‘If we pass in review the long and sorrowful sequence of woes, that, as a sad heritage of sin, mark the stages of fallen man’s earthly pilgrimage, from the flood on, it would be hard to find spiritual and material distress so deep, so universal, as that which we are now experiencing.’ Those are words of Pope Pius XI, written in the Encyclical Caritate Christi Compulsi some twelves and a half years ago. If they were true then, they are more true than ever of to-day when the bloody shroud of war has enveloped nearly all mankind.

But one feels sometimes that too much ink is devoted to the description of what is obvious. Having, therefore, recalled these striking words of Christ’s Vicar, let us not dwell here upon the depressing thought of the plight of modern humanity; rather we will turn to the remedy for such an unhappy state of affairs.

‘As these evils crowd in upon us, what hope of remedy is left to us’ asked Pope Pius XII in his Easter Homily in 1940, ‘except that which comes from Christ, from his inspirations, and from his teaching, a healing stream flowing through every vein of our society? Only Christ’s law, only Christ’s grace, can renew and restore private and public life, redressing the true balance of rights and duties, checking unbridled self-interest, controlling passion, implementing and perfecting the course of strict justice with his overflowing charity.