John 17, 14-26 + CSDC and CV

John 17, 14-26 + CSDC and CV 

CV 12 b. It is one thing to draw attention to the particular characteristics of one Encyclical or another, of the teaching of one Pope or another, but quite another to lose sight of the coherence of the overall doctrinal corpus [21]. Coherence does not mean a closed system: on the contrary, it means dynamic faithfulness to a light received. The Church's social doctrine illuminates with an unchanging light the new problems that are constantly emerging [22]. This safeguards the permanent and historical character of the doctrinal “patrimony” [23] which, with its specific characteristics, is part and parcel of the Church's ever-living Tradition[24].

Notes:  [21] Cf. ibid., 1: loc. cit., 513-514. [22] Cf. ibid., 3: loc. cit., 515. [23] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens (14 September 1981), 3: AAS 73 (1981), 583-584. [24] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 3: loc. cit., 794-796.

 The arms race does not ensure peace

CSDC 508 b. Moreover, the Magisterium has made a moral evaluation of the phenomenon of deterrence. “The accumulation of arms strikes many as a paradoxically suitable way of deterring potential adversaries from war. They see it as the most effective means of ensuring peace among nations. This method of deterrence gives rise to strong moral reservations. The arms race does not ensure peace. Far from eliminating the causes of war, it risks aggravating them”.[1070] Policies of nuclear deterrence, typical of the Cold War period, must be replaced with concrete measures of disarmament based on dialogue and multilateral negotiations. 

Notes:  [1070]  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2315.  

(John 17, 14-26) Consecrate them in the truth 

[14] I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. [15] I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. [16] They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. [17] Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. [18] As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. [19] And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. [20] "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, [21] so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. [22] And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, [23] I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. [24] Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. [25] Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. [26] I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."

CSDC 432. The Christian message offers a universal vision of the life of men and peoples on earth [874] that makes us realize the unity of the human family.[875] This unity is not to be built on the force of arms, terror or abuse of power; rather, it is the result of that “supreme model of unity, which is a reflection of the intimate life of God, one God in three Persons, ... what we Christians mean by the word ‘communion'”; [876] it is an achievement of the moral and cultural force of freedom.[877] The Christian message has been decisive for making humanity understand that peoples tend to unite not only because of various forms of organization, politics, economic plans or in the name of an abstract ideological internationalism, but because they freely seek to cooperate, aware “that they are living members of the whole human family”.[878] The world community must be presented, over and over again and with ever increasing clarity, as the concrete figure of the unity willed by the Creator. “The unity of the human family has always existed, because its members are human beings all equal by virtue of their natural dignity. Hence there will always exist the objective need to promote, in sufficient measure, the universal common good, which is the common good of the entire human family”.[879]

Notes: [874] Cf. Pius XII, Address to Catholic Jurists on the Communities of States and Peoples (6 December 1953), 2: AAS 45 (1953), 795. [875] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 42: AAS 58 (1966), 1060-1061. [876] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 40: AAS 80 (1988), 569. [877] Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations (5 October 1995), 12: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 9.[878] John XXIII, Encylical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 296. [879] John XXIII, Encylical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 292.

[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)]