8 April 2005
POPE JOHN PAUL II - CHAMPION OF JUSTICE
Bishop Saunders drew attention to the "hundreds of pronouncements including fourteen Encyclical Letters on pressing global issues concerning human life and dignity, faith, social concerns and the needs of the poor, and peace in lands afflicted with war, poverty and cultural tensions".
He also quoted from one of the most recent statements made by John Paul II which was issued last month to mark the 40th anniversary the Pastoral Constitution of the 'Church in the Modern World' one of the landmark documents from the Second Vatican Council.
"The sad persistence of armed conflicts and recurrent manifestations of violence in so many parts of the world are proof, in the negative, of the inseparable relation between justice and peace…. In this connection, I would like to reaffirm once again that peace is the work of justice: it derives in fact from the order on which the Divine Founder himself wished human society to be built"