Gathering at U.N. praises 'Pacem in Terris' on 40th anniversary

Published: 2003-10-08

UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Oct. 7 that Pope John XXIII's encyclical "Pacem in Terris" "still challenges us as much as it did" when it was issued in 1963. Addressing a Vatican-sponsored gathering of more than 300 participants at U.N. headquarters in New York, he cited in particular the encyclical's call to adapt the U.N. structure and methods so that it could more effectively safeguard the "universal, inviolable and inalienable" rights of the human person. "That great reforming pope, whose transparent love and compassion touched the hearts of all humanity, had grasped a fundamental point about the nature and purposes of our organization," Annan said. But he also said Blessed Pope John XXIII recognized that many people had not found the United Nations "an effective safeguard of their rights" because people of a particular nation are represented at the United Nations "by the same state that they are appealing from." The U.N. charter forbids interference in a country's domestic affairs, he said.

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