Pope Pius XII Foreign Relations After World War II - Quotations of Pope Pius XII

Quotations of Pope Pius XII

We know full well, that the bare text of international law does not impose on the conquerors the obligation to liberate the prisoners of war, before peace is made. But the spiritual and moral needs of the prisoners themselves and of their relatives, the sacred rights of marriage and family, speak a loader and stronger voice than all judicial texts, and demand that we bring the system of war prisoners and concentration camps to an end.

• It seems desirable to us, to secure a new domicile in oversees countries for many of these people, who in the latter years were exiled from their land, or who live in over-populated countries, in which neither agriculture nor industry can give sufficient livelihood even in normal times. And we are confident, that the states which still dispose of ample possibilities of existence, will not fail to open their frontiers for immigration, because this is a sublime form of Christian charity.

• The natural law even more than mere compassion compels he states to secure people a chance of immigration, because the creator demands that the goods of this world should be at the service of all mankind. Therefore no state whose territory is in a condition to feed more people, has the right to refuse admission to foreigners without good and acceptable reasons.

• We have remarked on previous occasions, that women should receive equal pay for equal work and equal results.

• The Church is not afraid of the light of truth, not for its past, nor its present, nor for its future. The time will come, conditions and human emotions permitting, when unpublished documents about this terrible war will be made public. Then the foolishness of all accusations will become obvious in clear daylight. Their origin is not ignorance but contempt of the Church.