PRESENTATION OF MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY OF PEACE 2004

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2003 (VIS) - On Tuesday, December 16, at 11:30 a.m. in the Holy See Press Office, the Pope's message will be presented for the 37th World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on January 1, 2004 on the theme: 'International Law, A Path to Peace.' Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, Msgr. Frank J. Dewane and Giorgio Filibeck, respectively president, secretary, undersecretary and official of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will speak during the press conference.
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VALLE D'AOSTA OFFERS CHRISTMAS TREES TO VATICAN CITY

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2003 (VIS) - A 30-meter high, 110-year old spruce tree from the northern Italian region of Valle D'Aosta will be placed in St. Peter's Square tomorrow, adjacent to the immense nativity scene currently being constructed by Vatican workmen.. The tree, along with twenty other smaller ones that will be placed in and around Vatican City, are the gifts of this Italian region to the Holy Father for Christmas 2003. John Paul II has spent seven summer vacations in Valle D'Aosta.

Three hundred people from Valle D'Aosta, including the president of the region, will symbolically present the tree to the Holy Father at the general audience on Wednesday, December 17. One of the other trees, decorated by regional artisans, will grace the Paul VI Hall: At the foot of the tree will be a handmade nativity scene in wood which last Christmas was in the upper Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

That same afternoon, at 4:30 in St. Peter's square, Cardinal Edmund Szoka, president of the Governorate of Vatican City, will preside at the official tree lighting ceremony. He will be joined by officials of Valle D'Aosta and members of local folklore groups and choirs will entertain.
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U.N. MARKS 55TH ANNIVERSARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2003 (VIS) - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke yesterday before the 58th session of the General Assembly on Agenda Item 48: the 55th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He expressed the Holy See's pleasure at participating in this observance, stating that 'this extraordinary development in the protection of
fundamental human rights was based on the greatest traditions of the jus gentium 'the Law of Nations' which is founded upon the objective moral order as discerned by right reason.' He underscored that human rights 'are not a creation of the State but flow from the character and nature of humanity itself. ' In identifying certain fundamental rights which are common to every member of the human family, the Declaration has decisively contributed to the development of international law. Moreover, it has resolutely challenged those human laws which have denied men and women the dignity to which they are entitled because of who they are. Sadly, the fundamental rights, proclaimed, codified and celebrated in the Universal Declaration are still the object of severe and constant violations.'

Archbishop Migliore noted that 'challenges to the proper implementation of human rights' include 'a tendency of some to choose self-serving rights. In some circumstances, what is inalienable to some human beings is simultaneously denied others. A case in point would be the denial of the most fundamental right'that is the right to life itself from which all other rights naturally and logically flow.' There are also threats 'from exaggerated individualism that often leads the stronger to lord it over the weak.'

'The world in which we live today,' he remarked, 'exists under the shadows of war, terrorism, and other threats to human survival and to the innate dignity of the human person. At the source of many of these shadows lies a denial of some of the universal rights. Ironically, it is human beings who cast these shadows. Yet, we have also been given wisdom to use the light of right reason to dispel them.'

In concluding remarks, the archbishop said 'we still need to ask the question: what has happened to everyone's right 'to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized? (art. 28)'. The dignity, freedom and happiness acknowledged by the Declaration will not be fully realized without solidarity amongst all peoples. Inspired by the example of all those framers of this Declaration who have taken the risk of freedom, can we not recommit ourselves also to taking the risk of solidarity - and thus the risk of peace?'

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Oscar Azarcon Solis, pastor of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral Parish in Thibodaux, U.S.A., as auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles (area 22,685, population 10,985,200, Catholics 4,197,635, priests 1,261, permanent deacons 203, religious 2,621), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in 1953 in San Jose City, Philippines and was ordained a priest in 1979.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2003 - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Gnassingbe Eyadema, president of the Republic of Togo, and an entourage.

- Archbishop Edmond Farhat, apostolic nuncio in Turkey and Turkmenistan.

- Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana, apostolic nuncio in India and Nepal.

- Silvan Shalom, minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel, and an entourage.

- Two prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Sudan on their 'ad limina' visit:

- Bishop Vincent Mojwok Nyiker of Malakal.

- Bishop Cesare Mazzolari of Rumbeck.
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