The UN headquarters in New York are a sort "of home", and the staff, coming from different cultures and nationalities, are "a microcosm of the whole world, "in which everyone makes an essential contribution from the perspective of their own cultural and religious background": with these words, Benedict XVI spoke today to the UN staff whom he met during his visit to the Glass Palace. The Pope drew a similarity between the UN headquarters and the State of the Vatican City, regarding "their size" compared with the "broad mission" they have to carry out in the world "to promote peace and justice". In admiring the works of art on display, "portraying the effects of war and poverty", the Pope recalled "the duty to work for a better world". But, above all, he paid tribute to all those "civilians and guardians of peace" that all over the world have "sacrificed their lives on the field for the good of the peoples", 42 operators in 2007 alone. The Pope also mentioned "the multitude of people who devote their lives to works that are never appropriately appreciated, often carried out in difficult conditions". As in his speech to the UN General Assembly, he highlighted the "responsibility to protect", which "is starting to be recognised as the moral ground for a government’s right to assert its authority".
