DIALOGUE BETWEEN CULTURES FOR A CIVILIZATION OF LOVE AND PEACE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today in the Holy See Press Office, Archbishop Francois-Xavier Van Thuan, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, presented John Paul II's Message for the 34th World Day of Peace. The title of the Message is: "Dialogue between Cultures for a Civilization of Love and Peace."

Archbishop Van Thuan was accompanied by Bishop Diarmuid Martin and Msgr. Giampaolo Crepaldi, respectively secretary and under-secretary of the same pontifical council.
The papal Message, explained the archbishop, opens with an introduction "which highlights both the need for dialogue between cultures and the difficulties confronting it." The Holy Father does not hide the effort of tackling "this subject which is rendered difficult and complex by a situation in constant flux."

Following the introduction, John Paul II dwells on "certain philosophical and anthropological characteristics of different human cultures," and makes a call to cultivate "the fundamental perspective of unity of the human race. Only by simultaneously considering diversity and unity is it possible to achieve a complete understanding of the full truth of each human culture."

Archbishop Van Thuan affirmed that at the core of the Message there is "a proposal for dialogue between cultures, with certain theological references. ... The dialogue between cultures has its source, its origin and its model in God, One and Triune."

The Holy Father discusses two contemporary issues: that of the new information technology, denouncing "the monopoly of a limited number of countries", and "the challenge of migration."

The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said that the values proposed by the Message are solidarity, peace, life and education. Furthermore, there is a call "to cultivate forgiveness and reconciliation." In closing, the Pope addresses young people, "humanity's future and living stones in the building of the civilization of love."

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