VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 183
DATE 21-10-2014

Summary:
- Programme of Pope Francis' apostolic trip to Turkey
- The responsibility to protect and the rule of law

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 Programme of Pope Francis' apostolic trip to Turkey
 Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today confirmed that His
Holiness Francis, accepting the invitation issued by the civil authorities,
His Holiness Bartolomaios I and the bishops, will make an apostolic trip to
Turkey from 28 to 30 November 2014, during which he will visit Ankara and
Istanbul.
 The Pope will leave on the morning of Friday 28 from Rome's Fiumicino
Airport, and will arrive at Esenboga Airport, Ankara at approximately 1 pm. He
will first visit the Mausoleum of Ataturk, after which he will transfer to the
presidential palace where he will be received by the president of the Republic
and the authorities, to be followed by a meeting with the Prime Minister. He
will subsequently visit the president of Religious Affairs in the Diyanet.
 On the following day, Saturday 29, the Holy Father will travel by air to
Istanbul where he will visit the Hagia Sophia Museum, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque,
better known as the Blue Mosque, and the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy
Spirit, where he will celebrate Mass. Later, in the patriarchal Church of St.
George, there will be an ecumenical prayer and a private meeting with His
Holiness Bartholomaios I.
 On Sunday 30 Pope Francis will celebrate Mass privately with the apostolic
delegation. In the patriarchal Church of St. George a divine liturgy will take
place, followed by an ecumenical blessing and the signing of the Joint
Declaration. In the afternoon the Holy Father will return to Istanbul Airport
to return to Rome, where he is expected to arrive, at Fiumicino Airport, at
6.40 p.m.

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 The responsibility to protect and the rule of law
 Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - A state based on the principles of rule of law and
justice was the central theme of the address given on 13 October at the United
Nations in New York by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See permanent
observer at the United Nations, during the 69th session of the General
Assembly.
 "While commitment to the rule of law would appear to be universal, there
nonetheless remains persistent disagreement about the definition of 'the rule
of law'. The Holy See Delegation has endorsed a definition of the rule of law,
which is both rationally and morally grounded upon the substantial principles
of justice, including the inalienable dignity and value of every human person
prior to any law or social consensus; and, as a consequence of the recognition
of this dignity, those elements of fundamental justice such as respect for the
principle of legality (Nullum crimen sine lege), the presumption of innocence
and the right to due process. Likewise, regarding relations among States, the
rule of law means the paramount respect of human rights, equality of the
rights of nations; and respect for international customary law, treaties
(Pacta sunt servanda) and other sources of international law. This definition,
with its reference point in the natural law, sidesteps self-referential
definitional frameworks and anchors the orientation of the rule of law within
the ultimate and essential goal of all law, namely to promote and guarantee
the dignity of the human person and the common good.
 "For this reason, in future debates of the rule of law my delegation would
welcome increased attention to the human person and the society in which he or
she lives, because, in addition to the police force, courts, judges,
prosecutors and the rest of the legal infrastructure, the rule of law is
unattainable without social trust, solidarity, civic responsibility, good
governance and moral education. The family, religious communities and civil
society play indispensable roles in creating a society that can promote public
integrity and sustain the rule of law. As Pope Francis affirmed: 'When a
society, whether local, national or global, is willing to leave a part of
itself on the fringes, no political programs or resources spent on law
enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquillity'.
This is why the promotion of the rule of law needs to be indispensably
supported and verified by prioritising the allocation of public resources to
human integral development.
 Archbishop Auza went on to observe that the UN Charter and the mandates
contained within its purposes and principles are at the centre of the
international framework governing rule of law. "In the exercise of these
powers, it is appropriate to emphasise the commitment of States to fulfil
their obligations to promote universal respect for, and the promotion and
protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. If the
international rule of law is to reflect justice, frameworks to international
protection of persons must be fairly and impartially applied by States to
guarantee equal recourse to the protections available under the UN Charter. I
refer here in particular to religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East
and other regions awaiting urgent measures to effect this protection,
including through further legal elaboration of the responsibility to protect".
 He continued, "the 'responsibility to protect' is a recognition of the
equality of all before the law, based on the innate dignity of every man and
woman. The Holy See wishes to reaffirm that every State has the primary duty
to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human
rights and from the consequences of humanitarian crises. If States are unable
to guarantee such protection, the international community must intervene with
the juridical means provided in the UN Charter and in other international
instruments. The action of the international institutions, provided that it
respects the principles undergirding the international order, cannot be
interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty".
 Finally, the nuncio reiterated that the Holy See hopes that the "alarming,
escalating phenomenon of international terrorism, new in some of its
expressions and utterly ruthless in its barbarity, be an occasion for a deeper
and more urgent study on how to re-enforce the international juridical
framework of a multilateral application of our common responsibility to
protect people from all forms of unjust aggression".

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