi sono i primi passi sul sentiero, che porta sopra le prime cinque pietre miliari scolpite con bronzeo scalpello le seguenti massime:

1° Dignità e diritti della persona umana

1) Chi vuole che la stella della pace spunti e si fermi sulla società, concorra da parte sua a ridonare alla persona umana la dignità concessale da Dio fin dal principio; si opponga all'eccessivo aggruppamento degli uomini, quasi come masse senz'anima; alla loro inconsistenza economica, sociale, politica, intellettuale e morale; alla loro mancanza di solidi principi e di forti convinzioni; alla loro sovrabbondanza di eccitazione istintive e sensibili, e alla loro volubilità; favorisca, con tutti i mezzi leciti, in tutti i campi della vita, forme sociali, in cui sia resa possibile e garantita una piena responsabilità personale, così quanto all'ordine terreno come quanto all'eterno; sostenga il rispetto e la pratica attuazione dei seguenti fondamentali diritti della persona: il diritto a mantenere e sviluppare la vita corporale, intellettuale e morale, e particolarmente il diritto ad una formazione ed educazione religiosa; il diritto al culto di Dio privato e pubblico, compresa l'azione caritativa religiosa; il diritto, in massima, al matrimonio e al conseguimento del suo scopo, il diritto alla società coniugale e domestica; il diritto di lavorare come mezzo indispensabile al mantenimento della vita familiare; il diritto alla libera scelta dello stato, quindi anche dello stato sacerdotale e religioso; il diritto ad un uso dei beni materiali, cosciente dei suoi doveri e delle limitazioni sociali.

2° Difesa della unità sociale e particolarmente della famiglia

2) Chi vuole che la stella della pace spunti e si fermi sulla società, rifiuti ogni forma di materialismo, che non vede nel popolo se non un gregge di individui, i quali, scissi e senza interna consistenza, vengono considerati come materia di dominio e di arbitrio; cerchi di comprendere la società come un'unità interna, cresciuta e maturata sotto il governo della Provvidenza, unità la quale, nello spazio ad essa assegnato e secondo le sue peculiari doti, tende, mediante la collaborazione dei diversi ceti e professioni, agli eterni e sempre nuovi fini della cultura e della religione; difenda la indissolubilità del matrimonio; dia alla famiglia, insostituibile cellula del popolo, spazio, luce, respiro, affinché possa attendere alla missione di perpetuare nuova vita e di educare i figli in uno spirito, corrispondente alle proprie vere convinzioni religiose; conservi, fortifichi o ricostituisca, secondo le sue forze la propria unità economica, spirituale, morale e giuridica: curi che i vantaggi materiali e spirituali della famiglia vengano partecipati anche dai domestici; pensi a procurare ad ogni famiglia un focolare, dove una vita familiare, sana materialmente e moralmente, riesca a dimostrarsi nel suo vigore e valore; curi che i luoghi di lavoro e le abitazioni non siano così separati, da rendere il capo di famiglia e l'educatore dei figli quasi estraneo alla propria casa; curi soprattutto, che tra scuole pubbliche e famiglia rinasca quel vincolo di fiducia e di mutuo aiuto, che in altri tempi maturò frutti così benefici, e che oggi è stato sostituito da sfiducia colà ove la scuola, sotto l'influsso o il dominio dello spirito materialistico, avvelena e distrugge ciò che i genitori avevano istillato nelle anime dei figli.

3° Dignità e prerogative del lavoro

3) Chi vuole che la stella della pace spunti e resti sulla società, dia al lavoro il posto da Dio assegnatogli fin dal principio. Come mezzo indispensabile al dominio del mondo, voluto da Dio per la sua gloria, ogni lavoro possiede una dignità inalienabile, e in pari tempo un intimo legame col perfezionamento della persona; nobile dignità e prerogativa del lavoro, cui in verun modo non avviliscono la fatica e il peso, che sono da sopportarsi come effetto del peccato originale, in ubbidienza e sommissione alla volontà di Dio.

Chi conosce le grande Encicliche dei Nostri Predecessori e i Nostri precedenti Messaggi non ignora che la Chiesa non esita a dedurre le conseguenze pratiche, derivanti dalla nobiltà morale del lavoro, e ad appoggiarle con tutto il nome della sua autorità. Queste esigenze comprendono, oltre ad un salario giusto, sufficiente alle necessità dell'operaio e della famiglia, la conservazione ed il perfezionamento di un ordine sociale, che renda possibile una sicura, se pur modesta proprietà privata a tutti i ceti del popolo, favorisca una formazione superiore per i figli delle classi operaie particolarmente dotati di intelligenza e di buon volere, promuova la cura e l'attività pratica dello spirito sociale nel vicinato, nel paese, nella provincia, nel popolo e nella nazione, che, mitigando i contrasti di interessi e di classe, toglie agli operai il sentimento della segregazione con l'esperienza confortante di una solidarietà genuinamente umana e cristianamente fraterna.

Il progresso e il grado delle riforme sociali improrogabili dipende dalla potenza economica delle singole nazioni. Solo con uno scambio di forze, intelligente e generoso, tra forti e deboli sarà possibile a compiersi una pacificazione universale in maniera che non restino focolai di incendio e di infezione, da cui potrebbero originarsi nuove sciagure.

Segni evidenti inducono a pensare, che nel fermento di tutti i pregiudizi e i sentimenti di odio, inevitabili ma tristi parti di questa acuta psicosi bellica, non sia spenta nei popoli la coscienza della loro intima reciproca dipendenza nel bene e nel male, che anzi sia divenuta più viva e attiva. Non è forse vero che sempre più chiaramente pensatori profondi vedono, nella rinunzia all'egoismo e all'isolamento nazionale, la via di salvezza generale, pronti come sono a domandare ai loro popoli una parte gravosa di sacrifici, necessari per la pacificazione sociale in altri popoli? Possa questo Nostro Messaggio natalizio, diretto a tutti coloro che sono animati da buona volontà e cuore generoso, incoraggiare e aumentare le schiere della Crociata sociale presso tutte le Nazioni! E voglia Dio concedere alla loro pacifica bandiera la vittoria, di cui è degna la loro nobile intrapresa!

4° Reintegrazione dell'ordinamento giuridico

4) Chi vuole che la stella della pace spunti e si fermi sulla vita sociale, collabori ad una profonda reintegrazione dell'ordinamento giuridico.

Il sentimento giuridico di oggi è spesso alterato e sconvolto dalla proclamazione e dalla prassi di un positivismo e di un utilitarismo ligi e vincolati al servizio di determinati gruppi, ceti e movimenti, i cui programmi tracciano e determinano la via alla legislazione e alla pratica giudiziale.

Il risanamento di questa situazione diventa possibile a ottenersi, quando si ridesti la coscienza di un ordinamento giuridico, riposante nel sommo dominio di Dio e custodita da ogni arbitrio umano; coscienza di un ordinamento che stenda la sua mano protettrice e punitrice anche sugli inobliabili diritti dell'uomo e li protegga contro gli attacchi di ogni potere umano.

Dall'ordinamento giuridico voluto da Dio promana l'inalienabile diritto dell'uomo alla sicurezza giuridica, e con ciò stesso ad una sfera concreta di diritto, protetta contro ogni arbitrario attacco.

Il rapporto dell'uomo verso l'uomo, dell'individuo verso la società, verso l'autorità, verso i doveri civili, il rapporto della società e dell'autorità verso i singoli debbono essere posti sopra un chiaro fondamento giuridico e tutelati, al bisogno, dall'autorità giudiziaria. Ciò suppone:

a) un tribunale e un giudice, che prendano le direttive da un diritto chiaramente formulato e circoscritto;

b) chiare norme giuridiche, che non possano essere stravolte con abusivi richiami ad un supposto sentimento popolare e con mere ragioni di utilità;

c) riconoscimento del principio che anche lo Stato e i funzionari e le organizzazioni da esso dipendenti sono obbligati alla riparazione e al ritiro di misure lesive della libertà, della proprietà, dell'onore, dell'avanzamento e della salute dei singoli. 

5° Concezione dello Stato secondo lo spirito cristiano

5) Chi vuole che la stella della pace spunti e si fermi sulla società umana, collabori al sorgere di una concezione e prassi statale, fondate su ragionevole disciplina, nobile umanità e responsabile spirito cristiano; aiuti a ricondurre lo Stato e il suo potere al servizio della società, al pieno rispetto della persona umana e della sua operosità per il conseguimento dei suoi scopi eterni; si sforzi e adoperi a sperdere gli errori, che tendono a deviare dal sentiero morale lo Stato e il suo potere e a scioglierli dal vincolo eminentemente etico, che li lega alla vita individuale e sociale, e a far loro rinnegare o ignorare praticamente l'essenziale dipendenza, che li unisce alla volontà del Creatore; promuova il riconoscimento e la diffusione della verità, che insegna, anche nel campo terreno, come il senso profondo e l'ultima morale e universale legittimità del «regnare» è il «servire».

Considerazioni sulla guerra mondiale e sul rinnovamento della società

Diletti figli! Voglia Dio che, mentre la Nostra voce arriva al vostro orecchio, il vostro cuore sia profondamente scosso e commosso dalla serietà profonda, dall'ardente sollecitudine, dalla scongiurante insistenza, con cui Noi vi inculchiamo questi pensieri, che vogliono essere un appello alla coscienza universale e un grido di raccolta per tutti quelli che sono pronti a ponderare e misurare la grandezza della loro missione e responsabilità dalla vastità della sciagura universale.

Gran parte della umanità, e, non rifuggiamo dall'affermarlo, anche non pochi di coloro che si chiamano cristiani, entrano in certa guisa nella responsabilità collettiva dello sviluppo erroneo, dei danni e della mancanza di altezza morale della società odierna.

Questa guerra mondiale, e tutto ciò che le si connette, si tratti dei precedenti remoti o prossimi, o dei suoi procedimenti ed effetti materiali, giuridici e morali, che altro rappresenta se non lo sfacelo, inaspettato forse agl'inconsiderati, ma intuito e deprecato da coloro i quali penetravano a fondo col loro sguardo in un ordine sociale, che dietro l'ingannevole volto o la maschera di formole convenzionali nascondeva la sua debolezza fatale e il suo sfrenato istinto di guadagno e di potere?

Ciò che in tempi di pace giaceva compresso, al rompere della guerra scoppiò in una trista serie di azioni, contrastanti con lo spirito umano e cristiano. Le convenzioni internazionali per rendere meno disumana la guerra, limitandola ai combattenti, per regolare le norme dell'occupazione e della prigionia dei vinti, rimasero lettera morta in vari luoghi; e chi mai vede la fine di questo progressivo peggioramento?

Vogliono forse i popoli assistere inerti a così disastroso progresso? o non debbono piuttosto, sulle rovine di un ordinamento sociale, che ha dato prova così tragica della sua inettitudine al bene del popolo, riunirsi i cuori di tutti i magnanimi e gli onesti nel voto solenne di non darsi riposo, finché in tutti i popoli e le nazioni della terra divenga legione la schiera di coloro, che, decisi a ricondurre la società all'incrollabile centro di gravitazione della legge divina, anelano al servizio della persona e della sua comunanza nobilitata in Dio?

Questo voto l'umanità lo deve agl'innumerevoli morti, che giacciono sepolti nei campi di guerra: il sacrificio della loro vita nel compimento del loro dovere è l'olocausto per un nuovo migliore ordine sociale.

Questo voto l'umanità lo deve all'infinita dolente schiera di madri, di vedove e di orfani, che si son veduti strappare la luce, il conforto e il sostegno della loro vita.

Questo voto l'umanità lo deve a quegl'innumerevoli esuli che l'uragano della guerra ha spiantati dalla loro patria e dispersi in terra straniera; i quali potrebbero far lamento col Profeta: «Hereditas nostra versa est ad alienos, domus nostrae ad extraneos» (Ier, Lam. 5,2).

Questo voto l'umanità lo deve alle centinaia di migliaia di persone, le quali, senza veruna colpa propria, talora solo per ragione di nazionalità o di stirpe, sono destinate alla morte o ad un progressivo deperimento.

Questo voto l'umanità lo deve alle molte migliaia di non combattenti, donne, bambini, infermi e vecchi, a cui la guerra aerea, - i cui orrori Noi già fin dall'inizio più volte denunziammo, - senza discernimento o con insufficiente esame, ha tolto vita, beni, salute, case, luoghi di carità e di preghiera. 

Questo voto l'umanità lo deve alla fiumana di lagrime e amarezze, al cumulo di dolori e tormenti, che procedono dalla rovina micidiale dell'immane conflitto e scongiurano il cielo, invocando la discesa dello Spirito, che liberi il mondo dal dilagare della violenza e del terrore.

Invocazione al Redentore del mondo

E dove potreste voi deporre con più tranquilla sicurezza e fiducia e con fede più efficace questo voto per il rinnovamento della società, se non ai piedi del «desideratus cunctis gentibus», che giace davanti a noi nel presepio in tutto l'incanto della sua dolce umanità di Pargolo, ma anche nell'attrattiva commovente della sua incipiente missione redentrice? In qual luogo potrebbe questa nobile e santa crociata per la purificazione ed il rinnovamento della società avere consacrazione più espressiva e trovare stimolo più efficace che a Betlemme, dove nell'adorabile mistero dell'incarnazione apparve il nuovo Adamo alle cui fonti di verità e di grazia conviene in ogni modo che l'umanità attinga l'acqua salutare, se non vuole perire nel deserto di questa vita? «De plenitudine eius nos omnes accepimus» (Io 1,16). La sua pienezza di verità e di grazia, come da venti secoli, si riversa anche oggi sull'orbe con forza non diminuita; più potente delle tenebre è la sua luce, il raggio del suo amore più valido dell'agghiacciante egoismo, che rattiene tanti uomini dal crescere ed eccellere nel loro essere migliore. Voi, volontari crociati di una nuova nobile società, alzate il nuovo labaro della rigenerazione morale e cristiana, dichiarate lotta alle tenebre della defezione da Dio, alla freddezza della discordia fraterna; lotta in nome d'una umanità gravemente inferma e da sanare in nome della coscienza cristianamente elevata.

La Nostra benedizione e il Nostro paterno augurio e incoraggiamento sia colla vostra generosa intrapresa, e perduri con tutti coloro che non rifuggono dai duri sacrifici, armi più che il ferro potenti a combattere il male, di cui soffre la società. Sulla vostra crociata per un ideale sociale, umano e cristiano, splenda consolatrice ed incitatrice la stella che brilla sulla grotta di Betlemme, astro augurale e perenne dell'era cristiana. Alla sua vista attinse, attinge e attingerà forza ogni cuore fedele: «Si consistant adversus me castra ... in hoc ego sperabo» (Ps 26,3). Dove questa stella risplende, è Cristo: «Ipso ducente, non errabimus; per ipsum ad ipsum eamus, ut cum nato hodie puero in perpetuum gaudeamus».(4)

In English, and linked into the site where I got the translation (and about which I otherwise know nothing).

THE RIGHTS OF MAN

THE FEAST OF CHRISTMAS AND SUFFERING HUMANITY

Broadcast of Pope Pius XII

Christmas, 1942

Beloved children throughout the world!

 As the Feast of Christmas recurs year by year the message of the crib of Bethlehem sounds in Christian ears with accents of a holy joy which is ever new and ever finds a tender echo in Christian hearts; it is the message of Jesus, light amidst the darkness. To a world plunged in the gloom of tragic error it brings the light of Heavenly truth; to a humanity enduring the pangs of a deep and bitter sorrow it gives abundance of joyful hope; to the children of Adam shackled in the bonds of sin it brings assurance of deliverance; to those countless hosts of suffering and afflicted ones who see their happiness lost and their energies broken in the storm of hatred and strife now raging, it gives promise of mercy, love, and peace.

And the bells which ring out this message in every continent do more than recall a Divine gift bestowed upon humanity at the beginning of the Christian era; they also proclaim a consoling and present reality, a reality as eternally young as it is ever vital and life-giving: the reality of the true light which enlightens every man that comes into this world, the light which will never fade. The Eternal Word, Who is the way, the truth, and the life, began His mission of teaching, saving, and redeeming the human race by being born in the squalor of a cave, thus ennobling poverty and sanctifying it. He thus uttered and consecrated a message which is still today the word of eternal life, which provides the answer to those torturing questions that never have been and never will be solved by ephemeral theories or by human means; questions which now in poignant form confront the minds and hearts of an embittered and angered humanity, and call urgently for a reply.

 'I have compassion on the multitude'; such was the motto of Jesus; and for Us, too, it is a sacred charge urging its claim at all times and in every situation of mankind. The Church would be untrue to herself, she would have ceased to be a mother, if she were deaf to the cries of suffering children which reach her ears from every class of the human family. Between the various concrete forms by which individual peoples and States are endeavoring to solve the gigantic problems of internal order and international collaboration, she does not intend to discriminate, so long as such forms respect the law of God. Nevertheless the Church, since she is 'the pillar and ground of truth,' [1 Tim. iii. 15] since she has been appointed by the will of God and by the mandate of Christ to be guardian of the natural and the supernatural order, cannot forgo her right to proclaim fundamental and immutable laws to her own children and to the whole world, protecting them against all perversion, obscurity, corruption, misinterpretation, and error. This function of the Church is the more necessary because upon the observance of these laws, and not merely upon the efforts of any upright and courageous will, depends the final stability of that new national and international order which is ardently desired by all peoples. Of these peoples We well know the courage and endurance; We know also their hardships and their sufferings; and to all of them in this hour of their indescribable trial and adversity, to all without exception, We feel Ourself attached by the bonds of a heartfelt, impartial, and unfailing love, and by the boundless desire to bring them every relief and help that is in Our power.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND NATIONAL ORDER

In Our last Christmas Message [The Pope Speaks to the World, Christmas 1941. C.T.S. 3d] We expounded the principles suggested by Christian thought for the establishment of intercourse and collaboration between nations conformably with the Divine law. We propose today, assured of the good will and interest of all sincere minds, to dwell with particular care and with equal impartiality upon the fundamental laws governing the internal order of States and peoples. International relations and national order are intimately connected, for the balance and concord of one nation with another depends upon the balance of each nation in itself and upon the stage of internal development which it has reached in the material, social, and intellectual spheres. No State, in fact, can present a firmly and consistently peaceful front to its neighbors without an internally peaceful condition which will inspire confidence. Therefore it is only by striving for this complete peace, peace within and peace without, that it will be possible to deliver peoples from the cruel nightmare of war, to diminish and gradually to eliminate the material and psychological factors which may give rise to new conflicts and upheavals.

     THE TWO ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL PEACE

 All social life deserving of the name has its origin in the desire for peace and aims at attaining it; it aims at that orderly and tranquil common life in which St. Thomas, echoing the well known definition of St. Augustine, [1 S. Th., II-II, q. 29. a. 1 ad 1; S. Aug., De civitate Dei, 1. 19. c. 13, n. 1] sees the essence of peace. Two essential elements, therefore, are necessary for social life: an orderly common life, and a common life which is tranquil.

I.-ORDERLY COMMON LIFE

 Order, the basis of social life among men-----among intelligent and responsible beings, that is, who pursue an end appropriate to their nature-----is not a mere extrinsic connection between parts numerically distinct; it tends rather towards an ever more perfect achievement of internal unity, a unity, however, which does not exclude differences grounded in reality and sanctioned by the will of the Creator and by supernatural laws.

 Never has it been so capitally important to understand clearly the true foundations of all social life as in these days when humanity, diseased by the poison of social errors and perversions and tossed by a fever of conflicting desires, doctrines, and aims, has become the unhappy prey of a disorder created by itself, and is experiencing the disruptive effects of false social theories that neglect and contravene the laws of God. Just as darkness with all its oppressive horrors cannot be dispelled by a will-o'-the-wisp but only by the light, so disorder can be banished only by order, and by an order that is not fictitious but real. Only in one way can we hope for salvation, renewal, and true progress, and that is through the return of numerous and influential sections of mankind to a true conception of society, a return which will require an extraordinary grace of God and firm and self-sacrificing resolution on the part of men of good will and far-sighted vision. If such men are brought to perceive and appreciate the fascinating beauty of just social principles, they will be able by their influence to spread among the masses a conviction of the truly Divine and spiritual origin of social life; and they will thus prepare the way for the re-awakening, the development, and the consolidation of those ethical conceptions without which the proudest achievement in the social sphere will be nothing but a Babel; its citizens may have walls in common, but they will speak different and conflicting tongues.

God the first cause and ultimate ground of individual and social life

 If we would understand social life we must raise our thoughts to God, the First Cause and ultimate ground, to God, the Creator of the first married pair, which is the source from which all society-----the family, the nation, and the association of nations-----takes its rise. Social life is a reflection, however imperfect, of its exemplary cause, God Three in One, Who by the mystery of the Incarnation redeemed and elevated human nature; and therefore, viewed in the light of reason and revelation, the ideal and purpose of society possess an absolute character transcending all the vicissitudes of time; they have also a magnetic power which, far from being deadened and extinguished by disappointment, error, and failure, irresistibly draws noble and pious minds again to devote renewed energy, new understanding, new studies, means, and methods, to the accomplishment of an enterprise which in other times and in other circumstances has been attempted in vain.

The development and perfection of the human person

The original and essential purpose of social life is to preserve, develop, and perfect the human person, by facilitating the due fulfillment and realization of the religious and cultural laws and values which the Creator has assigned to every man and to the human race, both as a whole and in its natural groupings.

 A social doctrine or structure which denies or neglects the internal and essential link connecting God with all human concerns is an aberration; those who follow such a doctrine build up with one hand but with the other they are providing the means which sooner or later will undermine and destroy the structure. If they fail to acknowledge the respect due to the human person and to the life of the human person, if they give human personality no place in the social system, in legislative and executive activity, then, far from benefiting society, they damage it; far from fostering and enlivening the social sense and realizing its aspirations and hopes, they deprive it of all intrinsic value, making it a mere catch-phrase which in ever-increasing sections of the community is being resolutely and frankly repudiated.

 If social life implies internal unity it does not on that account exclude the differences between men which are grounded in reality and in nature. But so long as we hold fast to God as the supreme controller of all human concerns, both likenesses and differences find their proper place in the absolute order of being, of values, and consequently also of morality. If that foundation is attacked, however, ominous fissures appear in the structure: the various spheres of culture become dissociated from one another; outlines, boundaries, and values become blurred and uncertain; with the result that the decision between opposing policies comes to depend, according to the prevailing fashion, upon merely external factors, and often even upon blind instinct.

During the past decades a damaging economic policy subordinated the whole of civil life to the profit motive; today a conception rules which is no less detrimental to society, regarding as it does everything and everybody from the standpoint of utility to the State, to the exclusion of all ethical and religious considerations. In either case we have a travesty and a misconception pregnant with incalculable consequences for social life, which is never nearer to losing its noblest prerogatives than when under the illusion that it can with impunity repudiate or neglect God, the eternal source of its dignity.

 Reason, enlightened by faith, assigns to each person and to each particular association in the social organism a definite and noble place; above all it tells us that the purpose of the whole of the State's activity, political and economic, is the permanent realization of the common good: that is to say, the provision of those external conditions which are needful to citizens as a whole for the development of their qualities and the fulfillment of their duties in every sphere of life. material, intellectual, and religious-----in the supposition, however, that the powers and energies of the family and of other organisms which hold natural precedence over the State are insufficient, and also subject to the fact that God, in His will for the salvation of men, has instituted another universal society, the Church, for the benefit of the human person and for the realization of his religious ends.

In a social conception inspired and sanctioned by religious thought, economic and cultural activities are seen as a vast and admirable forge of energy, richly various and harmoniously coherent, in which the similarity of men as beings endowed with reason and their functional diversity receive just acknowledgment and find adequate expression. In any other conception labor is oppressed and the worker is degraded.

The legal structure of society and its purpose

If social life, such as God wills it, is to attain its end it needs a legal structure for its support, defense, and. protection. The function of this structure is not to dominate, but to serve; to encourage the development and vital growth of society in the abundant variety of its aims, promoting the full achievement of private enterprise in harmonious collaboration, and protecting it by suitable and legitimate means against anything detrimental to its full expansion. Such structure, in order to secure the balance, the security, and the concord of society, has also the right of coercion against those who cannot in any other way be restrained within the honorable discipline of social life; but no authority worthy of the name can fail to feel, in the just exercise of this right, an anxious sense of responsibility in the sight of the Eternal Judge, before whose tribunal any unjust sentence, and especially any reversal of Divinely established principles, will receive inevitable punishment and condemnation.

The ultimate, deep-rooted, lapidary principles which lie at the foundation of society cannot be abolished by any effort of human ingenuity; they may be denied, ignored, disregarded, or disobeyed, but they can never be deprived of their juridical validity. Admittedly conditions change with the passage of time, but there is never a complete gap, never entire discontinuity, between the law of yesterday and the law of today, between the disappearance of old forms of government and the introduction of new constitutions. Whatever happens, whatever change or transformation may take place, the purpose of all social life remains the same, ever sacred, ever obligatory: the development of the personal values of man, who is made in the image of God; whatever legislator or authority he may obey, every member of the human family remains bound to secure his immutable ends. He has therefore always the inalienable right-----a right which no opposition can destroy and which all, friends and enemies alike, are bound to acknowledge-----to a constitution and an administration of justice inspired by the conviction and understanding that it is their essential duty to serve the common good.

The legal structure has also the noble and arduous task of securing harmonious relations between individual citizens, between various associations within the State, and between their members. Legislators will accomplish this task successfully if they avoid dangerous theories and practices which are detrimental to the community and to its cohesion, and which owe their origin and wide diffusion to false postulates. Among these is to be counted a juridical positivism which invests purely human laws with a majesty to which they have no title, opening the way to a fatal dissociation of law from morality. Likewise to be banned is the theory which claims for a particular nation, or race, or class, a juridical instinct against whose law and command there is no appeal. Finally, all those theories are to be shunned which, though in themselves divergent and deriving from opposed ideologies, have this in common that they regard the State, or a group representing it. as an absolute and supreme entity exempt from all control and criticism, even when its theoretical and practical postulates result in open and clashing contradiction with essential data of the human and Christian conscience.

Those who clearly perceive the vital connection between genuine social order and a genuine juridical structure, those who appreciate that interior unity in multiplicity depends upon the primacy of the spiritual, upon respect for human personality both in oneself and in others, upon a true love for society, and upon attachment to the ends for which God has ordained it, cannot wonder at the unhappy results of juridical conceptions which have departed from the royal road of truth to follow the slippery paths of materialism; and they must immediately see how urgently necessary it is to return to a conception of society which is spiritual and ethical, earnest and profound, instinct with the warmth of a true humanity, lit by the light of Christian faith which reveals in the juridical structure a reflection of the social order as God has willed it, a luminous product of the spirit of man, which in its turn is an image of the spirit of God.

This organic conception of society, the only vital conception, combines a noble humanism with the genuine Christian spirit, and it bears the inscription from Holy Writ which St. Thomas has explained [S. Th. II-II, q. 29. 3. 3.]: 'The work of justice shall be peace'; a text applicable to the life of a people whether it be considered in itself or in its relations with other nations. In this view love and justice are not contrasted as alternatives; they are united in a fruitful synthesis. Both radiate from the spirit of God, both have their place in the program which defends the dignity of man; they complement, help, support, and animate each other: while justice prepares the way for love, love softens the rigor of justice and ennobles it; both raise up human life to an atmosphere in which, despite the failings, the obstacles, and the harshness which earthly life presents, a brotherly intercourse becomes possible. But if the evil spirit of materialism gains the mastery, if the rough hands of power and tyranny are suffered to guide events, you will then see daily signs of the disintegration of human fellowship, and love and justice will disappear-----presaging the catastrophes which must come upon a society that has apostatized from God.

II.-COMMON LIFE IN TRANQUILLITY

The second fundamental element of the peace towards which every human society almost instinctively tends, is tranquility. Tranquility has nothing in common with a hard and childishly obstinate contentment with the state of things as they are; nor with a reluctance, begotten of a lazy and selfish spirit, to confront the problems and questions to which the progress of time and the succession of generations give rise, and which urgently demand an immediate solution. For the Christian, conscious of his responsibility to even the least of his brethren, there can be no such false tranquillity; he does not run away, he throws himself into the fray; he is all for action, action against apathy or desertion in the great spiritual war in which the structure, indeed the very soul, of the society of the future is at stake.

Tranquility and action

Tranquility, understood in the sense of St. Thomas, is not opposed to intense activity; for one who fully appreciates the beauty and the necessity of a spiritual foundation for society, for one who understands how noble is its ideal, tranquility and action are associated in perfect harmony. And this leads Us to address a word of special affection and fatherly good will to you, young people, who are inclined to turn your backs upon the past and to place all your hopes and aspirations in the future: Enthusiasm and courage in themselves are not enough; they must be placed at the service of a good and untarnished cause. Feverish activity and anxious labor must all come to nothing, unless you find stability in God and in His eternal law. You must be inspired by the conviction of fighting for the truth, of devoting to that cause all your own desires and energies, all your yearnings and your sacrifices; you must be conscious of fighting for the eternal laws of God, for the dignity of the human person and for the attainment of the ends which the human person is destined to achieve. It is in the eternally active tranquillity of God that mature age and youth will both find safe anchorage and so effect the truly Christian co-ordination of their differences of temperament and of activity. There, so long as driving power and the curb of restraint are coupled together, the natural difference between the older and the younger generation can give rise to no danger; on the contrary their collaboration will contribute powerfully to the implementing of God's eternal laws throughout the changing course of time and circumstances.

The World of Labor

There is one section of the community, for the past hundred years the scene of violent agitation and conflict, in which tranquility, at any rate to all appearance, reigns today; We mean the vast and ever growing world of labor, the great army of workers, wage-earners, and dependents. Viewed from the standpoint of present conditions with their war-time needs, this state of peace may be said to be an objective necessity; but if we consider it from the point of view of justice, from the point of view of an orderly and legitimate labor movement, we cannot but conclude that such tranquility will continue to be no more than apparent until that movement achieves its purpose.

Guided always by religious motives, the Church has condemned the various systems of Marxist socialism, and she condemns them still today, for it is her permanent duty and right to save men from currents of thought and from influences which jeopardize their eternal salvation. But the Church cannot fail to know and to perceive that the worker, in his efforts to improve his condition, finds himself confronted by a system which, far from being conformable with nature, is contrary to the order established by God and to the purpose which He has assigned earthly goods. The methods used may have been, and may still be wrong, dangerous, and deserving of condemnation; but no one, least of all a priest or a Christian, can possibly remain deaf to the cry that rises out of the depths, calling for justice and for a spirit of brotherhood in a world which a just God has made. To be silent in such circumstances would be wrong and inexcusable in the sight of God; it would be contrary to the inspired preaching of the Apostle, who, while insisting that we must be resolutely opposed to error, knows also that we must be full of sympathy with those who go astray, and full of understanding for their aspirations, hopes, and motives.

When God blessed our first parents He said to them: 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.' [Gen. i. 28] And to the first father of a human family He said later: 'In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread.' [Gen. iii. 19] Therefore the dignity of the human person normally demands the right to the use of earthly goods as the natural foundation for a livelihood; and to that right corresponds the fundamental obligation to grant private property, as far as possible, to all. The positive laws regulating private property may change and may grant a more or less restricted use of it; but if such legal provisions are to contribute to the peaceful state of the community, they must save the worker, who is or will be the father of a family, from being condemned to an economic dependence or slavery irreconcilable with his rights as a person.

Whether this slavery arises from the tyranny of private capital or from the power of the State makes no difference to its effect; indeed under the oppression of a State which controls everything and regulates the whole of public and private life, which encroaches even upon the sphere of thought, conviction, and conscience, this lack of freedom nay have consequences even more disastrous, as experience shows.

FIVE FUNDAMENTAL POINTS FOR THE PEACEFUL ORDERING OF HUMAN SOCIETY

Anyone who studies, in the light of reason and faith, the foundations and the purposes of social life which We have briefly outlined, anyone who considers their pure and sublime moral value and their beneficent results in every sphere of life, cannot but be sensible of the potent principles of order and tranquillity which could be given, or rather restored, to a disordered world by efforts inspired by high ideals, steadfast against obstruction, and successful in breaking down intellectual and juridical barriers raised by prejudice, error, and indifference, and by a long process of secularization in thought, sentiment, and action, which has withdrawn the city of this earth from the light and influence of the city of God.

Now, more than ever before, is the time for reconstruction, the time to rouse the world's conscience from the lethargy which the poison of widespread error has cast upon it. The present material and moral breakdown, the recognition that all purely human systems are frail and incoherent, is bringing disillusionment even to those who, in days when all was apparently well, did not feel either in themselves or in society the need of any contact with the eternal. nor consider the lack of such contact to be an essential defect in their systems.

A truth which the Christian already clearly perceived, and which in the firm conviction of his faith he grieved to see ignored by others, is now being made manifest in the frightful catastrophe of these times, a catastrophe which even to the lukewarm, to the indifferent, and to the thoughtless has all the solemn appearance of a general judgment; it is the ancient truth uttered by the Prophet, and tragically proved again and again as it has thundered down the ages from nation to nation: 'All that forsake thee shall be confounded; they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth; because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.' [Jer. xvii. 13]

But action, not regrets, is the order of the day; it is no time for regretting what is past but rather for reshaping the structure which is to benefit the society of tomorrow. Now is the time for the best elements in Christendom, filled with the enthusiasm of crusaders, to band themselves together in the spirit of truth, justice, and love, answering the call, 'God wills it!' and ready, like the crusaders of old, for service and for sacrifice. Their object then was to deliver the land sanctified by the life of the Word Incarnate; the crusaders of today-----if We may so express it-----have another voyage to make, another sea to cross; they have to traverse the ocean of modern errors, and they have to deliver a spiritual holy land which shall be the ground for the immutable laws of a firmly established and coherent social structure.

Animated by this lofty purpose, We speak to you from the crib of the Prince of Peace, confident that His grace is poured forth in all hearts; We speak to you, beloved children, who in Christ acknowledge and adore your Savior; We speak to all those who are united with Us at least by the spiritual bond of belief in God; We speak, finally, to all who yearn for deliverance from doubt and error and seek for light and guidance; and We exhort and conjure you with fatherly urgency not only to understand fully the terrible gravity of this hour, but also to consider the dawn of supernatural blessings of which it may be the herald. and to unite in laboring together for the renovation of society in spirit and in truth.

The essential aim of this necessary and holy crusade is that the star of peace, the star of Bethlehem, may once more shine forth upon the whole of humanity in its dazzling splendor, bringing reassurance of peace and the promise of a better, richer, and happier future.

The way through the darkness to the light of the morning will be long, it is true; but the decisive steps in the journey are the first, and upon the first five milestones of the path, inscribed with chisel of bronze, are the following maxims:

I. THE DIGNITY AND RIGHTS OF THE HUMAN PERSON

He who would have the star of peace to shine permanently over society must do all in his power to restore to the human person the dignity which God conferred upon him from the beginning; he must resist the excessive herding together of human beings, as though they were a soulless mass; he must set his face against their disintegration in economic, social, political, intellectual, and moral life; against their lack of solid principles and firm convictions; against their excessive reliance upon instinct and emotion, and against their fickleness of mood; he must favor, by all legitimate means and in every sphere of life, social forms which render possible and guarantee full personal responsibility in regard to things both temporal and spiritual.

He must foster the observance and practical implementing of the following fundamental rights of the person: the right to maintain and develop physical, intellectual. and moral life, and in particular the right to a religious training and education; the right to worship God, both in private and in public, including the right to engage in religious works of charity; the right, in principle, to marriage and to the attainment of the purpose of marriage, the right to wedded society and home life; the right to work as an indispensable means for the maintenance of family life; the right to the free choice of a state of life, and therefore of the priestly and religious state; the right to a use of material goods, subject to its duties and to its social limitations.

II. THE PROTECTION OF SOCIAL UNITY, AND ESPECIALLY OF THE FAMILY

He who would have the star of peace to shine permanently upon society must reject all forms of materialism, which regard the people as nothing but a herd of individuals, disunited and lacking organic cohesion. and as the raw material for domination and arbitrary treatment.

He must endeavor to see society as an organic unity, growing to maturity under the government of Divine Providence; a unity which, within the spatial limits assigned to it and in the measure of its peculiar endowments, is designed, through the collaboration of the various classes and vocational groups of the community, to achieve the eternal and ever new ends of culture and religion. He must defend the indissolubility of marriage; he must give to the family, which is the irreplaceable unit of society, the space, light, and air that it needs in order to fulfill its mission of perpetuating new life, and of educating children in a spirit corresponding with its own true religious convictions; he must devote his energies to preserving, protecting, or restoring the economic, spiritual, moral, and juridical unity of the family: by ensuring that the material and spiritual advantages of the family shall be shared also by the domestic staff: by securing for every family a home in which a healthy family life, both physical and moral, may be maintained in all its vigor and dignity; by ensuring that home and place of work are not so distant from each other that the head of the family, the educator of his children, becomes almost a stranger in his own home; by ensuring, above all, that between school and family that bond of confidence and mutual assistance shall be restored which in times past produced such happy results, but which today has given place to mistrust, in cases where the school, under the influence or the control of a materialistic spirit, contaminates and corrupts the good which the parents have instilled into the minds of their children.

III. THE DIGNITY AND PREROGATIVES OF LABOR

He who would have the star of peace to shine permanently over society must give to labor the place assigned to it by God from the beginning. All labor, as an indispensable means to the mastery of the earth, by which God wills to be glorified, has an inalienable dignity and at the same time an intimate connection with the development of the human person; nor does this noble dignity and prerogative of labor suffer any diminution from the burden of fatigue which, in consequence of Original Sin, must be endured in obedient submission to the will of God.

Those who are familiar with the great Encyclicals of Our Predecessors and with Our own previous Messages will know that the Church does not hesitate to draw the practical conclusions which follow from the moral dignity of labor, or to lend them the full weight of her authority.

The dignity of labor demands, not only a just wage, adequate to the needs of the worker and his family, but also the maintenance and development of a social order which will render possible and secure a portion of private property, however modest, for all sections of the community; which will favor a higher education for children of the working classes who are exceptionally intelligent and well disposed; and which will promote and give effect to a practical social spirit in the neighborhood, in the district, and throughout the nation, thus mitigating hostility between various classes and interests, and giving to the workers, instead of a feeling of isolation from their fellow men, the comforting experience of a truly human solidarity and Christian brotherhood.

The progress and extent of social reform will depend upon the economic power of each nation. It is only by a rational and generous exchange of resources between the strong nations and the weak that a state of world-wide peace will become possible, and all centers of conflagration and infection, which might give rise to new conflicts, be eliminated.

There are clear signs which lead Us to think that, amidst the ferment of prejudice and hate which are an inevitable but unhappy feature of the war mentality, peoples have not lost the consciousness of their intimate dependence upon one another for good or for evil; indeed that consciousness appears to have become even more lively and active. Is it not true that serious thinkers are coming to perceive more and more clearly that the way to world salvation lies in the renunciation of national egoism and isolation, ready as they are to ask their own people to bear a heavy burden of the sacrifices which will be needful to bring social peace to other nations? May this Christmas Message of Ours. addressed to all men of good will and generous heart, encourage and increase the army of social crusaders in every land! And may God grant to their peace-loving cause the victory which such a noble enterprise deserves!

IV. THE RESTORATION OF THE JURIDICAL CONSTITUTION

He who would have the star of peace to shine permanently over social life must make every effort towards the restoration of the juridical constitution.

The modern idea of justice is often corrupted by a positivist and utilitarian theory and practice subservient to the interests of particular groups, sections, and movements; the course of legislation and the administration of justice being dictated by their policies

 This state of affairs can be remedied only by awakening the human conscience to the need of a juridical constitution based upon God's sovereign lordship and immune from human caprice; a constitution which will use its coercive authority to protect the inviolable rights of man against the aggression of any human power.

 A constitution conformable with the Divine will gives man a right to juridical security, and accordingly grants him a sphere of rights immune from all arbitrary attack.

The relation of man towards man, of individual towards society, towards authority, and towards civic duties, and the relation of society and authority towards individuals-----all these must be based upon a clear juridical foundation and, where necessary, protected by the authority of the courts. This supposes:

      (a) a tribunal and a judge taking their directions from law clearly defined;

       (b) clear legal principles which cannot be upset by unwarranted appeals to a supposed popular sentiment or by merely utilitarian considerations;

       (c) the recognition of the principle that the State also, and the officials and organizations dependent upon the State, are under the obligation of revising and withdrawing such measures as are incompatible with the liberty, the property, the honor, the advancement, or the welfare of individuals.

V. THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF THE STATE

He who would have the star of peace to shine permanently upon human society must strive for the recognition of a political theory and practice based upon rational discipline, noble humanity, and a responsible Christian spirit.

He must assist in bringing back the State and the power of the State to its proper function of serving society, and, to a full respect for the human person and for his activity in pursuit of his eternal destiny.

He must use every effort to stamp out the errors which cause the State and its authority to depart from the path of moral rectitude, repudiating the eminently ethical bond which connects them with individual and social life and denying or in practice ignoring their essential dependence upon the will of the Creator.

He must promote the general recognition of the truth that, even in the temporal order, the deepest meaning, the ultimate moral basis, and the universal legitimacy of the right to govern, lies in the duty to serve.

THE WORLD WAR AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY

Beloved children, God grant that as Our voice reaches your ears your hearts may be deeply moved by the seriousness, the solicitude, the urgency with which We put these thoughts before you; they are an appeal to the consciences of all men, a rallying call to all those who are willing to see in the vast extent of this universal catastrophe the measure of their own duty and responsibility.

A great part of the human race, and not a few-----We do not hesitate to say it-----not a few even of those who call themselves Christians, bear some share in the collective responsibility for the aberrations, the disasters, and the low moral state of modern society.

This world war and everything connected with it-----its remote and immediate antecedents, its processes, its effects in the material, juridical, and moral orders-----is nothing else than the collapse, unexpected perhaps by the thoughtless, but foreseen and feared by those who perceived its real character, of a social order which, beneath a deceptive appearance or mask of conventional formulas, concealed a fatal weakness and an unbridled lust for profit and power.

Forces, which in time of peace had been repressed, unleashed themselves with the outbreak of war in an unhappy succession of acts at variance with the spirit of humanity and Christianity. International conventions entered upon to make war less inhuman by confining it to combatants, by regulating the treatment of occupied countries and of prisoners of war, have in various places remained a dead letter: and who can see where this progressive deterioration may end?

Are the nations to stand by inactive while this disastrous process goes on? Surely, rather, all men of courage and honor, as they gaze upon the ruins of a social order which has given such tragic proof of its failure to secure the common good, ought to unite in a solemn vow never to rest until valiant souls of every people and every nation of the earth arise in their legions, resolved to bring society back to its immovable center of gravity in the Divine law, and to devote themselves to the service of the human person and of a Divinely ennobled human society.

Humanity owes this vow to the numberless dead who lie buried on the fields of battle: the sacrifice which they have made of their life in the discharge of duty is a holocaust which calls for a new and better social order.

Humanity owes this vow to the countless ranks of sorrowing mothers, widows, and orphans, who have seen themselves deprived of the light, the comfort, and the support of their lives.

Humanity owes this vow to those innumerable exiles whom the hurricane of war has torn away from their native soil and dispersed in a foreign land: who might make their own the Prophet's lament: 'Our inheritance is turned to aliens, our houses to strangers.' [Jer., Lam. v. 2]

Humanity owes this vow to those hundreds of thousands who, without any fault of their own, sometimes only by reason of their nationality or race, are marked down for death or gradual extinction/

Humanity owes this vow to those many thousands of non-combatants, women, children, aged, and infirm, whom aerial warfare [the horrors of which We have repeatedly denounced from the beginning], waged indiscriminately or with insufficient precaution, has deprived of life, property, health, homes, charitable institutions, and churches.

Humanity owes this vow to the flood of tears and bitterness, of pain and torment, which are the outcome of this mortal and gigantic struggle, and which cry to Heaven, calling for the descent of the Spirit, to deliver the world from the continuance of violence and terror.

 INVOCATION OF THE REDEEMER

And where with greater security and confidence, where with more efficacious faith, could humanity lay this vow for the renovation of society, than at the feet of the 'desired of all nations' Who lies before us in the manger in all the fair comeliness of His infant humanity, but inviting our love also by the promise of His redemptive mission already begun? In what place could this noble and holy crusade find more expressive consecration or more powerful stimulus than at Bethlehem, where in the adorable mystery of the Incarnation we were given the new Adam, at whose well-springs of truth and grace all men must drink the waters of salvation if they are not to perish in the wilderness of this life? 'Of His fullness we have all received.' [John i. 16] For twenty centuries now His fullness of truth and grace has been poured out upon the world, and the volume of its stream is not diminished today: His light is more powerful than the darkness, the radiance of His love stronger than the icy rigor of egoism which in so many men paralyzes the power to rise to greater heights. You, volunteers in the crusade for a new and noble social order, must raise the new standard of moral and Christian regeneration, you must declare war upon the darkness of apostasy from God, upon the coldness of fraternal discord; you must wage war in the name of a humanity which is grievously sick, a humanity which must be healed in the name of the Christian conscience.

Our blessing and Our fatherly goodwill and encouragement be upon your valorous enterprise, and remain with all those who do not shrink from hard sacrifices, weapons more powerful than the sword, these, in fighting the evil from which society suffers. Upon your crusade for a social ideal, truly human and truly Christian, may the star of Bethlehem shed its light of consolation and encouragement-----the star which ushered in and for ever enlightens the Christian era. It is in the sight of that star that every heart has found, still finds and will ever find faith: 'If armies in camp should stand together against me . . . in this will I be confident.' [Ps. xxvi. 3] Where this star shines, there is Christ: 'With this star to guide us we shall not go astray; led by this star let us go to Him, that with the Child Who is born today we may find perpetual joy.' [ St. Aug., Sermo CLXXXIX, c. 4; Migne, P.L., XXXIII. col. 1007]

It should be noted that some sources say this speech was delivered on December 25, not December 24. The Vatican, however, is the source for December 25.

The speech was well received in the West and denounced by the Germans.

The other was to the College of Cardinals, and it stated:

DISCORSO DI SUA SANTITÀ PIO XII

AL SACRO COLLEGIO ALLA VIGILIA DEL SANTO NATALE

Giovedì, 24 dicembre 1942

Di anno in anno il Nostro cuore, e con Noi certamente anche il vostro, Venerabili Fratelli e diletti Figli, risente sempre più dolorosamente il contrasto, tanto penoso ad ogni animo cristiano e sacerdotale, tra il dolcissimo Messaggio del Principe della pace in Betlemme e l'angoscioso spettacolo di un mondo, che si dibatte e si dilania nella violenza; onde con rimpianto nostalgico rievochiamo il gaudio e la serenità dell'incontro natalizio del Sommo Pastore con l'eletta schiera dei membri del Sacro Collegio e della Prelatura Romana nei felici giorni di pace, quando tutto sembrava spirare armonia di pensieri e di cuori. Oggi invece per la quarta volta vi trovate con Noi sotto il triste incubo della guerra, nella oscura aspettazione di un avvenire, le cui prove, se la mano di Dio non interviene, potrebbero anche superare le sofferenze passate.

In altri tempi, Venerabili Fratelli e diletti Figli, tale intimo incontro nella santa Vigilia del Natale era interamente consacrato a voi; e il Romano Pontefice, accogliendo con gradimento il filiale omaggio dei vostri auguri e delle vostre preghiere, — come Ce lo ha testè porto con sì degna e alta parola, a nome di tutti, il venerando e amatissimo Cardinale Decano del Sacro Collegio —, soleva manifestare il Suo pensiero intorno alle più gravi questioni riguardanti il mondo cristiano.

Ma la crisi odierna, trasformatrice di tante cose e usanze, ha modificato in parte anche questa soave consuetudine; perché gli impedimenti, creati dalla guerra, al normale contatto tra Pastore e gregge, hanno fatto nascere il bisogno di dare, nella solenne ricorrenza delle feste natalizie, ai fedeli di tutto il mondo la bramata possibilità di udire direttamente la voce del Padre comune e di rallegrarsi così della santa e provvidenziale coadunanza, che al presepio del Salvatore, nonostante tutti gli sconvolgimenti bellici, li unisce al centro della Chiesa e al Rappresentante visibile del Re pacifico. Abbiamo perciò stimato opportuno di appagare anche quest'anno tale pio e filiale desiderio.

Nei Messaggi precedenti fu Nostro intento di esporre le norme e i presupposti di una vera pace tra i popoli, conforme, quindi, alla giustizia, all'equità e all'amore, e riuscì gradito all'animo Nostro non solo l'attestato della lieta riconoscenza dei Nostri figli devoti, ma ancora il rispettoso consenso di non pochi, che vivono fuori del corpo visibile della Chiesa.

Consapevole degli stretti ed essenziali rapporti tra l'equilibrio economico, sociale e intellettuale nei singoli Stati e la pace internazionale, il Nostro Radiomessaggio odierno si occuperà principalmente delle condizioni e dei fondamenti necessari ad una pacificazione e ad un vero ordine nell'interno delle Nazioni.

Mentre sarebbe cecità il disconoscere la gravezza dei danni e dei mali, di cui soffre la società; la convinzione dell'improrogabilità di una riforma sanatrice e miglioratrice si diffonde in ceti sempre più vasti e preveggenti e prende aspetti esteriori più ampi e fermi. Ma sovente l'umanità, debole e ritrosa all'emenda del peccato, sotto l'influsso della passione, segue la pericolosa tendenza a sostituire errori più o meno riconosciuti come tali con altri traviamenti o con semplici palliativi, che a nulla rimediano, invece di iniziare e promuovere senza indugio un risoluto e aperto ritorno alla verità e al bene. Quante volte si è così avverato il detto : Erit novissimus error peior priore !

Gli è che una sana concezione della società umana può solo appoggiarsi sul fondamento incrollabile delle norme eterne, scritte nella natura dell'uomo, compiute e perfezionate dal lume della rivelazione portata da Cristo, infallibile Maestro dalla culla alla croce. Dove sorge infatti una cattedra di dottrine e di riforme sociali, le cui tesi suonino quaggiù più convincenti del silenzio eloquente del Verbo divino incarnato, giacente nel presepio?

Se da mutamenti semplicemente esterni tale riforma vuole arrivare a nuove e vitali istituzioni, deve prendere le mosse e la guida dalla « luce vera, la quale illumina ogni uomo, che viene in questo mondo », e lasciare che la maestà di una sanzione divina, e non la sola e temuta forza punitrice di magistrati umani, stenda sulla vita sociale le sue ali di protezione e di custodia. 

Ponendo la volontà del Padre al di sopra di ogni altra, Cristo, Principe della pace, incontrò il contrasto, occulto o palese, e l'incomprensione di coloro i quali, mossi da una idea meramente terrena della missione del loro popolo, videro nello specchio di ogni giustizia, bontà e misericordia un « segno di contradizione» (Luc. 2, 34).

Potrebbe dunque la Chiesa meravigliarsi, se la sua sorte è quella stessa del divino Maestro, e prende una forma rispondente al carattere agitato e sconvolto del mondo odierno?

Se la sposa di Cristo nella difesa della verità e della virtù, e i suoi ministri nella operosità e nella lotta per la conquista e il bene delle anime, sperimentano in sé il mistero del « segno di contradizione », spesso proprio quando si danno con supremo amore e sacrificio, con generoso disinteresse pronta dedizione, a combattere gli errori del giorno per far trionfare il Vangelo e tener lontane sciagure eterne; potrebbe ciò fornire occasione a lamenti, a pusillanimità, a infiacchimento di un coraggio apostolico, acceso dalla fiamma della carità e dello zelo? Certamente no.

Il lamento degno dell'apostolo, il lamento di cui l'operaio evangelico non ha da vergognarsi, è il rammarico che gravava sul cuore del Salvatore e gli faceva versare lacrime alla vista di Gerusalemme, la quale al suo invito e alla sua grazia opponeva quell'accecamento ostinato e quella pervicace sconoscenza, che la condussero lungo il cammino della colpa, fino al deicidio.

Tale cecità o incomprensione degli scopi più nobili della Chiesa nella sua azione dottrinale e pastorale di fronte a correnti del pensiero moderno, che, rinnegando verità centrali della nostra santa fede, inceppano con mille catene l'operosità dei suoi ministri, — talvolta da parte anche di malconsigliati cattolici, i quali ascoltano teorie avverse e si fanno mancipii di influssi estranei — fu, è, e sarà sempre; ciò nondimeno dovrà sopportarsi da quanti seguono il Signore in spirito e verità, e accettarsi con tutta la sua amarezza, come partecipazione al calice di Colui, che venne per salvare ciò che era perduto. Quando Dio vi chiamò al sacerdozio, quando a non pochi di voi ne concesse la pienezza, quando la fiducia dei Nostri Predecessori vi elesse qui, nel centro del mondo cattolico, ad essere consiglieri e collaboratori del Romano Pontefice nel governo della Chiesa universale; a tutti e a ciascuno di voi in grado diverso, secondo la misura della grazia ricevuta, venne rivolta la domanda: Potestis bibere calicem, quem ego bibiturus sum? (Matth. 20, 22). La vostra vita e operosità sacerdotale nella Chiesa e per la Chiesa, la vostra lotta per le anime e per la trasformazione spirituale del mondo, saranno tanto più efficaci e feconde, quanto più coraggiosa e incondizionata, giorno per giorno, ora per ora, diverrà e apparirà la risposta del vostro cuore alla domanda del Maestro.

Nulla sarebbe meno conforme ai particolari bisogni dell'ora presente, quanto la pusillanimità di coloro, in mezzo ai quali dimora il « magni consilii Angelus », che nell'abisso della sua sapienza ha tesori di consigli e rimedi per l'universo intero. Non suona forse proprio adesso per il Cristianesimo, per la fede nostra che vince il mondo, un'ora paragonabile a quella del primo incontro di Cristo con l'antico paganesimo; un'ora, se densa di gravi pericoli, pur ricca di grandiose promesse e speranze di bene?

Possa la potente grazia di Dio suscitare tra il clero e in mezzo al laicato quegli animi ardenti e generosi, i quali all'umanità errante, ma famelica e sitibonda di unità e di fratellanza, spianino la via alle nobilissime norme e pratiche di vita individuale e sociale, emananti da Colui, a cui la Chiesa rivolge nell'Avvento la commovente invocazione : O Rex Gentium, et desiderato earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum : veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti!

Con questa preghiera sul labbro, pregna dell'ansioso desiderio di tutto il genere umano verso quella concordia, che nasce dalla pace, cui il divin Bambino di Betlemme col canto degli angeli ispira agli uomini di buona volontà, impartiamo a voi tutti, Venerabili Fratelli e diletti Figli, a coloro che sono con voi uniti nel Signore, e specialmente a quelli che in maniera particolare soffrono delle sciagure dei tempi, con immutato affetto paterno la Nostra Apostolica Benedizione.

Admiral Darlan was assassinated by an anti-German French monarchist.

The assassination is hard to figure, but it seems to have been focused on Darlan because he had been a Vichy admiral, even though he'd changed sides at the time of Torch.

The Red Army broke through German defenses at Tatsinskaya Airfield in the Rostov Oblast.  The Germans lost about 1/4 of the plans stationed there, and perhaps more importantly they lost an airbase they were using to resupply Stalingrad.  On the same day, the Red Army retook the Red October factory in Stalingrad.

Everywhere there are Catholics, Christmas Eve Masses took place.