NEW BOLIVIAN AMBASSADOR PRESENTS HIS LETTERS OF CREDENCE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2000 (VIS) - This morning the Pope received the Letters of Credence from the new ambassador of the Republic of Bolivia, Pedro Jose Rivera Saavedra, to whom he expressed his desire that Bolivians "always maintain the genuine values that form their rich heritage, by which the country may advance towards better, more just and unified objectives."

The Pope also made reference to structural changes that are being put into effect as a response to the situation in the poorest regions of the country. On this subject, he recalled that Bolivian bishops presented the president of their country with a document entitled "Conclusions of the Jubilee 2000 Forum." This is an initiative that "aims to discuss the delicate problem of structural poverty in the country and to give citizens from various social classes and different political tendencies the possibility of expressing an opinion on how to use the funds made available by the eradication of external debt."

"The moral and social blight of poverty," he continued, "certainly calls for technical and political solutions, ensuring that economic activity and the benefits it legitimately generates are also used for the common good. ... Nonetheless, it must not be forgotten that all these measures will be inadequate if they are not driven by authentic ethical and spiritual values."

The Holy Father highlighted that the Church has "the inescapable duty of enlightening, from the standpoint of faith, the development of the social situation in which it is immersed." On this matter, he also recalled that the Bolivian Episcopal Conference has published the pastoral letter: "The Earth, Fertile Mother for all," which "proposes some thoughts on the reconsideration of agrarian reform, so necessary in order to alleviate the dramatic situation being suffered by indigenous people and peasant farmers."

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