APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO GENEVA
ON THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE
 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (10 JUNE 1969)

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS PAUL VI
TO THE EMPEROR OF ETHIOPIA*

Tuesday, 10 June 1969

Your Imperial Majesty,

It gives Us great pleasure to meet you today in this famous centre of world activities – activities reaching out for the betterment of the human race. It has pleased Us to have had this opportunity of talking with you on problems of our concern, and once again we have round ourselves both earnestly striving for the same goals of peace and unity among men.

The concern of Your Imperial Majesty for the cause of peace is well known, and your unceasing toil and efforts to this end have earned the admiration of all right-thinking men. Since We also yearn for peace, We express Our sincere gratitude for your untiring endeavours winch We have supported with enthusiasm.

Peace, however, is not only a negative operation; true peace is positive – it involves unity, charity, understanding, tolerance, and forgiveness. This positive aspect of peace also appears prominently in the works of Your Imperial Majesty for the welfare of mankind, and especially in that great task which you have accepted and worked for with courage – union in Africa.

Yet all the works of well-meaning men, who, according to their own lights, try for a better world, are of no avail unless they take into account the Great Divinity – unless they take into account the higher destiny of Man. In this respect Your Imperial Majesty has earned the regard of all by following in all your works the higher nature of Man, and by showing an example of personal spiritual courage in a life not without suffering

We wish to continue to work in friendship and co-operation, for the ideals we both desire, and We pray constantly that these ideals may be achieved. We specially pray also, that Your Imperial Majesty, and all your beloved people, may receive an abundance of heavenly blessings.

*ORa n.25 p.9.