The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response

A pastoral letter from the United States bishops addressing the moral questions of nuclear warfare.

As the weapons and technology used for warfare have developed, so has their power to cause great harm. In a world that faces the challenges of living with nuclear weapons, The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response gives Catholics guidance on the moral questions of war in order to help them contribute well to discussions about this topic.

A pastoral letter on war and peace written by the Catholic bishops of the United States, The Challenge of Peace considers the principles of Catholic moral teaching that apply to today’s nature of warfare. It also addresses concrete questions concerning the arms race, weapons systems, negotiating strategies, and more from the perspective of the Church, while recognizing that the Church has not weighed in on every specific circumstance and that there are situations where Catholics must make their own moral judgements.

The Challenge of Peace seeks to speak words of hope and encouragement in a time where many are fearful. It is both an invitation and a challenge to Catholics in the United States to work toward a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons.

This new edition of The Challenge of Peace features:

• A newly designed cover with beautiful sacred art

• Colored tabs with paragraph numbers at the top of each page for easy navigation

• Carefully designed pages to make each page readable, organized, and inviting

• A document summary explaining the intended audience, the document’s origin, and the purpose it seeks to serve within the mission of the Church

• The official text of this work written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

This edition is part of The USCCB Collection from Ascension, which features official documents from the United States bishops previously published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).