Vatican City, Mar 20, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Over the weekend, Pope Benedict XVI met with Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, as well as a number of the Holy See’s representatives to various international organizations. During the meeting, he praised the Church’s role within these groups, stressing that relations between and within states must respect the truth if they hope to attain true justice.

Specifically, he said that the Holy See’s presence within international institutions makes "a fundamental contribution to the respect of human rights and the common good and, as a result, to true /freedom and justice."

"Relations between States and within States are just in so far as they respect the truth,” he said. “When, however, the truth is offended, peace is threatened and rule of law is compromised, then, as a logical consequence, injustices arise."

The Holy Father went on to say that these injustices “can adopt many faces,” citing for example, “the face of disinterest or disorder, which can even go so far as to damage the structure of that founding cell of society that is the family; or perhaps the face of arrogance that can lead to abuse, silencing those without a voice or without the strength to make themselves heard, as happens in the case of today's gravest injustice, that which suppresses nascent human life."

Benedict concluded his brief address telling the Vatican representatives that through "difficulties and misunderstandings" they "participate authoritatively in the prophetic responsibility of the Church, which intends to continue to raise her voice in defense of mankind.”

This is true, he said, “even when policies of States and the majority of public opinion moves in the opposite direction. Truth, indeed, draws strength from itself and not from the amount of consent it arouses."

04:50 am | Archbishops Nienstedt and Chaput defend CCHD as criticisms continue

01:46 am | Holy Father reminds the hearing impaired they are also recipients of the Gospel

09:07 pm | CNN poll finds 61% of Americans oppose government-funded abortions

08:02 pm | USCCB: Senate health care bill 'morally unacceptable'

05:54 pm | Mexican expert: Don’t believe false 'end of world' Mayan prophecies

Pope promotes culture of solidarity inspired by evangelical values