We publish below the text of the video message that the Holy Father Francis sends to the General Director, H.E. Ms. Audrey Azoulay, and the UNESCO working community on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its foundation.

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences, and culture. UNESCO’s programs contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined in Agenda 2030, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.

As early as 1942, in wartime, the governments of the European countries, which were confronting Nazi Germany and its allies, met in the United Kingdom for the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME). The Second World War was far from over, yet those countries were looking for ways and means to reconstruct their systems of education once peace was restored. Very quickly, the project gained momentum and soon took on a universal note. New governments, including that of the United States, decided to join in. Upon the proposal of CAME, a United Nations Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) was convened in London from 1 to 16 November 1945. Scarcely had the war ended when the conference opened. It gathered together the representatives of forty-four countries who decided to create an organization that would embody a genuine culture of peace. In their eyes, the new organization must establish the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” and, in so doing, prevent the outbreak of another world war.

The Holy Father’s Message:

Madam Director-General

Ladies and Gentlemen who form the working community of UNESCO,

From my heart, I express my congratulations on the seventy-fifth anniversary of this United Nations Agency. The Church has a privileged relationship with it. Indeed, the Church is at the service of the Gospel, and the Gospel is the most humanizing message known to history. A message of life, freedom, and hope, which has inspired countless educational initiatives in every age and in every place, and has inspired the scientific and cultural growth of the human family.

This is why the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is a privileged partner of the Holy See in the common service to peace and solidarity among peoples, to the integral development of the human person, and to the protection of the cultural heritage of humanity.

Best wishes to UNESCO! Best wishes! May God bless you, and all the best in your work!

Thank you!

© Libreria Editrice Vatican