A/34/PV.17 General Assembly

Your Holiness, I am .deeply honoured to welcome you to the United Nations. In the name of the Organization, I should like to express to you how much we appreciate your addres- sing the General Assembly and, through it, the peoples of the world. 9. The Charter of the United Nations proclaims the dignity and worth of the human person. It instructs us to work for peace, justice and equity and to respect the rights of all humanity. It is for this reason that your presence among us on this historic occasion is particu- Larly encouraging since it dramatically reaffirms the weat spiritual values which you represent and which Inspire the Charter. 10. Your Holiness, I know that I express the unani- mous feeling ofthis Assembly in thanking youfor being here with us today. You may be sure that we shall hear your address not only with the greatest respect but with the firm conviction that your message will inspire the work of the Assembly. It will also give strength and hope to the peoples represented here who, in all their diversity, are united in their aspirations for a better and more peaceful world. 1L The PRESIDENT: I now invite His Holiness Pope John Paul II to address the General Assembly. 12. His Holiness Pope JOHN PAUL II: Mr. Presi- dent, my address today will be published in its entirety just as I wrote it. Because ofits length, however, I shall now read it out in a shortened form. 2 13. I desire to express my gratitude to the General Assembly of the United Nations, which I ampermiUed today to participate in and to address. My thanks go in the first place to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kurt Waldheim. Last autumn, soon after my election to the Chair of Saint Peter, he invited me to make this visit, and he renewed his invitation in the course ofour meeting in Rome last May. From the first moment I felt greatly honoured and deeply obliged. And today, before this distinguished Assembly, I also thank you, Mr. President, who have so kindly welcomed me and invited me to speak. 14. The formal reason for my intervention today is, 15.. Besides attaching great importance to its collab- oratton w~th the United Nations, the Apostolic See has always, smce the foundation ofyour Organization, ex- p.res~ed its estee~ and its agreement with the historic significance of this supreme forum for the international life of humanity today. It also never ceases to support your Organization's functions and initiatives, which are aimed at peaceful coexistence and collaboration be- tween nations. 16. This confidence and conviction on the part of the Apostolic See is the result, as I have said, not ofmerely political reasons but of the religious and moral charac- ter of the mission of the Roman Catholic Church. 17. This is the real reason, the essential reason, for my presence among you, and I wish to thank this distin- guished Assembly for giving consideration to this reason, which can make my presence among you in some way useful. Here, before the representatives of the State~, I wish not only to thank you but also to offer my special congratulations, since the invitation ex- tended to the Pope to speak in your Assembly shows that the United Nations accepts and respects 'the reli- gious and moral dimension of those human problems that the Church attends to, in view of the message of truth and love that it is her duty to bring to the world. The questions that concern your functions and receive your attention--as is indicated by the vast organic com- plex of institutions and activities that are part of or collaborate with the United Nations, especially in the fields of culture, health, food, labour and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy-certainly make it essential for us to meet in the name ofman in his wholeness, in all the fullness and manifold riches ofhis spiritual and material existence, as I have stated in my encyclical Redemptor Hominis,3 the first of my pontificate. 18. Now, availing myself of the solemn occasion of my meeting with the representatives of the nations of the earth, I wish above all to send my greetings to all the men and women living on this planet-to every man and every w0II?-an, ~i.thout any exc~ption whatever. Every human be10g hvmg on earth IS a member of a civil society, of a nation, many of them represented here. Each one of you, ~istinguished ladies and gentlemen, represents a partIcular State, system and political structure, but what you represent above all are indi- vidual human beings; you are all representatives ofmen ~n~ \Y0men, of practically all the people of the world, mdIvlduai. ":len and women, communiti~s and peoples who are hvmg the present phase of their own history and who are also part of the history of humanity as a whole, each ofthC?m a.subject endowed with dignity as a human J?er~on, With ~IS or her own c~lture, experiences and aspIrations, tensIOns and suffenngs, and legitimate expectations. This relationship is what provides the reason for all political activity, whether national or intemation~,for in ~he final analysis this activity comes from man, IS exercised by man and is for man. 19. I would like to express the wish that, in view ofits 3 Encyclical Letter ofHis Holiness John Pal/Ill, . . Redemplor Hominis (Vatican Polyglot Press, 1979), 20. Today, 40 years after the outbreak of the Second World W.ar,.I.wish to rec~l the whole of the experi- ences by ~ndlVldu.als and natl.ons ~hat were sustained by a generatIOn that IS lar~ely still alive. I had occasion not long ago to reflect again on some of those experiences in one of the places that are most distressing and over: flowing with contempt for man and his fundamental rights-the extennination camp of Oswiel;im Au- schwitz, which I visited during my pilgrimage to Poland in June. This infamous place is unfortunately only one ofthe many scattered over the continent ofEurope. But the memory of~ven one sh?uld be a warning sign onthe path of humanity today, m order that every kind of concentration camp anywhere on earth may once and for all be done away with. And everything that recalls those horrible ~xperience~ should also disappear for ever.from th.e hv~s of natIOns and States, everything that IS a contmuatIon ofthose experiences underdiffer- ent forms, namely, the various kinds of torture and oppression, either physical or moral, carried out under any system, in any land; this phenomenon is all the more distressing if it occurs under the pretext of inter- nal security or the need to preserve an apparent peace. 21. You will forgive me, ladies and gentlemen for evoking this memory. But I would be untrue t~ the history ofthis century, I would be dishonest with regard to the great cause ofman, which we all wish to serve ifI should ~e~p silent, I wh? c:ome from the country' on whose hvmg body Oswle\tlm was at one time con- structed. But my purpose in evoking this memory is ~bove all t? ~how what painful experiences and suffer- mgs by I,mlhons of people gave rise to the Universal Declara~lO~ of~u~an Rights, which has been placed as the baSIC msplratIon and comer-stone of the United Nations. This Declaration was paid for by millions of our ~rothersand sisters at the cost oftheir suffering and sacnfice, brought about by the brutalization that darkened and made insensitive the human consciences of their oppressors and of those who carried out a real genocide. This price cannot have been paid in vain. If the truths and principles contained in this document were.to be forg~ttenor ignored and were thus to lose the ~enulOe self-eVidence that so distinguished them at the time they were brought painfully to birth, then the noble purpose of the United Nations would be faced with the !hreat ~fa new destruction. This is what would happen if the sl":lple yet powerful eloquence of the Universal peclaratlOn of~uman Rights were decisively sub- Jugated by what IS wrongly called political interest but often really means no mote than one-sided gain and advantage to the detriment of others, or a thirst for 22, Fourteen years ago my great predecessor, Pope Paul VI, spoke from this podium. He spoke memorable words, which I desire to repeat today: "Never again war, war never again!" "Never again one against another," or even "one above another", but always, on every occasion, "with each other" . 23. Paul VI was a tireless servant in the cause of peace. I wish to follow him with all my strength and continue his service. The Catholic Church in every place on earth proclaims a message of peace, prays for peace, educates for peace. This purpose is also shared by the representatives and followers ofother Churches and Commul'jties and of other religions of the world, and they have pledged themselves to it. In union with efforts by all people ofgood will, this work is certainly bearing fruit. Nevertheless we are continually troubled by the armed conflicts that break out from time to time. How grateful we are to the Lord when a direct interven- tion succeeds in avoiding such a conflict, as in the case .of the tension that last year threatened Argentina and Chile. 24. It is my fervent hope that a solution also to the Middle East crises may draw nearer. While being pre- pared to recognize the value of any concrete step.or attempt made to settle the conflict, I want to recall that it would have no value if it did not truly represent the "first stone" of a general over-all peace in the area, a peace that, being necessarily based on equitable rec- ognition of the rights of all, cannot fail to include the consideration and just settlement of the Palestinian question. Connected with this question is that of the tranquillity, independence and territorial integrity of Lebanon within the fonnula that has made it an exam- ple of peaceful and mutually fruitful coexistence be- tween distinct communities, a formula that I hope will, in the common interest, be maintained, with the adjust- ments required by the developments of the situation. I also hope for a special statute that, under international guarantees-as my predecessor Paul VI indicated- would respect the particular nature of Jerusalem, a heritage sacred to the veneration of millions of believ- ers of the three great monotheistic religions, JUdaism, Christianity and Islam. 25. We are troubled also by reports of the develop- ment of weaponry exceeding in quality and size the means of war and destruction ever known before. In this field also we applaud the decisions and agreements aimed at reducing the arms race. Nevertheless, the life ofhumanity today is seriously endangered by the threat ofdestruction and by the risk arising even from accept- ing certain "tranquillizing" reports. The continual preparations for war demonstrated by the production of ever more numerous, powerful and sophisticated weapons in various countries show that there is a desire to be ready for war, and being ready means being able to start it; it also means taking the risk that sometime, somewhere, somehow, someone can set in motion the terrible mechanism of general destruction. 27. This is a new and deeply relevant vision of the cause of peace, one that goes deeper and is more radi- cal. It is a vision that sees the genesis, and in a sense the substance, ofwar in the more complex forms emanating from injustice viewed in all its various aspects: this injustice first attacks human rights and thereby de- stroys the organic unity of the social order, and it then affects the whole system of intemational relations. 28. By applying this criterion, we must diligently ex- amine whIch principal tensions in connexion with the inalienable rights of man can weakoen the construction of this peace which we all desire so ardently and which is the essentialgoal ofthe efforts ofthe United Nations. 29. Man lives at the same time both in the world of material values and in that of spiritual values. For the individual living and hoping man, his needs, freedoms and relationships with others never concern one sphere of values alone, but belong to both. Material and spiritual realities may be viewed separately in order to understand betterthat in the concrete humanbeing they are inseparable and to see that any threat to human rights, whether in the field ofmaterial realities orin that of spiritual realities, is equally dangerous for peace, since in every instance it concerns man in his entirety. Permit me to recall a constant rule of the history of humanity, a rule that is implicitly contained in all that I have already stated with regard to integral development and human rights. The rule is based on the relationship between spiritual values and material or economic val- Ues. In this relationship, it is the spiritual values that are pre-eminent, both on account of the nature of these values and also for reasons concerning thegood ofman. It is easy to see that material goods do not have un- limited capacity for satisfying the needs of man: they are not in themselves easily distributed and,. in the relationship between those who possess and enjoy them and those who are without them, they give rise to tension, dissension and division that will often even turn into open conflict. Spiritual goods, on the other hand, are open to unlimited enjoyment by many at the same time, without diminution of the goods themselves. 30. A critical analysis of our modern civilization 4 Encyclical Leiter ofHis Holiness Paul VI • .. Oil tlte Develop- menJ oJ Peoples (Vatican Polyglot Press, 1967), p. 60. . 31. What is the link between these reflections and the cause ofpeace and war? Since, as I have already stated, material goods by their very nature provoke condition- ings and divisions, the struggle to obtain these goods becomes inevitable in the history of humanity. If we cultivate this one-sided subordination of man to mate- rial goods alone, we shall be incapable of overcoming this state ofneed. We shall be able to attenuate it and to avoid it in particular cases, but we shall not succeed in eliminating it systematically and radically, unless we emphasize more and pay greater honour before everyone's eyes, in the sight of every society, to the second dimension of the goods of man: the dimension that does not divide people but puts them into com- munication with each other, associates them and unites them. 32. I consider that the famous opening words of the Charter ofthe United Nations in which "the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" solemnly reaf- firmed "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small", are meant to stress this dimension. 33. An analysis of the history of mankind, especially at its present stage, shows how important is the duty of revealin~ more fully the range of the goods that are linked With the spiritual dimension ofhuman existence. It shows how important this task is for building peace and how serious is any threat to human rights. Any violation ofthem, even in a "peace situation" , is a form of warfare against humanity. 34. It seems that in the modem world there are two main threats. Both concern human rights in the field of international relations and human rights within the indi- vidual States or societies. 35. The first of these systematic threats against hu- man rights is linked in an over-all sense with the dis- tribution of material goods. This distribution is fre- quently unjust both within individual societies and on the planet as a whole. Everyone knows that these goods are given to man not only as nature's bounty: they are enjoyed by him chiefly as the fruit of his many ac- tivities, ranging from the simplest manual and physical labour to the most complicated forms ofindustrial pro- duction, and to highly qualified and specialized re- search and study. Various forms of inequality in the possession of material goods; and in the enjoyment of them, can often be explained by different historical and cultural causes and circumstances. But, while these circumstances can diminish the moral responsibility of 36. People must become aware that economic ten- sions within countries and in the relationships between States and even between entire continents contain within themselves substantial elements that restrict or violate human rights. Such elements are the exploita- tion of labour and many other abuses that affect the dignity of the human person. It follows that the funda- mental criterion for comparing social, economic and political systems is not, and cannot be, the criterion of hegemony and imperialism: it can be, and indeed it must be, the humanistic criterion, namely, the measure in which each system is really capable of reducing, restraining and eliminating as far as possible the various forms of exploitation of man and of ensuring for him, through work, not only the just distribution ofthe indis- pensable material goods, but also a participation, in keeping with his dignity, in the whole process of pro- duction and in the social life that grows up around that process. 37. Disturbing factors are frequently preseIit in the form of the frightful disparities between excessively rich individuals and groups, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the majority made up of the poor or indeed ofthe destitute, who lack food and opportunities for work and education and are in great numbers con- demned to hunger and disease. And concern is also caused at times by the radical separation ofwork from property, by man's indifference to the production en- terprise to which he is linked only by a work obligation, without feeling that he is working for a good that will be his or for himself. 38. It is no secret that the abyss separating the minor- ity of the excessively rich from the multitude of the destitute is a very grave symptom in the life of any society. This must also be said with even greater insis- tence with regard to the abyss separating countries and re~ions of the earth. Surely the only way to overcome thiS serious disparity between areas ofsatiety and areas of hunger and depression is through co-ordinated co- operation by all countries. This requires above allelse a unity inspired by an authentic perspective of peace. Everything will depend on whether these differences and contrasts in the sphere of the "possession" of goods will be systematically reduced through truly ef- fective means, on whether the belts of hunger, malnutrition, destitution, under-development, disease and illiteracy will disappear from the economic map of the earth, and on whether peaceful co-operation will avoid imposing conditions of exploitation and economic or political dependence, which would only be a form of neo-colonialism. 39. I would now like to draw attention to a second systematic threat to man in his inalienable rights in the modem world, a threat which constitutes no less a danger than the first to the cause of peace. I refer to the various forms of injustice in the field of the spirit. 40. Man can indeed be wounded in his inner relation- shill with truth, in his conscience, in his most personal bellef, in his view ofthe world, in his religious faith, and in the sphere of what are known as civil liberties. Deci- sive for these last is equality ofrights without discrimi- nation on grounds oforigin, race, sex, nationality l reli- 41. Besides the acceptance of legal fonnulas safe- guarding the principle of the freedom of the human spirit, such as freedom of thought and expression, re- lIgious freedom, and freedom of conscience, structures of social life often exist in which the practical exercise of these freedoms condemns man, in fact if not for- mally, to become a second-class or third-class citizen. 42. It is a question of the highest importance that in internal social life, as well as in international life, all human beings in every nation and country should be able to enjoy effectively their full rights under any polit- ical regime or system. 43. Only the safeguarding ofthis real completeness of rights for every human being without discrimination can ensure peace at its very roots. 44. With regard to religious freedom, which I, as Pope, am bound to have particularly at heart, precisely with a view to safeguarding peace, I would like to repeat here, as a contribution to respect for man's spiritual dimension, some principles contained in the Second Vatican Council's Declaration Dignitatis Humanae: "It is in accordance with their dignity that all men, because they are persons, that is, beings endowed with reason and free will and therefore bearing personal responsibility, are both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they come to know it and to direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth. "S ". . . the practice of religion of its very nature consists primarily of those voluntary and free inter- nal acts by which a man directs himself to God. Acts of this kind cannot be commanded or forbidden by any merely human authority. But his own social na- ture requires that man give external expression to these internal acts of religion, that he communicate with others on religious matters, and profess his reli- gion in community."6 These words touch the very substance of the question. They also show how even the confrontation between the religious view of the world and the agnostic or even atheistic view, which is one of the "signs ofthe times" ofthe present age, could preserve honest and respectful S See Vatican Council II, Declaration on religious liberty, Dignitatis humanae (Vatican Polyglot Press, 1%5), chap. I. para. 2. 45. Respect for the dignity ofthe human person would seem to demand that, when the exact tenor ofthe exer- cise of religious freedom is being discussed or de- termined with a view to national laws or international conventions, the institutions that are by their nature at the service of religion should also be brought in. If this participation is omitted, there is a danger of imposing, 10 so intimate a field of man's life, rules or restrictions that are opposed to his true religious needs. 46. The United Nations has proclaimed 1979 the In- ternational Year of the Child. In this perspective we must ask ourselves whether there will continue to ac- cumulate over the heads of this new generation of children the threat ofcommon extennination for which the means are in the hands of the modern States, espe- cially the major world Powers. Are the children to receive the anns race from us as a necessary inheri- tance? How are we to explain this unbridled race? 47. The ancients said: Si vis pacem, para bellum. But can our age still really believe that the breathtaking spiral ofarmaments is at the service ofworld peace? In alleging the threat of a potential enemy, is it really not rather the intention to keep for oneself a means of threat, in order to get the upper hand with the aid of one's own arsenal of destruction? Here, too, it is the human dimension of peace that tends to vanish in favour of ever new, possible fonns of imperialism. 48. It must be our solemn wish here for our children, for the childrenofall the nations onearth, that this point will never be reached. And for that reason I do not cease to pray to God each day so that in His mercy He may save us from so terrible a day. 49. At the close ofthis address, I wish to express once more before all the high representatives of the States who are present a word ofesteem and deep love for all the peoples, all the nations of the earth, for all human communities. Each one has its own history and culture. I hope that they will live and grow in the freedom and truth oftheir own history. For that is the measureofthe common good of each one of them. I hope that each person will live and grow strong with the moral force of the community that forms its members as citizens. I hope that the State authorities, while respecting the just rights ofeach citizen, will enjoy the confidence ofallfor the common good. I hope that all the nations, even the smallest, even those that do not yet enjoy full sovereignty, and those that have been forcibly robbed of it, will meet. in full equality with the others in the United Nations. I hope that the United Nations will ever remain the supreme forum ofpeace and justice I the authentic seatofthe freedom ofpeoples and mdividuals in their longing for a better future.

On behalf of the General As- sembly, I wish to express our deep appreciation to His Holiness Pope John Paul II for his important and inspir- ing statement.