Vatican Secretary of State Urges the Poor Be A Diplomatic Priority

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 29, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican’s new secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is proposing a “universal commitment” in favor of the poor as part of the Vatican’s new diplomatic agenda.
In his first address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Cardinal Bertone articulated today the Vatican’s top priorities.
“We need a universal commitment in favor of the most disinherited of the planet, of the poorest, of people who often seek in vain for something to live, and so that their families can live,” he said in his address delivered in French in the Ducal Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
The cardinal said: “The dignity, freedom and unconditional respect of every human being in his fundamental rights, in particular, his freedom of conscience and religion, must be part of our primary concerns, as we cannot be lacking in solidarity with the fate and future of our brothers and sisters in humanity.”
Nor can we “be truly at peace given the sufferings that disfigure man and which are before our eyes every day,” he added.
Therefore, said the Vatican secretary of state, humanity hopes that the diplomats “will commit themselves to a new drive of solidarity among all peoples, in particular to reconsider the issue of the poorest countries’ debt, so that there will never again be people, especially children, who die of hunger or endemic illnesses.
“So that there will never again be people who are innocent victims of wars or local conflicts; so that there will never again be people who are mistreated because of their convictions or beliefs.”
According to Cardinal Bertone, “the problem of peace” must have priority in present-day concerns.
In this context, the secretary of state mentioned “violence under all its forms inflicted on women, and on children who are already born or about to be born.
“The defense of life, from conception until natural death, as well as the defense of the family founded on marriage are also essential topics in social life.”
Disarmament
Cardinal Bertone also made an urgent appeal to disarmament.
In this regard, the cardinal said he will continue on the path begun by his predecessors.
He made a clear “condemnation of war, at the ethical level, and its exclusion as a means to resolve eventual differences between states.”
Authentic security, he said, “favors non-military elements and reinforces, on the contrary, the political, economic and social structures.”
Cardinal Bertone said disarmament “must involve all types of arms and must be general, including the objective of ‘unilateral disarmament,’ which has great ethical and positive value.”
Diplomatic Representation
The new secretary of state said that he hoped “that one day soon all countries will be represented before the Successor of Peter.”
Among the diplomats who met with the cardinal today was a representative of the Russian Federation — with which the Vatican does not yet have full relations — and the director of the representative office of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Also present were representatives of the European Union and of the Order of Malta, whose sovereignty is recognized internationally.
The Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with 174 countries.
When John Paul II became Pope in 1978, the Holy See had diplomatic relations with 85 countries.
Among the countries with which the Holy See does not yet have full diplomatic relations are China, Vietnam, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
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