The Church teaches that peace is the goal of life in society. It is much more than the absence of war; it represents the fullness of life. Working for peace can never be separated from announcing the Gospel, which is the “good news of peace” given to all people. At the center of that Gospel is the cross because peace is born of Christ’s sacrifice.
Peace is a universal duty founded on a rational and moral order of society that has its roots in God. Peace is founded on a correct understanding of the human person and requires the establishment of an order based on justice and charity. It is the fruit of justice. It is the fruit of love, for the function of justice is to remove the obstacles to peace; peace is an act resulting from love and can only be realized when it is built each day in pursuit of an order willed by God.
Peace is also the fruit of divinely willed harmony structured into human society which is brought into realization by men and women in their aspiration for even greater justice.
The world today needs the witness of unarmed prophets who often, as were the prophets of old, subject to ridicule.
For a more detailed discussion of this refer to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nos. 488-496.
