Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have sent letters to Fr. Federico Lombardi in gratitude for the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation of which the former Holy See Press Office Director serves as president.
They were written to mark the inauguration of the 2018 International Symposium “Fundamental Rights and Conflicts Among Rights,” being held by the Ratzinger Foundation in Rome.
Here is a Zenit working translation of Benedict XVI’s Nov. 12, 2018, letter:
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Benedict XVI
Pope Emeritus
Vatican City
November 12, 2018
Most Reverend Father
Federico LOMBARDI, S.J.
President of the
Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI Foundation
00120 Vatican City
Dear Father Lombardi,
As you know, since I was informed — several months ago — of the first project of the International Symposium on the theme “Fundamental Rights and Conflicts among Rights,” I expressed to you immediately my appreciation for the initiative, considering it extraordinarily useful. In particular, it seemed important to me that there be explicit discussion on the problem of the “multiplication of rights” and on the risk “of the destruction of the idea of right.”
It is a current and fundamental issue to protect the basis of the human family’s coexistence, which merits once again to be the theme of further and systematic reflection, as the Symposium’s program shows it wishes to do.
Therefore, I assure all the speakers and participants in the Symposium of my esteem and my closeness in prayer, so that the Lord will bless the works as precious service for the Church and for the good of the human family.
Yours in the Lord,
Benedict XVI
[Vatican-provided English text]
