(2019.1.7 Crux Editor John Allen) exolt
ローマ発ートランプ大統領の下で米国が「アメリカファースト」を強引に推し進め、国益追求のナショナリズムと大衆の人気取りを至上の命題とするポピュリズムの風潮が世界的に高まっている。そうした中で、教皇フランシスコは7日のバチカン駐在の世界の外交団への新年のあいさつで、こうした風潮に挑戦するように、共通善を求める多国間外交を擁護する姿勢を強調した。
教皇は、多国間外交の成功に欠かすことのできない条件として「善意と関係者への信頼、互いに公正で率直にやり取りする用意があること、そして、紛争から生じる避けることのできない妥協を受け入れる心の広さ」を挙げ、「このような条件の一つでも欠ければ、『一方的な解決を図ろう』ということになり、結局は『強者による弱者の支配』となってしまいます」と警告した。
（以下は英語原文で続く）
The pontiff’s comments came in his annual address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, a speech commonly regarded as marking out a pope’s political and social priorities for the coming year.
The emphasis on multilateral diplomacy could suggest that Francis and his diplomatic team intend to dial up their support for the United Nations and other forums for international cooperation in 2019, building on a decades-long record of Vatican support for the UN and its related institutions.
Francis opened his speech on Monday recalling that 2019 is the 100thanniversary of the foundation of the League of Nations, a precursor to the UN established after the carnage of the First World War.
The pope extolled the League of Nations as the first stirrings of a different approach to international affairs, while describing its failure as a cautionary tale about what happens when the strong simply impose their will on others.
“One notes with regret that the same attitudes are presently threatening the stability of the major international organizations,” Francis said, though without specifically citing any examples.
“It is clear, though, that relationships within the international community, and the multilateral system as a whole, are experiencing a period of difficulty, with the resurgence of nationalistic tendencies at odds with the vocation of the international organizations to be a setting for dialogue and encounter for all countries,” the pope said.
“It is likewise partially the outcome of the growing influence within the international organizations of powers and interest groups that impose their own visions and ideas, sparking new forms of ideological colonization, often in disregard for the identity, dignity and sensitivities of peoples,” he said.
Francis then outlined several core principles of what he sees as a genuinely multilateral form of diplomatic relations:
- The primacy of justice and law
- The defense of those most vulnerable
- Acting as a bridge between peoples and a builder of peace
- Rethinking our common destiny
“At present it is troubling to see the reemergence of tendencies to impose and pursue individual national interests without having recourse to the instruments provided by international law for resolving controversies and ensuring that justice is respected, also through international courts,” Francis told the diplomats gathered in Rome.
As he characteristically does, Francis also highlighted certain specific hotspots around the world that are zones of special concern for him and the Catholic Church, beginning this year with Ukraine.
“Through her activities and her closeness to the people involved, the Church strives to encourage, directly and indirectly, peaceful paths to the solution of the conflict, paths that are respectful of justice and law, including international law, which is the basis of security and coexistence in the entire region,” he said.
Francis also offered several references to the ongoing conflict in Syria, including an “appeal to the international community to promote a political solution to a conflict that will ultimately see only a series of defeats.”
Surveying the Middle East, Francis offered a word of encouragement for the beleaguered Christian minority, at a moment when some observers worry that Christianity in the region may be sliding towards extinction.
“I encourage all those who have sought refuge in other places to do everything possible to return to their homes and in any event to maintain and strengthen their ties to their communities of origin,” he said.
The pope also reiterated his commitment to stronger environmental protection.
“The earth belongs to everyone, and the consequences of its exploitation affect all the peoples of the world, even if certain regions feel those consequences more dramatically,” he said.
As a final tribute to multilateralism, Francis recalled the birth of a new era of cooperation in Europe after the Second World War.
“In the present climate, marked by new centrifugal tendencies and the temptation to erect new curtains, may Europe not lose its awareness of the benefits – the first of which is peace – ushered in by the journey of friendship and rapprochement between peoples begun in the postwar period,” he said
（翻訳「カトリック・あい」南條俊二）
・・Cruxは、カトリック専門のニュース、分析、評論を網羅する米国のインターネット・メディアです。 2014年9月に米国の主要日刊紙の一つである「ボストン・グローブ」 （欧米を中心にした聖職者による幼児性的虐待事件摘発のきっかけとなった世界的なスクープで有名。映画化され、日本でも昨年、全国上映された）の報道活動の一環として創刊されました。現在は、米国に本拠を置くカトリック団体とパートナーシップを組み、多くのカトリック関係団体、機関、個人の支援を受けて、バチカンを含め，どこからも干渉を受けない、独立系カトリック・メディアとして世界的に高い評価を受けています。「カトリック・あい」は、カトリック専門の非営利メディアとして、Cruxが発信するニュース、分析、評論の日本語への翻訳、転載について了解を得て、掲載します。
