By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C, December 15 — His Excellency Basil Walter Barnett, the new Bahamas Ambassador to the Holy See, was among the 10 non-resident ambassadors who presented their credentials to His Holiness Pope Francis during an audience with the Holy Father in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace in Rome, Italy, on Thursday, December 13, 2018.
Also presenting their letters of credential to The Holy Father were the ambassadors of Grenada, Gambia, Switzerland, Cabo Verde, Iceland, Turkmenistan, Malta, Qatar and Estonia, according to a Vatican bulletin. It is the first time that Turkmenistan and Grenada have had ambassadors accredited to the Holy See from their respective countries.
In addition to several family members, among those who got to meet the Holy Father were Devereaux King and Rashad Mortimer, two Bahamian seminarians at Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. Photographs of the two Bahamian seminarians meeting His Holiness were posted on Saint John Vianney College Seminary’s Facebook page with the following caption: “Two of our seminarians from the Archdiocese of Nassau got to meet the Holy Father with the new ambassador of the Bahamas. Rashad Mortimer and Devereaux King. What a blessing!”
Devereaux King is the son of my cousin Leonardette Ross King and her husband Danny King, who live in Cat Island, so I was absolutely delighted in seeing him being greeted by the Holy Father. Devereaux graduated from the College of The Bahamas several years ago with a degree in culinary arts and is an excellent chef, but several years ago – as a devout Roman Catholic, as is the case with most of our closely-knit family — he made the commitment to become a priest and entered Saint John Vianney College Seminary.
His grandmother, the late Sylvia Elliott Ross — who was instrumental in my growth and development during my boyhood years while under the care of my grandparents, Ben and Mabel Elliott, at Stanyard Creek, Andros – certainly would be extremely proud of her grandson.
According to the Vatican bulletin, “H.E. Mr. Basil Walter Barnett was born in Nassau, on 25 July 1956, and is married with two children. He is an accountant. He has held the following offices, among others: accountant at Coopers & Lybrand; financial controller at JS Johnson & Company Limited (1988-2004); and owner of Bahamas Medical and Surgical Supplies Limited.”
In an article released by ZENIT, an international, non-profit news agency, His Holiness said the Church “is committed to working with every responsible partner in a constructive dialogue aimed at proposing concrete solutions to this and other urgent humanitarian problems, with the goal of preserving human lives and dignity, alleviating suffering and advancing an authentic and integral development.”
“The Pope stressed this to ambassadors of Grenada, Gambia, the Bahamas, Switzerland, Cabo Verde, Iceland, Turkmenistan, Malta, Qatar and Estonia, to the Holy See, on the occasion of the presentation of their credential letters, reminding them of their great responsibility and how the Church would be happy to help,” the article noted.
It added, “The Pontiff conveyed his sentiments of esteem to their respective Heads of State, along with assurance of his prayers for them and for their fellow citizens.”
This year, the Holy Father recalled, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, “a tragedy of immense proportions that my predecessor, Pope Benedict XV, did not hesitate to call a ‘senseless slaughter.’”
“May the lessons learned from the two great wars of the twentieth century, which led to the establishment of the United Nations Organization, continue to convince the world’s people and their leaders of the futility of armed conflict and the need to resolve conflicts through patient dialogue and negotiation,” he said.
The Pope told them it is his prayerful hope that the mission the ambassadors are undertaking in the service of their various nations “will contribute to this lofty goal of securing a peace based on justice and charity, and promoting the means necessary to attain it.”
The Pope also recalled that we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, calling it a “foundational document that continues to guide the efforts of global diplomacy to secure peace in our world and to promote the integral development of each individual and all peoples. The two goals are in fact inseparable.”
“In its very first words,” Francis reminded, “the Declaration states that, “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family, is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”.
In these times of sweeping social and political change, the Holy Father said, there can be no lessening of the commitment to this principle on the part of governments and peoples.
“It is essential that respect for human dignity and human rights inspire and direct every effort to address the grave situations of war and armed conflict, crushing poverty, discrimination and inequality that afflict our world,” he said.
The Pope also reminded the ambassadors of their great responsibility, of the Church’s willingness to help, and blessing them and offering his prayers, asked them to pray for him.
