DIPLOMACY MUST BE AT THE SERVICE OF INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT

VATICAN CITY, MAR 14, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received the Letters of Credence of Seo Hyun-Seop, the new ambassador of Korea to the Holy See. In his address, the Pope recalled the "splendid hospitality" shown him by the Korean people during his two visits to that country in 1984 and 1989.

"Your land," he said to the ambassador, "is at a very delicate stage of relations between North and South, and we must hope that the recent evidence of goodwill and progress ... will be allowed to mature and will not be hampered by concerns not directly related to the wellbeing of the Korean people as a whole." John Paul II then went on to mention the "significant shift on the peninsula as the governments of Seoul and Pyongyang move towards the reconciliation of the entire Korean nation, whatever form the political settlement may eventually take."

He then spoke on the international situation, affirming that its "shifting configuration ... presents a great challenge to diplomacy's function and mission. ... Because of changes in the relationship between business and government, for instance, foreign relations and trade often merge. This is perhaps inevitable, but it runs the risk of focussing merely on the economy and reducing relations between nations and peoples to commercial transactions. ... Diplomacy needs to uphold its high ideal of serving the integral development of peoples and the common good of the entire human family."

The Pope concluded by recalling that "the Catholic Church is present and active in the international forum," and that "at the heart of the Church there lies an ethic of communion between individuals, peoples and their communities and institutions." Her long experience of this ethic is what gives the Church "expertise in the workings of that dialogue and solidarity so necessary at this critical time in history."

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