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ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER PAUL VI
TO THE NEW MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN
TO THE HOLY SEE*

Friday, 13 January 1978

 

Mr Minister,

We are pleased to accept from you the Letters whereby Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II accredits you as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Holy See. The welcome we extend to you is indeed a cordial one. We would ask you to convey to Her Majesty our thanks for the expression of her goodwill and friendship, sentiments which we warmly reciprocate, together with the assurance of our prayers.

In response to your kind reference to our Message for the recent World Day of Peace, the eleventh such celebration, we cannot but emphasize once more our earnest desire and hope that the world will speedily come to appreciate that upon the priceless gift of peace in justice hangs the very destiny of humanity and indeed of the world as we know it. The Holy See does not fail to note with satisfaction all efforts and initiatives directed towards the solid establishment of peace and the abolition of violence in whatever form; only in this way can the dignity and rights of every individual human being be respected and fostered, and a better world be provided for the present generation and for all generations to come, a world inspired by mutual love and readiness to serve the needs of others. It is in this light that we view the efforts being made by your country in this regard.

In a similar way, greater cooperation by your country with the other countries of Europe cannot fail to consolidate true unity and mutual understanding between both the nations themselves and the individuals that go to make them up.

It is also a source of satisfaction for us to note your mention of the visit to us last year by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leading figures of the Anglican Communion. It is our constant prayer that the Lord will hasten the day when there shall be attained full unity between Christians, in faith and discipline, in the manner in which the Lord himself will bring it about. In the meantime we watch and pray in confidence.

Your Excellency, on this happy occasion we assure you that the Holy See will ever be ready to assist you in the mission which you are about to begin, and we invoke divine blessings upon you and your family and upon the country which you represent.


*AAS 70 (1978), p.167-168;

Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. XVI, p.24-25;

L’Attività della Santa Sede 1978, p.12;

OR 14.1.1978, p.1;

ORa n.4 p.12.



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