VATICAN – The pope’s traditional New Year’s meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of foreign states and international organizations accredited to the Holy See was held on January 11.
Pope Francis delivered a speech focusing on the results of the Vatican’s diplomatic activities, the main international events of the past year and the challenges facing the international community on the eve of 2016.
In his speech, the pontiff separately commented on the situation in Ukraine. He said: “May this Holy Year of Mercy will be an especially favorable time to finally put an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Extremely important is the diverse support that the international community, individual countries and humanitarian organizations can offer to the country in order to overcome the current crisis.”
After the speech, the pope met briefly with the ambassador of Ukraine. Pope Francis welcomed Ambassador Tetiana Izhevska with the Christian greeting “Christ is Born.” After the traditional reply, “Glorify Him,” the ambassador conveyed New Year and Christmas greetings to the pontiff from the government and people of Ukraine.
Ambassador Izhevska thanked the holy father for his constant attention, prayers and blessings for Ukraine, and expressed hope that Ukrainians would soon have an opportunity to greet the pontiff on their land. Pope Francis, for his part, assured the ambassador that he will “never forsake Ukraine.”
According to the Catholic News Agency, there are currently 180 ambassadors to the Holy See, 86 of whom reside in Rome. An annual occurrence, the pope’s speech to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See is one of the most important that he gives at the beginning of each year, and it sets the Holy See’s diplomatic tone for the rest of the year.
Pope Francis encouraged the diplomats to work toward building peace, but said that doing so would mean “rethinking entrenched habits and practices,” beginning with the arms trade, financing and sustainable development policies, the provision of raw materials and energy, investment, as well as “the grave scourge of corruption.”