APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS PAUL VI
TO WEST ASIA, OCEANIA AND AUSTRALIA

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER PAUL VI
TO THE LORD MAYOR OF SYDNEY

Sydney, Australia
Monday, 30 November 1970

My Lord Mayor,

We are happy to thank you for your thoughtful words of welcome in the name of the great city of Sydney. We thank you with all Our heart for the hospitality so kindly offered Us by your city. It permits Us to join in the celebration of the bicentenary of the exploration of your region by Captain James Cook, and at the same time to hold a meeting similar to the one just held in Manila. The aim of this meeting is to join with those in authority in the Catholic Church of this great country in seeking the best way of responding to Our call to serve and advance man by the proclamation of the Gospel.

We are impressed by the size of your capital, so full of activity, and so dynamic in the cultural field as well as in the fields of industry and commerce. We have no difficulty in imagining the many questions that face the administration of a city of this size. We can see clearly that it is a matter of satisfying the material needs of a very diverse community, of dealing with the demands of continual growth, and of ensuring housing, food, employment and education for all.

It is also a matter of answering the questions of a profoundly changing civilization. New needs appear, sometimes indeed artificial ones; education grows in extent and diversity; business calls for ever sterner measures to meet competition; the way of life of the individual, the family and society is evolving rapidly. All of us, including the churches, are involved in the birth of a new world.

We must all take care that the forward movement does not degenerate into a headlong rush. We must see to it that enthusiasm for the future does not give rise to contempt for the past. Desire for material goods must neither harden our hearts nor make us underrate spiritual values. In the final analysis, it is a question of guaranteeing the conditions for genuine progress, that is, truly human progress. Allow Us to assure you, you and your illustrious collaborators, of Our full esteem for the exemplary zeal which you bring to the fulfilling of your noble functions, and of Our admiration for your concern to exercise your service in a manner which ensures fairness for all. Please accept also Our warm encouragement.

We pray that concord, prosperity and a worthy manner of living may ever reign in the city of Sydney. We wish that this great city’s renown may be upheld from all points of view, and that those who live in it may be distinguished no less for their moral and religious stature than for their energy in work and their spirit of initiative. With these wishes, We invoke upon yourselves, your families, and your fellow citizens, abundant blessings from God.