With this essay, Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2002 to 2009, offers a valuable contribution to the deepening of the concepts of peace and war, often used with a superficial knowledge that distorts and degrades their very essence. The author deals with the subject in a deep way, in the light of Sacred Scripture, of the Magisterium of the Church, and of the social doctrine of the Church.
Preface. (Koïchiro Matsura, former Director General of UNESCO) - I. The Biblical Shalom. - II. Theological aspects of peace. - III. The truth of peace. - Crisis and opportunities for peace in the globalized world. - V. The new demands of peace. - VI. The social doctrine of the Church at the service of peace. - VII. Peace between peacemakers, pacifists and peacemakers.