The modern church's views regarding torture have changed drastically, largely reverting to the earlier stance. In 1953, in an address to the 6th International Congress of Penal Law, Pope Pius XII approvingly reiterated the position of Pope Nicholas the Great over a thousand years before him, when his predecessor had unilaterally opposed the use of judicial torture, stating: Thus, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" (published in 1994) condemns the use of torture as a grave violation of human rights. In No. 2297-2298 it states: