Cardinal Parolin to UN: Development depends upon peace
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican
Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on Thursday delivered an address
for the opening of the Seventy-First Session of the United Nations General
Assembly.
In his remarks, Cardinal
Parolin said “Integral human development is…impossible without peace.”
“Conflicts not only render
the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals at the regional level
absolutely impossible, but also destroy so many human resources, means of
production and cultural heritage,” – the Cardinal said – “Today, as during the
1950s, 60s and 70s, there is the recurrence of the threat of
nuclear conflict with its terrible consequences. The enormous and ill-fated
effect of war is a downward spiral from which there is often no escape,
triggers an increase in political polarization at the global level and narrows
the spaces in which the same international community can propose
effective solutions for a stable and lasting peace.”
The full text of
Cardinal Parolin's speech is below
ADDRESS
by His Eminence Cardinal
Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of His Holiness
Pope Francis
and Head of the Holy See
Delegation
to the General Debate of the
Seventy-First Session of the
United Nations General
Assembly
New York, 22 September 2016
Mr President,
Last year, in
his address in this Hall, His Holiness Pope
Francis defined the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development as “an important sign of hope.”
Just a few days ago, he reiterated
his appreciation for the actions taken last
year by the United Nations, encouraging all to
put these ambitious objectives into practice: “The protection
of our common home requires a growing
global political consensus. Along these
lines, I am gratified that in September
2015
the nations of the world
adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, and that, in
December 2015, they approved the Paris
Agreement on climate change, which set
the demanding yet fundamental goal of
halting the rise of the global
temperature. Now governments are obliged to honour the
commitments they made, while businesses must also responsibly
do their part. It is up to
citizens to insist that this happen, and indeed
to advocate for even more ambitious goals.”
The achievement
of the 2030 Agenda involves an important
assumption of responsibility on the
part of Governments and the commitment
of all for the common good. This
commitment entails recognizing the need to strive not only for
great macroeconomic goals but for outcomes that are
specific, lasting, and equitably distributed. Without a
stable financial situation, lasting investments
and a commercial appraisal that favours internal growth, however,
the 2030 Agenda will be impossible to achieve. Pope Francis has
emphasized that “economics and politics, society and culture
cannot be dominated by thinking only
of the short-term and immediate financial or electoral
gains. Instead, they urgently need to be redirected to the common good,
which includes sustainability and care for creation. One concrete case is
the ‘ecological debt’ between the global north and
south. Repaying it would require treating
the environments of poorer nations with care and providing the financial
resources and technical assistance needed
to help them deal with climate change and promote
sustainable development.”
We always must
remember that development – especially integral
human development – cannot be
imposed. Men and women, as individuals,
must be the principal agents of the 2030
Agenda. Last year, in this very
chamber, Pope Francis affirmed that this
“presupposes and requires the right to education, … which is ensured
first and foremost by respecting and reinforcing the primary right of
the family to educate its children, as well as the right of churches and
social groups to support and assist
families in the education of their
children.”
Therefore, Pope Francis
continued, “the simplest and best measure and indicator
of the implementation of the new Agenda for
development will be the effective, practical and immediate access, on
the part of all, to essential
material and spiritual goods: housing,
dignified and properly remunerated
employment, adequate food and drinking
water, religious freedom and, more
generally, spiritual freedom and education.”
Such a
process of bringing about integral human development –
a concept that includes, but is not exhausted by, economic development
– should, through multilateral initiatives, stimulate also the quest for
complementary, alternative finance systems capable of
ensuring that financial resources are both accessible to
and sustainable for the poorest. As Pope
Francis said here last year, “The pillars
of integral human development have a common foundation, which
is the right to life,” which presumes that
“we recognize a moral law written
into human nature itself, one that includes
the natural difference between man and woman (cf.
Laudato Si’, 155), and absolute respect for life in all its stages and
dimensions.”
Integral human development
is, moreover, impossible without peace. Only two days ago
in Assisi, Pope Francis, together with numerous
other world religious leaders, stressed the importance of dialogue as a
privileged way to be peacemakers.
Conflicts not only render the attainment of the
Sustainable Development Goals at the regional level absolutely
impossible, but also destroy so many human
resources, means of production and cultural
heritage. Today, as during the 1950s,
60s and 70s, there is the recurrence of the
threat of nuclear conflict with its terrible consequences. The
enormous and ill-fated effect of war is a
downward spiral from which there is often no
escape, triggers an increase in political
polarization at the global level and narrows the
spaces in which the same international
community can propose effective solutions for a
stable and lasting peace.
Among the factors
that degrade social coexistence in countries and
undermine the whole international community,
we must count the scourge of terrorism. In the course of
recent years, we have seen the metastasis of terrorism to
so many parts of the world. Neighbors to
Syria and Iraq have increasingly become
victims of innumerable barbaric acts. Beyond the Middle East,
atrocious acts of terrorism have instilled fear in the daily life of so
many across the globe.
In the Middle East, we see
the terrible consequences of a spiral of war: many lives destroyed;
fallen states; collapsed ceasefires; unsuccessful peace
initiatives; and failed attempts to resolve the
fundamental causes of conflict in Syria,
Iraq and Libya, to find a solution
to the crisis of the presidency in
Lebanon, and to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. This persistent failure has dampened the
hopes and promises of all who consider that region sacred and holy.
We can also witness these failures in the long-standing conflicts that
continue to oppress and take the lives of so many in South Sudan, the Great
Lakes, and now for two and half
years in Eastern Ukraine. Although these situations
have all been high profile and have brought an immense amount
of human suffering, we are still very
far from resolving their root causes. It almost seems
that we have accepted conflict, war and terrorism as
part of our new normal.
Beyond the
urgency of the need for ceasefires, for
respect for the dignity and the rights
of affected peoples, and for access to
humanitarian aid, there is also the necessity to facilitate
negotiation with those who have direct or
indirect responsibility for particular conflicts. Thankful
for the positive outcome in Colombia, the heartfelt hope of
the Holy See is that, through the
facilitation of the international community,
various forms of contact and dialogue will
be pursued to resolve ongoing conflicts.
In particular, from the
beginning of the conflict in Syria, the Holy See has invited all Parties
to dialogue and the international community to spare no efforts in
facilitating an end to violence and in promoting the conditions
for dialogue aimed at finding a political solution.
Syria, however, has been overrun by all kinds of armed groups. The uproar
of arms must cease so that peace may stand a chance, and above all so
that humanitarian assistance may be brought to those who most need it.
The Holy See is convinced that this is possible provided that there is
the political will to bring an end to the fighting.
Despite present difficulties,
one can still gratefully find in Lebanon the conviction that
the common good requires the participation
and cooperation of all sectors of society, based on the rule of law and
the idea that institutions are founded on respect for the innate dignity
of every human being. The Lebanese constitutional
arrangement, in which diverse ethnic groups,
cultures and religions are an asset and contribute
to a peaceful coexistence, can also be a model for a political solution in
the region.
The Holy
See also believes that in the Middle
East a renewed commitment in favour of the rule of law and of
freedom of religion and of conscience is the most effective way to
safeguard the dignity of all. In this context, the 2015
Global Agreement that the Holy See signed with Palestine and
that has subsequently been ratified by both Parties sets out in law
the defence of the most basic human
rights, among which are freedom of religion, the right to peaceful
assembly, and the freedom publicly to profess one’s own religious
beliefs. In the complex situation of the Middle
East, and in particular in Iraq and
Syria, the Holy See maintains that
the Global Agreement with Palestine can serve
as a template for other Countries
with analogous social
structuring.
In the
context of renewed efforts to relaunch
the peace process between Israelis and
Palestinians, the Holy See renews its
appeal to both Parties to abstain from unilateral or illegal
measures of whatever kind, which may constitute an obstacle to the search
for peace and to the advancing of the two-State Solution.
When we
look at the phenomenon of forced migration,
we find ourselves before a population of people on the move greater
than that of many of the States represented here: sixty-five million
people have been compelled to flee from their homes and communities,
because of persecution, conflict, widespread violence and hunger, and devastated
lands. A word of praise must go to
Lebanon and to Jordan for the
hospitality they are offering to all
who have escaped from war and destruction
in Iraq and Syria as well as to
Turkey, which is hosting millions of Syrian refugees.
Beyond the
necessary urgent consideration of how to resolve the
causes of this forced exodus, we must
note that migration and development are tightly
linked. The consequences of the mass
movement of refugees and migrants threaten
to weaken our commitment to the values of solidarity and
hospitality towards those in need. These values stand at the heart of the
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to which Pope Francis has been summoning
the world. As Pope Francis has emphasized, “Mercy
is the fundamental law that dwells in the heart
of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and
sisters on the path of life,”especially those who are the weakest and
most vulnerable.
Drawing special
attention to those who are in prison,
the Pope has renewed his pressing appeal “to the consciences
of leaders, that they come to an international
consensus aimed at abolishing the death penalty.”
Without authentic
and absolute respect for life, there
can be no development that is truly human, integral and
sustainable. Precisely to foster this development, Pope Francis has instituted
a new Dicastery or department of the Holy See,
the purpose of which is to promote justice, peace, the safeguarding
of the environment, and the care of those
most in need. The poor and needy are the human
face of the sustainable development that we wish to keep ever
before us, so that we may become responsible agents of a more
just and truly human society.
Thank you.
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