seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason

at every level of national life.

Your readiness to do so is already implied in the unprecedented invitation

extended to me today. And it finds expression in the fields of concern in

which your Government has been engaged with the Holy See. In the area

of peace, there have been exchanges regarding the elaboration of an interna-

tional arms trade treaty; regarding human rights, the Holy See and the

United Kingdom have welcomed the spread of democracy, especially in the

last sixty-five years; in the field of development, there has been collaboration

on debt relief, fair trade and financing for development, particularly through

the International Finance Facility, the International Immunization Bond,

and the Advanced Market Commitment. The Holy See also looks forward to

exploring with the United Kingdom new ways to promote environmental

responsibility, to the benefit of all.

I also note that the present Government has committed the United King-

dom to devoting 0.7% of national income to development aid by 2013. In

recent years it has been encouraging to witness the positive signs of a world-

wide growth in solidarity towards the poor. But to turn this solidarity into

effective action calls for fresh thinking that will improve life conditions in

many important areas, such as food production, clean water, job creation,

education, support to families, especially migrants, and basic healthcare.

Where human lives are concerned, time is always short: yet the world has

witnessed the vast resources that governments can draw upon to rescue

financial institutions deemed "too big to fail". Surely the integral human

development of the world's peoples is no less important: here is an enterprise,

worthy of the world's attention, that is truly "too big to fail".

This overview of recent cooperation between the United Kingdom and

the Holy See illustrates well how much progress has been made, in the years

that have passed since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, in

promoting throughout the world the many core values that we share. I hope

and pray that this relationship will continue to bear fruit, and that it will be

mirrored in a growing acceptance of the need for dialogue and respect at

every level of society between the world of reason and the world of faith. I

am convinced that, within this country too, there are many areas in which

the Church and the public authorities can work together for the good of

citizens, in harmony with this Parliament's historic practice of invoking

the Spirit's guidance upon those who seek to improve the conditions of all

Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale638