Catholic World News News Feature

Pope commends UN action against racism April 20, 2009

During his regular midday audience on Sunday, April 19-- held at Castel Gandolfo, where he was spending a week of relaxation after Easter-- Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the enduring problem of racism.

The Pope reminded his audience that UN representatives will be meeting in Geneva this week, to review the progress made since the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001. Pope Benedict praised the “important initiative” taken by international leaders to address the fact that “such deplorable phenomena still exist.”

Today, the Pope said, the world needs “firm and substantial action, at both the national and international level, to prevent and eliminate all forms of discrimination and intolerance.” That action, he continued, should take the form of an educational campaign designed to help young people, in particular, recognize the common humanity that binds us together, and the contributes that different groups have made to our cultures.

“For her part,” the Pope said, “the Church reiterates that only recognition for the dignity of man, created in the image and likeness of God, can constitute a sure foundation for such an undertaking. Indeed, it is this shared origin that gives humankind its shared destiny, which should arouse in everyone a strong sense of solidarity and responsibility.”