VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from Pope Benedict XVI to Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is representing the Holy See in Paris at a colloquium entitled "Culture, Reason and Freedom" which commemorates the visit 25 years ago today by Pope John Paul to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
In the message to Cardinal Tauran, archivist and librarian of Holy Roman Church, the Holy Father noted the "immense recognition due to Pope John Paul who, with his personal and cultural experience, always underlined in his teachings the central and irreplaceable position of man, as well as his fundamental dignity, the source all of his inalienable rights. Twenty-five years ago the Pope declared at UNESCO headquarters that 'in the cultural domain, man is always first: man is the primordial and basic fact of culture'."
The Pope then echoed John Paul's words on that day, when, at UNESCO, he reminded his interlocutors of their responsibility: "Build peace by starting with the foundation: respect for all of man's rights, those linked to his material and economic dimension as well as those linked to the spiritual and interior dimension of his existence in this world."
Benedict XVI, reiterating the Holy See's concern for and involvement in the work of UNESCO, through her permanent observer to this organization, went on to say that, "in a world which is both multiple and divided, and often submissive to the strong demands of globalization of economic relations and, even more, of information, it is important at the highest levels to mobilize the energies of intelligence so that man's rights to education and culture are recognized, especially in the poorest countries. In a world where man must learn more and more to recognize and to respect his brother, the Church wishes to make her own contribution to the service of the human community, while pointing out ... the relation that binds each person to the Creator of all life and the source of the inalienable dignity of each person, from conception to life's natural end."
MESS/CULTURE/UNESCO:TAURAN VIS 20050602 (350)
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