CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Francis invited the diplomats accredited to the Holy See to join him in fighting both material and spiritual poverty, which both contribute to the lack of peace in the world.<\/p>\n\t\u201cFighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points for a journey that I want to invite each of the countries here represented to take up,\u201d Pope Francis said March 22.<\/p>\n
\tThe Pope met this morning in the Regia Hall of the Apostolic Palace with representatives from the more than 180 countries, sovereign orders and international organizations that have formal relations with the Vatican.<\/p>\n
\tAfter a message of welcome and thanks from Ambassador Jean-Claude Michel, the dean of the diplomatic corps, Pope Francis offered his thoughts on the meeting and the Church\u2019s engagement with the world.<\/p>\n
\tThis is \u201ca simple yet deeply felt ceremony that somehow seeks to express the Pope\u2019s embrace of the world. Through you, indeed, I encounter your peoples, and thus in a sense I can reach out to every one of your fellow citizens, with their joys, their troubles, their expectations, their desires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tHe also highlighted some of the reasons why he chose the name Francis, including his love and care for the poor, work that he noted Christians are engaged in throughout the world.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBut there is another form of poverty!\u201d he told the diplomats.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt is the spiritual poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries particularly seriously.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt is what my much-loved predecessor, Benedict XVI, called the \u2018tyranny of relativism,\u2019 which makes everyone his own criterion and endangers the coexistence of peoples,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tThe second reason that he chose Francis, the Pope recalled, is that the saint worked to build peace.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBut there is no true peace without truth!\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPope Francis noted that one of his titles is \u201cpontiff, that is, a builder of bridges with God and between people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMy own origins,\u201d he explained, \u201cimpel me to work for the building of bridges. As you know, my family is of Italian origin; and so this dialogue between places and cultures a great distance apart matters greatly to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAnd the growing interconnectedness and interdependence of the world makes the need for \u201creal spaces of authentic fraternity\u201d more important as well, he said.<\/p>\n
\tPope Francis underscored that building real brotherhood requires the contributions of faith, since it is \u201cnot possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBut the converse is also true: it is not possible to establish true links with God, while ignoring other people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\tFor this reason, the Pope told the ambassadors it is \u201cimportant to intensify dialogue among the various religions\u201d and that he is \u201cthinking particularly of dialogue with Islam\u201d and \u201cnon-believers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPope Francis acknowledged that \u201cfighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges\u201d will be \u201cdifficult if we do not learn to grow in love for this world of ours,\u201d which involves both people and the environment.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHere too, it helps me to think of the name of Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another\u2019s detriment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tAfter delivering his address, Pope Francis individually greeted the diplomats, some of whom were accompanied by their wives.<\/p>\n
\tOn Saturday, Pope Francis will take a helicopter to meet with Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo around noon. His first Holy Week as Pope will begin the following day with the celebration of Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter\u2019s Basilica.<\/p>\n
\n
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Vatican City, Mar 22, 2013 \/ 05:50 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Francis invited the diplomats accredited to the Holy See to join him in fighting both material and spiritual poverty, which both contribute to the lack of peace in the world.<\/p>\n
\t“Fighti…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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