ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER PAUL VI
TO KING HUSSEIN IBN TALLAL OF JORDAN*

Saturday, 29 April 1978

Your Majesty,

It gives us much pleasure to extend our most cordial welcome to Your Majesty and to the distinguished persons who have accompanied you.

This meeting recalls to our mind the courteous visit you made to us in May 1964 and, especially, the unforgettable days of our earlier pilgrimage to the Holy Land, during which Your Majesty and the people of Jordan gave us so warm and spontaneous a reception.

We take the occasion of this meeting to renew to the noble people of your Kingdom our most fervent good wishes for prosperity and peace, with the blessing of the Most High. It is our hope that the economic and social development that your country is pursuing, under the wise guidance of those who govern it, may always be accompanied by a deep religious and moral spirit in all citizens, and especially in the younger generation, from the first moment of their education.

Your Majesty may rest assured of the loyalty with which, in its own field, the Catholic community in Jordan will make its contribution to that progress, in collaboration with the authorities and with their fellow-citizens.

The problem of peace in the troubled area of the Middle East is, as you know, a source of lively preoccupation and constant concern to the Holy See. Knowing Your Majesty’s commitment to the search for a peace based on a well-balanced recognition of the legitimate demands of the various parties, we wish to declare to you our heartfelt desire that the leaders concerned may come decisively to grips with the crucial issues of the conflict, and through wisdom and good will find a speedy solution to them. In particular, we once again express the hope that a just end may be put to the sad situation of the Palestinians, and that Jerusalem, the Holy City for the three great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, may really become the “high place” of peace and encounter for peoples from every part of the world who, in spite of their diversity, are joined in brotherhood by the worship they offer to the one and only God.

With these wishes, we beg the Almighty to grant to Your Majesty, the Royal Family and the whole Kingdom of Jordan his protection and his abundant favours.

*AAS 70 (1978), p.335-336;

Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. XVI, p.317-318;

L’Attività della Santa Sede 1978, p.111-112;

OR 30.4.1978, p.1;

ORa n.19 p.2 .