A seminar is being organized to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of Pacem in Terris. The seminar, organized by Converse at Palazzo de Piro, Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation and the Justice and Peace Commission, will be held under the patronage of Archbishop Paul Cremona O.P., at Palazzo de Piro, Mdina, on the 18th April 2013 between 6.30 pm and 8 pm.  This seminar will offer the opportunity to reflect upon our contemporary society in the light of very relevant themes raised by this landmark encyclical.

Pacem in Terris saw the light of day fifty years ago during Holy Week 1963. The encyclical was most likely conceived during the eye of the storm which was the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. It became, in effect, the last will and testament of Pope John XXIII, who was already suffering from inoperable cancer, and died less than two months later. It is significant in that it was the first papal encyclical to be addressed to “all men of good will” and in that it offered a very extensive outline of fundamental human rights and freedoms. It is also significant in that Pacem in Terris was embraced by non-Catholic readers as no previous encyclical had been.

There are four words that mark Pacem in Terris and run throughout the entire encyclical: truth, justice, love, and freedom. Pope John XXIII spoke of “an order that is genuinely human” as “an order whose foundation is truth, whose measure and objective is justice, whose driving force is love, and whose method of attainment is freedom” (par. 149). Peace, he warned, would be “an empty-sounding word” unless it rested on “an order founded on truth, built according to justice, vivified and integrated by love, and put into practice in freedom.”(par. 167) This seminar will seek to mark the fiftieth anniversary of this great document and promote reflection on these key words, “truth, justice, love, and freedom”, as a touchstone of our political and moral thinking in these days.

The programme of the Seminar will be as follows:

  • Introduction to Seminar by Joseph F X Zahra, Chairman of Seminar
  • Overview of the Encyclical “Pacem in Terris” by Dr Nadia Delicata
  • “Justice” by Rev. Dr Paul Pace SJ
  • “Truth” by Mr Laurence Grech
  • “Freedom” by Professor Salvino Busuttil
  • “Solidarity” by Dr Katrine Camilleri
  • Closing Address by H. G. Archbishop Paul Cremona O.P.