* * *
Mr. President,
I am pleased to welcome you to the Vatican in your capacity as the President of the 58th General Assembly of the United Nations.
As you know, the Holy See considers the United Nations Organization a significant means for promoting the universal common good. You have undertaken a restructuring aimed at making the Organization function more efficiently. This will not only ensure an effective superior instance for the just resolution of international problems, but also enable the United Nations to become an ever more highly respected moral authority for the international community.
It is my hope that the Member States will consider such a reform «a clear moral and political obligation which calls for prudence and determination» (Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace, 7), and a necessary prerequisite for the growth of an international order at the service of the whole human family.
I offer prayerful good wishes for your own efforts on behalf of this goal and I willingly invoke upon you and your associates the divine blessings of wisdom, strength and peace.
