Pope: let us build peace and bridges, interfaith dialogue

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Friday put the world's many poor at centre stage during his first audience with ambassadors accredited to the Holy See. The recently elected pope called on the diplomatic corps to �protect those who suffer as a result of poverty�, recalling his namesake St Francis' fight against material poverty and his predecessor Benedict XV�s fight against the spiritual poverty allegedly inherent in the �dictatorship of relativism�. In yet another break with tradition, Francis addressed the ambassadors in Italian rather than in the traditional diplomatic language of French.



Continuing the humble approach that has marked his week-old papacy, Francis did not sit on the traditional papal throne but on a plain white chair set on a small dais. Argentinian Francis, the first South American pope, was elected on March 13 after Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to abdicate. Pope Francis on Friday told ambassadors to «work to build peace» according to the instructions of his namesake St Francis of Assisi. «However, there can be no peace without truth,» he said. The Argentine pope who was elected to replace Benedict XVI at a conclave of cardinals last week also told the diplomats from 180 countries that it was not possible «to claim onès own rights without also working for the good of others». Pope Francis on Friday told ambassadors gathered at the Vatican that one of his titles as Bishop of Rome was «pontiff, builder of bridges, with God and among men».



The newly elected successor to Benedict XVI, former archbishop of Buenos Aires, added that all countries had responsibility to build bridges in pursuit of «ever greater love for our world». «As you know my family has Italian origins and so I have always been engaged in dialogue between remote places and cultures, between one end of the earth and the other,» Francis told the representatives of 180 nations. «Today (these places and cultures) are increasingly close and interdependent and in need of meeting each other and creating real space for genuine brotherhood,» he added. The pope also underscored the importance of religions in fostering peace, and thanked the Muslims, atheists and members of other faiths who participated in his pontificatès inaugural mass. «Religion is fundamental in building bridges» between peoples in order to bring about peace, the pope said. «You cannot build bridges without finding God, but you can't have a true relationship with God by ignoring others.» In an ecology-minded closing, the pope said that the path ahead for humanity will be «difficult, if we don't learn to love our Earth more and more.»