A vital space” “

Receiving in audience on 1st December eleven new ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, including those of Finland, Denmark and Andorra, Benedict XVI also spoke on the theme of Europe. We propose the “European thoughts” of the Pope, excerpted from the speeches he addressed to each of the three diplomats. “The Holy See has followed with favour this opening of the European Union to the states of Eastern Europe, because it has helped to overcome the division of Europe, arbitrarily imposed in the last century, which went against the continent’s real identity. Today this re-found unity needs to be carefully safeguarded and nurtured. It cannot be limited to the establishment of a large common economic area, but should especially be aimed at ensuring that Project Europe constantly draws strength and vitality from its millenarian history and from its philosophic and religious roots for its own future and the fulfilment of its own task in the world. In our fragile world, so beset by dangers, Europe represents a vital space of prosperity and security. From the viewpoint of economic life, Europe also represents a rich continent, destined also in future to attract many poor people from the disadvantaged regions of the southern hemisphere. The European Union can rightly boast of being a union of democratic states, which have created a reciprocal link in a wholly new form. This represents a model that may possibly be imitated by other groups of states, since it seems ever more necessary to reunite the constructive forces to be able to tackle the challenges of globalization”. to the ambassador of finland, pekka ojanen “Andorra cannot do without those roots that draw nourishment and moral and civil vigour from the Good News. It is my fervent hope that the Christian heritage may continue to be the inspiring motive of the whole community, in the promotion of a social order based on the values of justice, truth, freedom and love. A democracy without values is transformed into a tyranny of relativism, into a loss of its own identity, and, in the long run, may degenerate into open or insidious totalitarianism, as history has many times shown”. to the ambassador of andorra, antoni morell mora “In Denmark, as in many European countries, there is a wide debate on the challenges connected with immigration. I invite the Danish people to give a welcome to the immigrants who have newly arrived in their territory and I trust that those who have found a home in Denmark may also respect the values and the sensibilities of their host nation. It is my fervent hope that ecumenical dialogue with the Lutheran Church may begin to make significant progress and I trust that you will do everything in your power to encourage it. In view of the phenomenon of immigration, interfaith dialogue is assuming ever-growing significance”. to the ambassador of denmark, sten erik mamlmborg lilhot