Acta Pii Pp. XII 1 6 9

I I

Ad Excmum Virum Carolum Sommaruga, Reipublicae Liberiae Le-

gatum extra ordinem liberis cum mandatis, Summo Pontifici Lit-

teras publicas porrigentem*

Mr. Minister!

The solemn présentation of the Letters of Credence by the terms of

which His Excellency, the President of the Repnblic of Liberia, after

the retirement of your worthy Predecessor, appoints you to the post

of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Holy See,

has provided Your Excellency with an occasion for the expression of

convictions which cannot but claim Our füllest attention and warrant

Our hearty assent.

Your référence to the fact that the Free and Sovereign Republic of

Liberia is intent on taking its place among the Christian nations makes

piain Your Exeellency's persuasion that genuine belief in God, the pro-

fession of Christian truth and fìdelity to the fundamental tenets of the

Catholic faith are indissolubly bound up with the sincere and constant

assertion of human nature's most authentic and exalted values.

At the outset of your noble mission Your Excellency quite properly

gives emphasis to a basic truth which is often forgotten, and offener

perhaps deliberately buried in silence, especially to-day when far too

frequently the border-lines dividing truth f rom error are dimmed and con-

fused, with ensuing harm to the community no less than to individuáis.

True religion and profound humaneness are not rivais. They are

sisters.

They have nothing to fear f rom one another, but everything to gain.

Let each remain loyal to the law of its being, while it respects the vital

needs and varied outward manifestations of the other, and the résul-

tant harmonizing of two forces will endow any people engaged in the

fulfìllment of its appointed tasks with the most valuable incentives

to real prosperity and solid progress.

For sundry reasons, familiar to anyone acquainted with the history

of Liberia, the number of Catholics there is still relatively small. Ail

the more gratifying, then, is the fact that they have been able - thanks

largely to their achievement in the field of éducation and of charity -

* Habita die 28 Februarii mensis a. 1951.