FOUR NEW AMBASSADORS TO HOLY SEE WELCOMED BY JOHN PAUL II

VATICAN CITY, MAY 25, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul welcomed four new ambassadors to the Holy See this morning during a ceremony in the Consistory Hall in which they collectively presented their Letters of Credence. The ambassadors are Christine Heather Bogle of New Zealand, Ahmad Abdulkarim Al-Ebrahim from Kuwait, Henri Marie Joseph Lopes of the Republic of Congo and Harry Osei Blavo from Ghana.

In his address in French, the Pope underscored "the spiritual importance of the Jubilee Year for the Church, who wishes at the same time to make a pressing appeal to the international community, at the turn of a millennium, to aid the growth of each nation, each people, especially on the African continent, whose numerous populations are sorely tried by conflicts which touch in a very dramatic way civilians."

The Holy Father also touched on the question of the debt of the poorest countries, saying that much remains to be done in this regard "to help them take an active part in international life. Such a step is a hand extended to the nations which live below the threshold of poverty, to revive their hopes for a better future; this must be accompanied by profound reflection to reconsider the organization of the world economy."

The richest countries, the Pope went on, "must accompany the remission of debt by support in personnel and materiel," thus allowing the poorer countries to take charge of their own destiny and to become more autonomous. "Appropriate local infrastructures" will give these countries and peoples "the means to be the true protagonists of building society and fully participating partners in international relations."

Reiterating the Holy See's "attachment and commitment to the recognition of peoples and to an ever greater entente between nations," he stressed that "more than ever our contemporaries aspire to peace and fraternity." Especially sensitive to this, the Pope concluded, are the young people of today who "call on us to do all that we can to make these aspirations a reality."

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