July 19, 1950
Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Summi maeroris, “With the Deepest Sorrow.” He wrote: “Let all of them remember what war brings in its wake, as we know only too well from experience – nothing but ruin, death and every sort of misery. With the progress of time, technology has introduced and prepared such murderous and inhuman weapons as can destroy not only armies and fleets, not only cities, towns and villages, not only the treasurers of religion, of art and culture, but also innocent children with their mothers, those who are sick and the helpless aged. Whatever the genius of man has produced that is beautiful and good and holy, all of this can be practically annihilated.”
