Almost four years have now passed since, in the name of God the Father of all and with the   
utmost earnestness at Our command, We appealed (August 24, 1939) to the responsible leaders of  
peoples to hold back the threatening avalanche of international strife and to settle their  
differences in the calm, serene atmosphere of mutual understanding.  Nothing was to be lost by  
peace; everything might be lost by war.  And when the awful powers of destruction broke loose and   
swept over a large part of Europe, though Our Apostolic Office places Us above and beyond all   
participation in armed conflicts, We did not fail to do what We could to keep out of the war nations   
not yet involved and to mitigate as far as possible for millions of innocent men, women and children,   
defenseless against the circumstances in which they have to live, the sorrows and sufferings that   
would inevitably folow along the constantly widening swath of desolation and death