ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER PAUL VI
TO THE AMBASSADOR OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC*

Thursday, 20 May 1976

Mr. Ambassador,

On this solemn occasion on which Your Excellency presents to us the Letters that accredit you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Dominican Republic to the Holy See, our first words wish to express the cordial welcome we bid you today The welcome presence of Your Excellency at this Centre of Christendom, renews in us sentiments of benevolence and memories which, going beyond distances and latitudes, are often addressed to our beloved sons in the Dominican Republic, whose deep Catholic spirit we well know and to which you have just referred in your address.

Precisely because it is a country with deep Catholic roots, the Holy See and the Church look to it with particular solicitude, made up of satisfaction with the spiritual and human aims already attained and of encouragement and collaboration – within the sphere of their specific competence – in the pursuit of higher objectives. The Church in Santo Domingo feels solidarity with this great mission, giving impetus to that complete development which promotes the whole of man and enables him to find himself, assuming the higher values that lead him towards conditions of life that are more and more truly human (cf. Populorum Progressio, no. 14 and 20).

We are sure that all our Dominican sons, led by their zealous pastors, will not desist in this noble joint effort to make a positive contribution to the improvement of their country. We encourage them to do so, knowing that they will respond to our trust and benevolence, of which we wished to give them a proof by nominating one of their most illustrious fellow-countrymen to the cardinalate.

Mr Ambassador, as regard Your Excellency know that you can count on our constant assistance in the accomplishment of the high mission that begins today. Kindly transmit to the President of your country our sincere thanks for the respectful greeting he sent us, and express our best wishes to the people of the Dominican Republic, on whom we warmly invoke the assistance of the Almighty.

*ORa n.23 p.9.