To the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation (14 June 1984)
ShareOn Thursday. 14 June 1984, in Lohn, the Holy Father addressed the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation.* In his speech, the Pope observed that, “located at the crossroads of roads and later at the crossroads of empires and civilizations, the Swiss had to learn very early on to live in diversity and, without renouncing in any way their particular identities, to welcome that of the other and to respect him as other.”
1. I am very touched by the noble words you have just addressed to me. For my part, enjoying the hospitality of this country, I am happy - as I usually do during my visits, because I consider it my duty - to come, in a courteous manner, to express my respectful and cordial greetings to the one who has the honour of presiding, with the entire Federal Council, over the destiny of the Swiss Confederation and of representing the entire Swiss people. The deference and tact with which you welcome me, as a constituted body, as well as the sympathy of the populations I meet, go straight to my heart , and I express my deep gratitude to you .
The pastoral visit that I am making to this country, as I have said, is mainly addressed to the Swiss Catholic community, and to the other Christians or believers who have been kind enough to meet me for discussions on our common spiritual concerns. But my feelings of sympathy go to all the Swiss people , and where better than here, before its highest Magistrates, could I find the opportunity to express my respectful and warm homage to them? I cannot help but mention on this subject how the originality of your homeland and your history appears from outside, to the eyes of a friend .
2. Most European countries have been shaped by the natural unity of their territory, their language, or their religion. Switzerland, for its part, was much more dependent, in its genesis, its development and its duration, on the common will and the perseverance of its children. The action of men , however tenacious it may be, could not have defied the centuries as the almost seven-hundred-year-old Confederation has done, if it had not been founded from the beginning on a certain idea of man . It is by remaining faithful to this original humanist vocation that Switzerland has indeed succeeded in crossing the vicissitudes of a rather tumultuous history and environment.
In the firmament of this fundamental vision of man, the North Star of freedom has never ceased to shine , a very precious good and supreme risk of the human person, whose plenitude it alone can ensure. But, to develop all its riches and shine abroad, personal freedom needs to flourish within cities that are equally free and masters of their destinies. This is the lesson that the Confederates learned from their first alliance and that they have carefully preserved throughout their historical journey.
3. And yet, if history brought them together, geography could have separated them: located at the crossroads of roads and later at the crossroads of empires and civilizations, the Swiss had to learn very early on to live in diversity and, without renouncing in any way their particular identities, to welcome that of the other and to respect him as other. This is how the long apprenticeship of tolerance took place , the highest teaching of which had been brought to them by Saint Nicholas of Flüe, tutelary father of confederal concord.
It is undoubtedly from this original exercise of tolerance - made even more difficult when the great division of Western Christianity extended its extensions throughout the Confederation - that Swiss neutrality was born . At first an unformulated maxim of the most immediate interest, it had the merit of protecting the Cantons from the centrifugal forces that could have broken their fragile unity. But it was also necessary that over the years the other nations, and first of all their immediate neighbors, also find their advantage in it, by recognizing in Swiss neutrality a pledge of peace and stability for the whole of Europe.
It then became necessary to go even further and no longer consider neutrality as a means of protecting oneself from the turbulence of high politics. It had become urgent to further highlight its external, altruistic aspects , in a spirit of solidarity and participation. In a word, to open up ever more to the immense and painful world. Faced with the problems that assail the great family of men and its endless dramas, it would not be in keeping with the Sign that strikes the Swiss flag to remain as inert witnesses. Switzerland is called upon to work to the extent of its resources for the common good of this painful and fraternal humanity. This is the wish that we also express for its future.
4. Today, you yourselves are the High Representatives of this country which is based on a solid constitutional order, the pillars of which are direct democracy, federalism and the rule of law . More than one country could envy this wisdom! How can we not hope that the Swiss, for their own good, continue to develop their positive sense of freedom and equality of all inhabitants before the law, their respect for diversity - I am thinking of ethnic minorities with regard to their language, their customs and their economic and social life -, their active participation in public life and their loyal collaboration for the good of the whole? Your ancestors also made the choice to promulgate the Federal Constitution in the name of Almighty God: this honours all the Swiss and at the same time gives them a special responsibility.
5. You can also contribute to the progress of peace and justice, beyond your borders, between the peoples of Europe and the world , to the extent that you yourselves affirm and guarantee the rights of the human person, the dignity of the worker and his participation in responsibilities, the priority given to people over “having”, the reception of those fleeing violence or endemic poverty in their country, the search for freely negotiated solutions, in a word the demands of social justice, freedom and peace.
Yes, your history, your culture, your political reality must encourage you to play your part in the community of peoples . Work , as in the past, to intensify relations and exchanges between the women and men of this world, beyond political frontiers and economic interests, because it is in this way that they will be able to better discover their bonds of unity and interdependence, which flow from their common nature. Your voice in the international organizations , many of which benefit from your hospitality, your voice in your relations with the other nations of the world, will have all the more authority as you continue to proclaim the need to base the relations of men and peoples on the love of justice .
6. Your Excellency, you know the interest and contribution that the Holy See , for its part, in correlation with its mission of a spiritual nature, brings to these humanitarian objectives, for the benefit of all men, whatever their race, their political regime or their religion, both in the framework of its bilateral relations with States and in its action with international Organizations.
It was during the First World War that Pope Benedict XV proposed to the Federal Council a joint effort to help the victims of the war and the “Work of the Interned” was born. It was following this collaboration that the regular relations that had existed previously for more than three centuries, with certain vicissitudes, in the form of an Apostolic Nunciature were renewed with the Swiss Confederation.
During the Second World War, together with the Holy See and Switzerland, we were able to take disinterested action to provide material and moral aid to so many people who were wounded and distraught by the human tragedy that was setting so many countries of Europe ablaze. Thanks to the special position of your country and that of the Holy See, among the parties engaged in the conflict, how many men and women were able to save their lives, find temporary asylum ensuring them the necessary care, subsistence, freedom! Certainly, we were not able to alleviate all the suffering, nor to remedy the extent of the evil, in those difficult and dark times. But many worked, on both sides, with a deep sense of responsibility, with generosity and a spirit of sacrifice, in the name of God and out of brotherly love. This story is now well known to honest minds who wish to resort to objective information.
Our relations are currently taking place in a climate of loyal understanding and respectful friendship. The Holy See appreciates the fact that the Confederation and the civil authorities, at various levels, make possible the peaceful development of Catholic religious life throughout the country. Therefore, without asking for any privilege, the Catholic Church in Switzerland, in communion with the Apostolic See, can support the faith of its faithful and work, with other Christians, to ensure that the message of life and love of Jesus Christ continues to be the leaven of a social life that is rooted in Christianity.
I also hope that on the world stage, the efforts of Switzerland and the Holy See will converge ever more when it comes to advancing solutions for peace, commitments to mutual aid towards the most deprived, and guarantees of respect for man who always retains a divine dignity.
7. These few days spent in the midst of your country, impressive by its beauty, will allow me even more, I am sure, to appreciate your compatriots, rightly renowned for their love of work, their order and their prudence, for their hospitable virtues, for their faith too. My stay familiarizes me with their human and spiritual problems, and I bring my testimony, that of the Catholic Church.
I am certain that the dear Swiss people will continue to draw inspiration from their Christian history and to open themselves more to the call of the humanitarian needs of those who, throughout the world, do not have the same material and cultural possibilities. I pray to God to bless all the sons of this land, with a special thought for you, Mr. President and Gentlemen Federal Councilors, and I thank you again for your welcome.
*AAS 77 (1985), pp. 41-45.
Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , vol. VII, 1 pp. 1752-1757.
L'Osservatore Romano 15.6.1984 pp.1, 8.
L'Osservatore Romano. Weekly edition in French n. 25 pp. 19, 20.
Catholic Documentation n. 1878 pp. 728-729.
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