Vatican City, Jan 23, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Today at the Vatican, John Paul II received the Letters of Credence of Monique Patricia Antoinette Frank, the new ambassador to the Holy See from the Netherlands.
Addressing her in French, the Pope underscored how the world needs "to build a future of peace among men" and "to consolidate a stable international order, guaranteed by a better sharing of resources at an international level and policies actively aimed at development."
There must also be "dialogue among the different peoples that comprise a nation" which is aimed at reciprocal respect, he said
The Pope pointed out that, as part of the Church's contribution to this process, "I once again took the initiative, almost three years ago, of gathering together in Assisi the leaders of the great religions of the world so as to show together our common will for peace; I called them to a deeper dialogue among all religions, and I asked them in particular absolutely to renounce any legitimization of recourse to violence for religious motives and, even more, to explicitly condemn this.”