On April 25, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, gave an intervention during the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate and promote the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace being held at UN Headquarters in New York.

In his statement, Archbishop Auza said that the indispensable conditions for successful multilateral diplomacy are good will, mutual trust and respect, honesty, fairness, a spirit of cooperation, and openness toward common solutions. He mentioned Pope Francis’ address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See three months ago, in which the Pope highlighted four points: the primacy of law and justice; the defense of those in the most vulnerable situations; building bridges and building peace; and a focus on our common destiny the appropriate means to achieve it. He said that a renewed multilateralism must be founded on the idea of the international community as a “family of nations” seeking the common good, something that requires solidarity on the part of governments, international organizations and all men and women.

The statement can be found here.