The Holy See is generally credited for its sustained and determined efforts to assert human rights and the true dignity of the human person.

As Pope Benedict XVI told the ambassador accredited to the Holy See last January: "In every continent the Catholic Church strives to ensure that human rights are not only proclaimed but put into practice. It is to be hoped that agencies created for the defence and promotion of human rights will devote all their energies to this task and, in particular, that the Human Rights Council will be able to meet the expectations generated by its creation.

"Peace cannot be a mere word or a vain aspiration. Peace is a commitment and a manner of life which demands that the legitimate aspirations all should be satisfied, such as access to food, water and energy, to medicine and technology, or indeed the monitoring of climate change.

"Only in this way can we build the future of humanity; only in this way can we facilitate an integral development valid for today and tomorrow. With a particularly felicitous expression Pope Paul VI stressed 40 years ago in his encyclical Populorum Progressio, that 'development is the new name for peace'. Hence, in order to consolidate peace, the positive macroeconomic results achieved by many developing countries during 2007 must be supported by effective social policies and by the implementation of and commitments by rich countries."