ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI
TO THE PRESIDENT OF MEXICO*

Saturday, 9 February 1974

Mr. President,

It gives us particular satisfaction to welcome today, in the person of Your Excellency, the President of a great and noble nation, Mexico. We do not think we are going beyond the framework in which this meeting is taking place if we say that our greeting is extended to include all Mexicans, who will certainly perceive the deep significance of this occasion, memorable for so many reasons.

We wish to testify to our esteem and admiration for a noble and generous country such as yours, from whose sons we receive continual proof of their affection and devotion to this Apostolic See. It is they who, arriving here in large numbers, have borne witness, with their greetings, their appearance and their resolutions, to the pure, civil and moral virtues a which make the Mexican people a united, hard-working society, every day more flourishing, whose members feel the responsibility of intensifying an atmosphere of constant striving, within which each one is encouraged to develop fully his personal capacities and to fulfill his deep aspirations.

In conformity with the directives of Vatican II, with an ever increasing sensitiveness to the healthy and legitimate hopes of men, and with the understanding typical of one who is "Mother and Teacher", the Church will not fail to collaborate eagerly in everything that serves the cause of justice, cultural betterment, true progress, the common good and peace in the world; giving particular care to support for the poor, for the underprivileged sectors which need more help because they possess less or lack everything. This attitude is at the same time a demand for, and the proof of, the deep respect that the dignity of man, every man, deserves.

The Church follows with lively interest all those initiatives of a civic and social character promoted in Mexico and directed to the real development which is in the mind and the rightful aspirations of all its citizens, and at guaranteeing the country the distinguished place it already occupies and which is its right in the family of nations. In this praiseworthy effort of complete elevation, the Church, faithful to her own identity and tradition, has loyally put, and will continue to put, the contributions of her humble ministry at the disposal of the good of all without concern with competition or exclusivism.

We know well and appreciate, Mr. President, your dedication – interpreting the feeling of the Mexican people, so rich in virtues – to the cause of peace, to the harmonious coexistence of the nations, to the serene and fruitful development of peoples based on mutual respect of rights and duties. Your Excellency, as we are well aware, has promoted this subject with such personal commitment and such authority. These feelings and purposes, which so many men of goodwill are pursuing and which yourself have proclaimed in the exercise of our pontificate, will always find a ready and open response in us in harmony with the deep and constant concern to which the documents and initiatives of this Apostolic See testify.

Repeating to you, Mr. President, our gratitude for your respectful visit, we express our best wishes for yourself and your noble mission at the head of the great Mexican nation. We wish its sons continuing days of peace and prosperity and the choicest divine blessings.

*ORa n.8 p.5.