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ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO
H.E. Mr. MOUKHTAR WAWA DAHAB
AMBASSADOR OF CHAD TO THE HOLY SEE
*

Clementine Hall
Thursday 18 May 2006


Mr Ambassador,

I am happy to welcome you, Your Excellency, for the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Chad to the Holy See.

I am touched by your kind words and grateful for the cordial greetings you have conveyed to me from H.E. Mr Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic, as well as from the Government and the People of Chad. Please reciprocate by assuring His Excellency the President of my best wishes for his happiness and prosperity and for that of all Chadians, while I ask Almighty God to preserve the Nation in peace and concord.

As you stressed, Mr Ambassador, your Country has embarked on consolidating a democratic process. This is a long-term project that in particular requires all to accept a certain number of values, such as the dignity of the human person and respect for human rights and for the common good as the purpose of, and criterion for, the regulation of political and social life (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, n. 407).

In fact, the human person must be the focus of all social life. It is the role of those responsible for the State and of the civil Authorities to serve the citizens, seeking out and putting into practice all that can contribute to the smooth functioning of society in accordance with the principles of justice.
It is consequently essential that the wealth produced by the exploitation of natural resources be managed in an increasingly transparent way, so that they are effectively used for the integral development of the population in solidarity, and for the improvement of people's standard of living.

In referring to the difficult situation that your Country is currently experiencing, Mr Ambassador, you expressed the hope that true peace might be definitively established. Peace is a profound aspiration present in every human heart. Therefore, it is indispensable that all feel involved in achieving it in an authentic and lasting way, basing it on solid and just foundations.

To this end, dialogue and concord between all parties concerned are essential. They foster the common good of the Nation, avoiding recourse to weapons to overcome differences that can never be settled by violence.

Indeed, dialogue is an act of trust in every human being who bears within himself the ability to surpass divisions, and it is when dialogue does not exist that peace is threatened.

The Catholic Church, aware on her part that the commitment to build peace and justice is part of the mission she has received from her Founder, intends to contribute, through her own means, to establishing and consolidating peace in societies and between peoples. For the Church, true peace is only possible through dialogue founded on forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as on respect for the rights of each person.

Nonetheless, she is also convinced that this does not exclude the need to take into account the requirements of justice and truth, which are the conditions for authentic reconciliation.

I therefore warmly hope, Mr Ambassador, that all forms of violence may cease in your Country through a true dialogue between all the parties concerned, and that the time of reconciliation may come so that all Chadians may be granted to live peacefully and to build together a more and more brotherly and supportive society.

In order to succeed, I also hope that all Government Leaders in the region will set at the centre of their concerns a firm and reliable determination to achieve peace and justice for the good of their peoples, and that they encourage good neighbourly relations and solidarity among them.

On this solemn occasion, Mr Ambassador, I would also like to greet through you the Catholic Community of Chad. I appreciate the attention you pay to its spiritual mission and action in society. Together with the Bishops, it witnesses generously to the love disciples of Christ must have for one and all. I ask it to stay united around its Pastors and to work zealously for reconciliation and peace.

At the time when you are beginning your mission to the Holy See, I offer you my best wishes for its success. You may rest assured that with my collaborators you will always find the attentive welcome and cordial understanding that you may need. I wholeheartedly invoke upon you, Your Excellency, upon your collaborators, your family and the Chadian People and their leaders an abundance of divine Blessings.


*L'Osservatore Romano. Weekly Edition in English n. 24 p. 9.

 

© Copyright 2006 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana



Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana