The Catholic Church has established permanent structures through which it operates in the form of pontifical commissions and councils. As a practical measure to concretise the will of the Church on the issues of Justice and Peace and at the specific request of the Second Vatican Council (cf. Gaudium et Spes 90), Pope Paul VI on the 6th of January, 1967 set up a Commission on an experimental basis. The structure and framework of this Commission was given in the motu proprio, Catholicam Christi Ecclesiam. Pope Paul VI stated emphatically that, “the purpose of its establishment is to awaken in the people of God full awareness of their mission today…. The name of this Commission, Justice and Peace aptly describes its programme and its goals.”
The specific functions assigned to this department include, the promotion, deepening and on-going development of the social teaching of the Church, which is the collation of teachings on the human person and the human continuity derived primarily from conciliar, papal and Episcopal documents. There also include the writings of theologians and other scholars who develop, comment on and draw applications. The pronouncement and the stand of the Church on particular social issues is usually made known in the social teachings.
Apart from these specific functions, the Council is also saddled with the responsibility of creating awareness in the people of God about the concerns of the Church in the area of Justice and Peace; and also helps the laity to understand their responsibility in the social field. The Council popularises the documents of the Church on the issues of Justice and Peace, making it to reach a wider audience, so that Christians at the grassroots may take inspiration from it for their daily lives.
The importance of the issues of Justice and Peace in the minds of the Church was further demonstrated by the ratification of its aims and objectives by the Holy Father on 10th December 1976. As contained in themotu proprio, Iustitiam et Pacem, the general aims of the Commission are: to examine and study (from the point of view of doctrine, pastoral practice and apostolate) problems connected with justice with the aim of awakening God’s people to full understanding of these questions and awareness of the part they play and duties that fall on them in fields of justice, the development of peoples, human advancement, peace and human rights. The Commission is to examine what specifically Christian Constitution can be made to solving these problems. It is also to encourage members of God’s people to Christian witness and appropriate action in the above fields. These aims were further refined by Pope John Paul II in 1988 in his Apostolic Constitution,Pastor Bonus. The document states that the Commission’s aims are:
To promote Justice and Peace according to the gospel and the social doctrine of the Church.
To campaign for the translation of the social doctrine of the Church into practice by individuals and communities especially where it concerns relationship between employers and workers.
To collect facts and results of enquiries relating to peace, people’s progress and human rights violation and possibly share the conclusions arrived at with relevant Episcopal organisations.
To network with international organisations, Catholic and non-Catholic sincerely concerned with affirmation of the values of Justice and Peace in the world.
To involve consultation with the secretariat of State, especially when public statements on Justice and Peace are to be made; e.g. through documents and declarations.It is also saddled with the responsibility of organising, preparing and animating the annual world day of peace, a papal initiative dating from 1968.
