Vatican City, Feb 29, 2008 / 08:38 am
In a discourse addressed to Mrs. Mary Ann Glendon, the new US ambassador to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Americans to defend the right to life from conception to its natural end, traditional marriage and the family.
The Pontiff first expressed his appreciation for Doctor Glendon (69), a Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School who in 2004 became the first female President of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
After revealing that he is looking “forward to my Pastoral Visit to the United States in April," the Pope noted that "from the dawn of the Republic, America has been a nation which values the role of religious belief in ensuring a vibrant and ethically sound democratic order."
“Your nation's example of uniting people of good will, regardless of race, nationality or creed, in a shared vision and a disciplined pursuit of the common good has encouraged many younger nations in their efforts to create a harmonious, free and just social order", he added.