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Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
 Pope's
Address to Diplomatic Corps in Ankara
"Religious Liberty Is a Fundamental Expression of Human Liberty"
H.H. Benedict XVI
November 28, 2006
www.zenit.org
ANKARA, Turkey, NOV. 28, 2006
(Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI delivered today when
meeting the diplomatic corps accredited in Ankara.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I greet you with great joy, Ambassadors charged with the noble task
of representing your countries to the Republic of Turkey, and
assembled here in the Nunciature to meet the Successor of Peter. I
am grateful to your Vice-Dean, the Ambassador of Lebanon, for the
kind words which he has addressed to me. I am pleased to reconfirm
the appreciation that the Holy See has often expressed for the
important duties that you perform, which today take on an
increasingly global dimension. In fact, while your mission calls you
above all to protect and promote the legitimate interests of your
respective nations, "the inevitable interdependence which today
increasingly unites peoples of the world, invites diplomats to be,
in a new and original way, promoters of understanding, international
security and peace between nations" (John Paul II, Address to the
Diplomatic Corps, Mexico, 29 June 1979).
I want to begin by calling to mind the memorable visits of my two
predecessors in Turkey, Pope Paul VI in 1967 and Pope John Paul II
in 1979. Nor could I fail to mention Pope Benedict XV, the untiring
promoter of peace during World War I, and Blessed John XXIII, the
Pope known as the "friend of Turks", who after his years as
Apostolic Delegate in Turkey and Apostolic Administrator of the
Latin Vicariate of Istanbul, left everyone with the memory of an
attentive and loving pastor, particularly eager to meet and come to
know the Turkish people, whose grateful guest he was! I am therefore
happy to be a guest of Turkey today, having come here as a friend
and as an apostle of dialogue and peace.
More than forty years ago, the Second Vatican Council wrote that
"Peace is more than the absence of war: it cannot be reduced to the
maintenance of a balance of power between opposing forces … but it
is the fruit of the right ordering of things with which the divine
founder has invested human society and which must be brought about
by humanity in its thirst for an ever more perfect reign of justice"
(Gaudium et Spes, 78). We have come to realize that true peace needs
justice, to correct the economic imbalances and political
disturbances which always give rise to tension and threaten every
society. The recent developments in terrorism and in certain
regional conflicts have highlighted the need to respect the
decisions of international institutions and also to support them, in
particular by giving them effective means to prevent conflicts and
to maintain neutral zones between belligerents, through the presence
of peacekeeping forces.
All this, however, remains insufficient unless there is authentic
dialogue, that is to say fruitful debate between the parties
concerned, in order to arrive at lasting and acceptable political
solutions, respectful of persons and peoples. I am thinking most
especially of the disturbing conflict in the Middle East, which
shows no sign of abating and weighs heavily on the whole of
international life; I am thinking of the risk of peripheral
conflicts multiplying and terrorist actions spreading. I appreciate
the efforts of numerous countries currently engaged in rebuilding
peace in Lebanon, Turkey among them.
In your presence, Ambassadors, I appeal once more to the vigilance
of the international community, that it not abandon its
responsibilities, but make every effort to promote dialogue among
all parties involved, which alone can guarantee respect for others,
while safeguarding legitimate interests and rejecting recourse to
violence. As I wrote in my first World Day of Peace Message, "the
truth of peace calls upon everyone to cultivate productive and
sincere relationships; it encourages them to seek out and to follow
the paths of forgiveness and reconciliation, to be transparent in
their dealings with others, and to be faithful to their word" (1
January 2006, 6).
Turkey has always served as a bridge between East and West, between
Asia and Europe, and as a crossroads of cultures and religions.
During the last century, she acquired the means to become a great
modern State, notably by the choice of a secular regime, with a
clear distinction between civil society and religion, each of which
was to be autonomous in its proper domain while respecting the
sphere of the other. The fact that the majority of the population of
this country is Muslim is a significant element in the life of
society, which the State cannot fail to take into account, yet the
Turkish Constitution recognizes every citizen's right to freedom of
worship and freedom of conscience. The civil authorities of every
democratic country are duty bound to guarantee the effective freedom
of all believers and to permit them to organize freely the life of
their religious communities.
Naturally it is my hope that believers, whichever religious
community they belong to, will continue to benefit from these
rights, since I am certain that religious liberty is a fundamental
expression of human liberty and that the active presence of
religions in society is a source of progress and enrichment for all.
This assumes, of course, that religions do not seek to exercise
direct political power, as that is not their province, and it also
assumes that they utterly refuse to sanction recourse to violence as
a legitimate expression of religion. In this regard, I appreciate
the work of the Catholic community in Turkey, small in number but
deeply committed to contributing all it can to the country's
development, notably by educating the young, and by building peace
and harmony among all citizens.
As I have recently observed, "we are in great need of an authentic
dialogue between religions and between cultures, capable of
assisting us, in a spirit of fruitful co-operation, to overcome all
the tensions together" (Address to the Ambassadors of Countries with
a Muslim Majority, Castel Gandolfo, 25 September 2006). This
dialogue must enable different religions to come to know one another
better and to respect one another, in order to work for the
fulfillment of man's noblest aspirations, in search of God and in
search of happiness.
For my part, on the occasion of my visit to Turkey, I wish to
reiterate my great esteem for Muslims, encouraging them to continue
to work together, in mutual respect, to promote the dignity of every
human being and the growth of a society where personal freedom and
care for others provide peace and serenity for all. In this way,
religions will be able to play their part in responding to the
numerous challenges currently facing our societies. Assuredly,
recognition of the positive role of religions within the fabric of
society can and must impel us to explore more deeply their knowledge
of man and to respect his dignity, by placing him at the centre of
political, economic, cultural and social activity. Our world must
come to realize that all people are linked by profound solidarity
with one another, and they must be encouraged to assert their
historical and cultural differences not for the sake of
confrontation, but in order to foster mutual respect.
The Church, as you know, has received a spiritual mission from her
Founder and therefore she has no intention of intervening directly
in political or economic life. However, by virtue of her mission and
her long experience of the history of societies and cultures, she
wishes to make her voice heard in international debate, so that
man's fundamental dignity, especially that of the weakest, may
always be honored. Given the recent development of the phenomenon of
globalized communications, the Holy See looks to the international
community to give a clearer lead by establishing rules for better
control of economic development, regulating markets, and fostering
regional accords between countries. I have no doubt, Ladies and
Gentlemen, that in your mission as diplomats you are eager to
harmonize the particular interests of your country with the need to
maintain good relations with other countries, and that in this way
you can contribute significantly to the service of all.
The voice of the Church on the diplomatic scene is always
characterized by the Gospel commitment to serve the cause of
humanity, and I would be failing in this fundamental obligation if I
did not remind you of the need always to place human dignity at the
very heart of our concerns. The world is experiencing an
extraordinary development of science and technology, with almost
immediate consequences for medicine, agriculture and food
production, but also for the communication of knowledge; this
process must not lack direction or a human point of reference, when
it relates to birth, education, manner of life or work, of old age,
or death. It is necessary to re-position modern progress within the
continuity of our human history and thus to guide it according to
the plan written into our nature for the growth of humanity -- a
plan expressed by the words of the book of Genesis as follows: "Be
fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it" (1:28).
Finally, as my thoughts turn to the first Christian communities that
sprang up in this land, and especially to the Apostle Paul who
established several of them himself, allow me to quote from his
Letter to the Galatians: "You were called to freedom, brethren; only
do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through
love be servants of one another" (5:13). I sincerely hope that the
good relations between nations, which it is your task to serve, may
also contribute increasingly to the genuine growth of humanity,
created in the image of God. Such a noble goal requires the
contribution of all.
For this reason the Catholic Church intends to renew its
co-operation with the Orthodox Church and I hope that my forthcoming
meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew I at the Phanar will effectively
serve this objective. As the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
emphasized, the Church seeks to cooperate with believers and leaders
of all religions, and especially with Muslims, in order that
together they may "preserve and promote peace, liberty, social
justice and moral values" (Nostra Aetate, 3). I hope, from this
viewpoint, that my journey to Turkey will bring abundant fruits.
Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen, upon you, upon your families and
upon all your co-workers, I invoke with all my heart the Blessings
of the Almighty.
[Original text in French and English. The English translation was
issued by the Holy See]
© Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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