Davies in tribute to anti-war Popes

The Bishop of Shrewsbury has paid tribute to Pope Pius X and Pope Benedict XV for standing against popular opinion in their opposition to the First World War, writes James Macintyre.

Bishop Mark Davies invokes the Great War in a pastoral letter to be read to coincide with Peace Sunday, 19 January, in the centenary year of its outbreak in 1914.

“Historians tell us that the whole train of events … could have been broken at any stage, if there had only been a change of heart,” he says. “I find it chilling to read accounts of how the Declaration of War in 1914 was welcomed with public rejoicing across Europe’s cities, as the saintly Pope Pius X died broken-hearted at the unfolding tragedy. St Pius X, and his successor, Pope Benedict XV, appealed tirelessly for peace, but their pleas went unheeded.” Bishop Davies said the opposition to war “was not to be the last time in the twentieth century that the voice of Peter’s Successor would be out of tune with popular opinion”.

The bishop has asked his diocese to make 2014 a year of prayer for peace in the world.

Bishop Davies praised Pope Francis’ day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria last September which, he believed, “contributed to the change of heart which saw nations seek again the paths of peace”.