Last October Archbishop Renato Martino, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, gave a speech to something called "the Plenary of the General Assembly on the Culture of Peace" at the United Nations headquarters in New York. It is Martino’s brother who filed a "document" hysterically attacking Father Gruner in the course of his canonical proceedings. This is no mere coincidence, for Father Gruner’s apostolate has been justly critical of the Vatican’s staunch support of the godless United Nations.

        Archbishop Martino’s U.N. speech is a good example of why the United Nations is nothing but a trap for the Holy Catholic Church, since participation in the U.N. requires that Vatican diplomats do their best to hide the prime imperative of the Gospel: "Go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded thee." That is about the last thing Vatican diplomats would say to "the Plenary of the General Assembly on the Culture of Peace." Instead, Archbishop Martino served up the usual thin gruel of vague religiosity combined with secular jargon.

        According to VIS (Vatican Information Service), the theme of Martino’s speech was that "real peace is possible, through conversion of minds and hearts and, as Pope John Paul has said throughout his pontificate, through dialogue." Does this mean a conversion to Catholicism and the world’s submission to Christ the King, as the Gospel mandates? Not at all. As Martino put it: "Peace begins within hearts…. It is not simply the absence of war, nor is it sought only to avoid widespread conflict but rather it helps to direct our reasoning and thus our actions toward the good of all. It becomes a philosophy of action that makes us all responsible for the common good and obliges us to dedicate all our efforts to its cause."

        Well, that sort of thing can be found in Hallmark greeting cards. It must be said that Archbishop Martino did observe that "Those who honour God must be in the first rank of those who fight against all forms of terrorism." But the phrase "those who honour God" is Vatican-speak for all "believers," be they Muslims, Hindus or Hottentots. There is not the slightest suggestion of what Pius XI taught in his encylical Ubi Arcao Dei, which rejected the very notion that world peace could be attained through a secular "league of nations." As Pius XI declared: "There exists an institution able to safeguard the sanctity of the law of nations. This institution is a part of every nation; at the same time it is above all nations. She enjoys, too, the highest authority, the fullness of the teaching power of the Apostles. Such an institution is the Church of Christ."

        Martino’s speech asserts that "Building a culture of peace is not preposterous, nor a utopian dream. It is, rather, an attainable reality." But as Pius XI and all his predecessors taught, there can be no culture of peace without Christian civilization and the Catholic Church at its head. It is precisely this truth which the Vatican leaves at the doorstep of the United Nations.