Zusammenfassung / Abstract
„John XXIII, Pacem in Terris and the legacy of Pius XII“ – A few months after the Cuba crisis between Russia and the United States (1962), the social encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963) by Pope John XXIII won greatest international attention with euphoric expectations for a lasting guarantee of world peace. John XXIII adopted key elements of the encyclical by his predecessors, including the demand for disarmament and for dialogue. The encyclical was sometimes interpreted in the West as too great an opening to Communist Russia. The real meaning of the encyclical lies instead in the already by Pius XII. initiated surrender of the political neutrality of the Holy See and its connection to the West and its values, as they are presented by the United Nations.