ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS PIUS XII
TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING CANADIAN ARMED FORCES*

Thursday, 6 July 1944

Another large group from far-off Canada; and We welcome you with all Our heart's affection.

Canada suggests at once vastness, nature's wealth and beauty and grandeur, something too of the yet unexplored, something of a promise that has still to reach its perfect fulfillment. So vast are its potentialities, so striking its progress. Surely the God of nature has been most lavish in gifts to His creatures on this earth. Those gifts are eloquent of His love for men, for all men; and it is this all-embracing love that He wishes man to imitate. Oh, if the world were filled with brotherly love, — love between individuals, love between peoples and nations, — what a truly royal gift to man that would be! But this gift, unlike the material riches of land and sea and air, depends upon man's acceptance. You must strive and you must pray that, when the present tragedy with its tears and pain and horrors is over, men will accept, will grasp this divine gift of universal love of all peoples, will press it to their heart and treasure it forever.

This is Our most earnest prayer at this hour; recall it often, repeat it to others when you return to your loved country; and to this prayer We add the other, that God may bless Canada abundantly and you in particular and all your dear ones at home.

*Discorsi e Radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII, VI,
  Quinto anno di Pontificato, 2 marzo 1944 - 1° marzo 1945, p. 63
  Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana