VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 183   
   DATE 21-10-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Programme of Pope Francis' apostolic trip to Turkey   
   - The responsibility to protect and the rule of law   
      
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    Programme of Pope Francis' apostolic trip to Turkey   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today confirmed that His   
   Holiness Francis, accepting the invitation issued by the civil authorities,   
   His Holiness Bartolomaios I and the bishops, will make an apostolic trip to   
   Turkey from 28 to 30 November 2014, during which he will visit Ankara and   
   Istanbul.   
    The Pope will leave on the morning of Friday 28 from Rome's Fiumicino   
   Airport, and will arrive at Esenboga Airport, Ankara at approximately 1 pm. He   
   will first visit the Mausoleum of Ataturk, after which he will transfer to the   
   presidential palace where he will be received by the president of the Republic   
   and the authorities, to be followed by a meeting with the Prime Minister. He   
   will subsequently visit the president of Religious Affairs in the Diyanet.   
    On the following day, Saturday 29, the Holy Father will travel by air to   
   Istanbul where he will visit the Hagia Sophia Museum, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque,   
   better known as the Blue Mosque, and the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy   
   Spirit, where he will celebrate Mass. Later, in the patriarchal Church of St.   
   George, there will be an ecumenical prayer and a private meeting with His   
   Holiness Bartholomaios I.   
    On Sunday 30 Pope Francis will celebrate Mass privately with the apostolic   
   delegation. In the patriarchal Church of St. George a divine liturgy will take   
   place, followed by an ecumenical blessing and the signing of the Joint   
   Declaration. In the afternoon the Holy Father will return to Istanbul Airport   
   to return to Rome, where he is expected to arrive, at Fiumicino Airport, at   
   6.40 p.m.   
      
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    The responsibility to protect and the rule of law   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - A state based on the principles of rule of law and   
   justice was the central theme of the address given on 13 October at the United   
   Nations in New York by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See permanent   
   observer at the United Nations, during the 69th session of the General   
   Assembly.   
    "While commitment to the rule of law would appear to be universal, there   
   nonetheless remains persistent disagreement about the definition of 'the rule   
   of law'. The Holy See Delegation has endorsed a definition of the rule of law,   
   which is both rationally and morally grounded upon the substantial principles   
   of justice, including the inalienable dignity and value of every human person   
   prior to any law or social consensus; and, as a consequence of the recognition   
   of this dignity, those elements of fundamental justice such as respect for the   
   principle of legality (Nullum crimen sine lege), the presumption of innocence   
   and the right to due process. Likewise, regarding relations among States, the   
   rule of law means the paramount respect of human rights, equality of the   
   rights of nations; and respect for international customary law, treaties   
   (Pacta sunt servanda) and other sources of international law. This definition,   
   with its reference point in the natural law, sidesteps self-referential   
   definitional frameworks and anchors the orientation of the rule of law within   
   the ultimate and essential goal of all law, namely to promote and guarantee   
   the dignity of the human person and the common good.   
    "For this reason, in future debates of the rule of law my delegation would   
   welcome increased attention to the human person and the society in which he or   
   she lives, because, in addition to the police force, courts, judges,   
   prosecutors and the rest of the legal infrastructure, the rule of law is   
   unattainable without social trust, solidarity, civic responsibility, good   
   governance and moral education. The family, religious communities and civil   
   society play indispensable roles in creating a society that can promote public   
   integrity and sustain the rule of law. As Pope Francis affirmed: 'When a   
   society, whether local, national or global, is willing to leave a part of   
   itself on the fringes, no political programs or resources spent on law   
   enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquillity'.   
   This is why the promotion of the rule of law needs to be indispensably   
   supported and verified by prioritising the allocation of public resources to   
   human integral development.   
    Archbishop Auza went on to observe that the UN Charter and the mandates   
   contained within its purposes and principles are at the centre of the   
   international framework governing rule of law. "In the exercise of these   
   powers, it is appropriate to emphasise the commitment of States to fulfil   
   their obligations to promote universal respect for, and the promotion and   
   protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. If the   
   international rule of law is to reflect justice, frameworks to international   
   protection of persons must be fairly and impartially applied by States to   
   guarantee equal recourse to the protections available under the UN Charter. I   
   refer here in particular to religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East   
   and other regions awaiting urgent measures to effect this protection,   
   including through further legal elaboration of the responsibility to protect".   
    He continued, "the 'responsibility to protect' is a recognition of the   
   equality of all before the law, based on the innate dignity of every man and   
   woman. The Holy See wishes to reaffirm that every State has the primary duty   
   to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human   
   rights and from the consequences of humanitarian crises. If States are unable   
   to guarantee such protection, the international community must intervene with   
   the juridical means provided in the UN Charter and in other international   
   instruments. The action of the international institutions, provided that it   
   respects the principles undergirding the international order, cannot be   
   interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty".   
    Finally, the nuncio reiterated that the Holy See hopes that the "alarming,   
   escalating phenomenon of international terrorism, new in some of its   
   expressions and utterly ruthless in its barbarity, be an occasion for a deeper   
   and more urgent study on how to re-enforce the international juridical   
   framework of a multilateral application of our common responsibility to   
   protect people from all forms of unjust aggression".   
      
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