Speeches 1980
Independence Square
Thursday, 8 May 1980
On this day of joy as we gather in your presence. O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of his Church, we are mindful of the role you played in the evangelisation of this land. We are mindful of how - in the beginning - the missionaries came with the power of Christ’s Gospel and committed the success of their work to you.
As Mother of Divine Grace you were with the missionaries in all their efforts, and you were with Mother Church of whom you are the type, the model and the supreme expression - in bringing Christ into Africa.
And as the Mother of the Church you presided over all the activities of evangelisation and over the implantation of the Gospel in the hearts of the faithful. You sustained the missionaries in hope and you gave joy to every new community that was born of the Church’s evangelising activity.
You were there, with your intercession and your prayers, as the first grace of Baptism developed, and as those who had new life in Christ your Son came to a full appreciation of their sacramental life and Christian calling.
And you are here today as the Christian family gathers to celebrate the Gospel, to recall the mighty works of God, and to commit itself to the continued evangelisation of this land and continent "so that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph”[1].
We ask you, Mary, to help us to fulfil this mission which your Son has given to his Church and which, in this generation, falls to us. Mindful of your role as Help of Christians, we entrust ourselves to you in the work of carrying the Gospel ever deeper into the hearts and lives of all the people.
We entrust to you our missionary mandate and commit our cause totally to your prayers.
And, as Pastor of the universal Church, Vicar of your Son, I, John Paul II, through you, O Mary, entrust the whole Church in Ghana and in all Africa to Christ our Lord.Through you I present to Christ the Saviour the destiny of Africa, praying that his love and justice will touch the hearts of every man, woman and child of this continent.
Mary, I entrust all this to Christ through you, and I entrust all this to you for Christ your Son.I do it at a moment when I am closely united with my brother Bishops in celebrating the Gospel as "the power of salvation to all who believe"[2]. I do it now, at this special moment when my brothers are so close to me in the exercise of our common responsibility for the Church in Africa. Accept, O Mary, this offering from all of us, and from all God’s people, and present it to your Son. Present him a Church "holy and without blemish"[3].
Be mindful, O Mother, of all who make up the Church in Africa. Assist the Bishops and their priests to be ever faithful to the word of God. Help sanctify the religious and the seminarians.
Intercede so that the love of your Son will penetrate into all families, so that it will console all those in pain and suffering, all those in need and want. Look kindly upon the catechists and all who fulfil a special role of evangelisation and Catholic education for the glory of your Son. Accept this our loving consecration and confirm us in the Gospel of your Son.
As we express our deepest gratitude to you for a century of your maternal care, we are strong in the conviction that the Holy Spirit is still overshadowing you, so that in Africa you may bring forth Christ in every generation.
To Jesus Christ your Son, with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit be praise and thanksgiving for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] 2 Thess 3:1.
[2] Rom 1:16.
[3] Eph 5:27.
Friday, 9 May 1980
Peace to all of you here present,
Peace to Africa and the world!
Dear Friends,
It is with great pleasure that I accept and approve the proposal of the John XXIII International Peace Prize Foundation to honour the six catechists here present, who have been chosen to receive the John XXIII International Peace Prize.
This award is linked to the figure of John XXIII. In his Encyclical "Pacem in Terris" he set forth in broad outline the principles on which a peaceful order of relations must be built: “founded on truth, built up on justice, nurtured and animated by charity, and brought into effect under the auspices of freedom”[1]. In the example of his life he showed that peace must always be the first concern of all human beings, whatever their function or social condition may be. By establishing an award for peace he wished to encourage every initiative that has as its goal the fostering of fraternal relations between individuals and peoples.
The objective of the awarding of this prize, according to the intention of its founder, is to give solemn recognition to the merits of persons or institutions who have made an outstanding contribution to peace on earth. After Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Foundation now proposes as recipients of the Prize six individuals who represent a group of thousands upon thousands of faithful servants who effectively uphold the ideal of peace. These are the Catechists of Africa.
Chosen from among their people, the catechists of Africa have unceasingly worked for their people. Accepting hardship and personal sacrifice, they have given without reserve the best of themselves to their brothers and sisters. Faithful believers in the teachings of Christ, they have been instrumental in helping their fellow Africans to revere God, the Father of all; to respect the dignity of every person; to love their fellow human beings; and to foster reconciliation and pardon. Often untiring travellers, and always faithful servants of the local community, they have helped to break down divisive barriers, and to assist their brothers and sisters in need. Some of the catechists, in particularly trying circumstances, have endured physical or moral hardship and suffering in order to bear witness to religious freedom or to defend it. They have thus testified by their own lives that the relationship of man to God and the freedom to profess this relationship publicly are at the very foundation of peace. Yes, the catechists of Africa have truly been, and are, heralds of peace!
Trusting that this motivation will be admired by all men and women of good will, in Africa and in the whole world, on this the ninth day of May 1980, in the City of Kumasi, in the Nation of Ghana, I, John Paul II, bestow on the catechists here present the honour of the John XXIII International Peace Prize, for the glory of the Heavenly Father from whom all good things come , in memory of my Predecessor John XXIII, and as an encouragement to all especially the youth of Africa, that they may persevere in the ways of peace.
The peace of the Lord be with you always!
[1] Pacem in Terris, V.
Friday, 9 May 1980
Venerable and dear Brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ,
1. My coming among you today is intimately linked to Christ and his Gospel. I have come to share with you and the whole Catholic Church in Ghana the joy of your centenary celebrations. Together we praise the grace of God that initiated and sustained the full process of evangelisation in your midst: missionaries were sent to preach the word of God to your ancestors; these people heard the message of salvation; they believed and called upon him in whom they put their faith, confessing with their lips that Jesus is Lord and believing in their hearts that God raised him from the dead[1].
Through the sacraments your people came to share in the death and Resurrection of Christ and were grafted into the vital organic unity of the Church. Generous missionary Congregations realized the need for workers in the vineyard of the Lord, and conversions were made through divine grace.
In 1935 the first two Ghanaian priests were ordained, and in 1950 the Hierarchy was established.
And today there are two Metropolitan Sees and seven dioceses. The Church is thus fully implanted in Ghana, but her mission is not yet complete. By reason of their full membership in the Body of Christ, Ghanaian Catholics are called to be workers for evangelisation, in a Church that is, by her nature, missionary in her totality[2]. Only in accepting their own responsibility for the spread of the Gospel do the Catholic people fulfil the vocation to which they are called.
2. This great ecclesial reality of an evangelised and evangelising Church in Ghana, which explains the depth of our joy today, is celebrated in a spirit of Catholic unity. It is a unity that belongs to your individual local Churches: priests, religious and laity united with the Bishop, who presides in love and service, and who is called to be an example to everyone in humility and holiness of life.
This Catholic unity is further manifested in the solidarity of the sons and daughters of this country with the missionaries, who continue to give their fraternal service - deeply appreciated and very necessary - for the benefit of each local Church, under the direction of an autochthonous pastor.
The unity of this centenary celebration is likewise the unity of all the Bishops of this country with the entire College of Bishops united with the Successor of Peter, and intent on proclaiming the one Gospel of Christ and ensuring the enactment of Catholic unity in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is at one and the same time the expression of the worship of an individual community and of the universal Church. This is a special motive of joy for me as I celebrate with you your centenary celebrations. I wish to assure you of my gratitude for everything you have done, as pastors of local Churches, to preserve unity, you who likewise share responsibility for the Church throughout the world. Your fidelity and zeal are themselves an effective contribution to the spread of the Kingdom.
3. Be assured that all your efforts to proclaim the Gospel directly and indirectly are a great credit to the Church. On my part I am close to you in all the joys and disappointments, the challenges and hopes of your ministry of the word, and in your sacramental ministry. I am close to you in all your concrete pastoral initiatives, in everything that brings the message of salvation into the lives of the people.
A reflection on the essential and constitutional patrimony of the Catholic faith, which is identical for all people of all places and times, is a great help to the pastors of the Church as they ponder the requirements of the "inculturation" of the Gospel in the life of the people. You are familiar with what Paul VI called the "task of assimilating the essence of the Gospel message and of transposing it, without the slightest betrayal of its essential truth, into the language that these particular people understand"[3].
He singled out as subject to certain adaptations the areas of liturgical expression, catechesis, theological formulation, secondary ecclesial structures, and ministries. As local pastors you are eminently fitted for this work, because you are sons of the people to whom you are sent with the message of faith; in addition, in your episcopal ordination you have received the same "governing Spirit" who was communicated to Jesus and by him to his Apostles for the building up of his Church. This work is of God; it is an activity of the living Body of Christ; it is a requirement of the Church as a truly universal means of salvation.
And so with serenity and confidence and with profound openness towards the universal Church, the Bishops must carry on the task of inculturation of the Gospel for the good of each people, precisely so that Christ may be communicated to every man, woman and child.
In this process, cultures themselves must be uplifted, transformed and permeated by Christ’s original message of divine truth, without harming what is noble in them. Hence worthy African traditions are to be preserved. Moreover, in accordance with the full truth of the Gospels and in harmony with the Magisterium of the Church, living and dynamic African Christian traditions are to be consolidated.
As you pursue this work in close union with the Apostolic See and the entire Church, you are strengthened in knowing that the responsibility for this activity is shared also by your brother Bishops throughout the world. This is an important consequence of the doctrine of collegiality, in which every Bishop shares responsibility for the rest of the Church; by the same token, his own Church in which by divine right he exercises ordinary jurisdiction is also the object of a common episcopal responsibility in the two dimensions of making the Gospel incarnate in the local Church: 1)preserving unaltered the content of the Catholic faith and maintaining ecclesial unity throughout the world; and 2) bringing forth from cultures original expressions of Christian life, celebration and thought, whereby the Gospel is brought into the heart of peoples and their cultures.
Venerable Brothers, your people are called to the highest ideals and to the most lofty virtues. In this saving power Christ is present in the humanity of Africa, or as I have already said during my visit to this continent: "Christ, in the members of his Body, is himself African".
4. There are many individual aspects of your apostolate that are worthy of special mention and support. Of particular importance for the future of your local Churches is every effort that is made to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
The faithful are called to share responsibility for this dimension of the Church; they exercise this responsibility by esteem and respect for these vocations and by helping to create the sound spiritual atmosphere of Christian families and other communities in which a vocation can develop and can persevere. Vigilance is needed on the part of priests to detect the signs of a vocation. Above all, the effectiveness of all these human efforts is linked to the prayer of the Church and to the witness of priests and religious.
When your people see priests and religious living a life of authentic celibacy in intimacy with Christ, when they perceive the human fulfilment that comes from the total giving of oneself in the service of the Gospel, when they observe the joy that comes from bearing witness to Christ - then the priesthood and the religious life are attractive vocations for youth, who will then more easily hear Christ’s personal invitation to them: Come, follow me!
Another dimension that I would like to stress in this regard is the missionary dimension of your Church with regard to the needs of sister Churches on the African continent and beyond. I understand your concern about the need of your own Christian communities to be guided by priests chosen by God from among their own people. But the Church is missionary by nature. And let us always remember that God will never fail to bless those who give with generosity. The promotion of missionary vocations - either in the framework of the Fidei Donum formula or through membership in international missionary societies - will in its turn incite the local community to greater confidence in God’s grace and to a deeper awareness of faith. It will open hearts to God’s love.
5. I know that you are committed to the advancement of the role of women in the Church and in society. It is an expression of this same concern to promote women’s vocations to the religious life.
African women have willingly been bearers of life and guardians of family values. Similarly, the consecration of women in radical self-giving to the Lord in chastity, obedience, and poverty constitutes an important way of bringing to your local Churches the life of Christ and an awareness of a larger human community and a divine communion. This requires of course that they be carefully formed, theologically and spiritually, so that they can assume their rightful place as workers for evangelisation, exemplifying the true meaning of religious life in an African context, and thus enriching the whole Church.
6. In the beautiful celebration in the stadium and by honouring the catechists, I have already expressed my esteem for them, as well as my thoughts on the; value of this institution for the Church - its value for the future as for the past. I shall not expand this point further except to repeat the words I addressed to the Bishops in my Apostolic Exhortation: “Dearly beloved Brothers, you have here a special mission within your Churches: you are beyond all others the ones primarily responsible, for catechises. ...You can be sure that if catechesis is done well in your local Churches, everything else will be easier to do”[4].
7. In this context I would draw attention to a special aspect of the apostolate: the question of the media. All over the world the communications media offer special opportunities for the spread of the Gospel and for the useful presentation of information from the viewpoint of charity and truth.
Ghana and all Africa are no exception. Through your interest and collaboration may the mass media truly perform their providential role at the service of humanity. For the Church these are splendid instruments to preach the message of Christ, as from the housetops[5]. Be assured of my admiration for your efforts to utilize these means as often as possible. In this regard, you deserve great praise for setting up The Standard, which I pray will ever assist you in the task of evangelisation.
8. Linked with evangelisation is the work of development, which must continue to go on in Africa.
In imitation of Christ, who was sensitive to the uplifting of humanity in all its aspects, the Church works for the total well-being of man. The laity have a distinctive part to play in the area of development; they have also been given a special charisma in order to bring the presence of the serving Christ into all areas of human affairs.
The human being asking to be uplifted from poverty and want is the same person in need of redemption and eternal life. Likewise the entire Church must serve development by offering to the world her total vision of man, and by proclaiming ceaselessly the preminence of spiritual values[6].
Providence has endowed your people with an innate understanding of this fact.Only by being sensitive to every need can the Church continue to render her many services, but one of her most effective contributions to progress will be to point out that the goal of personal development is found only in a transcendent humanism, with is attained by union with Christ .
9. There are many other aspects to our pastoral ministry and we cannot now speak about all of them. But as Bishops let us call our people constantly to conversion of life, and by our example let us lead the way. The importance of the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation and of the Eucharist cannot be overemphasized. In both of these we are the ministers of God’s mercy and his love.
At the same time, as Bishops we are called to bear a consistent witness to Christ the High Priest and Pontiff of salvation by being signs of holiness in his Church. A difficult task? Yes, Brothers. But this is our vocation, and the Holy Spirit is upon us. Moreover, the effectiveness of our pastoral ministry depends on our holiness of life. Let us not be afraid, for the Mother of Jesus is with us. She is in our midst today and always. And we are strong through her prayers and safe in her care. Regina Caeli, laetare, alleluia!
[1] Cf. Rom 10:9.
[2] Cf. Ad Gentes, 35.
[3] Evangelii Nuntiandi, 63.
[4] Catechesi Tradeandae, 63.
[5] Cf. Mt 10:27.
[6] Address to the United Nations, 2 October 1979, no. 14.
Friday, 9 May 1980
My dear Brother Bishops,
1. It is a joy for me to be with you today. You have come from your respective Dioceses - and I from Rome - and all of us have assembled here in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We truly feel his presence in our midst. Indeed, we have come to Ghana to celebrate his Gospel, to celebrate the centenary of the implantation of his Church in this region. Our thoughts are turned therefore to the great reality of evangelization. This is very natural for us, since we are the Successors of the Twelve and, like them, are called to be servants of the Gospel, proclaiming Jesus Christ and his message of Redemption.
Our ministry makes many demands on us. The effective preaching of the Gospel, which is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith”[1], requires our constant efforts in going out to the People of God with a deep understanding of their culture, their pastoral needs and the pressures put upon them by the modern world.
Evangelization requires farsighted planning on our part, the utilization of the proper means and the full collaboration of the local Churches. But I wish to limit myself today to a brief consideration on the content of evangelization, on what Paul VI called its "foundation and centre" and what he described as being "a clear proclamation that in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men as a gift of God’s grace and mercy"[2].
2. As Bishops we must reflect not only on our duty, but also on the immense privilege it is to bring this fundamental message of salvation to the people. This is the nature of our divine mission, this explains our human fulfilment: to proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ.
What a wonderful ministry it is to preach a Gospel of redemption int Jesus, to explain to our people how they have been chosen by God the Father to live in Christ Jesus, how the Father "rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of his beloved Son. Through him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins"[3].
3. Christ’s gift of salvation gives rise to our sacramental ministry and to all our efforts to build up the communion of thé Church, a redeemed community living the new life of Christ. Because our message is the message of salvation, it is also a constant invitation to our people to respond tof God’s gift, to live a life worthy of the calling that they have received[4].
The message of salvation brings with it an invitation to our people to praise God for his goodness, to rejoice in his gift, to forgive others just as they themselves have been forgiven, and to love others just as they themselves have been loved. God gives this great gift of salvation through his Church, through our ministry.
In accordance with God’s will, let us go forward in our evangelizing activities, announcing with perseverance the Good News of salvation, and proclaiming explicitly: "It is in Christ and through his blood that we have been redeemed and our sins forgiven, so immeasurably generous in God’s favour to us"[5]. This proclamation is fundamental to all our moral doctrine, to our social teaching, to our pastoral concern for the poor. It is the basis of our pastoral ministry to the needy, the suffering and those in prison. It is fundamental to everything we do, to our whole episcopal ministry.
Dear brothers: Praised be Jesus Christ who has called us to proclaim his salvation and who sustains us by his love. May he keep us strong in joy, persevering in prayer together with his Mother Mary, and united to the end.
Praised be Jesus Christ.
[1] Rom. 1, 16.
[2] Pauli VI Evangelii Nuntiandi, 38.
[3] Col 1, 14.
[4] Cfr. Eph. 4, 1.
[5] Ibid. 1, 7-8.
Friday, 9 May 1980
Dear seminarians,
1. I am always happy to talk to young men who are preparing for the priesthood. Today I am particularly happy to meet you in your own country.
2. Even though you are young, you are able by your lives to teach the world a great lesson. What is this lesson? It is the lesson of faith. Your lives show that you believe in Jesus Christ and that you want to follow him. You accept him as God, as the Son of God who took on a human nature, who became man, and who became your brother and mine. You believe that he died on the Cross, and became your Saviour and mine. And you believe that he rose from the dead, and made it possible for you and me and everybody to live for ever. This is the Jesus whom you have come to know and love, the Jesus in whom you have put your faith.
3. Yes, you believe in the Person of Jesus, and you also believe that his grace is strong - that it can overcome sin. You believe that Jesus can give you the grace to follow him, to come after him, to be like him. And that is what you want to do: to be like Jesus the priest - to spread the Good News that Jesus brought, to tell the world about salvation, and to give people the bread of eternal life.
4. So faith in Jesus is important for you now and in the future. Your life as a seminarian depends on faith; faith is the foundation of the life of every priest. Faith means accepting Jesus into your lives, taking his message into your hearts, obeying his commandments. It also means being filled with the joy and love of Jesus. And the more this happens, the more you will be able to show Jesus to the world - the Jesus who lives in you and who wants to work through you.
When you live by faith and follow Christ’s commandments, you are able to give a dynamic example to other young people.You are able to show by your lives and by the example of your Christian joy that Jesus’ love is important - important for you in your vocation, and important for all your brothers and sisters who are trying to discover the fullness of their humanity. Living in this way, you can see that you have already begun the task of communicating Christ, of bringing him to your friends and to the other youth of Ghana.
5. At the same time your fidelity to Christ, your courage to say yes to your special vocation, your faith in the power of Jesus to sustain you in his love during your whole life is a strong support for other young people of your age who have heard the call of the Good Shepherd and want to follow it faithfully. You know how much your country and all Africa needs priests - workers in the Lord’s harvest. Remember the words of Jesus: "... lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are white for the harvest”[1].
And pray for vocations, pray for perseverance in your own vocation, pray that the Church in Africa will have the strength and fervour to supply the priests that Christ needs to preach his Gospel and to carry his message of salvation throughout this continent.
6. Dear seminarians: stay close to Jesus through prayer and the Holy Eucharist. And so by the way you live, let everybody know that you really do have faith, that you really believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And stay close also to our Blessed Mother Mary and to her Immaculate Heart. When Mary said yes to the angel, the mystery of Redemption took shape beneath her Heart. This pure Heart of Mary was the inspiration for many of the missionaries who brought the word of God to the African people. And for the Church today this Heart of Mary continues to express the mystery of the Mother in Redemption .
In the name of Jesus, I bless you all. And I commend you and your families and friends to Mary, who is the Mother of us all.
[1] Jn 4:35.
Friday, 9 May 1980
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Meeting the Heads of Mission and the Diplomatic Corps in this capital City of Accra gives me great pleasure. I feel honoured by the courtesy which you extend to me by your presence here, and I wish to thank His Excellency the Dean and the Diplomatic Corps for the kindness shown me.
After a week in Africa - such a short time yet one filled with indelible memories - I wish to share with you a few of the impressions and concerns which I have experienced in my first contact with the African continent.
When I came to Africa at the invitation of the civil authorities and of my brother Bishops, I did so as the Head of the Catholic Church. But I also came as a humble servant entrusted by God’s providence with a mission to all mankind: The mission of proclaiming the dignity and fundamental equality of all human beings and their right to live in a world of justice and peace, of brotherhood and solidarity.
2. The purpose of my journey is, in the first place, religious and spiritual. I wish to confirm my brother Bishops, the clergy, religious and laity in their faith in God the Creator and Father, and in the one Lord Jesus Christ. I wish also to celebrate the common faith and charity that unites us, to rejoice with them in the communion that binds us all together in one family, in the Mystical Body of Christ. I bring to them the greeting of the Apostle Paul: "All the Churches of Christ greet you"[1]. My coming to the Church in Africa is meant to be a witnessing to the universality of the Church and a rejoicing in the richness of its various expressions. For "in the mind of the Lord the Church is universal by vocation and mission, but when she puts down her roots in a variety of cultural, social and human terrains, she takes on different external expressions and appearances in each part of the world"[2].
By virtue of her mission and nature, the Church is not tied to any given form of culture, or to any political, economic, or social system. By her very universality, she can enter into communion with various cultures and realities, creating a mutual enrichment[3]. By virtue of that same universality she can also create a very close bond between diverse human communities and nations, provided that they acknowledge and respect her right to freedom in the carrying out of her specific mission.
3. Here I feel that we have a common mission.As individual diplomats you are mandated to represent and foster the interests of your respective States. As a group, you are also bearers of a mission that transcends regional and national boundaries, for it is also part of your mission to foster better understanding among people, closer collaboration on a worldwide scale - in a word, to be the promoters of the unity of the whole world. It is the greatness of your task to be the builders of international peace and justice in an age that is a witness at the same time to growing interdependence and to the stronger affirmation of each nation’s own identity and dignity.
Yours is a noble even if difficult task: while serving your own nation, you are also the artisans of the common good of the whole human family, working together to save the earth for humanity, to ensure that the world’s riches reach all human beings, including our brothers and sisters who are now excluded by social injustice. As diplomats, you are involved in the establishing of a new order of international relations based on the fundamental and inescapable demands of justice and peace. And those of you here present who represent international or regional organizations are also engaged - though by different methods and means - in the process of concentrating the efforts of all nations on building a just and fraternal world.
4. I am sure that your experience in different parts of the world as diplomats or international servants, together with the familiarity that you have acquired of the African scene, has created in you a keen awareness of the major problems that face humanity today - especially the global issues arising from the economic and social disparities that exist in the world community. When I spoke to the Thirty-fourth General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, I was able to draw attention to this fundamental problem when I said: "It is no secret that the abyss separating the minority of the excessively rich from the multitude of the destitute is a very grave symptom in the life of any society. This must also be said with even greater insistence with regard to the abyss separating countries and regions of the earth"[4].
It is a great contradiction of our day and age that these glaring disparities can exist, and that the gap which separates rich and poor countries, or rich and poor continents, is still widening rather than decreasing, at a time when peoples have become more aware than ever before of their interdependence. Is it not a sad fact that the efforts - so worthwhile in themselves - of the international organizations and of the different nations in bilateral and multilateral initiatives have not been able to draw the poorer countries out of the vicious circle of poverty and underdevelopment?
Why is it then that these efforts have not produced better and more lasting results? Why have they not given hope to the developing countries - the hope that their own resources, fraternal aid, and especially the hard work of their people would enable them to chart their own development course and satisfy their essential needs?
5. I am convinced that we all agree that the only way to eliminate inequalities is through the coordinated cooperation of all the countries in a spirit of true partnership. In this context, much has been said and written about the importance of revitalizing what has been called the North-South dialogue. Without accepting an oversimplified view of a world divided into a rich North and a poor South, one must concede that this distinction has a certain foundation in fact, since Northern countries generally control the world’s industry and economy. The Holy See cannot but encourage every initiative that aims at looking honestly at this situation, and at achieving an agreement among all parties on the necessary action to be taken. But at the same time, I would ask the question: Why is it that such initiatives encounter such difficulty and fail to achieve tangible and lasting results? The answer is to be found primarily, not in the economic or monetary spheres, but in an area of much deeper dimensions - in the domain of moral and spiritual imperatives. New insights and a fundamental change in attitude are called for.
The difficult and controversial subjects which divide richer and poorer nations cannot be faced as long as an attitude of prejudice persists; these subjects must be approached in á spirit of trust and mutual openness, in a spirit of honest evaluation of reality and in a generous willingness to share.
Above all, the examination of the North-South problems must be made with a renewed convinction that no solution can be found unless it is rooted in the truth about man. The complete truth about man is the necessary condition for people to live together harmoniously and to come to an agreement on solutions that fully respect the dignity of all human beings.
6. Your presence here in an African capital, Ladies and Gentlemen, is of great significance for your countries and for the organizations that you represent. But it is also very meaningful for the country that offers you its hospitality, for all Africa, and for the whole world. This is a lofty vision but it is also the necessary condition for success in your endeavours to bring about better and more just relations between peoples and nations. Each diplomatic community is in a way a proving ground where you test your own attitudes and insights against a vision of the world where man is central to all history and to all progress. My message to you therefore - the message of one who is aware of his mission as a servant of God and a defender of man - is this: only a world that is truly human can be a world that is peaceful and strong.
Thank you.
[1] Rom. 16, 16.
[2] Pauli VI Evangelii Nuntiandi, 62.
[3] Cfr. Gaudium et Spes, 58.
[4] Ioannis Pauli PP. II Allocutio ad Nationem Unitarum Legatos, 18, die 2 oct. 1979: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, II, 2 (1979) 535-536.
Speeches 1980