Pope Benedict welcomes five
new ambassadors to the Holy See
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 16 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received the Letters of Credence of five new ambassadors to the Holy See: Suresh Prasad Pradhan of Nepal; Royson Mabuku Mukwena of Zambia; Miquel Angel Canturri Montanya of Andorra, Vivianne Fock Tave of Seychelles, and Boubacar Sidiki Toure of Mali.
The Holy Father first addressed the diplomats as a group, in French, then gave each of them a speech in written form concerning issues specific to his or her own country.
The Pope focused his collective remarks on the subject of human fraternity, in which context he recalled appeals made over the course of the year "for Haiti, devastated first by the earthquake and them by the cholera epidemic"....
Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's address to the diplomats:
Your Excellencies,
It is a joy for me to receive you this morning at the Apostolic Palace for the presentation of the letters accrediting you as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of your respective countries to the Holy See: Nepal, Zambia, the Principality of Andorra, the Republic of Seychelles, and Mali.
You have conveyed to me kind words from your respective Chiefs of State, and I thank you for these. I wish you to convey to them in return my deferential greetings and my respectful wishes for them and the high mission that they render in the service of their nations and peoples.
Through you, I also wish to greet all the civilian and religious authorities of your nations, as well as all your compatriots. My prayers and thoughts naturally go to the Catholic communities in your countries. In living according to the Gospel, they bear witness to the spirit of fraternal collaboration.
I wish, Excellencies, to speak to you about human fraternity, to which we have been called poignantly this whole year, in order to bring relief to Haiti, struck first by an earthquake and now by cholera. Other tragedies have unfortunately struck other countries during the year.
Your countries, the international community and worldwide associations have responded to the most urgent appeals for aid, which must naturally be pursued and intensified. For her part, and through her different institutions, the Church brings her contribution in many forms which she will continue to give.
The beautiful ideal of brotherhood, which is mentioned in the national mottos of many countries, has found less resonance in the development of philosophical and political thought than other ideas like freedom, equality, progress or unity.
It has been a principle that has largely remained a dead letter in modern and contemporary political societies, especially because of the influence exercised by individualist and collectivist ideologies
(cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 390).
Brotherhood, as you know, has a special significance for Christians because of God's plan of fraternal love, a fraternity revealed by Christ. In my latest encyclical Caritas in veritate, I dwelt on this theme which is indispensable for harmonious human coexistence.
In order to live with dignity, every human being needs respect. He also needs justice rendered to him, and for his rights to be concretely recognized. Nonetheless, these do not suffice to lead a life that is fully human. Each person also needs fraternity.
This is true not only in close personal relations but also on a planetary scale. Now, even as the globalization process that is under way brings human beings closer to each other, that does not make them brothers. This is a major problem because, as my predecessor Pope Paul VI said, "Under-development has a profound cause in the lack of brotherhood" (cf. Populorum progressio, No. 66).
Human reason recognizes the equality of all men and the need to limit the excessive disparities among them, but it has proven incapable of instituting brotherhood, which is a supernatural gift.
For her part, the Church sees the realization of human brotherhood on earth as a vocation found in God's creative design, and of which she wishes ever more faithfully to work for, on both the universal and local levels as it does in the nations that you represent in the Holy See.
Just as in carrying out the specifically spiritual mission that Christ entrusted to her, the Church inspires in her disciples a particular proximity among them, she desires no less to bring her sincere and strong contribution to the formation of a more fraternal community among all human beings.
That is why she does not behave like a lobby, working only in her own interests, but she works, under the eyes of him who is the creator of all men, to honor the dignity of every person. Thus she tries to establish love and peace as the basis for those multiple human bonds which link persons to each other as God wills in his creative wisdom.
In daily life, fraternity finds concrete expression in generosity and respect that must be manifested in all the areas of human activity, including economic activity. Man's profound identity, his being-in-relation, is also expressed in his economic activity which is one of the grounds for major cooperation among men.
Through my latest encyclical, I wished to emphasize the fact that economy is an area where giving is also possible and even necessary
(cf. Caritas in veritate, Nos. 34-39).
Every form of giving is, in effect, a sign of the presence of God because it leads to the fundamental discovery that in the beginning, everything was given to us. Such an awareness does not make man's conquests less beautiful but it liberates him from the first of all servitudes, that of wanting to create himself.
On the contrary, in recognizing that which was given to him, man can open himself to the action of grace and understand that he is called on to develop himself, not against or simply alongside others, but with and in communion with them.
Nonetheless, if brotherhood among men can find a positive echo on the level of 'social effectiveness', it must not be forgotten that it is not a means but an end in itself (cf. Caritas in veritate, No. 20).
The Church believes in Christ who revealed to us that God is love (cf. Jn 4, 8). She is also convinced that to all who believe in divine charity, God brings the certainty that 'the way of love is open to all men and that the effort to establish unversal brotherhood is not in vain" (Gaudium et Spes, 38).
I have no doubt that you as diplomats would be particularly interested in the different aspects of the politico-social life that I have just reflected upon.
During your mission to the Holy See, you will have the chance, Excellencies, to discover more directly the activities and concerns of the Church on all the continents. And you will always find courteous attention from my co-workers.
Upon yourselves and your families, on the members of your diplomatic missions, and on all the nations that you represent, I invoke the abundance of divine blessings.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/12/2010 10:10]