Italy: Beatification of Kateri Takakwitha Remarks of the President and the Pope to Americans Attending the Ceremony.

THE. PRESIDENT. Your Holiness, Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, and fellow Americans:

Last October, John Paul II became the first Pope to visit in the White House. It was an historic occasion, a happy occasion, a day of solemn joy as we marked a milestone in the long and intertwined history of faiths and of nations.

Today marks a milestone of a different sort, but of similar significance. Once again we share a moment of reflection on the intertwinings of history and, I hope, a time of inspiration for the future.

Many of you have traveled here to mark a very special event: the recognition which the Roman Catholic Church is giving to five of her faithful. One of those five was a truly native American: Kateri Takakwitha. His Holiness and I have been practicing how to pronounce her name. [Laughter]

She was born a Mohawk, a member of the tribe that is the keeper of the eastern door of the great Iroquois confederacy. She spent her life in what is now New York State, but we willingly share her memory and her honor with our Canadian neighbors.

Although she lived three centuries ago—this year is the 300th anniversary of her death at only 24 years of age—she is still remembered for her selfless, steadfast faith that has transcended time and place and mere human mortality. Beatification has a public meaning for members of the Catholic Church, but people of many religious traditions and origins can feel the joy and the satisfaction of tomorrow's events.

I'm glad to be able to join you and to join Their Eminences John Cardinal Krol, Terence Cardinal Cooke, and William Cardinal Baum, and His Excellence Howard Hubbard, Bishop of Albany.

In sharing this joy and satisfaction with you, I want to say a word of greetings also to the others gathered here, to the students, the teachers, the officials of church and also of civil affairs who live and work here. Your activities contribute to the task of building peace and justice in the world. By making that contribution, you are witnesses to an essential element of the American spirit: concern for the world and its people, concern for human and humane values, concern for the religious impulse which seeks to put itself at the service of the highest human aspirations.

In this beautiful place we are surrounded by treasures. There are the tangible treasures: the statues and the priceless works of art. And there are the invisible treasures: the inspirational works of faith. These invisible treasures are what make this such a timeless place, so full of history, and such a boundless place, when its physical expanse is small. All of you here today bear witness to that. The dedication and commitment that you've come to honor is the kind that we must strive to rekindle.

Finally, let me say that in this trying time, when so many fall victim to violence, to hunger, and to tyranny, we need the integrity of words and actions. We need those who inspire, those whom we can emulate. Those whom you've come in pilgrimage to honor are such as that. So is the great world leader who honors us by his presence in this room.

Ladies and gentlemen, as President of our country, and as a Christian, it is a great honor for me to present to you His Holiness Pope John Paul II.

THE POPE. Mr. President, Your Eminences, dear friends from the United States:

Your visit today takes me back in spirit to America. I have already met this morning with the President of your country, and now your presence evokes the different categories of people that I met last October. A number of these groups are represented in the American community in Rome. My particular greetings go to Cardinal Krol, Cardinal Cooke, and to the bishops who have come especially for this occasion, and also for the occasion of beatification of the first Indian American blessed, to Cardinal Baum and to Bishop Machinkos, who assist me day after day in Rome, and to the large number of American seminarians.

Every gathering of Americans elicits some reference to your homeland and to the bountiful gifts that God has bestowed on your people, gifts of nature as well as spiritual and religious blessings. A few years ago, on the occasion of your Bicentennial celebration at which I was present in Philadelphia, you made a special effort to emphasize your heritage and to preserve the gifts you had received.

Every gift that comes from God creates a responsibility in the recipient. This is very true of America, where God's gifts have been abundant. One of the eminent gifts that constitute the special heritage of all your people, people of different backgrounds, ethnic origins, and creeds, is the gift of freedom, a gift to be guarded and perfected and a gift to be used, not as an absolute and in itself, but as a means of ensuring the pursuit of all the truly human values. And so, as people, you have a shared responsibility for preserving freedom and for purifying it.

Like so many other things of great value, freedom is fragile. Saint Peter recognized this when he told the Christians never to use their freedom as a pretext for evil. Any distortion of truth or dissemination of no truth is an offense against freedom. Any manipulation of public opinion, any abuse of authority or power or, on the other hand, just the omission of vigilance endangers the heritage of a free people.

But even more important, every contribution to promoting truth and charity consolidates freedom and builds up peace. When shared responsibility for freedom is truly accepted by all, a great new force is set at work for the service of humanity. The same need for shared responsibility exists for Christians in regard to the Gospel of Christ.

The Gospel is a sacred deposit to be guarded and told ever more effectively, a dynamic message to be lived and to be proclaimed by word and example. It is a gift that is given for the benefit of all. It requires effort from all.

In varying degrees everyone shares responsibility for the word of God, the word of divine truth, life-giving truth, liberating truth. It is my hope and prayer today that the concerted contribution to freedom of the American community in Rome and the worthy fulfillment of Christian responsibility for the Gospel will become ever more effective for the good of humanity and the glory of God.

And may God bless you in your daily activities and give you joy and peace in His holy name. God bless America.