This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the Ambassadors of Kuwait, New Zealand, Malawi, Guinea, Sweden, and Chad at the Holy See, on the occasion of the presentation of their Letters of Credence.
Pope Francis’ audience to the ambassadors of Kuwait, New Zealand, Malawi, Guinea, Sweden, and Chad, held on 7 December 2023, was an opportunity for the Pope to reaffirm his commitment to peace and international cooperation.
In his speech, Pope Francis stressed the importance of multilateral diplomacy to prevent and resolve conflicts. He also pointed out that diplomacy must seek not only peace but also the human development of peoples.
In particular, Pope Francis referred to the current situation in the world, which he described as a “world war in pieces”. In this context, the Pope stressed the need for diplomacy that works for the construction of a more just and peaceful world.
We publish below the Pope’s address to the new Ambassadors, as well as essential biographical notes on each one:
Address of the Holy Father
Your Excellencies,
I am pleased to receive you for the presentation of the letters by which you are accredited as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of your countries to the Holy See: Kuwait, New Zealand, Malawi, Guinea, Sweden and Chad. I would ask you kindly to convey my sentiments of esteem to your respective Heads of State, together with the assurance of my prayers for them and for your fellow citizens.
You are undertaking your mission at a particularly troubled time, marked by major outbreaks of armed conflict in what I have long called a third world war fought piecemeal. Given the global dimensions of the conflicts in the course, the international community is challenged, through the peaceful means of diplomacy, to seek global solutions to the grave injustices that so often are the cause of those conflicts.
In recent Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, I observed that meeting this challenge urgently demands a reconfiguration of multilateral diplomacy, with the aim of providing effective responses to emerging problems and devising global mechanisms to address the environmental, public health, cultural and social changes presently in course (Nos. 37-43). The noble and patient work of diplomacy to which you are committed must not only seek to prevent and resolve conflicts, but also to consolidate the peaceful coexistence and human flourishing of the world’s peoples by fostering respect for human dignity, defending the inalienable rights of each man, woman and child, and promoting models of integral economic and human development.
In this regard, the Holy See is particularly concerned for the future of our common home and specifically the effects of climate change and the devastation of the natural environment on the most vulnerable members of our human family. May the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP28, meeting in these days in Dubai, which I intended to participate, represent an historic step forward in responding with wisdom and foresight to these clear and present threats to the universal common good. As I stated in my Address to the Conference, «time is short. […] the future of us all depends on the present that we now choose». Let us pray that the leaders of nations will join in adopting concrete measures that will enable us to hand on to future generations a world which more fully resembles the fruitful garden that its Creator entrusted to our care and stewardship.
Dear Ambassadors, the presence and activity of the Holy See within the international community is inspired by the desire to advance human fraternity and that peace which, as the prophet Isaiah announces, is “the fruit of justice” (cf. Is 32:17). As you now take up your mission, I offer you my prayerful good wishes for your efforts in the service of this high ideal, and I assure you of the constant readiness of offices of the Curia to assist you in the fulfilment of your responsibilities. Upon you and your families, your collaborators and your fellow citizens, I invoke God’s abundant blessings.
