ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO H.E. MR MAURICE OSCAR ST JOHN
AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
TO THE HOLY SEE*

Friday, 4 January 1984

Mr Ambassador,

As you present the Letters accrediting you as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Vatican and to thank you for the good wishes you have conveyed from His Excellency the President and from the Prime Minister. I ask that you kindly extend my warmest greetings to them and assure them of my prayers for all the people of your nation.

You come as the first Ambassador of your country to the Holy See. For this reason today is a particularly happy one for us, for it marks the beginning of closer collaboration while it is a sign of the good relations which we already enjoy. You have made reference, Your Excellency, to the defence of human rights and to the promotion of justice, peace and fraternal collaboration. Common efforts taken to achieve these goals are indeed of great importance for peoples of every nation and for the international community as a whole. In this, diplomatic relations between countries have a special role to play, the role of fostering dialogue and of seeking to forge ever stronger bonds of understanding and trust.

I am pleased that you have referred to the significant contribution which the Church in Trinidad and Tobago has made to the educational, social and cultural development of the nation. The Church always seeks to cooperate with men and women of good will in whatever contributes to integral human development and the betterment of society. Such cooperation is facilitated by countries such as yours, which provide in their Constitutions for freedom of conscience and of religious belief and observance. And I would assure you that the Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago wishes to continue to collaborate in these worthy endeavours while, at the same time, she pursues her primary mission of proclaming the saving message of Jesus Christ.

Mr Ambassador, as you assume your diplomatic functions, I promise you the full cooperation of the Holy See for the successful accomplishment of your mission. I ask Almighty God to grant you health and happiness in your work and to bless all the people of your country with prosperity and enduring peace.

*AAS 76 (1984), p. 596-597.

Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II VII, 1 pp. 119-120.

L'Attività della Santa Sede 1984 pp. 50-51.

L’Osservatore Romano 21.1.1984 p.4.

L'Osservatore Romano. Weekly Edition in English n.6 p.10.

© Copyright 1984 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana