TO U.N. OFFICIAL: REFORM IS A CLEAR MORAL, POLITICAL OBLIGATION

VATICAN CITY, FEB 7, 2004 (VIS) - Julian Robert Hunte, president of the 58th General Assembly of the United Nations, was welcomed to the Vatican this morning by Pope John Paul.

"As you know," the Pope told him in remarks in English, "the Holy See considers the United Nations Organization a significant means for promoting the universal common good. You have undertaken a restructuring aimed at making the Organization function more efficiently. This will not only ensure an effective superior instance for the just resolution of international problems, but also enable the United Nations to become an ever more highly respected moral authority for the international community."

Quoting from his Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace, the Holy Father said it "is my hope that the Member States will consider such a reform 'a clear moral and political obligation which calls for prudence and determination' and a necessary prerequisite for the growth of an international order at the service of the whole human family. I offer prayerful good wishes for your own efforts on behalf of this goal and I willingly invoke upon you and your associates the divine blessings of wisdom, strength and peace."
AC/PRESIDENT:GENERAL ASSEMBLY/HUNTE VIS 20040209 (210)