Speeches 2005-13 25085
Mr Ambassador,
I am pleased to welcome you to the Vatican and to accept the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Denmark to the Holy See. I thank you for your gracious words and for the greetings you bring from Queen Margrethe II. Please convey to Her Majesty my respectful good wishes and assurance of prayers for the well-being of your nation.
Since 1982 the Holy See and Denmark have enjoyed the benefits of formally established diplomatic relations. This has resulted in an encouraging level of contact and cooperation in the service of peace and justice, especially in the developing world. In this regard, I am pleased to note that your country continues to be most generous in its dedication to reduce world poverty and foster international development. The Holy See appreciates the importance attached by the Danish Government to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, particularly with regard to the contribution by richer countries of 0.7% of their gross national product to the international aid budget. I offer you every encouragement to continue resolutely along this path towards a more just distribution of global resources and I pray that many other nations will be inspired by the leadership your country has shown in this regard.
Besides the material poverty experienced by our brothers and sisters in the developing world, there are other forms of deprivation that give cause for concern in modern society. In Denmark, as in many European countries, there is currently much discussion of the issues associated with immigration. I urge the Danish people to offer a welcome to the newcomers in their midst and I trust also that those who have found a home in Denmark will respect the values and sensibilities of their host nation. The integration of peoples requires each group to achieve a just balance between asserting its own identity and accommodating that of others (cf. Message for the 2005 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2) and I know that your Government appreciates the importance of reconciling these different elements. I pray that the various groups represented in Danish society will continue to live together peacefully, giving an example to other nations of the mutual enrichment that host countries and immigrants can offer one another.
This cooperation is especially important in the fields of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. Even though the Catholic community in Denmark represents only a small percentage of the population, I can assure you that it is eager to play its part in contributing to these significant endeavours. It is my fervent hope that ecumenical dialogue with the established Lutheran Church will start to make significant progress and I trust that you will do all in your power to encourage this. Moreover, in view of the phenomenon of immigration, inter-religious dialogue is also taking on increasing significance. The Catholic Church is keen to contribute her considerable experience and expertise in this area so as to promote mutual respect and understanding between the followers of different religious traditions in your country.
As in much of Europe today, Danish society is becoming increasingly secular in outlook. The Church has a right and a duty to point out the dangers that ensue when man’s divine origin and destiny are ignored or denied. The tradition of Christian faith in your country, stretching back over a thousand years, has made it what it is today. Indeed, the principles that have shaped Western civilization flow from the underlying vision of the world that the Christian faith proclaims. It is essential to remember that their binding nature is predicated not on mere consensus but on divine revelation.
For this reason it is necessary to examine carefully any new social developments that emerge, even if they enjoy widespread support or appear to promise significant rewards. The defence of life from conception to natural death, for example, and the stability of marriage and family life are goods that must be safeguarded in every society, however vocal the forces that may seek to undermine them. They form part of the objective moral order, and can never be discarded without gravely endangering the common good. Likewise, scientific and technological advances should always be evaluated according to sound ethical criteria, and nothing that threatens the inherent dignity of the human person should ever be tolerated. Only by faithful adherence to these unchanging truths can society create the conditions in which human beings may flourish and prosper.
Your Excellency, I am confident that the diplomatic mission which you begin today will further strengthen the already fruitful relations existing between the Holy See and your country. I assure you that the various departments of the Roman Curia are always ready to offer help and support in the fulfilment of your duties. With my sincere good wishes, I invoke upon you, your family, and all the people of Denmark, God’s abundant blessings.
Mrs Ambassador,
I am pleased to welcome you to the Vatican and accept the Letters of Credence by which you are appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa to the Holy See. I thank you for the greetings which you bring on behalf of His Excellency Mr Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic, and I gladly reciprocate with good wishes and the assurance of my prayers for him and the people of South Africa.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1994, the Holy See has followed closely your country’s transformation and its successful efforts to bring about an integrated, stable and pluralistic society. While challenges still remain, the reality of a new South Africa has deservedly received acclaim and admiration. The same political good will and administrative maturity that produced the peaceful transition to a full democracy must likewise be brought to bear on other areas of present concern. Many of these questions are also shared by other countries in the region and are the result of globalisation or internal social transformation. Intensive urbanization, for example, has resulted in the lack of proper housing, unemployment, criminality and an exaggerated social stratification. These challenges can only be effectively addressed by promoting both social cohesion and economic growth, while offering, especially to the poor and marginalized, opportunities for education and employment. My prayers are raised to Almighty God that, as your nation continues to address these matters, her political vision will remain open to love of truth, peace and justice.
The high proportion of young people in your population, the traditional African values of deep respect for human life, family, community and social solidarity will certainly contribute to the process of long-term development. This balanced approach to change has indeed helped to raise the moral prestige of the new South Africa and has made her one of the most influential countries on the continent. I am hopeful that her example will enable her to maintain a strong voice in the international community, especially regarding the elimination or reduction of foreign debt, regional peace-building and the assistance to other nations in the consolidation of proven economic and social programs.
Mr Ambassador, in recent years the social stability and economic success of South Africa have attracted increasing numbers of refugees from countries sadly troubled by poverty, political unrest and violence. Your nation’s policy of acceptance of others has been exemplary for the entire region. It is not easy for local and national governments, already strapped by economic and social problems, to accommodate those who are searching for a new and better life. The attention given to them, however, is a characteristic sign of an authentically civil society, moved by a just compassion for the less fortunate. History has clearly demonstrated that "immigration can be a resource for development rather than an obstacle to it" (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 297). I have no doubt that your nation by drawing on the talents and hopes of these newcomers, and treating them always with the dignity and respect they deserve, will reap many benefits.
The great majority of the South African population is Christian and therefore capable of offering the country the important religious values of solidarity, tolerance and reconciliation. For her part, the Catholic Church remains committed to giving her full support to the promotion of modern society by furthering dialogue and mutual understanding (cf. Ecclesia in Africa ). She is well respected for her efforts to work with civil governments in addressing the many social and human problems affecting Africa. One notable example of this is the struggle against HIV/Aids where statistics taken in several regions of Africa confirm the results of policies based on continence, the promotion of faithfulness in marriage and the importance of family life. Education, health-care and assistance to the poor also indicate sectors where collaboration has been most advantageous and rewarding. In this context, I would assure you that the Catholic Church will continue to offer her cooperation wherever she may be of assistance, and I would encourage your government to promote an ever-greater awareness of the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
Mr Ambassador, as you begin your duties as your country’s Representative to the Holy See I assure you of my prayers for the success of your mission. You may be certain that the various departments of the Roman Curia will be willing to assist you in this task. I ask Almighty God's abundant blessings upon you and upon the beloved people of South Africa.
Mr Ambassador,
I am pleased to welcome you at the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Holy See. I warmly thank you, Mr Ambassador, for your kind words on your own behalf and on that of the President of the Republic, and also on behalf of the Government and the Algerian People.
I was deeply touched by the expressions of sympathy that arrived from Algeria on the occasion of the death of Pope John Paul II, and especially during the funeral at which H.E. Mr Abdelaziz Bouteflika was present. I would be grateful if you would reciprocate by conveying to him my best wishes, especially for his health and for the accomplishment of his lofty mission at the service of his fellow citizens. I pray the Most High to bless the efforts of the Algerian People in the work of building a Nation that is ever more brotherly and supportive.
Mr Ambassador, you mentioned the serious violence that your Country has had to face in recent years. Authentic reconciliation alone can enable people to live in harmony and peace with one another. Renunciation of vengeance and the firm commitment to the process of forgiveness are the means, worthy of the human being, with which to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and solidarity.
As my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, said: "The ability to forgive lies at the very basis of the idea of a future society marked by justice and solidarity" (Message for World Day of Peace 2002, n. 9).
Forgiveness leads people towards a deeper and richer humanity, awakening in each one the best of himself or herself. But this attitude that helps men and women develop is necessarily associated with the demands of justice. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness and they cannot ignore the legitimate claims of the victims of injustice, who are asking that their rights be recognized and reparation made for the damage caused to them.
Forgiveness is, in a certain way, the perfecting of the frail and imperfect human justice, making it possible to heal the wounds that have sometimes permanently marked people in their very depths and to re-establish in the best possible way the human relations that have been destabilized.
To defend the sacred value of the human person and encourage respect for others and for religious freedom, it is necessary, therefore, that the spirit of reconciliation and justice be inculcated in the young generations, especially in the family and in education. Societies will thus be able to progress in solidarity and brotherhood, so that violence may no longer be advocated as a solution to the problems that confront them and so that religion may never be used to justify such a decision nor to create inequalities between people.
Mr Ambassador, you have recalled some of the great figures of peace and reconciliation between communities who have marked the ancient and contemporary history of your Country. Very recently the Church paid a special tribute to Charles de Foucauld, who lived in your Country, desiring to be close to everyone as a "universal brother".
As I have already had the opportunity to say, the Catholic Church intends to pursue an open and sincere dialogue with believers of other religions in search of the true good of man and of society. I therefore rejoice at knowing the quality of the relations maintained in your Country between the Catholic Community and the Muslim Community. An encounter in truth between the believers of the different religions is a demanding challenge for the future of peace in the world and requires great perseverance.
To overcome ignorance and reciprocal prejudices, it is important to create bonds of trust between people, especially through the sharing of daily life and work done together, so that the free expression of differences in belief are not a cause of mutual exclusion but rather an opportunity to learn to live together with mutual respect for the identity of the other.
Through you, Mr Ambassador, I am delighted to greet with affection the Catholic Community of Algeria, united around its Bishops. In recent years, it has courageously shared the trials of the Algerian People, bearing an important witness of universal brotherhood in the desire to continue generously in its mission for the good of the whole Country.
Mr Ambassador, today you are beginning your noble mission representing your Country to the Holy See. Please accept my most cordial good wishes for its successful outcome and rest assured that you will always find with my collaborators the necessary understanding and support! Upon you, Your Excellency, and upon your family, your collaborators and all of your compatriots and their leaders, I wholeheartedly invoke an abundance of divine Blessings.
Mr Ambassador,
I am pleased to welcome you to the Vatican and to accept the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Eritrea to the Holy See. I thank you for the greetings which you bring from your President, His Excellency Mr Isaias Afwerki, and I ask you to convey my respectful gratitude to him and to assure him of my continuing prayers for the well-being of your nation.
The Holy See greatly values its diplomatic links with your country, which enable it to cooperate with your Government in the interests of peace and stability among the beloved peoples of the Horn of Africa. The Church shares with all people of good will a responsibility "to achieve a peaceful society, to overcome the temptation of confrontation between cultures, races and worlds that are different" (Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 12 May 2005). You know from sad experience the appalling human cost of war; let me assure you that the Holy See is eager to do all in its power to support the international community in its efforts to avoid further military escalation and to resolve the continuing conflicts in your part of Africa.
The principal victims of war are always the people whose lives are so badly disrupted by violence and destruction. Many are forced to flee from their homes, or to seek refuge in neighbouring states. The Church is close to refugees and displaced persons, "not only with her pastoral presence and material support, but also with her commitment to defend their human dignity" (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 505). In your country, where the effects of war are compounded by the additional burdens of drought and famine, the poverty of the people has reached grave proportions; the Catholic Church is committed to show solidarity with them in their suffering and to offer practical assistance. As world leaders become increasingly aware of the need to provide effective aid to Africa, the Church is pleased to be associated with their fight against hunger, poverty and disease.
Even though they form a small proportion of the population of Eritrea, Catholics can make a significant contribution to national life, through their Christian witness and their commitment to promote the common good. True to her nature and mission, the Church always seeks to come to the aid of the poor and the sick, and to work tirelessly to promote the dignity of the human person, made in God’s image. For this reason she welcomes the opportunity to cooperate with the Government of Eritrea and to place her considerable resources of personnel and expertise at the service of your people. I am confident that the Government in turn will wish to facilitate the Church’s humanitarian endeavours, welcoming those missionaries who arrive from abroad and supporting the native clergy and religious who devote their whole lives to prayer and to the pastoral ministry. In particular I would ask that their right to exemption from military service be respected: Eritrea will be better served if they are free to pursue their Christian calling and respective vocations.
Indeed, I express my hope that concrete steps will be taken to implement as fully as possible your country’s constitutional guarantee of religious liberty. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, this is a right based "on the very dignity of the human person as known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself" (Dignitatis Humanae DH 2). The Catholic Church, accordingly, is deeply concerned that all citizens should be free to practise their faith and that no one should feel under threat or coercion of any kind in this regard. She also seeks to promote respectful dialogue and fraternity between different Christian traditions and between different religions, and in this way to contribute towards the peaceful coexistence of all the groups that make up Eritrean society. In seeking the freedom to carry out her mission of love among your people, the Church fervently wishes to hasten the day when all the citizens of your country will be able to live together in peace, prosperity and harmony.
Your Excellency, I am confident that the diplomatic mission which you begin today will consolidate the good relations that exist between the State of Eritrea and the Holy See. In offering you my best wishes for the years ahead, I would like to assure you that the various departments of the Roman Curia are always glad to provide help and support in the fulfilment of your duties. Upon you, your family and all the people of Eritrea I cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings.
Mr Ambassador,
I am pleased to welcome you, Your Excellency, at the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Togo to the Holy See.
I thank you for the kind words you have addressed to me recalling my venerable Predecessor Pope John Paul II, as well as the greeting you have brought me from H.E. Mr Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Togolese Republic. I would be grateful if you would kindly reciprocate by expressing my best wishes to him. I also greet very cordially the entire Togolese People and wish them happiness and prosperity.
In your address, Mr Ambassador, you recalled the democratic process in which your Country has engaged with a view to the establishment of a State of rights. I am particularly appreciative of this. Indeed, from the start of my Pontificate, I have wanted to be close to the peoples of Togo who were then living through a painful situation (cf. Regina Caeli, 1 May 2005).
I warmly hope that the wounds opened, especially in these recent months, may be healed by an authentic reconciliation of all the children of the Nation. Violence cannot be the appropriate way to build a just and supportive society.
To achieve a reconciled existence where each person can live in peace and security and the displaced people return to their homes without fear, it is essential to establish the framework for dialogue between all members of the Nation. This will enable all sensitivities to be expressed, heard and associated in the construction of the Country. It is then that everyone's confidence will gradually be restored for the good of the Nation.
In fact, to achieve a harmonious development of society, it is necessary that relations based on law and justice be established for all. The search for the common good must be a priority that involves leaders in particular and all social classes in order to encourage each person's complete human and spiritual fulfilment, respecting and promoting individuals and their fundamental rights as well as the essential moral principles.
This is because the common good is not simply socio-economic well-being. It also has a transcendent dimension, for God is the ultimate aim of his creatures.
The integral development of people and of society, often hampered by numerous and profound evils whose causes are multiple and complex, must be fostered with determination and sustained by international solidarity.
It is also true, however, that it is the citizens and their leaders who are primarily responsible to work for this as well as for making peace and reconciliation prevail.
As you know, Mr Ambassador, the Catholic Church is fully engaged in this struggle for the integral development of human beings and for the promotion of a future of justice and peace for the benefit of the entire population without distinction, in collaboration with all people of good will. Yet, to accomplish this mission, the Church must be able to express herself freely, with respect for the autonomy of the leaders of civil society.
The mission the Church has received from Christ is neither political, nor economic, nor social: its purpose is religious. The Church does not seek any special advantages for herself but, as Vatican Council II emphasized, "desires nothing more ardently than to develop herself untrammelled in the service of all men under any regime which recognizes the basic rights of the person and the family, and the needs of the common good" (Gaudium et Spes GS 42).
Allow me, Mr Ambassador, to greet through you the Catholics in your Country. I hope that united with their Bishops, who have been entrusted with the governance of God's Church, they will be enthusiastic witnesses of the Gospel message and will work generously with their fellow citizens to establish a fraternal society in solidarity.
At the moment when your mission to the Apostolic See is beginning, I offer you my very best wishes for its success. Rest assured that you will always find with my collaborators the attentive welcome and cordial understanding you may need.
I wholeheartedly invoke upon you, Your Excellency, and upon your collaborators, your family and the Togolese People and their leaders, an abundance of divine Blessings.
Mr Ambassador,
I am pleased to accept the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador to the Holy See. Welcome! Your pleasant visit offers me the opportunity to send a cordial greeting to the entire Andorran People who have always been a living part of the universal Church and in communion with the Successor of Peter.
A glance at the beautiful valleys of your Country testifies that the Christian faith found a permanent and even visible dwelling place among those who live there. How can one forget that for hundreds of years the parishes were the very structure of your self-government? One might say that down through history the ecclesial life of the citizens of Andorra preserved their identity and independence, encouraging the harmonious development of the Principality, which resulted in its first Constitution in 1993.
The Church, therefore, has always walked beside the Andorran People. She has instilled in them the value of defending their own authentic traits so that they might enter peacefully into relations with the neighbouring peoples, faithful to their constitutional motto "virtus unita, fortior", in a spirit of freedom, equality and justice, defending human rights and the dignity of the person, as you have emphasized. The close bonds between the Church and the people are a cause of pride and forge the identity of all who live in the Principality of Andorra.
Andorra's rich Christian tradition integrates it into the group of peoples which have found in the Gospel many sources for their specific culture, legislation and human and moral achievements.
Andorra, therefore, cannot do without these roots that draw nourishment and moral and civil strength from the Good News. I fervently hope that the Christian heritage will continue to be a cause of inspiration to the entire Andorran community, for the promotion of a social order based on the values of justice, truth, freedom and love.
It is right that the Church and the State also find a common language in their reciprocal independence and sovereignty. Through cordial and sincere relations, this will encourage the spiritual and material well-being of the people to whom both have obligations, with respect for the separate reciprocal milieus in accordance with the method proper to each one.
For her part, since she has no privileges to defend or advantages to seek, the Church wishes to work ceaselessly for the common good of the entire human family, seeking by a structured dialogue with the civil Authorities to contribute to the progress of every people and of all humanity, in justice and in peace (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, n. 445).
The ultimate purpose of agreements between Church and State, stipulated in full freedom by the contracting parties, is to encourage a harmonious commitment to serving the common good, with no other intention than to benefit all the citizens.
Universal by nature, the Church is situated above particular or regional interests in order to address every people - small or great - so that the inviolable dignity of the person, every person, may be recognized. In her dialogue with the civil Authorities, the Church "wants simply to promote a human State. A State which recognizes the defence of the fundamental rights of the human person, especially of the weakest" (Evangelium Vitae EV 101).
A democracy without values, in fact, turns into a tyranny of relativism with the loss of its own identity, and in the long run can degenerate into open or insidious totalitarianism, as history has frequently shown.
In this context, how can we forget that the Andorran People, faithful to their own human and spiritual traditions, highly esteem the value of the family and marriage, as the Creator willed, and the defence of life from its conception until its natural end? I express the hope that Andorra will continue to preserve this important legacy, the guarantee of authentic progress.
Mr Ambassador, your presence brings even closer to my heart a people for whom I raise my fervent and grateful prayers to the Lord. In offering you my most cordial good wishes for the lofty mission entrusted to you by your Country, I should like to assure you of the full and loyal collaboration of those who assist the Pope in carrying out his Apostolic ministry. You will be able to find in them, Mr Ambassador, an effective partner in all that concerns bilateral affairs, and, more generally, constant collaboration for the furtherance of the common good in the International Community.
As I entrust the Government Leaders and your fellow citizens of Andorra to the protection of Our Lady of Meritxell, the heavenly Patroness of the Co-Principality, I pray that she may assist you, the civil Authorities and all who are at the service of the People of Andorra, ever close to the Pope's heart, and I impart my Blessing to them all.
Your Excellencies,
I receive you with pleasure on the occasion of the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of your respective countries: Tanzania, Nepal, Finland, Saint Lucia, El Salvador, Denmark, South Africa, Algeria, Eritrea, Togo and Andorra.
I thank you for conveying to me the courteous words of your Heads of State. I should be grateful if you would reciprocate by expressing my respectful good wishes for them and for their lofty mission at the service of their countries.
Your presence also affords me an opportunity to greet the different civil and religious Authorities of your Nations as well as all your Compatriots, with a special thought for the Catholic communities.
News of war is arriving from every part of the world. This morning I would like to make a new appeal to the Leaders of Nations and to all people of good will to cooperate in order to put an end to the violence that disfigures humanity and jeopardizes the growth of peoples and the hopes of numerous populations.
Without the commitment to peace by one and all, creating an atmosphere of pacification and a spirit of reconciliation in all social milieus beginning with the family, it will not be possible to advance on the path of a peaceful society.
In this perspective, for an increasingly more harmonious development of peoples, it is important to pay special attention to youth. Families and the different educational structures must be given the means to form and educate young people and to transmit to them the essential spiritual, moral and social values, thus preparing them for a better future and a true awareness of their role in society and the attitudes they must acquire to serve the common good and be attentive to everyone.
In the long term, this will be one of the essential ways to extricate the world from the spiral of violence.
For her part, the Catholic Church, present on all the continents, never ceases to make her own contribution by developing many educational institutions and by shaping the religious sense of individuals: this cannot but increase in each one the sense of brotherhood and solidarity.
I am aware of the importance you give to this matter in your role as diplomats, one of whose essential tasks is to encourage dialogue and negotiation as well as the increased well-being of peoples.
I also express my hope that all men and women of our time will be committed to furthering peace and reconciliation on all the continents, for it is not enough to opt for peace in order to achieve it; in addition, at the practical level and in all the social categories, no effort must be spared to bring about peace.
At the end of our meeting, I offer you my best wishes for your new mission, as I invoke an abundance of divine benefits upon you, your families, your collaborators and your countries.
Speeches 2005-13 25085