Encyclical Acclaimed
Diocesan Press Service. May 8, 1963 [X-1]
NEW YORK --- Presiding Bishop Lichtenberger has joined leaders of other major churches in universal acclaim of Pope John's encyclical "Pacem in Terris" (Peace on Earth).
Noting that the Pope's message was addressed to "all men of good will, " he cited the encyclical as "a rallying point for us all."
Bishop Lichtenberger further termed Pope John's 22,000-word encyclical as "realistic in that he would use the one agency for peace on which we must depend, the United Nations. "
His appeal to all men of good will, Bishop Lichtenberger continued, is "characteristic of His Holiness." He further declared that "This could well be a rallying point for us all and thus avert the present and continuing threat to world peace."
In his encyclical, the Pope called for an end to the arms race, stressed the need for a "public authority having world-wide power," and expressed the hope that the structure and means of the United Nations would be strengthened to equal "the magnitude and nobility of its tasks. "
Pope John also upheld religious liberty by saying that "every human being has the right to honor God according to the dictates of an upright conscience, and therefore the right to worship God privately and publicly."