JOHN PAUL II WELCOMES U.S. PRESIDENT BUSH TO THE VATICAN

VATICAN CITY, JUL 23, 2001 (VIS) - Pope John Paul II welcomed United States President George W. Bush, his wife and entourage to the apostolic palace at Castelgandolfo this morning. He expressed "heartfelt good wishes that your presidency will strengthen your country in its commitment to the principles which inspired American democracy from the beginning."

He recalled that America's founding fathers "were guided by a profound sense of responsibility towards the common good, to be pursued in respect for the God-given dignity and inalienable rights of all. America continues to measure herself by the nobility of her founding vision in building a society of liberty, quality and justice under the law."

The Holy Father noted that "the world continues to look to America with hope. Yet it does so with an acute awareness of the crisis of values being experienced in Western society, ever more insecure in the face of the ethical decisions indispensable for humanity's future course."

He then turned to the subject of globalization and said, "while appreciating the opportunities for economic growth and material prosperity which this process offers, the Church cannot but express profound concern that our world continues to be divided, no longer by the former political and military blocs, but by a tragic fault-line between those who can benefit from these opportunities and those who seem cut off from them."

"Respect for human dignity and belief in the equal dignity of all members of the human family," the Pope went on, "respect for nature by everyone, a policy of openness to immigrants, the cancellation of or significant reduction of the debt of poorer nations, the promotion of peace through dialogue and negotiation, the primacy of the rule of law: these are the priorities which the leaders of the developed nations cannot disregard. A global world is essentially a world of solidarity."

The Holy Father noted that "respect for human dignity finds one of its highest expressions in religious freedom. This right is the first right listed in your nation's Bill of Rights, ... and promoting religious freedom continues to be an important goal of American policy in the international community."

In concluding, Pope John Paul reaffirmed that "another area in which political and moral choices have the gravest consequences for the future of civilization concerns the most fundamental of human rights, the right to life itself. Experience is already showing how a tragic coarsening of consciences accompanies the assault on innocent human life in the womb, leading to accommodation and acquiescence in the face of other related evils such as euthanasia, infanticide and, most recently, proposals for the creation for research purposes of human embryos, destined to destruction in the process. A free and virtuous society, which America aspires to be, must reject practices that devalue and violate human life at any stage from conception until natural death. In defending the right to life, in law and through a vibrant culture of life, America can show the world the path to a truly humane future, in which man remains the master, not the product, of his technology."

Following the meeting with the Holy Father and an exchange of gifts, President Bush and several members of his entourage were received by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States.

AC;MEETING;...;BUSH;VIS;20010723;Word: 530;