If we forget the lessons of the past, we are doomed to repeat them.

Fr. Leo John Dehon the founder of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, wrote in his diary something that Benedict XV (not XVI) said:

Priests of the Sacred Heart (SCJ), U.S. Province

JANUARY 1 IS THE 50th WORLD DAY OF PEACE: Several months after World War I began, Fr. Leo John Dehon noted, “Pope Benedict XV sent us this magnificent prayer to the Sacred Heart for peace” and then copied the prayer in his diary. Sadly, this prayer remains pertinent. It is a fitting invocation for the commemoration of the 50th World Day of Peace on January 1:

Terror-stricken by the sight of a war that is wreaking havoc on peoples and nations, we have recourse, O divine Jesus, to your all-loving Heart as our sole refuge. It is to you, O God of mercy, that our distress leads us to ask for an end of this terrible scourge; it is to you that we address all our prayers to obtain the peace that is so greatly desired.

Through your divine Heart you have set the earth ablaze with the fire of your love so that, putting an end to all discord, charity alone may reign among all peoples. During your life on earth you were filled with compassion for the fate of humanity. O that your Sacred Heart may be graciously moved at this hour which has been made so distressing by the appalling hatred that it is provoking and the rivers of blood that it has unleashed.

Inspire governments and peoples with longings for peace. Put an end to the strife that is tearing nations apart. Once again lead all people to extend their hands in peace, you who have made them brothers [and sisters] at the cost of your precious blood. AMEN.