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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - To be "heralds" of a "diplomacy of hope" that gives all the nations of the planet the opportunity to "overcome the logic of conflict" and "embrace" that of "encounter", thus realizing the principles of the Jubilee. This is the hope that Pope Francis addresses to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See in the usual meeting of greetings at the beginning of the year, held in the Hall of Benediction.
To date, 184 states maintain full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. To these must be added the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. There are 90 diplomatic missions accredited to the Holy See with headquarters in Rome, including those of the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Offices accredited to the Holy See of the League of Arab States, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees are also based in Rome.
The Pontiff, who arrived in a wheelchair and was accompanied by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Gallagher, and several officials from the Secretariat of State, wove his speech following the red thread of the Jubilee of Hope, recalling that the very meaning of the Jubilee is to “step back” from the “frenzied pace of daily life in order to be refreshed and nourished by what is truly essential”, that is, “to rediscover ourselves, in him, as children of God and as brothers and sisters, to pardon offences, to support the weak and the poor in our midst, to give rest and relief to the earth, to practise justice and to recover hope. This is a summons to all those who serve the common good and who exercise that lofty expression of charity – perhaps the highest form of charity – that is politics”.
Due to a cold, the Bishop of Rome handed over the reading of the long speech to Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches.
Among the opening themes of the speech was a brief summary of the Holy See's diplomatic actions: from the more than thirty Heads of State received in the Vatican by the Pontiff to the many trips made by the Pope, without forgetting the agreements with some countries, including the one of 22 October signed between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China with which it was decided to extend for a further four years the validity of the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops, signed on 22 September 2018 and already renewed on 22 October 2020 and 22 October 2022, “a sign of the desire to continue a respectful and constructive dialogue in view of the good of the Catholic Church in the country and of all the Chinese people”.
Dialogue with all parties, including those interlocutors considered less “convenient”
Looking instead at the new year, “the world finds itself rent by numerous conflicts, large and small, more or less known, but also by the resumption of heinous acts of terror”. At the same time, the Pope recalled, “in many countries there are growing conflictual social and political tensions”. And this “is aggravated by the continuous creation and spread of fake news, which not only distorts facts but also perceptions. This phenomenon generates false images of reality, a climate of suspicion that foments hate, undermines people’s sense of security and compromises civil coexistence and the stability of entire nations. Tragic examples of this are the attacks on the Chairman of the Government of the Slovak Republic and the President-elect of the United States of America”.
A climate that the Bishop of Rome defined as “of insecurity” that “leads us to the erection of new barriers and the drawing of new borders, whereas others, such as the one that has divided the island of Cyprus for over fifty years and the one that has cut in two the Korean peninsula for over seventy, remain firmly in place, separating families and splitting up homes and cities”. And this is truly paradoxical: the word border, in fact, “does not mean a place that separates, but one that unites, (cum-finis), where one can meet others, get to know them and enter into dialogue with them”.
The Pope's other wish is that the Jubilee may represent for everyone, “Christians and non-Christians alike” “an opportunity also to rethink the relationships that bind us to one another, as human beings and political communities”.
Furthermore, “in the face of the increasingly concrete threat of a world war, the vocation of diplomacy is to foster dialogue with all parties, including those interlocutors considered less “convenient” or not considered legitimized to negotiate. Only in this way is it possible to break the chains of hatred and vengeance that bind and to defuse the explosive power of human selfishness, pride and arrogance, which are the root of every destructive determination to wage war”.
Politicians at the service of the common good
From these reflections, the Pope highlighted “some responsibilities that every political leader should bear in mind” in fulfilling his or her responsibilities, which ought to be directed towards pursuing the common good
in a time undermined by ‘miseries’: “More than ever before, humanity has come to know progress, development and wealth, yet perhaps never before has it found itself so lonely and lost, even at times preferring pets to children”.
And if “human beings are endowed with an innate thirst for truth”, “in our time the denial of self-evident truths seems to have gained the upper hand. Some distrust rational argumentation, believing it to be a tool in the hands of some unseen power, while others believe that they unequivocally possess a truth of their own making, and are thus exempt from discussion and dialogue with those who think differently. Others tend to invent their own “truth”, disregarding the objectivity of reality. These tendencies can be amplified by the modern communications media and by artificial intelligence; they can be misused to manipulate minds for economic, political and ideological ends”.
In this perspective, the “diplomacy of hope is consequently, above all, a diplomacy of truth. If the link between reality, truth and knowledge is missing, human beings will no longer be able to speak and understand one another, because the foundations of a common language, anchored in the reality of things and therefore universally comprehensible, are lacking”.
“The purpose of language is communication, which is only successful if words are precise and the meaning of terms is generally accepted”. As a result, “the attempt to manipulate multilateral documents – by changing the meaning of terms or unilaterally reinterpreting the content of human rights treaties – in order to advance divisive ideologies that trample on the values and beliefs of peoples is particularly worrying”.
"This represents a form of genuine ideological colonization that attempts, in accordance with carefully planned agendas, to uproot the traditions, history and religious bonds of peoples. In this regard, it is unacceptable, for example, to speak of an alleged “right to abortion” that contradicts human rights, particularly the right to life. All life must be protected, at every moment, from conception to natural death, because no child is a mistake or guilty of existing, just as no elderly or sick person may be deprived of hope and discarded”, the Bishop of Rome stressed.
To recover the “spirit of Helsinki”
For the Pope, it is more ‘urgent than ever to recover the “spirit of Helsinki” (the reference is to the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, ed.) with which opposing states, considered “enemies”’, succeeded in creating a space of encounter and did not abandon dialogue as a means of resolving conflicts.
Speaking of wars, the Pontiff's thoughts went first to Ukraine, then to the Middle East: “My wish for the year 2025 is that the entire international community will work above all to end the conflict that, for almost three years now, has caused so much bloodshed in war-torn Ukraine and has taken an enormous toll of lives, including those of many civilians. Some encouraging signs have appeared on the horizon, but much work must still be done to create the conditions for a just and lasting peace and to heal the wounds inflicted by the aggression.
Similarly, I renew my appeal for a ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, where there is a very serious and shameful humanitarian situation, and I ask that the Palestinian population receive all the aid it needs. My prayerful hope is that Israelis and Palestinians can rebuild the bridges of dialogue and mutual trust, starting with the smallest, so that future generations can live side by side in the two States, in peace and security, and that Jerusalem can be the “city of encounter”, where Christians, Jews and Muslims live together in harmony and respect”.
The Bishop of Rome then turned the spotlight back on the “continued proliferation of ever more sophisticated and destructive weapons”, which fuels these wars where more and more civilians and non-war infrastructures are involved, asking the international community to ensure that international humanitarian law is always respected: “If we have forgotten what lies at the very foundation of our existence, the sacredness of life, the principles that move the world, how can we think that this right is effectively respected?”.
The “delicate forms” of persecution
As in the Christmas Urbi et Orbi, the Pope then listed all the other conflicts tearing the planet apart, starting with Africa: Sudan, Sahel, Horn of Africa, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo. And then Myanmar, Haiti, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia and Nicaragua, “where the Holy See, which is always open to respectful and constructive dialogue, follows with concern the measures taken against individuals and institutions of the Church and asks that religious freedom and other fundamental rights be adequately guaranteed to all”.
“In the end, there can be no true peace without the guarantee of religious freedom, which entails respect for the conscience of individuals and the possibility of publicly manifesting one’s faith and membership in a community. In this regard, the growing expressions of anti-Semitism, which I strongly condemn, and which affect an increasing number of Jewish communities around the world, are a source of deep concern”, the Pontiff stressed, adding: “I cannot remain silent about the numerous persecutions against various Christian communities, often perpetrated by terrorist groups especially in Africa and Asia. Nor, for that matter, about the more “discreet” forms of restriction on religious freedom that at times are found also in Europe, where legal norms and administrative practices are growing that “limit or in fact annul the rights formally recognized by the Constitution for individual believers and religious groups”. On the contrary, he reiterated, “religious freedom constitutes “an achievement of a sound political and juridical culture”, because when it is acknowledged, the dignity of the human person is respected at its root, and the ethos and institutions of peoples are strengthened”.
Christians, in fact, “desire actively to contribute to the building up of the societies in which they live. Even where they are not a majority in society, they are citizens in their own right, especially in those lands where they have lived from time immemorial”. The Pope's reference is to Syria, “which after years of war and devastation, seems to be pursuing a path of stability. I hope that the territorial integrity, the unity of the Syrian people and the necessary constitutional reforms will not be compromised by anyone, and that the international community will help Syria to be a land of peaceful coexistence where all Syrians, including the Christian community, can feel themselves to be full citizens and share in the common good of that beloved nation”.
“I think too of beloved Lebanon, and express my hope that the country, with the decisive help of its Christian community, can possess the necessary institutional stability needed to address the grave economic and social situation, to rebuild the south of the country affected by war, and fully to implement the Constitution and the Taif Agreement. May all Lebanese work to ensure that the country of the great cedars is never disfigured by division, but rather distinguished for “living together”. May Lebanon remain a country and a message of coexistence and peace”, the Bishop of Rome added, who in conclusion asked not to remain indifferent to the drama of the “many forms of slavery” of our time, starting with “the seldom acknowledged but widely practised form of slavery that involves labour” or “the horrific slavery of drug addiction, which affects young people in particular”. The “most dreadful”, however, remains “that practiced by human traffickers”. The latter issue is linked to that of migration, “still shrouded in a dark cloud of mistrust, rather than being seen as a source of empowerment”.
Finally, a new appeal, already made in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee and repeatedly stressed in recent days, on the remission of foreign debt and to commute the sentences of prisoners. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 9/1/2025)
