International problems reflect moral crisis, Vatican official tells UN
October 02, 2012
In an October 1 address to the UN General Assembly, the Vatican’s chief foreign-policy official has warned that the peacekeeping role of the UN is threatened by a worldwide “crisis of confidence” in the fundamental moral principles that sustain the international organization.
Archbishop Dominque Mamberti, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, suggested that many international problems, including both military conflicts and economic fears, are sparked by “a profound anthropological crisis—that is, a loss of a common understanding of what is truly human.” The Vatican official explained that “only an international community firmly anchored in authentic values consistent with human dignity can produce viable solutions to new types of conflicts.”
In a clear reference to international terrorism, Archbishop Mamberti said that a consensus on moral principles is required as an antidote to “new types of conflicts initiated by transnational groups that spread a pseudo-religious ideology of contempt for human rights and civil peace.” He said that the problem is shown “most flagrantly by current developments in the Middle East, and in particular in Syria.”
In his address to the General Assembly, delivered in French, the archbishop paid tribute to the role that the UN has played since its inception in working to establish peace in the world. But today, he said, the UN is “deprived of the force of unity and persuasive power that it could legitimately have” because of the lack of a clear international accord on basic moral principles, such as those that were set forth earlier in fundamental international agreements on human rights.
“How is it,” the archbishop questioned, “that in spite of universal acceptance of the UN charter and fundamental treaties, we cannot establish a real and equitable system of world government?”
In addition to mediating political crises and stopping international terrorism, Archbishop Mamberti said that worldwide action is necessary to address an economic crisis that is “spreading as fast as a forest fire,” and takes its toll especially on those who are most vulnerable. He said that a growing gap between the world’s rich and poor must be recognized as “unacceptable.”
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Posted by: Justin8110 -
Oct. 12, 2012 6:10 PM ET USA
Why waste time on the UN? The Catholic Church is the only international body that has the answers to mans deepest questions about who he is, where he comes from and where he is headed. The UN is just a secularist organization that spreads abortion and contraception around the world and seeks to be the seat of a world government with no place at the table for Christ the King, the natural law or the Catholic Church.
