SLOVAKIA SIGNS ACCORD, POPE WELCOMES DELEGATION

VATICAN CITY, DEC 18, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father this morning welcomed a delegation from Slovakia, in Rome to celebrate the November 24 signing of a Basic Agreement between the Holy See and the Slovakian Republic. The delegation included the country's president, the ambassador to the Holy See, Cardinal Jan Chryzostom Korec, the apostolic nuncio and members of the episcopal conference.

The Pope addressed those present in Slovakian, telling them that "the basic reason for collaboration between Church and State is the good of the human person. This cooperation must care for and guarantee the rights of man. A Church which enjoys the full liberty which is her due is placed in the best circumstances to cooperate together with all the other living forces of society 'for the spiritual and material good of the human person and the common good', as is stated1 in the Agreement's preamble."

John Paul II concluded in expressing the hope that the Agreement "might contribute to the consolidation of social ties and spiritual and material development of the Slovakian society."

AC;AGREEMENT SLOVAKIA;...;...;VIS;20001218;Word: 180;