To Government Delegates

On Tuesday, 15 June 1982, the Holy Father addressed the Government Delegates, to whom he spoke of the “policy” of work, “how to guarantee men employment and working conditions that allow them to live decently, to develop their abilities and at the same time well-being and prosperity of their country.”

Ladies and
gentlemen.

Your group has a delicate task within the International Labor Organization since you represent the governments which have a decisive responsibility in the application of the measures taken here. I am pleased to meet you and greet you through each of your nations.

All in all, it is, in the noble sense of the word, the "policy" of work that you are trying to advance: how to guarantee men employment and working conditions that allow them to live decently, to develop their abilities and at the same time well-being and prosperity of their country; and, through this means, contribute to solving the excruciating problems of unemployment, poverty and hunger.

Your governments obviously work towards this in each of your countries, through a set of measures and laws that adapt to the situation and which also depend on the political or economic systems in force. And on the other hand, an arduous task, since economic, social and cultural problems are difficult to understand and dominate in their complexity.

But these problems are increasingly taking on an international dimension, as I pointed out this morning, and it is necessary that you invent together, with employers and workers in all countries, legal mechanisms that overcome your personal or national concerns and that allow all peoples to progress along the path of effective solidarity and greater justice. And I hope that the means will be found to authoritatively enforce this new international social order . On the other hand, this would be logical, since what government does not dare to place an essential part of its program under the sign of justice? For my part, I renew all my encouragement to you.

I know that among you there are also representatives of the specialized bodies of the United Nations, who work here permanently to advance the conditions of security, freedom, peace and health throughout the world. I also extend my encouragement to them.

May God enlighten and strengthen you all in this task. I wholeheartedly recommend all of you, your families and your homelands to him. And I will now try to greet you personally.

© Copyright 1982 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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