of Father Federico Lombardi

Dear baby seven billion! I don't know if you are a girl or a boy, if you are Indian or Chinese, born in a metropolis or in a village, or if instead you were not born in the pampas or under an igloo, or in a small remote island, or fleeing under a tent. I don't know if you are healthy or sick or disabled. I don't know if both your parents are hugging you or just your mother. I don't know if they will say that you and your peers are too many or too few. Today this doesn't matter to me.
This world you come to is a little complicated and not hospitable to everyone. We weren't that good at preparing it well for you. The leaders of the richest and most powerful peoples are around a table agonizing over how to move forward without causing further disasters, and we too are wondering about your tomorrow.
But today I want to tell you that you are unique and different from everyone else, that you are a wonderful gift, that you are a miracle, that your spirit will live forever, and therefore you are welcome. We wish you that when you smile someone will respond to your smile and when you cry someone will caress you. May you go to school and not go hungry. May someone wisely answer your questions and encourage you in your initiatives and in assuming your responsibilities. May you love others, grow, work and live with your family, with many friends, in a people and in a world that is free and at peace. May you understand that your life has full meaning beyond death.
Because you were born for this. Your Creator and Father made you for this. We will do our part to make this possible; get busy, because your future will also depend on you and it will be your turn to welcome baby eight billion.

Editorial of Vatican Radio, 5/11/2011