(20 Jan 09 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI has sent the following telegram to Barak Obama
who is due to be sworn in 44th President of the United States of America Tuesday.
Addressed
to the White House it reads:
On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-fourth
President of the United States of America I offer cordial good wishes, together with
the assurance of my prayers that almighty God will grant you unfailing wisdom and
strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities. Under your leadership may
the American people continue to find in their religious and political heritage the
spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly
just and free society, marked by respect for the dignity, equality and rights of each
of its members, especially the poor, the outcast and those who have no voice. At a
time when so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world yearn for liberation
from the scourge of poverty, hunger and violence I pray that you will be confirmed
in your resolve to promote understanding , cooperation and peace among the nations,
so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole
human family (cf. Isaiah 25:6-7). Upon you and your family, and upon all the American
people, I willingly invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace.