Vatican spokesman explains Holy See’s role at UN

(October 10, 2011) The Holy See, with its presence in the United Nations, wants to remind the world of its duty of being a family of nations, said Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi. Speaking in ‘Ottava Dies’, his weekly programme on Vatican television, the Jesuit priest on Saturday was commenting on the recent addresses of Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, to the UN in New York. He noted that the concept of the world as a "family of nations” to develop internationally, should be based, not on the supremacy of the 'strong, but more on attention for the 'weak', as the Holy See has always stated through its permanent observer mission at the world body. Fr. Lombardi said that sometimes people wonder why a religious authority such as the Holy See should participate in an international gathering such as the UN general assembly, often the scene of tough political confrontations. He pointed out that the Holy See does not participate in UN voting because of its observer status, but he said that the recent speeches of Archbishop Mamberti there are in line with what late Blessed John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI pronounced at the UN. John Paul had strongly insisted that the UN must be the place where nations are recognized as members of a 'family', animated by reciprocal solidarity and concern for the common good of the whole of humanity. In this light, Pope Benedict developed the concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’, as a concrete expression of the UN’s attention for the weakest, Fr. Lombardi added.