VATICAN CITY, JUNE 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is appealing for the establishment of peace, but affirming that it can only come with justice and respect for human rights.
The Pope made his appeal today when he received in audience the new Gabonese representative at the Holy See, Firmin Mboutsou.
"Through your mediation, Lord Ambassador, I invite all authorities and men of good will, in particular on the beloved African continent, to be ever more committed to a peaceful, fraternal and solidaristic world," the Holy Father exhorted in his French-language address.
Gabon is on the western coast of Africa and bordered by Congo. President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba has governed the country for four decades, and been accused of electoral fraud in the last elections.
Still, Gabon is one of Africa's richest nations and its population of close to 1.5 million is between 55% and 75% Christian.
"I make an appeal today for an ever more prophetic courage, reminding that peace and justice advance together and that all this must be made concrete through respect for legality in all realms," the Pontiff said. "Without justice, without struggling against all forms of corruption, without respect for the rule of law, it is impossible to build true peace."
And without these conditions, he continued, "it will be hard for citizens to trust their leaders; moreover, without respect for the liberty of every individual, there can be no peace."
Speaking of social justice, Benedict XVI pointed out that "it is opportune that the country's inhabitants be the first beneficiaries of the product of the nation's natural resources and do everything possible for a better protection of the planet, leaving to future generations a truly habitable earth, able to feed its inhabitants."
The Bishop of Rome emphasized that "according to her tradition, under forms appropriate to her, the Church is ready to collaborate and offer her support to all persons whose main concern is to establish a society that respects the most elementary rights of man and to build a society for man."
