To the Representatives of International Catholic Organizations (OIC)

On Tuesday, 15 June 1982, the Holy Father addressed the Representatives   of International Organizations (OICV) to whom he spoke of their role of mediating “between the Gospel and contemporary society, between the universal Church and the community of Nations.”

Dear brothers and sisters.

1. I am pleased to greet in Geneva, as I have already done elsewhere, in New York and Paris for example, the representatives of the International Catholic Organizations and the members of the Coordination Centre. I particularly thank the President of the OIC Conference for his welcome and for the beliefs that animate him.

The International Organizations that depend on the UN - is there any need to repeat it here in Geneva, and in front of you who are surely convinced of it? - within the community of Nations they carry out very important work of comparison and collaboration to arrive at conventions, recommendations and actions that are very useful to peoples and concerning human rights, social justice, hygiene .

Even if these are imperfect and not always sufficiently effective instruments, and with results that are not free from criticism, the Church has, as you know, great respect for the humanitarian purposes of each of these institutions, and sees in them an obligatory passage for humanity in search of his unity. This is sufficiently demonstrated by my visit this morning to the International Labor Organization, without forgetting the Geneva headquarters of the UN and the various specialized institutions whose Directors I have just met.

2. The Church therefore places its trust in the people who are responsible according to their conscience, and does not spare its encouragement for the ethical progress that this can represent. She naturally hopes that Christians, her Catholic children, understand the value of this work and bring their personal collaboration to it, enriched by competence and the Christian meaning of the realities of the world.

For this reason I greeted with pleasure the members of the Information Center of Catholic International Organizations, as I believe that it supports them in faith and friendship, helping them among other things to better assume in a personal capacity, as lay Christians, their responsibilities in their international service.

But it is obvious that the organic presence of the Church has a primordial importance here.

Officially the Holy See is represented by its permanent Observer , whom I thanked together with the collaborators of this permanent Mission, who despite their small number carry out valuable work.

But on another level the Church is present through you, representatives of the OIC , whose testimony and action of an associative nature are particularly important among the International Organizations, which among other things recognize you as non-governmental organizations. Many of these OICs have their General Secretariat here, others have at least one qualified representative in or around Geneva, responsible for following the activities of the United Nations on behalf of the Organization to which they belong, and also speaking.

3. I certainly cannot list all these OICs nor define the line of action of each of them, since they are very varied and complementary elements. However, I would like to express my encouragement and best wishes to you, assuring you that without the OICs something would be missing from the fruitful vitality of the Church and its apostolic and prophetic mission in contemporary international society.

In one word I would like to define your original character. What does the catholicity of OICs mean? It means first of all that they draw their vital dynamism from the sources of the Gospel lived in the community of the Church. At the same time the adjective "catholic" puts your organizations in an organic relationship with the Church and with her magisterium. In this sense you are linked by a particular bond with the Holy See as an instrument of the mission of the Bishop of Rome towards the universal Church.

But you have a specific role that requires an original commitment. I could define it as the mediation phase between the Gospel and contemporary society, between the universal Church and the community of Nations. The OICs, by reason of their very existence and presence, constitute an element of this mediation, a hinge so to speak between the Catholic Church and international society; and where the Church as such could not intervene because it involves technical problems, this is where you must intervene.

4. This can be achieved by you, because your international associations of lay Christians allow you to bring together in your field of competence a considerable sum of Christian reflections, experience and strength, coming from the contribution of all ecclesial communities, and to make responsible and free use of it before intergovernmental bodies.

I will not dwell on the many initiatives and periodic interventions that you can undertake in the case of specific projects. But I would like to add that in addition to this concrete Christian commitment, or rather in order to allow it, your OICs will be able to constitute the place for in-depth reflection , indispensable for an action of an international nature, concerning for example a philosophical and juridical concept of international society, a theory and an educational movement at the service of peace, an ethics applied to the new international economic order and to the dialogue between North and South, a Christian anthropology in favor of human rights, the protection and functioning of the family and intermediate bodies, the integration of the law of charity in the sphere of international relations, the education of consciences and international opinion on various crucial topics, all of this requires at the same time a very faithful adherence to Christian principles and in-depth experience concrete fields of application. This immense and exhilarating terrain offers itself to your specific apostolate, to your Christian courage. You will offer the benefit to the international bodies, to the other OICs with their Conference, and to the Holy See itself.

5. The OICs draw information, stimulus and means of collaboration from the Information Center of International Catholic Organizations of which I would like to thank the manager and all the staff. I cannot help but recall here the work of the late Father Henri de Riedmatten, who was a Counselor of this group for a long time, then a Permanent Observer. I am also certain of the importance that the testimony of this Center has among other non-governmental organizations and even among the large international organizations in Geneva.

6. To conclude, we are here guests of a nice parish which bears the name of the admirable saintly artisan of peace in Switzerland, Saint Nicolas de Flüe. I am aware of everything that the leaders of this parish do to dedicate themselves appropriately to hospitality, worship and education in the faith. I know that many people from international backgrounds feel at ease here because they find the spiritual and friendly support they are looking for.

This time I will not have time to visit other parishes in Switzerland. But other opportunities will surely arise. However, from here I send my thanks to all the pioneers of the international Catholic movement who have undertaken successful initiatives in various fields in Switzerland.

May the Lord enlighten your spirits and open your hearts in boundless charity! May he assist you in your work, may he make it fertile! May he help your OICs to fulfill the ecclesial task expected of them! I bless you affectionately, together with your families and the people who are dear to you.

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