A Bridge between peoples

In the framework of the recent trip of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States, special emphasis was given to the pontiff’s visit to the UN glass building, which Ccee (Council of European Bishops’ Conferences) Secretary General Aldo Giordano reported on for Sir Europe.In this circumstance, we wish to recall the will of Peter’s successors to meet the entire world throughout the course of history. Pope Paul VI paved the way on October 4 1965 in the dual context of the Second Vatican Council and of the Cold War. John Paul II followed in his footsteps in October 1979 and in October 1995. Today the context of international life has changed, however fundamental needs endure. These are: the will to create the conditions for a just and long-lasting peace; the need to defend human dignity along with man’s fundamental rights: life, the family, a job security as well as the right to worship and practice one’s faith. The need is felt for international relations to be based on law; international life ought to be regulated by a widely accepted organism, i.e. the U.N. which, apart from its structural weaknesses, probably represents the best solution to organize a world at risk on the basis of regulations guaranteeing the survival of smaller nations. In the words of the three Pontiffs, the U.N. only is capable of guaranteeing the international community concept. Indeed, the impressive hall of the Organization’s General Assembly exemplifies this concept. “The higher role played by the intrinsic rules and structures ought to be recognized along with the promotion of the common good” – the Holy Father declared on April 18th – “We believe this Organization represents the path that modern society and world peace should follow”. As his predecessors, and on the basis of the great Catholic reflection tradition regarding the ius gentium in the 16th up to the 20th century, the pope underlined the U.N.’s “responsibility to protect” the weak. It is “the great school of peace”, as defined by Paul VI. Most of all, His Holiness dwelled into the topicality of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which recurs its 60th anniversary. Its merit is that “of having enabled different cultures, juridical expressions and institutional models to gather around a basic nucleus of values and rights”. In underlining their truly universal value from the geographical viewpoint, which is permanent from a historical perspective, the Pope criticized those undue “pressures aimed at interpreting its tenets and jeopardizing its inner cohesion”. As relates to human rights, the Pope Benedict devotes a primary role to religious freedom: “the freedom to profess or choose one’ religion” is the cornerstone of all freedoms. Without the freedom of conscience there can be no freedom for mankind. Thus, the Church of the Second Vatican Council is viewed as helping the U.N. act as “a bridge between nations” (Benedict XVI), with the “noble finality” of a “common life of nations and mankind” (John Paul II). Paul VI justified this intervention in the international plane by claiming that the Church “is an expert in humanity” according to a well-known definition, and embodies a twenty-century long history. Pope Ratzinger described the “humanity experience” of the Church, an experience “developed throughout the centuries between peoples of all cultures and races” to be placed at the service “of all members of the international community”. “Experience” and “competence” : these words have had the same meaning for the human person for the past 2000 years. The experience, i.e. the Gospel acting as a guide in the course of history, the social Magisterium of the Church and Christian anthropology, all foster the knowledge of the human person and men’s presence in society. In this framework, the Holy See may be seen – as described by Leo XIII – “the highest moral authority in the world”. As Pope Paul VI said, the Church “takes on the burden of man as a whole and the whole of mankind”. The U.N.’s task is thus to coordinate the concrete organization of the world. However, it should not content itself with listening to the Pope with respect since it could be greatly inspired by the attentive consideration of the pontiff’s words, born in Europe from the long pilgrimage of the Church amongst mankind.