HOLY FATHER'S ANNUAL ADDRESS TO DIPLOMATIC CORPS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 11, 1999 (VIS) - This morning in the Sala Regia, Pope John Paul II gave his annual address to the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, highlighting the lights and shadows in the world during the year just ended. He also received the good wishes of all ambassadors offered by the corps' new dean, Ambassador Giovanni Galassi of the Republic of San Marino.

"This yearly ceremony," said the Pope, "is like a family gathering and for this reason it is particularly dear to me, ... because through you almost all the nations of the world are made present here with their achievements and their hopes, but also with their difficulties."

The Holy Father began his review of the year by saying that "the family of nations ... has without doubt some grounds for rejoicing." Starting with Europe, he pointed to "Ireland, where the agreement signed on Good Friday last has established the basis for a much awaited peace. ... The peace process in Spain ... for the first time in enabling the peoples of the Basque territories to see the specter of blind violence retreat and to think seriously of a process of normalization."

"The transition to one currency and the enlargement towards the East will no doubt give Europe the possibility to become more and more a community with a common destiny. ... The spiritual families which have made such a great contribution to the civilization of this continent - I am especially thinking of Christianity - have a role which seems to me to be more and more decisive," especially in the face of social problems which keep significant sectors of the population in poverty, and of social inequalities which give rise to chronic instability."

Pointing to the American continent, the Pope referred to "the agreement reached in Brasilia on October 16 last between Ecuador and Peru. ... I am firmly convinced that these two nations, tanks particularly to the Christian faith which unites them, will be able to meet the great challenge of fraternity and peace."

"We should also rejoice," he went on, "at the efforts of the great people of China, in a dialogue undertaken with determination and involving the peoples on both sides of the Strait," a "felicitous development" followed by the Holy See with "great interest."

"However," the Holy Father then stated, "the culture of peace is far from being universal, as the centers of persistent dissension testify.

In the Balkan region "we cannot yet speak of normalization of Bosnia-Herzegovina where the effects of the war are still being felt in inter-ethnic relations, where half of the population remains displaced and where social tensions dangerously persist. Again recently, Kosovo has been the scene of deadly confrontations for both ethnic and political reasons. ... Many other countries, large and small, in Central and Eastern Europe are also at the mercy of political and social instability; they are struggling along the road to democracy."

The Pope said that the Middle East peace process "continues to make uneven progress. ... It is not possible to keep people indefinitely between war and peace. ... It is not reasonable to put off until later the question of the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, to which the followers of the three monotheistic religions turn their gaze. ... The recent crisis in Iraq has shown once more that war does not solve problems. It complicates them, and leaves the civilian population to bear the tragic consequences. ... I am sure that a stable Middle East would contribute effectively to restoring hope to many peoples. I am thinking for example of the suffering peoples of Algeria and the island of Cyprus."

"Africa," said John Paul II, "remains a continent at risk. Of its fifty-three States, seventeen are experiencing military conflicts," which have produced "up to eight million refugees and displaced persons." He highlighted the wars, conflicts, ethnic rivalries and "terrible human tragedies" unfolding in Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola. He told the peoples of these nations that "the Holy See is sparing no effort to bring about an end to their suffering."

"The culture of peace," remarked the Pope, "is still being thwarted by the legitimation and use of armed force for political purposes." He spoke of the "nuclear tests recently carried out in Asia", as well as "the production of less costly weaponry, like anti-personnel landmines, ... and small-caliber arms to which, I believe, political leaders should pay greater attention in order to control their deadly effects."

And, he said, "the risks to peace arising from social inequalities and artificial economic growth cannot be underestimated."

Referring to international law, the Pontiff stated that it "cannot be the law of the stronger, nor that of a simple majority of States, nor even that of an international organization. It must be the law which is in conformity with the principles of the natural law and of the moral law, which are always binding upon parties in conflict and in the various questions in dispute."

The Pope expressed his "painful concern for the all too numerous violations of religious freedom in today's world." He said that in Asia, for example, Churches had been destroyed and religious personnel had been mistreated and even murdered. "In other regions, where Islam is the majority religion, one still has to deplore the grave forms of discrimination of which the followers of other religions are victims. ... In certain countries in Western Europe, one notes an equally disturbing development which, under the influence of a false idea of the principle of separation between the State and the Churches or as a result of a deep-seated agnosticism, tends to confine the Churches within the religious sphere alone and finds it difficult to accept public statements from them. Finally, some countries of Central and Eastern Europe have great difficulty in acknowledging ... religious pluralism ... (and) attempt to limit ... the freedom of conscience and of religion."

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