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

Friday, 29 October 1976

Mr Ambassador,

it gives us much pleasure to accept the Letters of Credence which you bring from His Excellency President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kenya to the Holy See. We are likewise appreciative of the courtesy of the President in extending to us his cordial greetings. We would ask you to convey to him in turn our prayerful good wishes for his continued well-being.

Your presence here today is especially gratifying for us because you represent a people among whom we have many sons and daughters in the faith. Besides this, you also testify to your Government’s readiness to work together with the Church for the benefit of all in Kenya. The Church likewise, on her part, is committed to such collaboration. In speaking of relations between the civil community and the Church, the Second Vatican Council notes that “each serves the personal and social vocation of the same human beings”, and it adds that “this service can be more effectively rendered for the good of all to the extent that each works better for wholesome mutual cooperation” (Gaudium et Spes, 76).

Although exercising her mission primarily in the spiritual order, the Church also has a deep interest in the temporal welfare of all peoples. Hence we have no hesitation in stating that the Holy See will never cease to promote, in every way open to it, improvements in both the religious and social conditions of life in your country.

With our renewed pledge to pursue this common goal, we gladly invoke upon the beloved people of Kenya and its authorities the divine blessings of peace and harmonious progress.

To Your Excellency we willingly extend our prayerful good wishes for the happy fulfilment of your new mission.

*AAS 68 (1976), p.669-670.

Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. XIV, p.887-888.

L’Attività della Santa Sede 1976, p.295-296.

ORa n.46 p.2.