Menu


Message to Workers
Message from Pope Paul VI to the workers during the closing of the Vatican Ecumenical Council II, December 8, 1965. It emphasizes work as a transformation of the world.

Message from Pope Paul VI to the workers during the closing of the Vatican Ecumenical Council II, December 8, 1965. It emphasizes work as a transformation of the world.


Author: Pope Paul VI | Source: Vatican.va



Message to Workers 
Message from Pope Paul VI to the workers during the closing of the Vatican Ecumenical Council II, December 8, 1965. It emphasizes work as a transformation of the world. 

CLOSING OF THE SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
PAUL VI

MESSAGE TO WORKERS 

Wednesday, December 8, 1965 

Throughout the Council, we the Catholic Bishops of the five continents have jointly reflected, among many issues, on the serious issues that raise the consciousness of humanity the economic and social conditions of the contemporary world, the coexistence of nations and the problem of armaments, war, and peace. And we are fully aware of the impact that the solution to these problems can have on the concrete life of the workers and working women of the whole world. So, at the end of our deliberations, we wish to direct all of them a message of trust, peace, and friendship. 



Dear Children: be sure, of course, that the Church knows your sufferings, your struggles, your hopes; that highly appreciates the virtues that ennoble your souls: courage, dedication, professional consciousness, the love of justice; that fully recognizes the immense services that each one in his position, and in the positions often darker and less appreciated, you make to the whole of the society. The Church feels very happy about it, and thanks to our voice. 

In recent years, the Church has not ceased to have in its spirit the problems, of growing complexity incessantly, of the world and work. And the echo that has been found in your ranks the recent pontifical encyclical has shown how the soul of the toiler of our time marches according to his highest spiritual leaders. 

The one who enriched the patrimony of the Church with these incomparable messages, Pope John XXIII, knew how to find the way to your heart. He clearly showed in his person all the love of the Church for the workers, as well as for the justice, the freedom, the charity, on which the peace in the world is founded. 

From this love of the Church to you, the workers, we want, also for our part, to be witnesses near you and we tell you with all the conviction of our souls: the Church is your friend. Trust her. Sad mistakes in the past kept the mistrust and misunderstanding between the Church and the working class for a long time, and they suffered one and the other. Today the hour of reconciliation has sounded, and the Church of the Council invites you to celebrate it without mental reservations. 

The Church always seeks a way to understand you better. But you must try to understand what is the Church for you, the workers, who are the main architects of the prodigious transformations that the world knows today. Well, you know that if you do not encourage a spiritual powerful murmur will make the misfortune of humanity instead of making its happiness. It is not hatred that saves the world; it is not only the bread of the earth that can satiate man's hunger. 

To receive the message of the Church. Receive the faith that offers you to enlighten your way; it is the faith of the successor of Peter and the two thousand Bishops gathered in Council, it is the faith of all the Christian people. May she enlighten you. May she guide you. May she make you know Jesus Christ, your co-worker, the Lord, the Savior of all humanity.








Share on Google+




Inappropriate ads? |

Another one window

Hello!