New York (AsiaNews) – "The poor cannot wait!" The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, borrowed a phrase from John Paul II (Chile 1987) to close his address at the Glass Palace. Participating in celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, he voiced the impatience for UN reform felt by the world, the Holy See and by Catholics. The hope is that reform would enable the UN to work more effectively in guaranteeing peace and development to nations without hesitation, ambiguity or ideological distractions, and that it would have people and the dignity of mankind closest to its heart above policies and states.

Cardinal Sodano said the UN showed "signs of usury" and called for "institutional reform" to make its resolutions effective. Men and women of the world, he said, were "discouraged by many promises made and not kept, by resolutions adopted which do not ensure compliance."

The Vatican secretary expressed hope that the "juridical framework" of the UN will be made more complete with legal instruments regarding "disarmament, control of weapons, the fight against terrorism and international crime, as well as effective cooperation between the United Nations and regional organisations".

Cardinal Sodano said the "Holy See favoured a Peacebuilding Comission" which researched strategies for overcoming ethnic conflicts, to maintain confidence in the UN as a means to resolve conflicts. However, recalling the "successes and failures" of UN peace operations in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa, Cardinal Sodano called for in-depth consideration of the concept of "use of force to disarm the adversary". This principle, he said, was in line with the wider principle of the "responsibility to protect", inscribed in one of the most important principles of the UN, that of "pre-eminence of the dignity of each man and woman because they are people, before the state and ideological system".

In particular the Holy See asked states to reach practical conclusions on the theme of "responsibility to protect", especially in situations where "national authorities do not want to or cannot protect their peoples from internal or external threats". The answer may lie in the spirit of the same UN principle of wanting to "preserve future generations from the scourge of war".

On the theme of development and the fight against poverty, Cardinal Sodano praised the endeavours of rich countries to forgive some or all of foreign debts, but he called on all states to implement wide-ranging policies of solidarity, mentioning "public support for development" flanked by "a generous opening of the market to poor countries". In recent years, rich countries have decreased the share of their Gross Domestic Product devoted to development, and they have barricaded their markets with barriers of tariffs and customs to prevent the entry of agricultural and textile products from poor countries. The Cardinal asked the governments of poor countries to "fight corruption, guarantee legality and redouble your efforts in the fields… of education, security of employment, basic health assistance for all".

Cardinal Sodano also rejected the ideological emphasis on "reproductive health" which put forward abortion and contraception as a panacea for all development ills: "To humanity exposed to the pandemics of today and others which threaten to develop, to the mass of human beings who have no access to basic health care, to aspirin and to drinking water, we cannot offer an ambiguous, reductionist or... ideological vision of health. For example, is it not worthwhile to talk more clearly about the 'health of women and children' rather than to use terms like 'reproductive health'? Could it be because one wants to talk about the right to abortion?"