Pacem in terris
| Pacem in terris Latin : Peace on Earth Encyclical letter of Pope John XXIII |
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| Date | 11 April 1963 |
| Argument | That peace between all peoples must be based on truth, justice, love and freedom |
| Encyclical number | 8 of 8 of the pontificate |
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Pacem in terris (Peace on Earth) was a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963 on nuclear non-proliferation. It was the last encyclical drafted by John XXIII, who had been diagnosed with cancer in September 1962 and died two months after the encyclical's completion. Biographer Peter Hebblethwaite called it Pope John's "last will and testament". Published on Holy Thursday, Pope John called it his "Easter gift".
The full title of the encyclical is On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty. The short title Pacem in terris is derived from the opening words of the encyclical, as is customary with papal documents:
Pacem in terris was the first encyclical that a Pope addressed to "all men of good will", rather than only to Catholics. Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Mary Ann Glendon, interprets this to mean “He was insisting that the responsibility for setting conditions for peace does not just belong to the great and powerful of the world—it belongs to each and every one of us." In theological terms, it marked a major shift in papal teaching from reliance on classical scholastic categories of natural law to a more inductive approach based on the signs of the times.
In this work, John XXIII reacted to the political situation in the middle of the Cold War. Coming just months after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, during which the Vatican served as an intermediary between the White House and the Kremlin, the document also reflected the Pope's experience of 1960 in trying to resolve difficulties arising out the four-power occupation of Berlin. The "peace encyclical" was issued only two years after the erection of the Berlin Wall. It also draws on Pope John's reading of St. Augustine's City of God and Thomas Aquinas' view of Eternal Law. In this it echoes the Gospel’s core values and principles of patristic and medieval thought, while reflecting the historical period in which it was written.
Sociologist Monsignor Pietro Pavan and a small group of theologians helped draft it. In Pavan’s view Pacem in terris would present the teachings of Leo XIII on the eternal law, "in light of the changing tides of history, and allow them to resonate with a much wider audience".
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