Pope in North Macedonia: respect
for human dignity, diversity for a future of peace and prosperity
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| Pope francis and President Gjorge Ivanov of North Macedonia in Skopje (AFP) |
Pope Francis on May 7 addressed North Macedonian
authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace
in the capital Skopje.
By Robin Gomes
In his first speech on North Macedonian soil on Tuesday,
Pope Francis encouraged the West Balkan state in its effort to be a beacon of
peace, acceptance and fruitful integration between cultures, religions and
peoples.
Cultural wealth
Addressing the nation’s authorities, the diplomatic corps
and representatives of civil society at the presidential palace in capital,
Skopje, the Pope described the land as a bridge between East and West and a
meeting-point for numerous cultural currents. With a Christian presence
that dates back to the apostolic times, the country also bears elegant
testimonies of its Byzantine and Ottoman past.
But what is more precious, he pointed out, is the
“multiethnic and multi-religious countenance” of the people, the legacy of a
rich and complex history of relationships forged over the course of centuries.
Diversity, reciprocal respect, coexistence
“This crucible of cultures and ethnic and religious
identities,” the Pope said, “has resulted in a peaceful and enduring
coexistence in which those individual identities have found expression and
developed without rejecting, dominating or discriminating against others.”
The Holy Father noted that the different religious
identities of Orthodox, Catholics, other Christians, Muslims and Jews, and the
ethnic differences between Macedonians, Albanians, Serbs, Croats, and persons
of other backgrounds, have created a mosaic in which every piece is essential
for the uniqueness and beauty of the whole. This beauty, the Pope said,
will become more evident if they pass it on and plant it in the hearts of the
next generation.
the Pope said that efforts to enable the diverse religious
expressions and the different ethnic groups of the country to find a common
ground of understanding and respect for the human dignity, and consequently the
guarantee of fundamental freedoms, will surely lead to a future of peace and
prosperity.
He said that North Macedonians can thus “serve as an example
and a point of reference for a serene and fraternal communal life marked by
diversity and reciprocal respect.”
Migrants, refugees
Pope Francis expressed appreciation for North Macedonians,
who together with several international agencies are providing assistance to a
large number of migrants and refugees from Middle Eastern countries, fleeing
war or poverty at home, on their way to northern and western Europe.
Providing these people with security and solidarity, the
Pope said, does honour to North Macedonians and speaks about their soul.
Mother Teresa
As a model, the Holy Father held up the figure of one of
their “illustrious fellow-citizens”, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was born to
Albanian parents in Skopje in 1910. Moved by the love of God, the Pope
said, she made the love of neighbour the supreme law of her life and “pioneered
a specific and radical way of devoting one’s life to the service of the
abandoned, the discarded, and the poorest of the poor”.
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