Pope welcomes US, Dutch ambassadors

(October 2, 2009) Pope Benedict also received on Friday the new ambassadors of the United States and the Netherlands. In separate ceremonies at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, the Pope accepted the credentials of US ambassador, Miguel Humberto Diaz and Dutch ambassador, Mrs. Henriette Johanna Cornelia Maria van Lynden-Leijten. Welcoming Diaz, Pope Benedict touched upon several issues but particularly focussed on the right to life. He underscored the urgent 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.” He said “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.”