Apr 18, 2008 / 13:16 pm
In his much anticipated address to the UN this morning, Pope Benedict XVI described how the current problems faced by the world require a collective response at the international level. Among the issues he cited were, development in Africa, scientific and medical advances and the defense of the family.
“The United Nations embodies the aspiration for a ‘greater degree of international ordering,’” the Holy Father quoted from Pope John Paul II. And yet, he said that while the UN is supposed to act out of a “multilateral consensus”, it often does not because its decisions are “still subordinated to the decisions of a few”.
What the world needs, said Benedict, are “interventions in the form of collective action by the international community.”
“Indeed, questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and global inequalities, protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet. I am thinking especially of those countries in Africa and other parts of the world which remain on the margins of authentic integral development, and are therefore at risk of experiencing only the negative effects of globalization,” the Holy Father said.