New York - Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Pope
Benedict XVI reminded the United Nations on Friday that it is a "moral
centre" where all nations should feel comfortable to share their
awareness of being a "family of nations."

Benedict was the third
pope to have visited the UN headquarters in New York, after Paul VI's
visit in 1967 and John Paul II in 1979 and 1995 delivered addresses to
the UN General Assembly. The assembly now has 192 members and is a
secular body.

Benedict said John Paul in particular emphasized the moral character of the UN.

He
said the founding principles of the UN call for humankind to achieve
its desire for peace, the quest for justice, respect for the dignity of
the person, humanitarian cooperation and assistance - all of which are
to express "the just aspirations of the human spirit, and constitute
the ideas which should underpin international relations."

He
said those aspirations remain true even if the world today is faced
with the paradox of the multilateral consensus, which is always in
crisis because multilateralism is "subordinated to the decision of a
small number."

"In the context of international relations, it is
necessary to recognize the higher role played by rules and structures
that are intrinsically ordered to promote the common good, and
therefore to safeguard human freedom," he said.

"These
regulations do not limit freedom," he said. "In the name of freedom,
there has to be a correlation between rights and duties, by which every
person is called to assume responsibility for his or her choices, made
as a consequence of entering into relations with others." (dpa)