ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS PIUS XII
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE*

Monday, 10 November 1947

We extend a very sincere welcome to the honourable members of the United States Senate.

We have been reminded that this is the eve of a day which your national calendar marks off as particularly memorable in recent annals. Certainly for those who go back thirty years and more it is a day crowded with memories: memories of harrowing scenes of battle and seemingly endless watches of anxious mothers: memories of spontaneous, unrestrained jubilation that drew a veil for the moment over sorrows and irreparable losses, and that was to yield with the passing years to a more sober —shall We add sombre?—reflection on the price and fruits of victory—victory, that is, in war.

For there is a victory that does pay dividends, secure and high dividends. It is the victory over hate and distrust that throw up barriers between peoples who only want peace and concord : the victory over an unscrupulous greed that can gradually deafen human reason to the call of human rights and thus sows the seeds of conflict at home and abroad.

What a relief to suffering humanity, how encouraging, how wise it would be, if the nations' leaders, conscious of their sacred responsibility to future generations, concurred in the high resolve to devote their resources of mind and industry to achieve this victory. It is not beyond their reach, if only they would accept humbly the divine mandate of justice and charity. May God's loving grace pierce the darkness into which man's folly too often plunges him, and illumine the path, for all to see it, that leads to lasting concord and peace.

This is Our fervent prayer, as We call down God's blessings on you and your dear ones at home.

*Discorsi e Radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII, IX,
 Nono anno di Pontificato, 2 marzo 1947- 1° marzo 1948, p. 329
 Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana.