Text 653, 85 rader
Skriven 2005-06-24 09:40:20 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
===================================================
Hello All!

                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

BENEDICT XVI PAYS OFFICIAL VISIT TO PRESIDENT OF ITALY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 24, 2005 (VIS) - Pope Benedict XVI, returning the visit to
the Vatican by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Campi on May 3, today went to
the Quirinale Palace, home to Italy's presidents, where he met privately with
Ciampi, following which there were official speeches in the "Salone delle
Feste."

The Pope left the Vatican at 10:30 a.m. in an open car. Just outside Vatican
City, in Pius XII Square, he was greeted by a delegation of the Italian
government led by Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini. The Holy Father's motor
cavalcade stopped a second time in Piazza Venezia, near Rome's City Hall, where
he was greeted by Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni. Upon his 11 a.m. arrival at the
Quirinale, President Ciampi welcomed Benedict XVI and, once inside the palace,
they were joined by former Italian presidents Francesco Cossiga and Oscar Luigi
Scalfaro, the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Among those present for the Vatican was
Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

Today's visit was the eighth time a Pope has been to the Quirinale. The first
was Pius XII in 1939. John Paul II went to the Quirinale in 1984, 1986 and
again in 1998.

Following greetings from President Ciampi, the Pope delivered his address,
assuring citizens of Rome and Italy of his "commitment to work with all my
strength for the religious and civil wellbeing of those the Lord has entrusted
to my pastoral care."

The Holy Father recalled how relations between the Church and the Italian State
"are founded on the principle expressed during Vatican Council II, according to
which 'the Church and the political community in their own fields are
autonomous and independent from each other. Yet both, under different titles,
are devoted to the personal and social vocation of the same people'."

For this reason, the Pope went on, "a healthy laicism of the State" is
legitimate, "by virtue of which temporal situations are governed according to
their own norms, yet without excluding those ethical references whose ultimate
foundations are to be found in religion. The autonomy of the temporal sphere
does not exclude an intimate harmony with higher and more complex necessities
deriving from an integral vision of man and of his eternal destiny."

Benedict XVI expressed the hope that the Italian people, "not only do not deny
the Christian heritage that makes up part of their history, but guard it
jealously and bring it once again to produce fruits worthy of the past. I have
faith that Italy, under the wise and exemplary guidance of those called to
govern her, will continue to undertake the civilizing mission in the world, in
which she has so distinguished herself over the centuries. By virtue of her
history and culture, Italy can make a valid contribution, especially to Europe,
helping it to rediscover those Christian roots that enabled it to be great in
the past, and that still today can favor the profound unity of the continent."

The Pope indicated that the numerous concerns of the start of his pontificate -
concerns "that cannot but be of interest to leaders of public life" - include
"the problem of safeguarding the family based on matrimony, as recognized by
the Italian Constitution, the problem of the defense of human life, ... and the
problem of education."

The Church, he stressed, "sees in the family a very important value that must
be defended from all attacks that aim to undermine its solidity and put its
very existence in doubt. In human life, moreover, the Church recognizes a
primary good, the basis for all other goods." On the subject of schooling, the
Holy Father emphasized its role as a "natural expansion" of the formative role
of the family. "While fully respecting the competency of the State to dictate
general norms for education, I cannot but express the hope that the right of
parents to a free educational choice be respected, without their having to
support the additional weight of further burdens. I trust that Italian
legislators, in their wisdom, know how to find 'human solutions' to these
problems, in other words, solutions that respect the inviolable values
implicated therein."

Following his address, the Holy Father bid farewell to the Italian president
before returning to the Vatican by open-top car.
BXVI-VISIT QUIRINALE/.../CIAMPI VIS 050624 (730)

SUMMARY

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS New Orleans 1-504-897-6006 USR 33.6k (1:396/45)