Besides the new ambassador from the United States, two other new ambassadors presented their credentials to the Holy Father at Castel Gandolfo Friday ahead of him, both women, from the Philippines and from the Netherlands.
In tomorrow's issue (10/3/09), L'Osservatore Romano, in reporting the credentialling ceremonies, along with the text of the papal addresses to each ambassador, describes the ritual followed with each of the new ambassadors. It is perhaps unlike any other similar protocol in the world:
When a new ambassador
presents his credentials...
Translated from
the 10/3/09 issue of
The Ambassador, picked up from her/his residence by one of the Gentlemen of His Holiness and an aide from the papal Antechamber, arrives at the Courtyard of the Pontifical Palace, where he/she receives honors from a contingent of the Swiss Guard.
Reveived by another one of the Gentlemen of His Holiness, the ambassador goes up to the second floor [third floor in Europe], where he/she is welocmed by the Aides of the Antechamber and the Sediari [members of the papal 'court' who used to be the chairbearers when the Pope still used the 'sedia'].
The cortege then proceeds to the Swiss Hall, where the new ambassador is welcomed by Archbishop James Harvey, Prefect of the Pontifical Household, who then accompanies him/her to the Hall of the Popes where he/she is presented to the Holy Father.
After the formal rpesentation of credentials, there follows an exchange of remarks, and then a private conversation between the Pope and the new ambassador.
At the end of the audence, the ambassador leaves the Pontifical Palace through the courtyard and proceeds to the Vatican for a meeting with the Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
Afterwards, the ambassador proceeds to St. Peter's Basilica, to be received by a delegation of the Basilica's canonical chapter, and makes a brief act of adoration in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, then to veneerate an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, before descending to the Tomb of St. Peter.
[Not mentioned, of course, is that throughout all this - except at the private audience with the Pope and the conversation with Cardinal Bertone - the new ambassador is accompanied by his/her family, sometimes including grandchildren, as was the case with the new ambassador from the Philippines, Madame Mercedes Arrastia Tuazon.]
Here is the text of the Holy Father's address to Ambassador Tuazon:
Madam Ambassador,
Grateful for the kind words which you have addressed to me, I gladly accept the Letters of Credence accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Philippines to the Holy See.
I would like to reciprocate the warm greetings which you have extended to me on behalf of Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and I would ask you to convey to her and to all the beloved Filipino people the assurance of my spiritual closeness and prayers, especially for the victims of Typhoon Ketsana.
For over half a century, the Holy See and the Philippines have maintained excellent diplomatic relations, strengthening their long-standing cooperation for the promotion of peace, human dignity and freedom. The spirit of good will which has brought us to this day will surely enkindle a fresh desire to work together so that justice and freedom go hand-in-hand, and that democratic principles be grounded in truth.
For her part, in the midst of the many changing social, economic and political conditions around the globe, the Church continues to hold out the Gospel as the path to authentic human progress (cf. Spe Salvi, 23). I am confident that the faith of the Filipino people - a faith, as Your Excellency has indicated, which gives them the "resilience" to face any hardship or difficulty - will arouse in them a desire to participate ever more fervently in the worldwide task of building up a civilization of love, the seed of which God has implanted in every people and every culture.
Your Excellency, I am pleased to note the various development initiatives under way in your country, including the modernization of irrigation systems, the improvement of public transportation and the reform of social assistance programs.
As the Philippines continues to implement these and other plans for a just and sustainable development, I am confident that she will draw upon all her resources - spiritual as well as material - so that her citizens may flourish in body and soul, knowing the goodness of God and living in solidarity with their neighbors.
Such programs, of course, are primarily aimed at improving the actual living conditions of the poorest, thus enabling them to fulfill their responsibilities towards their families and to carry out the duties which fall to them as members of the wider community.
Above all, the struggle against poverty calls for honesty, integrity and an unwavering fidelity to the principles of justice, especially on the part of those directly entrusted with the offices of governance and public administration.
In an age when the name of God is abused by certain groups, the "work of charity" (Caritas in Veritate, 57) is particularly urgent. This is especially true in regions that have been sadly scarred by conflicts. I encourage all to persevere so that peace may prevail.
As you have mentioned, Madam Ambassador, initiatives that aim at facilitating dialogue and cultural exchange are particularly effective, for peace can never come about merely as the product of a technical process engineered through legislative, judicial or economic means.
In the conviction that evil is only conquered with good (cf. Rom 12: 21), many in your country are taking courageous steps to bring people together in order to foster reconciliation and mutual understanding. I am thinking in particular of the commendable work of the Bishops- Ulama Conference (bBUC), the Mindanao People's Conference, as well as that of many grassroots organizations.
The Special Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace and Development, which your country will host in December, also holds out the promise of advancing peace in Mindanao and throughout the world.
In closing, Madam Ambassador, I would like to take this opportunity to reassure the Filipino people of my affection and continued prayers for them.
I encourage them to allow their deep faith, their cultural heritage and the democratic values that have been a part of their patrimony from the time of their independence to shine as an example to all.
Extending a cordial welcome to you and to your distinguished family, I offer you my best wishes that your stay in Rome may be pleasant, and that the important mission entrusted to you may consolidate relations between the Holy See and the Republic of the Philippines, to the benefit of all.
Through the intercession of Our Lady of Truth, Justice and Holiness, may God bless the efforts of the authorities and citizens, so that your nation may walk the way of authentic human progress in an atmosphere of harmony and peace.
The Holy Father's remarks to the new ambassador from the Netherlands, Baroness Henriette Johanna Cornelia Maria van Lynden-Leijten, was perhaps the most incisive of his three addresses today. The Netherlands is not only highly secularized but has pioneered in legalizing euthanasia, assisted suicide and same-sex unions.
Your Excellency,
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 the Netherlands to the Holy See.
I would like to express my gratitude for the good wishes that you bring from Queen Beatrix. For my part, please convey to Her Majesty my cordial greetings and assure her of my continuing prayers for all the people of your nation.
In a world that is ever more closely interconnected, the Holy See's diplomatic relations with individual states afford many opportunities for cooperation on important global issues. In this light, the Holy See values its links with the Netherlands and looks forward to strengthening them further in years to come.
Your country, as a founder member of the European Economic Community and home to several international juridical institutions, has long been at the forefront of moves to strengthen international cooperation for the greater good of the human family.
Hence the mission on which you are about to embark is rich in opportunities for joint action to promote peace and prosperity in the light of the desire that both the Holy See and the Netherlands have, to help the human person.
The defence and promotion of freedom is a key element in humanitarian engagement of this kind, and it is one to which both the Holy See and the Kingdom of the Netherlands frequently draw attention. It must be understood, though, that freedom needs to be anchored in truth - the truth of the nature of the human person - and it needs to be directed towards the good of individuals and of society.
In the financial crisis of the past twelve months, the whole world has been able to observe the consequences of exaggerated individualism that tends to favour single-minded pursuit of perceived personal advantage to the exclusion of other goods.
There has been much reflection on the need for a sound ethical approach to the processes of economic and political integration, and more people are coming to recognize that globalization needs to be steered towards the goal of integral human development of individuals, communities and peoples - shaped not by mechanical or deterministic forces but by humanitarian values that are open to transcendence (cf. Caritas in Veritate, 42).
Our world needs to "reappropriate the true meaning of freedom, which is not an intoxication with total autonomy, but a response to the call of being" (ibid., 70). Hence the Holy See's conviction regarding the irreplaceable role of faith communities in public life and in public debate.
While some of the Dutch population would declare itself agnostic or even atheist, more than half of it professes Christianity, and the growing numbers of immigrants who follow other religious traditions make it more necessary than ever for civil authorities to acknowledge the place of religion in Dutch society.
An indication that your Government does so is the fact that faith schools receive state support in your country, and rightly so, since such institutions are called to make a significant contribution to mutual understanding and social cohesion by transmitting the values that are rooted in a transcendent vision of human dignity.
Even more basic than schools in this regard are families built on the foundation of a stable and fruitful marriage between a man and a woman.
Nothing can equal or replace the formative value of growing up in a secure family environment, learning to respect and foster the personal dignity of others, acquiring the capacity for "acceptance, encounter and dialogue, disinterested availability, generous service and deep solidarity" (Familiaris Consortio, 43; cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 221) - in short, learning to love.
A society, on the other hand, which encourages alternative models of domestic life for the sake of a supposed diversity, is likely to store up social consequences that are not conducive to integral human development (cf. Caritas in Veritate, 44, 51).
The Catholic Church in your country is eager to play its part in supporting and promoting stable family life, as the Dutch Bishops' Conference stated in its recent document on the pastoral care of young people and the family.
It is my earnest hope that the Catholic contribution to ethical debate will be heard and heeded by all sectors of Dutch society, so that the noble culture that has distinguished your country for centuries may continue to be known for its solidarity with the poor and the vulnerable, its promotion of authentic freedom and its respect for the dignity and inestimable value of every human life.
Your Excellency, in offering my best wishes for the success of your mission, I would like to assure you that the various departments of the Roman Curia are ready to provide help and support in the fulfilment of your duties. Upon Your Excellency, your family and all the people of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, I cordially invoke God's abundant blessings.
NB: I used the photos of the actual credential presentation as small insets because of the extremely low pixel resolution of the original photographs lifted from the PDF of the OR front page tomorrow. Normally, these pictures are also posted in the OR's online summary as JPG images, but today, they are not. In fact, even these JPG images have lately been poorly resolved and do not lend themselves very well to enlarging. I do not understand why, in the digital age, the quality of the photos posted by the OR has shown appreciable deterioration in the past several weeks. This is noticeable even in the photos they release to the newsphoto agencies.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/10/2009 11:54]