While Pope Benedict XVI has been criticized for some of his recent statements, here’s a short speech he delivered on Sunday before the midday Angelus that is well worth reading. Noting that he is on vacation, he said, “I feel all the more intensely the impact of the sorrow of the news that comes to me about bloody altercations and episodes of violence that are occurring in so many parts of the world.” The Pope went on:

War, with the mourning and destruction it brings, has always been rightly considered a calamity that contrasts with God’s plan. He created everything for existence and, in particular, wants to make a family of the human race. In this moment it is not possible for me to not return to a significant date in history: August 1, 1917—almost exactly 90 years ago—my venerable predecessor, Benedict XV, published his celebrated “Nota Alle Potenze Belligeranti” (Note to the Warring Powers), asking them to put an end to the First World War (cf. ASS 9 [1917], 417-420).

As that huge conflict raged, the Pope had the courage to affirm that it was a “useless bloodbath.” This expression of his left a mark on history. It was a justified remark given the concrete situation in that summer of 1917, especially on the front here in this part of northern Italy. But those words, “useless bloodbath,” have a larger, prophetic application to other conflicts that have destroyed countless human lives.

He concluded his remarks:

From this place of peace here in the north of Italy, where one feels even more vitally how unacceptable the “useless bloodbaths” are, I renew the call to follow with tenacity the way of law, to firmly renounce the arms race, to reject in general the temptation to face new situations with old systems.