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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Regina
Caeli
Message
On Media Day
"Safeguard the Common Good, Respect the Truth"
H.H. Benedict XVI
May 20, 2007
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I desire above all to renew my thanks to the Lord for my apostolic
trip to Brazil which I undertook May 9-14 and, at the same time, I
thank all those who accompanied me in prayer. As you know I traveled
to Brazil for the opening of the 5th General Conference of the
Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean. But before such a
great ecclesial event, I had an opportunity to meet the Brazilian
Catholic community. Many faithful came to the city of São Paolo for
this occasion and especially for the first canonization of a native
of Brazil: Father Antônio de Santa'Ana Galvão. I plan to speak about
this trip at greater length on Wednesday during the general
audience. In the meantime I invite you to continue to pray for the
conference that is taking place in Aparecida, Brazil and for the
journey of the people of God who live in Latin America.
The World Communications Day offers another motive for prayer and
reflection today. This year the theme is "Children and the Media: A
Challenge for Education." The educational challenges of today are
often linked to the influence of the mass media, which competes with
school, the Church and even the family. In this context an adequate
formation in the right use of media is essential: Parents, teachers,
and the ecclesial community are called to collaborate to educate
children and young people to be selective and to develop a critical
attitude, cultivating a taste for what is aesthetically and morally
valid.
But the media too must make its contribution to this educational
task, promoting the dignity of the human person, marriage and the
family, and the accomplishments and aims of civilization. Programs
that inculcate violence and antisocial behavior or that vulgarize
human sexuality are unacceptable, and much more so when they are
directed at the young. Thus I renew the appeal to the leaders of the
media industry and workers in social communications that they
safeguard the common good, respect the truth and protect the dignity
of the human person and the family.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the
Lord, which the liturgy celebrated last Thursday, in some countries
is celebrated today. Jesus, risen, returns to the Father. In this
way he opens the passage to eternal life for us and makes the gift
of the Holy Spirit possible. As the apostles did then, we too, after
the Ascension, gather together in prayer to invoke the outpouring of
the Spirit, in spiritual union with the Virgin Mary (cf. Acts
1:12-14). May her intercession obtain for the whole Church a renewed
Pentecost.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After praying the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims in
six languages. In Italian, he said:]
The fighting between Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and the
rocket attacks against the inhabitants of nearby Israeli cities,
which have provoked military intervention, are bringing about a
bloody deterioration of the situation and causing dismay.
Once again, in the name of God, I ask that an end be brought to this
tragic violence, while to the suffering Palestinian and Israeli
populations I desire to express my solidarity and assurance of my
prayerful remembrance.
I appeal to the sense of responsibility of all the Palestinian
authorities that, in dialogue and firmness, they take up again the
difficult path of understanding, neutralizing the violent. I invite
the Israeli government to moderation and exhort the international
community to multiply efforts for the re-launching of negotiations.
May the Lord bring forth and sustain makers of peace!
[In English, he said:]
I am pleased to welcome the English-speaking pilgrims gathered here
today. In the Gospel, Jesus prays that all may be one, just as he
and the Father are one. He desires the world to know that he is the
one sent by the Father. By working for reconciliation and peace, may
Christians everywhere bear clearer witness to the Father's love for
the world, so that all mankind may come to believe in his
only-begotten Son Jesus Christ. God bless you!
Look at the One they
Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
