The Good Friday agreement has given "new hope" to the people of Northern Ireland, according to Pope John Paul II.
In an address on Saturday to Ireland's new Ambassador to the Holy See, Mr Philip McDonagh, the Pope also warned against the potential "spiritual impoverishment" of Celtic-Tiger Ireland.
"I pray that every effort is being made to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Good Friday agreement, which has given new impulse and new hope to the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
"Ireland has recently undergone significant social changes, including remarkable economic growth.
"A more prosperous society has greater possibilities of becoming a more just and open society, but it is also faced with new challenges, including the danger of a certain spiritual impoverishment and indifference to the deeper moral and religious dimensions of life."
For his part, Mr McDonagh, who was formally presenting his credentials to the Holy See, spoke of the Irish Government's belief that, in time to come, the 1998 Good Friday agreement will be perceived as a "turning point":
"Your Holiness is well aware, I know, of the great progress that has been made in the intervening years (since the Pope's visit to Ireland in 1979) in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Efforts are continuing to ensure the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement of 1998.
The agreement has required compromise and forbearance on all sides. We hope it will be seen by future generations as a turning point in relationships on the island of Ireland", said Mr McDonagh.
In his address to the Pope, the ambassador also made reference to the many Irish who have travelled to Rome to live and work there.
He highlighted the example of Archbishop Michael Courtney, the Tipperary-born Papal Nuncio killed in an ambush in Burundi on December 28th, last year.