ADDRESS OF PAUL VI
TO THE NEW AMBASSADOR OF PANAMA TO THE HOLY SEE*

Thursday, 29 May 1969

Mr. Ambassador,

We value and are greatly pleased by the deferential and devoted expressions which you have just uttered on this occasion of your presenting your Letters of Credence as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Panama to the Holy See. As We give you Our cordial welcome, We take pleasure in once more expressing the deep affection which We feel for the whole of your Catholic country.

Your Excellency has referred to the work which the Church has done for peace and social justice in your country ever since the dawn of Christianity in America, and indeed many undertakings and institutions bear witness to this. However, the Church must not remain in the past. She, the messenger of justice, the sewer of concord and the forger of civilization, continues her dynamic mission of faithful and watchful service to humanity. She remains faithful to her basic principles of love for God and men, who are created and redeemed for a common destiny. She constantly asks her children and men of good will (as We Ourself did on Our unforgettable journey to Latin America) to accomplish Providence's designs for the world and to make efforts to enable every individual to develop his personality to the full, within the community to which he belongs, to be a conscious and respected subject in regard to his legitimate aspirations, rights and duties, and to turn himself into an effective instrument for civil, moral and spiritual progress.

Wherever the Church is, she will make a vital contribution to such development, which is the basis and guaranty of fraternal social life in order and peace and of more balanced distribution of well-being, so that all human factors may work for justice and the that good.

We pray God that the Christian message, which is part of the history of Panama and inspires such ideals, may always guide those who have the responsibility of making that beloved country more holy in its way of life, more united and more prosperous in the family and national spheres

As We utter this prayer, We assure you, Mr. Ambassador, of Our good wishes for a successful accomplishment of your high mission, and We invoke continual and choice divine blessings upon you, on the government of your country, and on all the beloved people of the Panamanian Republic.

* ORa n.24 p.2.