JOHN PAUL II, THE UNITED NATIONS, AND THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM.

• Author: Rychlak, Ronald J.

The Vatican has a well-deserved reputation for diplomatic expertise. It is the oldest continuing international organization in the world today. (1) One of its main interests is in bringing nations together in peaceful co-existence and helping them solve their common problems.

Holy See diplomats try to obtain peace between nations, peace within nations, justice for oppressed peoples, and protection of the independence of the Holy See and the rights and privileges of the Church. If you doubt the importance of the Holy See to international relations, consider that Pope John Paul II's funeral brought together the single largest gathering of heads of state in world history. (2)

Founded in 1945, the United Nations Organization endeavors to build a safer and better existence for all of its member states and their citizens. The specific aims of the United Nations are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, and to promote international economic and social cooperation.

For these reasons, even in the absence of a permanent link with the General Assembly, (3) the Holy See has always maintained at least indirect relations with the United Nations, through representatives sent to the various specialized inter-governmental organizations affiliated with it. (4)

The United Nations Organization grew out of the Allies in World War II. In 2000, when I first started as a legal advisor, the Holy See and Switzerland--both neutral during the war--had permanent observer status rather than full membership in the UN. (5) Both nations were, however, treated with full diplomatic courtesy. In 2002, Switzerland decided to accept regular membership in the United Nations. Almost immediately, permanent observer nations (meaning the Holy See) were relegated to essentially the same level as non-governmental organizations. (6) Fortunately, thanks to the Holy See's diplomatic efforts, the situation was corrected within a year.

The United Nation's predecessor, the League of Nations, was concerned with political rights of sovereign powers. As such, there was a limited role for the Holy See to play. In 1948, however, a revolution took place. Building upon Pope Pius XII's appeal to the dignity of man among Christians, (7) the United Nations developed and adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. (8) For the first time in history, not only the political but also the social and economic rights of man mattered in the international arena. This was a staggering breakthrough with important ramifications in terms of the role that might be played by the Holy See. (9)

In his Christmas message of 1948, Pope Pius XII expressed the wish that: "the 'United Nations' become the full and faultless expression of this international solidarity for peace, expunging from its institutions and its status every vestige of its origin which was of necessity a solidarity of war." (10)

Pope John XXIII paved the way to establish official contact between the United Nations and the Holy See in his 1962 encyclical Mater et Magistra. (11) His predecessors had dealt with political affairs on an international level, but their concern for problems connected with economic development was restricted to the national level. Pope John XXIII expanded the papal vision of development to the international scene.

Two years later, in Pacem in Terris, (12) Pope John XXIII gave theological justification to a long list of rights that virtually mirrored those set forth in the United Nations' Universal Declaration.

In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to address the U.N. General Assembly. He called the delegates "spokesmen for what is loftiest in human wisdom." (13) Specifically, he mentioned the sacred nature of human life, and assurance to all of a life in keeping with human dignity. He also explained the Holy See's role at the UN. "It is as an 'expert on humanity' that we bring this Organization the support and approval of our recent predecessors, that of the Catholic hierarchy, and our own, convinced as we are that this Organization represents the obligatory path of modern civilization and world peace." (14)

Karol Jozef Wojtyla assumed the office of the papacy in October 1978. Twelve months later, he addressed the United Nations. It was only the second time a pope had appeared before that body. In his address, John Paul II reflected on a theme that he had developed in his encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, (15) humanity's inherent dignity. He said:

Every human being living on earth is a member of a civil society, of a nation, many of them represented here. Each one of you, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, represents a particular State, system and political structure, but what you represent above all are individual human beings; you are all representatives of men and women... each of them a subject endowed with dignity as a human person.... (16) The new pope drew attention to a "systematic threat" to world peace that he found in "the various forms of injustice in the field of the spirit." (17) He knew full well that humanity abuses liberty. Man can choose to do wrong because he is free. That is both the risk and the beauty of freedom. As he had previously explained, "God also bestowed upon man understanding and conscience to show him what is good and what ought to be done, what is wrong and what ought to be avoided." (18)

John Paul II had long recognized a universal aspiration for freedom. In 1976, as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, he had explained, "[t]he hunger for freedom passes through the heart of every man.... The hunger for freedom passes also through the history of the human race, through the history of nations and peoples. It reveals their spiritual maturity and at the same time tests it." (19)

Wojtyla proclaimed that "Christ is the true prophet of men's freedom and also of the liberty of nations and peoples, of all the oppressed who suffer from hunger for true freedom.... And so, the hunger for freedom continues to be unsatisfied." (20) This statement, of course, came at a time when Poles and others were still very much victims of Soviet colonialism and its atheistic policies.

The pope saw the United Nations as an institution designed to guard human rights. This became most evident in his second address to the U.N. General Assembly, which took place 16 years later, on October 5, 1995. There, he said:

In coming before this distinguished Assembly, I am vividly aware that through you I am in some way addressing the whole family of peoples living on the face of the earth. My words are meant as a sign of the interest and esteem of the Apostolic See and of the Catholic Church for this Institution. They echo the voices of all those who see in the United Nations the hope of a better future for human society.... The Holy See, in virtue of its specifically spiritual mission, which makes it concerned for the integral good of every human being, has supported the ideals and goals of the United Nations Organization from the very beginning. Although their respective purposes and operative approaches are obviously different, the Church and the United Nations constantly find wide areas of cooperation on the basis of their common concern for the...