ZENIT, Daily dispatch
The World Seen From Rome
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VATICAN DOSSIER
* Faith and Reason Can Be Friends, Says Pope
* Benedict XVI Mourns for Japanese Cardinal
WORLD FEATURES
* Teamwork Needed to Help Refugees, Says Holy See
* Abortion Group Secretly Buys Denver Property
* 2 Chaplains Hailed as Models of Generosity
NEWS BRIEFS
* "Vocational Poverty" Linked to Youth Violence
SPIRITUALITY
* God Is Not God of the Dead
FORUM
* A Martyr's Letter to His Girlfriend
DOCUMENTS
* Papal Address to Catholic Pharmacists Congress
* Holy See on U.N. Report Concerning Refugees
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VATICAN DOSSIER
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Faith and Reason Can Be Friends, Says Pope
Urges University Students to Unite Belief and Knowledge
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is inviting university students to show with the testimony of their lives that a friendship between faith and reason is possible.
Today in the Vatican, the Pope received in audience a delegation from the Italian Catholic University Federation (FUCI) for the occasion of the organization's 110th anniversary. The Holy Father affirmed that the organization "has contributed to the formation of entire generations of exemplary Christians who have proved capable of translating the Gospel into life and with life, dedicating themselves in the cultural, civil, social and ecclesial fields."
In this context, he recalled Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati and Blessed Alberto Marvelli; the Italian politicians Aldo Moro and Vittorio Bachelet, "both barbarously murdered"; and the future Pope Paul VI, "who was the principal ecclesiastical assistant to FUCI during the difficult years of fascism."
Transformation
The Pontiff noted that in the mid-1990s "the academic system in Italy underwent a radical reformation, and today has an entirely different aspect, full of promise for the future but also having elements that give rise to legitimate concern."
He explained: "It is precisely in this field that FUCI can, even today, fully express its original and ever-valid charism: a convinced witness to the 'possible friendship' between knowledge and faith. This involves incessant efforts to unite maturity in faith with growth through study and the acquisition of academic knowledge.
"Study also represents a providential opportunity to progress along the road of faith, because well-cultivated intelligence opens man's heart to listening to the voice of God, highlighting the importance of discernment and humility."
At any cost
The Pope affirmed that "people who wish to be Christ's disciples are called to go against the tide" and not to let themselves be influenced by messages that propagate "arrogance and the achievement of success at all costs."
He said that in modern society, "there exists a race, sometimes a desperate race, toward appearance and possession at all costs, at the expense, unfortunately, of being. The Church, teacher of humanity, never tires of exhorting people, especially the young of whom you are a part, to remain watchful and not to fear choosing 'alternative' paths which only Christ can indicate."
"Jesus calls all his friends to live in sobriety and solidarity, to create sincere and disinterested emotional relationships with others," Benedict XVI added. "From you, dear young students, he asks for honest commitment to study, cultivating a mature sense of responsibility and a shared interest in the common good.
"May your years at university be, then, training for a convinced and courageous evangelical witness. And to realize your mission, seek to cultivate an intimate friendship with the divine Master, enrolling yourselves in the school of Mary, Seat of Learning."
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Benedict XVI Mourns for Japanese Cardinal
Was Past President of Council for Migrants and Travelers
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has expressed his sorrow at the death of Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, past president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.
The cardinal died in Tokyo on Thursday at age 77 after a battle with cancer. His funeral will be held in Yokohama, Japan, where he was bishop before Pope John Paul II called him to his post with the Roman Curia.
Benedict XVI sent two messages of condolence, one to the cardinal's sister, Teresa Tereku Uematsu, another to the current bishop of Yokohama, Rafael Masahiro Umemura.
The Pope recalled the cardinal as a "devoted witness to the Gospel" and noted "his lively concern for the poor and his generous service to the universal Church."
Stephen Fumio Hamao was born in 1930 in Tokyo. He was ordained a priest at age 27 and in 1970 was named auxiliary bishop of Tokyo. In 1979, he was made bishop of Yokohama.
He dedicated himself to the care of youth, immigrants, refugees and the poor, in particular as president of Caritas Asia and Oceania.
In 1995, he was elected president of Japan's episcopal conference. Three years later, John Paul II called him to Rome to be president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.
At age 76, in 2006, Cardinal Hamao presented his resignation from that post to Benedict XVI.
The College of Cardinals now has 178 members, 103 who could vote in a conclave and 75 who are over age 80, and thus non-voters.
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WORLD FEATURES
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Teamwork Needed to Help Refugees, Says Holy See
Calls For Collaboration Between States and Organizations
NEW YORK, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Civil and faith-based organizations need to join with governments in protecting refugees' rights and human dignity, the Holy See affirmed.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, affirmed this today when he addressed the 62nd session of the U.N. General Assembly on the topic of refugees and their vulnerability.
"The challenges are many, complex and daunting," the archbishop said. "Our sense of humanity is confronted everyday with news of migrants and refugees -- generally a mixture of both and most often undocumented -- who try to cross borders in search of safety and better living conditions. In such attempts, many lives are lost everyday.
"Preoccupations have been expressed that the status of such peoples is caught in legal grey areas, especially when they move across frontiers of countries or regions with rigid migration policies. Concerns increase when doubts arise regarding the applicability of existing international instruments, or when no legal instruments of protection exist. It seems therefore urgent to consider a coordinated international effort, with a view to seeking greater clarity in existing legal instruments of protection or, if need be, to establishing new ones."
However, Archbishop Migliore affirmed, "regardless of such legal grey areas and irrespective of their status as refugees, displaced persons or undocumented migrants, their dignity and human rights cannot be violated nor ignored. Their right to life, to personal security, to liberty of conscience and of religion, to non-discrimination, especially of those most vulnerable like children, come before any legal or political consideration. My delegation therefore appeals to all countries and regions concerned to employ all those measures which are apt to ensure that the human rights of those peoples in such precarious situations are adequately protected and their human dignity respected."
Particular problems
Archbishop Migliore mentioned specifically the conflicts surrounding the Congo, Chad, Darfur and Afghanistan, as well as the Middle East and Iraq.
"In particular, the Holy See would like once again to draw the attention of the international community to the sufferings of the Iraqi refugees and displaced persons, who flee from indiscriminate attacks, from sectarian and violent acts based on political and religious convictions and on affiliation to specific social groups. This has been the most rapid and massive population displacement during the last years," he said.
"Benedict XVI and many Catholic institutions have repeatedly appealed for urgent measures needed to guarantee protection of and assistance to those persons, while waiting that conditions in their country improve to allow their return," the archbishop added.
Finally, Archbishop Migliore reiterated the need for collaboration among states and other organizations.
"These huge humanitarian challenges can only be responsibly faced through factual collaboration among states, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and civil society," he said. "Such collaboration, conducted in reciprocal trust and solidarity, can truly generate coherent and concrete answers to the cry for help of those in need of international protection."
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Abortion Group Secretly Buys Denver Property
Bishops Want Public to Know Truth About Planned Parenthood
DENVER, Colorado, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Colorado bishops decried the secrecy that surrounded the new acquisition of new Planned Parenthood facilities in their state, and said the public deserves to know the truth about the organization.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Bishop Arthur Tafoya of Pueblo issued a joint statement Thursday on the recent ground breaking of the new Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains' headquarters and clinic in northeast Denver.
In the statement, issued through the Colorado Catholic Conference, the bishops decry the way Planned Parenthood acquired the property for the new clinic, under the guise of a different name.
Planned Parenthood told The Denver Post that it planned to complete the entire project in secrecy to avoid protests and delays that other Planned Parenthood buildings have encountered around the country.
"The public deserves to know the facts about Planned Parenthood," the bishops wrote. "Planned Parenthood calls itself pro-child, pro-woman, and pro-family. Yet it is an organization based on falsehoods about the human person, the family and community life.
"When a minor comes to Planned Parenthood, she is provided information on contraception, sex education and treatment of STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] without parental notification. How can Planned Parenthood justify calling itself pro-family or pro-child when it intrudes itself between a child and parent?"
"We urge the Catholic community and all people of good will to defend themselves and their beliefs against Planned Parenthood by every legal and ethical means at their disposal," the bishops said. "We ask all Catholics to pray, within their families and parish communities, that the dignity and sanctity of every human life will be upheld at all stages of development."
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2 Chaplains Hailed as Models of Generosity
Military Archdiocese Issues Letter for Veterans Day
WASHINGTON, D.C., NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Two military chaplains who died on duty, and who have since been declared Servants of God, were presented as models of generosity by the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Bishop Richard Higgins, archdiocesan administrator and vicar for veterans affairs of the military archdiocese, said this in a statement issued today in honor of Veterans Day, to be observed this Sunday.
The bishop said Father Emil Kapaun (1916-1951) and Father Vincent Capodanno (1929-1967) "exemplified the best characteristics of true Christian generosity and compassion for their brother soldiers. In giving their lives in the service of God and country, they lived the Gospel message of 'laying down one's life' for one's friends and fellow soldiers."
Father Kapaun, a native of Kansas, served as an Army chaplain during the Korean War. The captain was taken as a prisoner of war on Nov. 2, 1950, seized by the enemy as he administered the last rites to a dying soldier.
During the seven months he spent in prison, Father Kapaun nursed the sick and wounded until a blood clot in his leg prevented his daily rounds. Moved to a hospital, but denied medications, his death soon followed on May 23, 1951. He was decreed a servant of God in 1993.
Grunt Padre
Father Capodanno, a native of New York, was first a Maryknoll missionary serving in Taiwan and Hong Kong before he served as a navy chaplain in Vietnam beginning in 1966. Upon completing his first tour of duty with the 7th Marine Regiment, the lieutenant asked for an extension. He then served in a naval hospital until he was assigned to the 5th Marine Regiment.
The priest, nicknamed the "Grunt Padre," volunteered to assist his men during the intense fighting of Operation Swift, on Sept. 4, 1967. He was wounded in the face, and suffered another that almost severed his hand, but he continued working to administer last rites to the dying.
He was fatally shot while attempting to help to a corpsman. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 1969, and was declared a servant of God in 2006.
"Today," said Bishop Higgins, "we pay tribute to every man and woman who faithfully served in the noble causes of securing peace and freedom in the military service of our great nation. Whether storming the beaches of Normandy, battling the brutal winters of Korea, enduring the steaming jungles of Vietnam, or securing order to distant and troubled lands in the Middle East, our American service members exemplify a true culture of generosity.
"The same devoted spirit that drove our patriotic ancestors to fight alongside General Washington and General Patton still rings true for those who fight alongside our current generals in Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever American troops are deployed."
The Archdiocese for the Military Services serves Catholics in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Medical Centers and Government Services Overseas.
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NEWS BRIEFS
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"Vocational Poverty" Linked to Youth Violence
Prelate Presents Book on God's Call in the Bible
ROME, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- One of the main forms of modern-day poverty is lacking a sense of meaning in life and a sense of vocation, says a Vatican official.
Archbishop Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica and the president of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, said this recently from Vatican Radio headquarters when he presented "Il Dizionario Biblico della Vocazione" (A Biblical Dictionary of Vocations,) published by the International Vocation Rogate Center of Rome.
The archbishop, who will be made a cardinal in the Nov. 24 consistory, revealed that he made this reflection after reading about cases of senseless violence among youth and adolescents.
"Vocational poverty is not a problem affecting only us; it is not a clerical problem," he clarified at the Oct. 30 event. "This is a basic problem, since the vocation to life is in crisis. It is a problem for all of society, since youth convert themselves into a problem, a drama, a danger for everyone. Without vocation, a person cannot live, because life stops having a meaning, loses its value. When one lacks God, nothing remains to fill him up."
The 1,128-page Italian-language dictionary includes the "vocational testimony" of 160 biblical characters. The book is especially directed to youth and aims to open dialogue with cultural and academic leaders.
The principal rule and guide of the biblical research in the dictionary, explained Giuseppe de Virgilio, the scientific editor of the volume, was to "consider the 'vocation-call,' not just as an object of biblical theology, but as a 'category-horizon-principle-symbol' of all of revelation contained in sacred Scripture."
The vocation, explained the editor of the dictionary, can be interpreted as a "revelation of the work of God in history, that is essentially, a call to salvation. It is God, presented in the Bible as 'he who speaks,' who 'chooses to communicate himself in the mystery of love for man.'"
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SPIRITUALITY
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God Is Not God of the Dead
Gospel Commentary for the 32rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- In reply to the question that the Sadducees had posed to trap him about the woman who had had seven husbands on earth, Jesus above all reaffirms the fact of the resurrection, correcting at the same time the Sadducees' materialistic caricature of it.
Eternal beatitude is not just an increase and prolongation of terrestrial joys, the maximization of the pleasures of the flesh and the table. The other life is truly another life, a life of a different quality. It is true that it is the fulfillment of all man's longings on earth, yet it is infinitely more, on a different level. "Those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels."At the end of the Gospel passage, Jesus explains the reason why there must be life after death. "That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out 'Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,' and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." Where in that is the proof that the dead rise? If God is defined as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is a God of the living, not of the
dead, then this means that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive somewhere, even if they have been dead for centuries at the time that God talks to Moses.
Interpreting Jesus' answer to the Sadducees in an erroneous way, some have claimed that marriage has no follow-up in heaven. But with his reply Jesus rejects the caricature that the Sadducees present of heaven, a caricature that suggests that it is a simple continuation of the earthly relationships of the spouses. He does not deny that they might rediscover in God the bond that united them on earth.
Is it possible that a husband and wife, after a life that brought them into relation with God through the miracle of creation, will not in eternal life have anything more in common, as if all were forgotten, lost? Would this not be contrary to Jesus' word according to which that which God has united must not be divided? If God united them on earth, how could he divide them in heaven? Could an entire life spent together end in nothing without betraying the meaning of this present life, which is a preparation for the kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth?
It is Scripture itself, and not only the natural desire of the husband and wife, that supports this hope. Marriage, Scripture says, is "a great sacrament" because it symbolizes the union between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32). Is it possible that it be eliminated in the heavenly Jerusalem, where there will be celebrated the eternal wedding feast of Christ and the Church of which the marriage of man and woman is an image?
According to this vision, matrimony does not entirely end with death but is transfigured, spiritualized -- it loses those limits that mark life on earth -- in the same way that the bonds between parents and children or between friends will not be forgotten. In the preface of the Mass for the dead, the liturgy says that with death "life is changed, not taken away"; the same must be said of marriage, which is an integral part of life.
But what about those who have had a negative experience of earthly marriage, an experience of misunderstanding and suffering? Should not this idea that the marital bond will not break at death be for them, rather than a consolation, a reason for fear? No, for in the passage from time to eternity the good remains and evil falls away. The love that united them, perhaps for only a brief time, remains; defects, misunderstandings, suffering that they inflicted on each other, will fall away. Many spouses will experience true love for each other only when they will be reunited "in God," and with this love there will be the joy and fullness of the union that they did not know on earth. This is also what happens to the love between Faust and Margaret in Goethe's story: "Only in heaven the unreachable -- that is, the total and pacific union between two creatures who love each other -- will become reality." In God all will be understood, all will be excused, all will be forgiven.
And what can be said about those who have been legitimately married to different people, widowers and widows who have remarried. (This was the case presented to Jesus of the seven brothers who successively had the same woman as their wife.) Even for them we must repeat the same thing: That which was truly love and self-surrender between each of the husbands or wives, being objectively a good coming from God, will not be dissolved. In heaven there will not be rivalry in love or jealousy. These things do not belong to true love but to the intrinsic limits of the creature.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:15-3:5; Luke 20:27-38.
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FORUM
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A Martyr's Letter to His Girlfriend
"Let My Memory Always Remind You There Is a Better Life"
MADRID, Spain, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of a letter from Bartolomé Blanco Márquez, written to his girlfriend from prison the day before he was executed during religious persecution in 1930s Spain. Márquez was beatified Oct. 28; the letter is published in the "Summarium Super Martyrio" of his beatification cause.
Bartolomé Blanco Márquez was born in Cordoba in 1914. He was arrested as a Catholic leader -- he was the secretary of Catholic Action and a delegate to the Catholic Syndicates -- on Aug. 18, 1936. He was executed on Oct. 2, 1936, at age 21, while he cried out, "Long live Christ the King!"
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Provincial prison of Jaen, Oct. 1, 1936
My dearest Maruja:
Your memory will remain with me to the grave and, as long as the slightest throb stirs my heart, it will beat for love of you. God has deemed fit to sublimate these worldly affections, ennobling them when we love each other in him. Though in my final days, God is my light and what I long for, this does not mean that the recollection of the one dearest to me will not accompany me until the hour of my death.
I am assisted by many priests who -- what a sweet comfort -- pour out the treasures of grace into my soul, strengthening it. I look death in the eye and, believe my words, it does not daunt me or make me afraid.
My sentence before the court of mankind will be my soundest defense before God's court; in their effort to revile me, they have ennobled me; in trying to sentence me, they have absolved me, and by attempting to lose me, they have saved me. Do you see what I mean? Why, of course! Because in killing me, they grant me true life and in condemning me for always upholding the highest ideals of religion, country and family, they swing open before me the doors of heaven.
My body will be buried in a grave in this cemetery of Jaen; while I am left with only a few hours before that definitive repose, allow me to ask but one thing of you: that in memory of the love we shared, which at this moment is enhanced, that you would take on as your primary objective the salvation of your soul. In that way, we will procure our reuniting in heaven for all eternity, where nothing will separate us.
Goodbye, until that moment, then, dearest Maruja! Do not forget that I am looking at you from heaven, and try to be a model Christian woman, since, in the end, worldly goods and delights are of no avail if we do not manage to save our souls.
My thoughts of gratitude to all your family and, for you, all my love, sublimated in the hours of death. Do not forget me, my Maruja, and let my memory always remind you there is a better life, and that attaining it should constitute our highest aspiration.
Be strong and make a new life; you are young and kind, and you will have God's help, which I will implore upon you from his kingdom. Goodbye, until eternity, then, when we shall continue to love each other for life everlasting.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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DOCUMENTS
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Papal Address to Catholic Pharmacists Congress
You "Must Invite Each Person to Advance Humanity"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 8, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of Benedict XVI's address Oct. 29 to participants of the 25th International Congress of Catholic Pharmacists, held in Rome.
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ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
OF CATHOLIC PHARMACISTS
Consistory Hall
Monday, 29 October 2007
Mr President,
Dear Friends,
I am happy to welcome you, members of the International Congress of Catholic Pharmacists, on the occasion of your 25th Congress, whose theme is: "The new boundaries of the pharmaceutical act".
The current development of an arsenal of medicines and the resulting possibilities for treatment oblige pharmacists to reflect on the ever broader functions they are called to fulfil, particularly as intermediaries between doctor and patient; they have an educational role with patients to teach them the proper dosage of their medication and especially to acquaint them with the ethical implications of the use of certain drugs. In this context, it is not possible to anaesthetize consciences, for example, concerning the effects of particles whose purpose is to prevent an embryo's implantation or to shorten a person's life. The pharmacist must invite each person to advance humanity, so that every being may be protected from the moment of conception until natural death, and that medicines may fulfil properly their therapeutic role. No person, moreover, may be used thoughtlessly as an object for the purpose of therapeutic experimentation; therapeutic experimentation must take place in
accordance with protocols that respect fundamental ethical norms. Every treatment or process of experimentation must be with a view to possible improvement of the person's physical condition and not merely seeking scientific advances. The pursuit of good for humanity cannot be to the detriment of people undergoing treatment. In the moral domain, your Federation is invited to address the issue of conscientious objection, which is a right your profession must recognize, permitting you not to collaborate either directly or indirectly by supplying products for the purpose of decisions that are clearly immoral such as, for example, abortion or euthanasia.
It would also be advisable that the different pharmaceutical structures, laboratories at hospital centres and surgeries, as well as our contemporaries all together, be concerned with showing solidarity in the therapeutic context, to make access to treatment and urgently needed medicines available at all levels of society and in all countries, particularly to the poorest people.
Prompted by the Holy Spirit, may you as Catholic pharmacists find in the life of faith and in the Church's teaching elements that will guide you in your professional approach to the sick, who are in need of human and moral support if they are to live with hope and find the inner resources that will help them throughout their lives. It is also your duty to help young people who enter the different pharmaceutical professions to reflect on the increasingly delicate ethical implications of their activities and decisions. To this end, it is important that all Catholic health-care professionals and people of good will join forces to deepen their formation, not only at a technical level but also with regard to bioethical issues, as well as to propose this formation to the profession as a whole. The human being, because he or she is the image of God, must always be the centre of research and choices in the biomedical context. At the same time, the natural principle of the duty to provide
care for the sick person is fundamental. The biomedical sciences are at the service of the human being; if this were not the case, they would have a cold and inhuman character. All scientific knowledge in the health sector and every therapeutic procedure is at the service of the sick person, viewed in his integral being, who must be an active partner in his treatment and whose autonomy must be respected.
As I entrust you as well as the sick people you are called to treat to the intercession of Our Lady and of St Albert the Great, I impart my Apostolic Blessing to you and to all the members of your Federation and your families.
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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Holy See on U.N. Report Concerning Refugees
"Their Dignity and Human Rights Cannot be Violated Nor Ignored"
NEW YORK, NOV. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, gave Thursday to a General Assembly committee meeting on the report of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees regarding the humanitarian questions related to displaced persons.
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Mr Chairman,
The Holy See expresses deep appreciation to the UNHCR for all its efforts in assisting the 32.9 million persons who have been entrusted to its protection this year. In particular, I note with satisfaction the creative initiatives for more efficient field operations and a better understanding of the challenges, such as the Field Protection Reference Group, the upcoming Dialogue on the challenges of protection centred on the nexus asylum-migration, and the Cluster Approach, which has made possible more precise and coherent interventions in emergency situations.
In the face of a creeping fatigue and pessimism that appears now and then within the international community in the area of humanitarian assistance, this occasion seems appropriate to recall that the UNHCR is one of the essential instruments with which States and the international community as a whole honour their commitment to protect those who flee their homes for various reasons. However, such responsibility cannot be merely left to the Office of the High Commissioner. Rather, concerned States have the duty to protect those persons and sustain them with firm political will and adequate financial resources. In fulfilling their part, States lay a solid basis on which the UNHCR operations can build upon.
The challenges are many, complex and daunting. Our sense of humanity is confronted everyday with news of migrants and refugees -- generally a mixture of both and most often undocumented -- who try to cross borders in search of safety and better living conditions. In such attempts, many lives are lost everyday. We are not dealing here with sporadic cases. Rather, we have before us masses of peoples on the move for various causes and with varied motivations: peoples driven away from their homes by armed conflicts and persecutions, peoples fleeing from extreme poverty, peoples constrained to migrate because of environmental degradation and natural disasters.
Preoccupations have been expressed that the status of such peoples is caught in legal grey areas, especially when they move across frontiers of countries or regions with rigid migration policies. Concerns increase when doubts arise regarding the applicability of existing international instruments, or when no legal instruments of protection exist. It seems therefore urgent to consider a coordinated international effort, with a view to seeking greater clarity in existing legal instruments of protection or, if need be, to establishing new ones.
However, regardless of such legal grey areas and irrespective of their status as refugees, displaced persons or undocumented migrants, their dignity and human rights cannot be violated nor ignored. Their right to life, to personal security, to liberty of conscience and of religion, to non discrimination, especially of those most vulnerable like children, come before any legal or political consideration. My delegation therefore appeals to all countries and regions concerned to employ all those measures which are apt to ensure that the human rights of those peoples in such precarious situations are adequately protected and their human dignity respected.
Mr Chairman,
More concretely, we are distressed by the painful conditions of those who flee due to the long-running conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Chad, in Darfur, in Afghanistan and in numerous other regions, among which the Middle East stands out with its many problems.
In particular, the Holy See would like once again to draw the attention of the international community to the sufferings of the Iraqi refugees and displaced persons, who flee from indiscriminate attacks, from sectarian and violent acts based on political and religious convictions and on affiliation to specific social groups. This has been the most rapid and massive population displacement during the last years.
The Holy See wishes to express appreciation to Iraq's neighbouring countries which continue to shoulder the burden of welcoming millions of people. The international community must sustain those countries and the UNHCR in their work of ensuring that the Iraqi refugees and displaced persons do not feel abandoned and receive dignified accommodation.
Pope Benedict XVI and many Catholic institutions have repeatedly appealed for urgent measures needed to guarantee protection of and assistance to those persons, while waiting that conditions in their country improve to allow their return.
Mr Chairman,
These huge humanitarian challenges can only be responsibly faced through factual collaboration among States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and civil society. Such collaboration, conducted in reciprocal trust and solidarity, can truly generate coherent and concrete answers to the cry for help of those in need of international protection.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.
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