Posted by Henri M
on 2/10/2009, 17:10:09
85.145.85.203
Today Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Henriette Johanna Cornelia Maria Baroness van Lynden-Leyten, accompagnied by her spouse, Carel Diederic Aernout Baron van Lynden, were received in audience by His Holiness The Pope. During the audience the Ambassador has offered her credentials to The Pope.
The Pope:
"Your Excellency,
I am pleased to welcome You to the Vatican and to accept the Letters accrediting You as Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Holy See.
I would like to express my gratitude for the good wishes that You brought from Her Majesty Queen Beatrix.
For my part, please convey to Her Majesty my cordial greetings and assure The Queen of my continuing prayers for Her and all the people of Her realms.
After this the Baroness gave an outline of Catholic life in the Netherlands. She mentioned the jubilees of the Dioceses of 's-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), Roermond and Haarlem, all established in 1559.
The Baroness mentioned the lates papal encyclical Caritas in Veritae and mentioned that the Netherlands were one of the only two countries in the world which meet the papal recommendation to reserve at least 0,8% of the GNP for development aid.
The Pope thanked the Netherlands for the fact that public schools and schools based on a Faith are treated equally.
The Pope mentioned that also the Netherlands were hit by the worldwide economic recession and he made a plea, referring to Caritas in Veritae, to observe the consequences of "exaggerated individualism that tends to favour single-minded pursuit of perceived personal advantage to the exclusion of other goods".
The Ambassador assured the Pope that the Netherlands would support initiatives by the Vatican to reach a new climate treaty in Copenhagen and has expressed the Dutch appreciation for the role the Church plays in the peace process in the Middle East.
The Letters of Credence were written in French (the international diplomatic language). After the audience with the Pope the Ambassador had a meeting with Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the State Secretary of the Vatican and with other high authorities.
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