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dated December 25, 1956: Pope's Christmas message

Pope Pius XII, in his Christmas message to the world, has called for greater solidarity among the nations of Europe. Urging them to draw closer together, he warned that this would have small value unless "all the associated nations understand that the political and economic defeats of some of them in any part of the world cannot produce true gains for the others." The Pope said that as head of the Roman Catholic Church "we have up to now avoided, just as we did in the previous cases, calling Christendom to a crusade. We can, however, call for full understanding of the fact that where religion is a vital living heritage, men do look upon the struggle unjustly forced on them by their enemy as a crusade. If unpleasant realities force us to set forth the terms of the struggle in clear language, no one can properly accuse us of favouring the stiffening of opposing blocs and still less of having in some fashion abandoned that mission of peace which flows from our apostolic office. Rather, if we kept silence, we would have to fear the judgment of God."

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