50 years of Italy at the United Nations
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Amintore Fanfani, President
of the General Assembly
Statement of welcome to Pope Paul VI's Address to United Nations in
20th General Assembly Session, 1347th meeting
October, 4 1965
On
12 October 1962, John XXIII convened in the Sistine Chapel the
delegations from eighty-six States which had gathered at Rome for the
opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Many of us remember
that at that time, assembled beneath Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”,
Governments were urged to spare no effort, in this bewildering atomic
age, to bring peace to the world. The principles of truth and justice
through which peace could be achieved were simply set forth, at Easter
1963, in the Encyclical Pacem in Terris.1/ In a significant
gesture, the Pontiff forwarded the text to the United Nations, and its
importance was again marked during a special meeting here in February
1965.
Continuing a series of acts already so eloquent in themselves, His
Holiness Paul VI, whom we welcome with respect and gratitude, is here
today in this hall. The Pontiff is greeted, not by frescos heavy with
warnings, but by representatives of 117 States gathered here to
express, at this twentieth session of the General Assembly of the
United Nations, the most recent anxieties, caused by the imbalances,
the oppressions, the perils and the conflicts which still disturb the
human family.
So
august a presence, and the motive for this visit, so highly valued on
this twentieth anniversary of our Organization, recall to our minds
the reasons why peoples and Governments have conferred on us special
responsibilities.
The
Bible, for many of us a sacred book, points to the measure by which
every man will be rewarded or punished in eternity according with the
use he has made of the means and the power conferred on him to give
work, bread, shelter, teaching, freedom, welfare and peace to each of
his fellows. Beyond all creeds, this recollection drives us all to
intensify our efforts in discharging the responsibility laid upon us.
When peace is thus consolidated in truth and justice, every man will
be able freely and in all serenity to advance the progress of all and
to attain his own well-being.
These words express our joy and gratitude for a visit which honours us
so greatly, our respectful tribute to the apostolic pilgrim who has
come to us and our expectancy as to the words we are about to hear.
Allow me to make three wishes: that the message of His Holiness Paul
VI may exhort the peoples, restored to freedom and independence, to
give increasing support to the work of Governments for justice and
progress; that it may inspire all States to do their utmost to make
this Organization an instrument of truly universal peace, and, lastly,
that it may encourage the agencies of the United Nations always to
make their decisions just, timely and effective.
1/
On establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity and liberty
(Vatican Polyglot Press, 1963).
Your Holiness, your visit fills this Assembly with deep gratitude.
And now, after the Secretary-General has spoken, your message,
addressed to us and from this place to the whole world, will be heard
in the expectation that it may prelude the conversion of the three
wishes just expressed to the certitude of freedom, justice and peace. |