Speech of Pope Benedict XVI to the Ambassador to the Holy See from the United States
of America
Text of Speech of Pope Benedict XVI to the Ambassador to the Holy See from the
United States of America
Mr. Miguel Humberto Díaz
Your Excellency,
I
am pleased to accept the Letters by which you are accredited Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. I recall with pleasure my meeting
with President Barack Obama and his family last July, and willingly reciprocate the
kind greetings which you bring from him. I also take this occasion to express my
confidence that diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See, formally
initiated twenty-five years ago, will continue to be marked by fruitful dialogue and
cooperation in the promotion of human dignity, respect for fundamental human rights,
and the service of justice, solidarity and peace within the whole human family. In
the course of my Pastoral Visit to your country last year I was pleased to encounter
a vibrant democracy, committed to the service of the common good and shaped by a vision
of equality and equal opportunity based on the God-given dignity and freedom of each
human being. That vision, enshrined in the nation’s founding documents, continues
to inspire the growth of the United States as a cohesive yet pluralistic society constantly
enriched by the gifts brought by new generations, including the many immigrants who
continue to enhance and rejuvenate American society. In recent months, the reaffirmation
of this dialectic of tradition and originality, unity and diversity has recaptured
the imagination of the world, many of whose peoples look to the American experience
and its founding vision in their own search for viable models of accountable democracy
and sound development in an increasingly interdependent and global society. For
this reason, I appreciate your acknowledgement of the need for a greater spirit of
solidarity and multilateral engagement in approaching the urgent problems facing our
planet. The cultivation of the values of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”
can no longer be seen in predominantly individualistic or even national terms, but
must rather be viewed from the higher perspective of the common good of the whole
human family. The continuing international economic crisis clearly calls for a revision
of present political, economic and financial structures in the light of the ethical
imperative of ensuring the integral development of all people. What is needed, in
effect, is a model of globalization inspired by an authentic humanism, in which the
world’s peoples are seen not merely as neighbors but as brothers and sisters. Multilateralism,
for its part, should not be restricted to purely economic and political questions;
rather, it should find expression in a resolve to address the whole spectrum of issues
linked to the future of humanity and the promotion of human dignity, including secure
access to food and water, basic health care, just policies governing commerce and
immigration, particularly where families are concerned, climate control and care for
the environment, and the elimination of the scourge of nuclear weapons. With regard
to the latter issue, I wish to express my satisfaction for the recent Meeting of the
United Nations Security Council chaired by President Obama, which unanimously approved
the resolution on atomic disarmament and set before the international community the
goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. This is a promising sign on the eve of the
Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Genuine
progress, as the Church’s social teaching insists, must be integral and humane; it
cannot prescind from the truth about human beings and must always be directed to their
authentic good. In a word, fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which
alone is the guarantee of freedom and real development. For her part the Church in
the United States wishes to contribute to the discussion of the weighty ethical and
social questions shaping America’s future by proposing respectful and reasonable arguments
grounded in the natural law and confirmed by the perspective of faith. Religious
vision and religious imagination do not straiten but enrich political and ethical
discourse, and the religions, precisely because they deal with the ultimate destiny
of every man and woman, are called to be a prophetic force for human liberation and
development throughout the world, particularly in areas torn by hostility and conflict.
In my recent visit to the Holy Land I stressed the value of understanding and cooperation
among the followers of the various religions in the service of peace, and so I note
with appreciation your government’s desire to promote such cooperation as part of
a broader dialogue between cultures and peoples. Allow me, Mr. Ambassador, to reaffirm
a conviction which I expressed at the outset of my Apostolic Journey to the United
States. Freedom – the freedom which Americans rightly hold dear – “is not only a
gift but also a summons to personal responsibility;” it is “a challenge held out to
each generation, and it must constantly be won over to the cause of good” (Address
at the White House, 16 April 2008). The preservation of freedom is inseparably linked
to respect for truth and the pursuit of authentic human flourishing. The crisis of
our modern democracies calls for a renewed commitment to reasoned dialogue in the
discernment of wise and just policies respectful of human nature and human dignity.
The Church in the United States contributes to this discernment particularly through
the formation of consciences and her educational apostolate, by which she makes a
significant and positive contribution to American civic life and public discourse.
Here I think particularly of the need for a clear discernment with regard to issues
touching the protection of human dignity and respect for the inalienable right to
life from the moment of conception to natural death, as well as the protection of
the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care workers, and indeed
all citizens. The Church insists on the unbreakable link between an ethics of life
and every other aspect of social ethics, for she is convinced that, in the prophetic
words of the late Pope John Paul II, “a society lacks solid foundations when, on the
one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace,
but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating
a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it
is weak or marginalized” (Evangelium Vitae, 93; cf. Caritas in Veritate, 15). Mr.
Ambassador, as you undertake your new mission in the service of your country I offer
you my good wishes and the promise of my prayers. Be assured that you may always
count on the offices of the Holy See to assist and support you in the fulfillment
of your duties. Upon you and your family, and upon all the beloved American people,
I cordially invoke God’s blessings of wisdom, strength and peace.