Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 391

ALLOCUTIONES

I

Iter Apostolicum in Cyprum: Nicosiae apud Palatium Praesidis ad Publicas

Auctoritates et Legatos Nationum.*

Mr President,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am grateful that, as part of my Apostolic Journey to Cyprus, I have this

opportunity to meet with the political and civil authorities of the Republic,

as well as the members of the diplomatic community. I thank President

Christofias for the gracious words of greeting which he expressed in your

name and I willingly reciprocate with my own respectful good wishes for

your important work, recalling in particular the happy occasion of the

50th anniversary of the Republic's Constitution.

I have just laid a wreath at the memorial of the late Archbishop Makar-

ios, the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. Like him, each of you in

your lives of public service must be committed to serving the good of others

in society, whether at the local, national or international level. This is a noble

vocation which the Church esteems. When carried out faithfully, public

service enables us to grow in wisdom, integrity and personal fulfilment.

Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics gave great importance to such fulfilment -

eudemonia- as a goal for every human being, and saw in moral character the

way to reach that goal. For them, and for the great Islamic and Christian

philosophers who followed in their footsteps, the practice of virtue consisted

in acting in accordance with right reason, in the pursuit of all that is true,

good and beautiful.

From a religious perspective, we are members of a single human family

created by God and we are called to foster unity and to build a more just and

fraternal world based on lasting values. In so far as we fulfil our duty, serve

others and adhere to what is right, our minds become more open to deeper

truths and our freedom grows strong in its allegiance to what is good. My

predecessor Pope John Paul the Second once wrote that moral obligation

* Die 5 Iunii 2010.