Jubilee of Apostolic Nuncios and Papal Representatives Address Pope John Paul II September 15, 2000 Dear Brothers in the Episcopate. 1. Peace be with you (Jn 20: 19). I welcome you with Christ's Easter greeting to his Apostles, which harmonizes well with your Jubilee celebration today. Indeed, it aims at reconciliation and peace with God and with our brothers and sisters. This is true for all the faithful, but particularly for us Bishops, who are called to be examples to the flock (1 Pt 5: 3). Everyone needs peace. In a special way, however, each of those who, like you, are participating in the sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum proper to the Bishop of Rome, has the task of contributing with all his energy to the ministry of communion that Christ entrusted to Peter and to his Successors, and thus must be a man in peace and a man of peace. This demanding task means that I feel particularly close to you even when you are in your offices, located in various parts of the world. Because of this closeness which is daily nourished and strengthened by prayer, I am pleased to extend my very cordial greetings to you today, in the context of the Great Jubilee. I would then like to offer a special word of affection to those among you who are more advanced in age and service, and have generously faced the pondus diei et aestus in places that are often difficult due to their sociopolitical situation or climate. 2. You are, in fact, the Pope's representatives to national governments or supranational institutions, but, first and foremost, you are witnesses of his ministry of unity in the local Churches, to whose Pastors you assure the possibility of constant contact with the Apostolic See. Another task, which under the impetus of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council has been growing in importance in recent years, is your service to that full unity of all Christians, the desire of Christ's heart and, consequently, also ardently desired by the Pope and by the Episcopal College. Moreover, we should not forget the great contribution you are called to make in the search for and consolidation of a harmonious relationship with all believers in God, and of sincere dialogue with people of good will. In this service you are following in the footsteps of many famous figures, some of whom shone for their authentic holiness of life. And how can we not forget with deep joy that the two Popes just recently presented as models of Christian virtue to the whole Church, Bl. Pius IX and Bl. John XXIII, were both, as it were, your colleagues in the diplomatic service of the Holy See? Certainly you feel them especially close and this encourages you in spiritual communion with them and in your desire to imitate their example. 3. For each of you, the motto of