TO GROUP OF AMBASSADORS: PEACE IS EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY

VATICAN CITY, DEC 13, 2002 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father collectively received the Letters of Credence of nine ambassadors to the Holy See. While the Pope addressed all the diplomats in French, he gave each of them a discourse in which specific issues in their country were raised.

The new ambassadors are: Fode Maclean Dabor of Sierra Leone; Marcia Gilberts-Roberts of Jamaica; Praveen Lal Goyal of India; Albert Owusu-Sarpong of Ghana; Helga Hernes of Norway; Emmanuel Kayitana Imanzi of Ruanda and Jean-Pierre Razafy-Andriamihaingo of Madagascar.

"Peace is one the most precious goods for individuals persons, peoples, and States. ... Without peace there cannot be the true development of individuals or families, of society or the economy. Peace is everyone's responsibility, to desire peace is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength."

After emphasizing that in order to achieve peace, order and international law must be respected, he said: "In addition, we must consider the fundamental value of common and multilateral action to resolve conflicts on different continents."

The Holy Father affirmed that "misery and injustice are the root of violence and contribute to the duration and development of local and regional conflicts. I am thinking in particular," he continued, "of those countries in which hunger increases in endemic proportions. The international community is called to do what is possible so that these afflictions are done away with little by little, especially with human and material means which help people that are in most need. Greater support to the organization of local economies would undoubtedly permit indigenous populations to be in charge of their future."

"Poverty," he added, "weighs heavily on the world today, putting political, economic and social stability in danger. .. We must recognize everyone's right to have what is necessary to live and to be able to benefit from a portion of the national wealth." In this way, the Pope made an urgent appeal to the international community "so that the double question is posed once again on the distribution of the planet's wealth and equitable technical and scientific assistance to poor countries which are the duties of rich countries. Development assistance requires formation in all spheres."

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