Meeting With Representatives of Politics, Culture and Business

VATICAN CITY, JUN 23, 2001 (VIS) - Early this evening, John Paul II paid a courtesy visit to Leonid Kuchma, president of Ukraine, at the presidential palace in Kiev. He also briefly met with Anatoliy Kinakh, prime minister, and Ivan Plyusch, president of the country's parliament.

Later, in the same presidential palace, the Pope met with representatives of the worlds of politics, of culture, of science and of business.

In his address, the Holy Father indicated that Christianity had "inspired the greatest figures of your culture and art, and richly nourished the moral, spiritual and social roots of your country."

"Tragically, the choices made by the peoples of the Continent have not always been consistent with the values of their respective Christian traditions, and history has thus been marked by painful episodes of oppression, destruction and sorrow."

Nonetheless, added the Pope, "your people attained the greatly-desired goal (of freedom and full sovereignty) peacefully and without bloodshed, and they are now firmly committed to a courageous program of social and spiritual reconstruction. The international community cannot fail to admire the success which you have had in consolidating peace and in resolving regional tensions with due consideration for local differences. I too encourage you to persevere in your efforts to overcome whatever difficulties remain and to guarantee full respect for the rights of national and religious minorities."

John Paul II highlighted the fact that "in the twentieth century, the totalitarian regimes destroyed whole generations, by undermining three pillars of any authentically human civilization: recognition of God's authority, ... respect for the dignity of the human person ... and the duty to exercise power as a means of serving every member of society without exception, beginning with the weakest and the most vulnerable. Denial of God did not make man any more free. Rather, it exposed him to various forms of slavery and debased the vocation of political power to the level of brutal and oppressive force."

Addressing his remarks to politicians, the Holy Father said it was their duty "to serve the people and to ensure peace and equal rights for all." He exhorted men and women of culture to "apply a critical and creative intelligence in every sphere of knowledge" and expressed the hope that "the teaching of ecclesiastical sciences also receive due recognition from civil authorities." He went on to say: "May the fearful social, economic and ecological catastrophe of Chernobyl serve as a permanent warning" to those involved in scientific research. Finally, he requested entrepreneurs and business men and women to look to "the individual and not to profit as the aim of all economic activity that respects human dignity. Always work legally, that is the guarantee of justice."

Vatican Information Service
23. juni 2001