ADDRESS OF PAUL VI
TO THE NEW AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
TO THE HOLY SEE*

Wednesday, 23 January 1975

Your Excellency,

We have a great pleasure in welcoming you to the Vatican and in receiving the Letters by which you are accredited as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Uganda to the Holy See.

Uganda is particularly dear to the Catholic Church since it is one of the foremost Christian nations of Eastern Africa and one which, in its Martyrs, has given witness to the supreme values of the spirit. It is likewise especially dear to us because of our visit there some years ago: we cherish the memories of that visit and of the pilgrimage which we made to the shrine of Namugongo. You understand therefore the special welcome we have for you as the representative of your Country.

We thank you for the assurance you have given us that the Government and people of Uganda esteem and fully support our efforts to promote peace and the spiritual and moral maturity of mankind. For our part we take this occasion to reaffirm the commitment of the Church to work loyally, through her institutions, for the integral good of the entire Nation. As we said in our address to the Parliament of Uganda during our visit to the country: “There is . . . a programme of the temporal order which the Church fosters today, not her programme, but your own; and to it she intends to give her moral support and also, as far as possible, her practical support: that is, the programme of the development of peoples”.

We are very glad to hear you express satisfaction with your assignment as Ambassador to the Holy See. While we wish you every happiness and success in this post, we also assure you of our prayers for yourself and your Country.

Appreciative of the greetings which you have kindly presented to us on behalf of His Excellency the President of Uganda, we ask you to convey to him and to the other Authorities of the Nation our own good wishes for the human and spiritual progress of the beloved Ugandan people.

*AAS 67 (1975), p.111-112.

Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. XIII, p.78-79.

L’Attività della Santa Sede 1975, p.34.

L'Osservatore Romano. Edition hebdomadaire en langue française, 24.1.1975, p.1.

ORa n.5 p.2.