Newsroom

Thomas More Lecture

by HM Ambassador Francis Campbell

Allen Hall, Chelsea

5 November 2009

“In the Papacy we have one of the world’s key opinion formers. It is an office that is instantly recognisable across the world and, whether one is a Catholic or not, the Papacy attracts attention like few other global offices,” said HM Ambassador Francis Campbell in a lecture at the Allen Hall seminary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, one of seven seminaries of the dioceses of England and Wales, where men are prepared for ministry as Catholic priests.

Giving one of the annual Thomas More lectures, Mr Campbell explained the main themes that have emerged four years into the Papacy of Pope Benedict XVI.

“In Pope Benedict XVI,” he said, “we have a Pope who keeps coming back to a number of themes which are important for him. Probably the most central is the very nature between the secular and religious in the Western tradition. Other issues flow from that central theme and find tangible application, for example on climate change or disarmament. The Pope has also taken some very innovative steps in the area of international development financing and as such has placed the Holy See at the cutting edge of policy making.”

Ambassador Campbell described the activity of the Pope in support of international development: “The Holy See is a crucial partner to the international community if we are to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” he said. “To this end, the Pope and Prime Minister exchanged letters in June and July 2008 and did so again at the start of this year’s G20 Summit in London in April. The Pope wrote to the Prime Minister to remind leaders of the industralised world not to forget the plight of the poor in the developing world.”

And he added, “The need to tackle climate change is something Pope Benedict has returned to repeatedly over the past four years. It was prominent in his most recent Social Encyclical – Caritas in Veritate.”

Turning to disarmament, Mr Campbell said, “In reaching agreement on the Cluster Munitions, the Holy See played a vital role in getting the international community to build the necessary consensus to achieve a breakthrough. Over 100 states signed up to the Cluster Munitions Treaty. The Holy See was among the first to do so.”

“Pope Benedict and his predecessor,” he concluded, “saw first hand during the inter-war years what can happen when ideas are not properly grounded in reason and faith. They understood the relationship of ideas to what came after. They understood the real risks of being complacent about the very foundations of society. Ultimately, that experience is central to understanding the Papacy of Pope Benedict XVI as much as it was to understanding the era of John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI engages us to focus on the fundamental values which are essential to a more humane society.”