To the Captains Regent and the Authorities of the Republic of San Marino

On Sunday, 29 August 1982, the Holy Father began his Pastoral Visit by addressing the Captains Regent and Authorities of San Marino*, noting that “the history of this very ancient and singular Community, to those who retrace it even fleetingly, offers the faithful presence of a fundamental value, that of freedom.” 

Lords Captains Regent,
illustrious Authorities.

Thank you very much for the noble and elevated words addressed to me.

1. It is a great joy for me to begin this day by arriving at the sharp peak of Titan, to pay homage to your beloved Republic, illustrious for a glorious past constantly distinguished by profound longings for freedom, justice and peace, in the sign of a Christian faith never dormant, and always inspiring noble ideals.

My desire to visit you and join you within your Community was prevented by your repeated and cordial invitation, testimony to that "celebrated hospitality, made of grace and distinction" ( Teachings of Paul VI , I [1963] 39) which characterizes your tradition of fraternal solidarity and noble humanity. I therefore thank and address my respectful greetings to the Captains Regent and the civil authorities; and I direct my affectionate thoughts to all the citizens of the Republic, whose warm welcome has already offered me a first-fruit of that convinced respect of the soul which, through my person, is addressed to the Apostolic See and to the holy Church.

2. The history of this very ancient and singular Community, to those who retrace it even fleetingly, offers the faithful presence of a fundamental value, that of freedom , which has become a deep-rooted way of thinking and living of its inhabitants. I would like to recall and publicly exalt precisely this value in this meeting, inviting us to consider, even before the political aspects, the moral ones and its intimate spiritual roots. It is God, in fact, who, in creating man "in his image and likeness" ( Gen 1, 26), wanted him to be free; he made him lord of creation, giving him with the light of intelligence the strength of freedom, as the capacity for self-determination.

And although, in the present existential experience marked by sin, the interior option for good is weakened, we must remember the restorative work accomplished by Christ: he is the true liberator of man!

Precisely on these roots of that "perpetual freedom", always operating in your civil institutions, I would like to invite you to reflect; protecting its spiritual substratum, recalled by Christ with the well-known words: "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free" ( Jn 8:32). It follows that being free means realizing the fruits of the truth, acting in the truth, and not submitting the truth to oneself, to one's own ambitions, to one's own interests, to one's own circumstances (cf. Teachings of John Paul II , IV,1 [ 1981] 790-791).

3. A second value, specific to you, is that of industriousness , which is also an "internal" element of man, designating the commitment and style with which he approaches his work. This value therefore represents a personal quality that takes the form of an authentic moral virtue, understood as love for work, as the achievement of adequate professionalism, as the daily refinement of one's skills. It is, at the same time, a correspondence to the gift of freedom and a response to the divine mandate given to man to exercise an enlightened and wise lordship over creation.

I know that this virtue distinguishes the San Marino people like the inhabitants of the surrounding regions; it profiles their life, strengthens their character and allows for a condition of honest well-being. May it, therefore, be maintained and increased.

4. Calling to mind the figure of your Founder, who headed to these pleasant slopes to lead a life of prayer and penance, it is clear that your civil community has had, since its birth, as a fundamental and I would say institutional component, the value of faith . This is a very precious heritage, which is yours and which must be jealously preserved, increased and passed on to future generations.

In today's society a painful and contradictory situation often arises. Through the discoveries of science and the applications of technology, humanity has achieved a high degree of progress and well-being, unthinkable only fifty years ago; however, perhaps never, as today, has it found itself so restless and threatened. The society that passionately tends towards the future is actually afraid of the future. Such a dramatic condition highlights that man, in his frantic concern for progress, above all needs certain motivations and absolute values.

Religion is, therefore, a reality of extreme historical and cultural importance, which cannot be eradicated from the human heart. As was authoritatively stated on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of this rebuilt Government House, nothing will "sequester God from history"!

In this context I reminded the Captains Regent on 18 September 1980, on the occasion of their visit to the Vatican: "The Christian faith in God and in Jesus Christ, Redeemer of man, is also faith in the radical dignity of man, and cannot so don't wake up. . . urgent needs for freedom and justice. . . Weakening faith, hindering its exercise. . . it would mean undermining the internal root of justice and freedom" ( Teachings of John Paul II , III,2 [1980] 662).

Now the specific responsibility of political authority must be conceived precisely as a noble service to freedom and justice, since it is essentially ordered to the common good and is legitimized, like any other reality of collective life, only by respect for the inviolable dignity of the 'man. Being authentic servants of freedom and justice means offering all citizens the possibility of an orderly affirmation and a desirable moral and civil increase, avoiding the suggestions of discriminating and clientelistic methods in view of hegemonies of power; it means not favoring spiritually neutral and ethically minimal methods and contents in the family, in school and in society which - despite upright intentions and personal integrity - would lead to the emptying of Christian values ​​and would thereby undermine the very roots of those very high institutions with irremediable contradiction; it means not pursuing an image of civil community, dissolving the vigor of moral and spiritual virtues in conformism.

May the Lord God protect the inhabitants of this most noble land, strengthening in them intentions of orderly civil development, of industrious harmony, of invincible faith in the values ​​of the spirit. With these votes, I invoke upon their persons, the Captains Regent, upon the Authorities and upon all the people of San Marino the gifts and comforts of divine protection. 

* Teachings of John Paul II , vol. V, 3 pp. 315-318 .

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