Vatican City, May 17, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Benedict XVI today received the Letters of Credence of five new ambassadors to the Holy See, encouraging them to strive to build bridges between countries in the area of fraternal solidarity and in that of economic and cultural exchanges.
The five new ambassadors are Moukhtar Wawa Dahab from Chad; Amitava Tripathi from India; Domingos Dias Pereira Mascarenhas from Cape Verde; Valeriu Bobutac from Moldova; and Anne Maree Plunkett from Australia.
Pope Benedict invited the new ambassadors to “a solid commitment that does not seek only the interest of a particular section of society, to the detriment of the general interest, but that aims above all at the common good of a whole country, and of humanity.”
The Pontiff called for Peace “rooted in respect for religious liberty, which is a fundamental and primordial aspect of the freedom of belief of individuals and of the freedom of peoples.