Speeches 1966
Monday, 10 January 1966
Mister Ambassador,
It is with profound emotion and sincere gratitude that We, receive Your Excellency’s visit, and welcome you as first Ambassador of independent Malta to this Holy See.
We thank you for the lofty sentiments expressed in your discourse, with its reference to the great Apostle Paul, Patron of the Maltese people. It is noteworthy that the inspired word of God, in the Acts of the Apostles, mentions the social and spiritual virtues of the island’s inhabitants. Saint Luke wrote: «We then learned that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness... They presented many gifts to us; and, when we sailed, they put on board whatever we needed» (28, 1-2; 10).
We renew the assurance of Our particular affection for the people of Malta, praying that they may ever grow in virtue, firmly preserve their Catholic traditions, and maintain their well-known fidelity and devotion to the Vicar of Christ and the Apostolic See.
To the Government of Malta, through Your Excellency’s good offices, We send prayerful wishes for prosperity, peace and progress. To you, We augur a most successful and fruitful mission, promising Your Excellency Our benevolent interest and solicitous assistance. Upon Malta and its beloved Hierarchy and people, We invoke Heaven’s richest graces, and to all We impart from Our heart the Apostolic Blessing.
*AAS 58 (1966), p.146;
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV, p.21;
L’Attività della Santa Sede, 1966 p.28;
OR 10-11.1.1966, p.1.
Mister Ambassador,
We thank you cordially for Your Excellency’s kind words, and for the greetings you convey to Us from the President and people of the Republic of Kenya.
Kindly convey to them Our prayerful wishes for progress, prosperity and happiness.
The Church appreciates the liberty she enjoys in Kenya, and hopes to continue to experience the sympathy and support of the civil authorities in her efforts to contribute towards the moral, religious, social and educational well-being of the Nation. The Catholics of Kenya will ever prove to be loyal and law-abiding citizens, eager to give full support to all programmes intended for the advancement of their fatherland.
We assure Your Excellency of Our desire to cooperate with you in reinforcing the ties of friendship and loyal collaboration between this Holy See and the Republic of Kenya; and We promise you Our understanding and benevolent assistance in the fulfilment of your high mission.
Through your good offices, We send sincere greetings to His Excellency the President of the Republic; to him, to Your Excellency, and to the beloved people of Kenya, We offer Our deferential salutation, and We invoke upon all richest divine graces and favours.
*AAS 58 (1966), p.151;
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV p.31,
OR 19.1.1966, p.1;
L’Attività della Santa Sede 1966, p.37-38.
Dear school children of the United States of America,
This is the pope speaking to you from Vatican City. How very wonderful and consoling it is, that, by means of the marvel of radio, your Father in Christ can speak to you across the vast ocean that separates us, on this Ash Wednesday, the first day of the penitential season of Lent.
As you know, We recently visited your beautiful country, to make a plea for peace to representatives of most of the countries of the world, at the headquarters of the United Nations. The memory of that brief visit is still vivid in Our mind and heart. We recall with joy the warm welcome of the happy and healthy children, who lined the streets as We drove through the City of New York. We were deeply moved by the piety and firm faith shown by those children who were among the thousands attending the Holy Mass We offered in Yankee Stadium. We are grateful for the gracious hospitality and affection that met Us on every side. May your land always remain strong and prosperous, and its citizens be motivated by true Christian principles.
But, in other parts of the world, there are children with lined and sorrowful faces looking old before their time, their little bodies racked by disease and wasted by hunger, with no medicine to relieve their pain, no food to satisfy their hunger.
We think especially today, with sadness in Our heart, of the children of Vietnam, innocent victims of war. So many of them have been killed or wounded; so many others, orphaned or separated from their mothers and fathers. They roam the streets, even the dangerous battle areas, lost and confused; not knowing where to go, with no one to help them. They are among the saddest and most needy children in the world today.
All of these are the spiritual children of the Pope, and now, as in past years, We again ask you good American boys and girls to make an extra effort during the holy season of Lent, to help your less fortunate brothers and sisters, living in areas of need throughout the world. You can do this by self-denial, by prayer, and by giving.
Self-denial done in memory of the sufferings of Our Lord, which the Church calls to our minds during Lent, can help strengthen your will, sharpen your mind and form strength of character. It is truly virtuous and good when you deny yourselves in order to help others who are in need.
What you deny yourselves during Lent, you should use to. help others by giving, by contributing to the Children’s Lenten Collection held in all your schools. Every cent you give is used to support the worldwide aid programs of Catholic Relief Services, the agency formed by your Bishops to help the poor, the sick and the needy in other lands.
Finally, Lent is a time of prayer as well as of penance. So We urge you to pray for those children who suffer cold, hunger and disease, asking God to comfort and sustain them, and to grant them relief and assistance.
To make sacrifices for other children, to pray for those who are not so well off as you are, to give generously to boys and girls like you, who are in need of help-these are also valuable ways of expressing your thanks to God for the many blessings He has showered on you, your families and your beloved country.
We are mindful of your past goodness to poor children of the world, so We are confident that you will be generous to this year’s appeal in their name. We call down upon each one of you, your good parents, the priests of your parishes, the Brothers and Sisters of your schools and all your teachers, the richest graces of Our Father in heaven. And We lovingly bestow upon you all Our paternal Apostolic Blessing.
Thursday, 24 February 1966
Mister Ambassador,
Gladly implementing the elevation of Our Representation in Karachi, and of the Representation of the Republic of Pakistan to this Holy See, We welcome Your Excellency most cordially as first Ambassador of your noble Nation, and express warm good wishes for the success of your mission.
Our thoughts turn often to the great country which you represent, especially in these sad days, when the distress and suffering caused by famine attract the sincere sympathy of Our paternal heart. We have contributed as far as was in Our power, to alleviate the pangs of hunger, and We pray that the Almighty may mercifully grant the means of saving many lives and averting great suffering.
The relief of the starving, and the accumulation of food for the future, require that tranquillity of order which is peace. Our fervent petition to the Creator and Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth is, that peace may be established and maintained in justice and love among all nations; so that the resources otherwise wasted in death and destruction may be dedicated to the relief of the poor and assistance to the hungry.
We ask Your Excellency kindly to convey to the President of Pakistan, to the Government and people of your country, Our respectful greetings and good wishes; and upon you and them, with all Our heart. We invoke the choicest favours of Heaven.
*AAS 58 (1966), p.232;
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV, p.93 ;
L’Attività della Santa Sede 1966, p.101-102;
OR 25.2.1966, p.1.
Thursday, 24 March 1966
In this city of Rome, from which St. Augustine was sent by St. Gregory to England and there founded the cathedral see of Canterbury, towards which the eyes of all Anglicans now turn as the centre of their Christian Communion, His Holiness Pope Paul VI and His Grace Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the Anglican Communion, have met to exchange fraternal greetings.
At the conclusion of their meeting they give thanks to Almighty God who by the action of the Holy Spirit has in these latter years created a new atmosphere of Christian fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
This encounter of the 23rd March 1966 marks a new stage in the development of fraternal relations, based upon Christian charity, and of sincere efforts to remove the causes of conflict and to re-establish unity.
In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade his disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: «Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus» (Ph 3,13-14).
They affirm their desire that all those Christians who belong to these two Communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love, and in order to help these develop to the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in truth, for which Christ prayed.
The dialogue should include not only theological matters such as Scripture, Tradition and Liturgy, but also matters of practical difficulty felt on either side. His Holiness the Pope and His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury are, indeed, aware that serious obstacles stand in the way of a restoration of complete communion of faith and sacramental life; nevertheless, they are of one mind in their determination to promote responsible contacts between their Communions in all those spheres of Church life where collaboration is likely to lead to a greater understanding and a deeper charity, and to strive in common to find solutions for all the great problems that face those who believe in Christ in the world of today.
Through such collaboration, by the grace of God the Father and in the light of the Holy Spirit, may the prayer of Our Lord Jesus Christ for unity among His disciples be brought nearer to fulfilment, and with progress towards unity may there be a strengthening of peace in the world, the peace that only He can grant who gives «the peace that passeth all understanding», together with the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that it may abide with all men for ever.
Mister Ambassador,
We thank you for your kind words, and We are happy to welcome you once again, this time in your new quality as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to the Holy See.
In the two and a half years since Your Excellency presented Credential Letters as Minister, We have had occasion to admire your tactful and delicate fulfilment of your high duties. We are confident that, by your higher rank, the already cordial relations existing between your great Nation and this Apostolic See will become stronger, closer and ever more friendly.
Hence We renew Our welcome to Your Excellency, and assure you of Our best wishes for the success of your mission and of Our fullest cooperation and continued benevolence. We request your good offices to convey to the President and Government of the Republic, and to all the beloved people of Indonesia, Our respectful greetings; upon all, We gladly invoke richest heavenly blessings.
Mister Ambassador,
We gratefully accept your Letters of Credence, and We bid Your Excellency a heartfelt welcome as first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Malawi to this Holy See.
In the past, the Catholic Church has striven to contribute to the spiritual, moral, intellectual and material well-being of the people of Malawi. We assure you of Our sincere gratitude for the loyal cooperation and generous assistance which the civil authorities have given towards the fulfilment of this mission; and of Our determination that also in the future the Church will work closely with the Government and people of your Nation in the best interests of all.
To Your Excellency personally We promise Our full collaboration in the performance of your duties, and in the confirmation and consolidation of the bonds of friendly relations already existing between the Apostolic See and the Republic of Malawi.
We prayerfully invoke upon His Excellency the President, upon the Government and people, and particularly upon Your Excellency and your family, the choicest blessings of Almighty God.
*AAS 58 (1966), p.902;
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV, p.474;
L’Attività della Santa Sede 1966, p.643-644;
OR 7.10.1966, p.1.
Monday, 10 October 1966
Mister Ambassador,
We are honoured to receive you, who have been your country’s Foreign Minister, as Envoy Extraordinary and Ambassador Plenipotentiary of China to this Holy See. Be assured of Our warm gratitude for the kind words you have pronounced, and the cordial sentiments you have expressed, in your thoughtful discourse. The beloved Chinese people are always in Our heart and in Our prayers. Through the good offices of Your Excellency, We are confident that our relations will be ever more open, sincere and friendly. On Our part, We assure you of Our desire to collaborate fully in every effort directed towards achieving world peace, in truth, justice and brotherly love.
While promising Your Excellency a heartfelt welcome whenever you consider it necessary to approach Us, concerning matters of importance to your mission, We request your kind services to convey to His Excellency the President of the Republic and to the members of the Government, Our affectionate greetings and paternal good wishes, which We extend also to all the dear Chinese people. To them, and in particular to Your Excellency, We express heartfelt hopes for prosperity and progress, and upon all, We gladly invoke the choicest and most abundant favours of Heaven.
*AAS 58 (1966), p.905;
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV p.480,
OR 10-11.10.1966, p.1;
L’Attività della Santa Sede 1966, p.648.
Dear Friends from Japan,
Once again We are very happy to welcome to Our home distinguished representatives of Japanese Buddhism. We feel that in recent months, because of several visits from Buddhist visitors from Japan, We have established a particular relationship of friendship and respect.
In your travels through Europe, you wished to stop off and visit with Us. We appreciate this gracious gesture and We thank you for your kindness.
Today, the peace of the world is being threatened. We, therefore, call upon all people of religion to play an important role in obtaining a favourable environment in which peace, so desired by mankind, can prosper. The Ecumenical Council, which adjourned last year, wished to establish effective contact with all religions, so that an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect, with consequent brotherly cooperation and collaboration, could flourish. In such an atmosphere, people would seek the realm of the spirit and the common good of all men. We hope that your travels will add to your knowledge of Christianity, and will result in a greater understanding and respect of beliefs which may differ from yours. We are confident that you will come to appreciate the contributions of religion to the well-being of man, and that you will wish to share in the future contribution of religion to the culture and development of the human family.
We ask Almighty God to bless you, your country and your work. Please bring back to Japan Our heartfelt greetings and good wishes to your brother Buddhists, to your countrymen whom We love and admire greatly. May the blessings of peace and prosperity be yours.
Mister Minister,
It is with joy that today We welcome Your Excellency to the Vatican. For many years the United Arab Republic has maintained diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and this fact is for Us - despite the many political trials of a great modern State such as yours - a guarantee that care for spiritual and Christian values holds an important place in the preoccupations of your Government.
In the course of the history of your country, these values have been made concrete in the many institutions, which have often received, in the past, laudatory testimony from public authorities. In effect these institutions, far from exercising political or ideological pressures, propose only to assure the true good of the sons of your noble nation and to contribute to their cultural and moral development.
This is the same goal that the Church has set for herself in the United Arab Republic, as she does in each country where she is free to exercise her mission. She wishes, above all, to place herself at the service of the people, and there to form men who will concede nothing to their compatriots in love of their motherland and in loyalty to the constituted authority.
We are happy, Mister Minister, to be able to avail Ourself of this circumstance of your visit to give you this assurance. And We are sure that in drawing your attention to the Catholic foundations in the United Arab Republic, We give you an occasion to appreciate anew the merit and the dedicated disinterest of those who labour there for the well-being of the sons of your nation.
We ask you, Mister Minister, to interpret these sentiments to His Excellency, the President of the Republic, to whom We address, through your good offices, Our cordial greetings.
*Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV, p.569-570.
Monday, 12 December 1966
Mister Ambassador,
It is with sincere pleasure that We accept your Letters of Credence as Ambassador of Ireland to this Holy See. This ceremony revives happy memories: of Our own visits to the Emerald Isle, the hospitality and warmth of its people; of the presence here, on several solemn occasions, of the venerable President of Ireland; and of the admirable devotion and dedication of Your Excellency’s immediate predecessor, Mr Commins.
For fifteen centuries, the Irish people have remained true to the Faith of their fathers. Nor have they preserved that faith jealously for themselves only; but «their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world» (Ps.XVIII. 5). May the Holy Spirit of God continue to raise up in Ireland numerous vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, sufficient to minister unto your own people, and to bring to distant shores the faith, the Sacraments and the grace of Christ.
Through your good offices, We thank His Excellency the President of Ireland and the Government for their active interest and efforts to support and promote the work of this Holy See on behalf of world peace and international brotherhood.
To Your Excellency and your family and collaborators, to the Chief of State, the Irish Government and people, in pledge of rich and abundant divine graces, We affectionately impart Our paternal Apostolic Blessing.
* AAS 59 (1966), p.44-45;
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. IV, p.629;
OR 12-13.12.1966, p.1;
L’Attività della Santa Sede 1966, p. 795-796.
Mister Ambassador,
Grateful for the kind words of your address, We willingly accept the Credential Letters by which Your Excellency is accredited to this Holy See as the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Iraq.
The brotherly and affectionate relations to which you refer will be strengthened by these new diplomatic bonds, and We are confident that Your Excellency will meet with full success in your mission on behalf of the Government and people of Iraq.
In this regard, We assure you that We shall always be open and available to Your Excellency, whenever it is necessary for the continuance of understanding and good will, and whenever We can be of assistance to you in the fulfilment of your important duties.
To His Excellency the President and to the Government of Iraq We wish to send, through your good offices, Our warmest greetings and good wishes, praying that their efforts for the establishment of peace, founded upon justice and love for all men, may be crowned with lasting success.
Upon all the beloved Iraqi people, as an assurance of Our affection and good will, We prayerfully invoke the richest and most abundant blessings of Almighty God.
Speeches 1966