Pax Christi International is an international Catholic peace movement. The Pax Christi International website declares its mission is "to transform a world shaken by violence, terrorism, deepening inequalities, and global insecurity."

History

''Pax Christi'' (Latin for Peace of Christ) was established in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1945 through the inspiration of Marthe Dortel-Claudot and Bishop

Pierre-Marie Théas Pierre-Marie Théas (September 14, 1894 – April 3, 1977) was a French Roman Catholic Bishop of Montauban and Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes. A significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism in France, he was recognised as Righteous among the ...

. Both were French citizens interested in reconciliation between French and German citizens in the aftermath of World War II. Some of the first actions of Pax Christi were the organisation of kindness pilgrimages and other actions fostering reconciliation between France and Germany. Although Pax Christi initially began as a movement for French-German reconciliation, it expanded its focus and spread to other European countries in the 1950s. It grew as “a crusade of prayer for peace among all nations.” Pax Christi was recognized as “the official international Catholic peace movement” by Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius ...

in 1952. It also has chapters in the United States. In the 1960s, it became involved in Mississippi in organizing economic boycotts of businesses that discriminated against blacks, in an effort to support protesters in the civil rights movement, who were trying to end discrimination in facilities and employment. It was active in

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the riverp ...

, among other places. In 1983, Pax Christi International was awarded the UNESCO Peace Education Prize. The Pax Christi network membership is made up of 18 national sections and 115 Member Organizations working in over 50 countries.

Peace work

Pax Christi focuses on:

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, human security,

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such a ...

and

demilitarisation Demilitarisation or demilitarization may mean the reduction of state armed forces; it is the opposite of militarisation in many respects. For instance, the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland entailed the reduction of British security and military ...

nonviolence

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space * Nuclea ...

extractives
in Latin America, and a renewed peace process for Israel-Palestine. Since 1988, the organisation gives out the Pax Christi International Peace Award to peace organisations and peace activists around the world.

Organization

Pax Christi is made up of national sections of the movement, affiliated organizations and partner organizations. Its International Secretariat is in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Pax Christi has consultative status as a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

at the United Nations.

International presidents

* Maurice Feltin (1950–1965) *

Bernard Alfrink Bernardus Johannes Alfrink (5 July 1900 – 17 December 1987) was a Dutch Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1955 to 1975, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1960. Biography Born in Nijker ...

(1965–1978) *

Luigi Bettazzi Luigi Bettazzi (born 26 November 1923) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was bishop of Ivrea from 1966 to 1999. One of the youngest and most junior participants in the Second Vatican Council, he was one of the original signatories ...

(1978–1985) *

Franz König Franz König (3 August 1905 – 13 March 2004) was an Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. The last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope John ...

(1985–1990) * Godfried Danneels (1990–1999) *

Michel Sabbah Michel Sabbah ( ar, ميشيل صباح; born 19 March 1933) is a Palestinian Catholic prelate who served as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, the first non-Italian to hold the position in more than five centuries. Biography Sa ...

(1999–2007) In 2007, a co-presidency was created, a bishop and a lay woman. * Laurent Monsengwo (2007–2010) *Marie Dennis (2007–2019) * Kevin Dowling ( C.SS.R.) (2010–2019) *Sr. Teresia Wamuyu Wachira, IBVM (2019–present) * Marc Stenger (2019–present)

References

External links

*
Pax Christi Peace Stories

Catholic Nonviolence Initiative
{{Authority control International Christian organizations Peace organizations Catholic lay organisations Organizations established in 1945 Anti-nuclear organizations