AMBASSADOR FROM CANADA PRESENTS LETTERS OF CREDENCE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 12, 2000 (VIS) - Wilfrid-Guy Licari, Canada's new ambassador to the Holy See, was welcomed to the Vatican this morning by Pope John Paul to whom he presented his Letters of Credence.

In his address in French, the Pope pointed out that he had "wished for the next World Youth Day to take place in Toronto, thus offering all the young people of the world, and especially the youth of the vast American continent, the occasion for a new experience of faith and ecclesial encounter." He added that World Youth Days "are for the Church, and for national communities at all levels of society, a pressing invitation. Indeed, today's young people showed last August, in a manner even stronger than preceding gatherings, their desire to lead a beautiful and good life, turning towards God and serving their neighbor."

He underlined the "attention we must give to young people, to their intellectual and professional formation, as well as, on a broader scale, their human, moral and spiritual education. It is especially important to teach them the value of life, of every life, from conception until its natural end, for human life is a gift from God of which we are not masters. Numerous techniques allow a good number of our contemporaries to think that what is scientifically feasible would also be morally acceptable, especially in the framework of techniques of human reproduction."

"It is important," John Paul II went on, "that the entire educational community of a country be mobilized so that future generations will receive, through teaching and the witness of life, not only knowledge but know-how, and the values which allow one to recognize the deep sense of every life, as well as the elements necessary to discernment, decisions and concrete human action."

"In this spirit, all authorities concerned must bring assistance and support to those institutions and persons engaged in the educational system, while giving parents the possibility and means to choose the places where they can give their children the formation which corresponds to what they are seeking; indeed, no one may substitute parental responsibility in this domain, and the national community can only act in a subsidiary way." He affirmed that "the conjugal and family institution ... must be privileged in political and economic decisions."

The Holy Father underlined that "Canada is a great country and has many different human groups, which contribute to the natural riches. It is important that all cultures, some of which are among the oldest on the continent, be fully recognized and be able to take an active role in social life." He added that "permanent attention is required for those who ... are becoming poorer and poorer and excluded from economic resources." Attention must also be given to "welcoming strangers" and "working so that every person, without a home or without a country, can, thanks to others, rediscover his dignity and lead a life corresponding to that dignity."
Pope John Paul encouraged all Christians to, in the spirit of the Jubilee Year, show greater solidarity towards "their brothers from the poorest countries; likewise, it would be fitting for the richest countries, through significant gestures of remission of international debt, to sustain the public life of these countries, by sending qualified personnel to cooperate."

The Pope said he appreciated Canada's efforts "for peace and in the struggle against anti-personnel landmines, which still cause too many victims throughout the world, notably among children." He renewed his appeal to the international community to clear minefields "as quickly as possible" and to stop the manufacture of mines.

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