TO MAYORS: SOLIDARITY MUST MARK THE ETHOS OF A CITY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 13, 2002 (VIS) - John Paul II today welcomed 70 mayors, noting that they are from "some of the world's most important cities" and "are gathered in Rome to reflect on how globalization affects the life of your cities, and on the opportunities it offers for closer ties between them."

"A city is much more than a territory, an economic productive zone, a political reality," he observed in his talk to them in English. "It is above all a community of people and especially of families with their children. It is a living, historically rooted, culturally distinct human experience. Those who exercise administrative and political control over it have weighty responsibilities for the common good of the people."

The Holy Father went on to say that "the ethos of a city should be marked by one characteristic above others: solidarity. ... Institutions and social organizations at different levels, as well as the State, must share in promoting a general movement of solidarity between all sectors of the population, with special attention to the weak and marginalized.

"(Solidarity) is not just a matter of convenience," he concluded. "It is a necessity of the moral order."

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