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Pope Benedict XVI- Apostolic Journey to USA |
 Press
Conference Aboard Papal Flight to United States
"I Go to the United States With Joy"
H.H. Benedict XVI
April 16, 2008
www.zenit.org
Here is a translation
of the press conference Benedict XVI gave on the plane en route to
the United States on Tuesday.
The transcription was provided today by Jesuit Father Federico
Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office. Father Lombardi
acted as a moderator during the press conference.
Father Lombardi:
Your Holiness, welcome! On behalf of all my colleagues here
present, I thank you for your very kind availability in coming
to greet us and also for giving us some indications and ideas
for following this trip. This is your second intercontinental
trip, your first as Holy Father to America, to the United States
and the United Nations. An important and very awaited trip. To
begin with, would you like to tell us something about your
sentiments, the hopes with which you face this journey and what
is your fundamental objective, from your point of view?
Benedict XVI: My trip has above all two objectives. The first
objective is the visit to the Church in America, in the United
States. There is a particular motive: The Diocese of Baltimore,
200 years ago, was elevated to the status of metropolis and at
the same time, four other dioceses were born -- New York,
Philadelphia, Boston and Louisville. So it is a great jubilee
for this nucleus of the Church in the United States, a moment of
reflection about the past and above all of reflection about the
future, about how to respond to the great challenges of our
time, in the present and with sights set on the future. And
naturally, the interreligious encounter and the ecumenical
encounter form part of this trip too, particularly also an
encounter in the synagogue with our Jewish friends, on the eve
of their feast of Passover. Therefore, this is the
religious-pastoral aspect of the Church in the United States in
this moment of our history, and the encounter with all the
others in this common brotherhood that links us in a common
responsibility.
I would like in this moment to also give thanks to President
Bush, who will come to the airport, will set aside a lot of time
for conversation and will receive me on the occasion of my
birthday.
Second objective, the visit to the United Nations. Also here
there is a particular motive: 60 years have passed since the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is the
anthropological base, the founding philosophy of the United
Nations, the human and spiritual base on which it is
constructed. Thus it is really a moment of reflection, a moment
to again become aware of this important stage in history. In the
Universal Declaration of Human Right, various cultural
traditions have blended together, above all an anthropology that
recognizes in man the subject of rights, coming before all
institutions, with common values that must be respected by
everyone. Therefore, this visit, which takes place precisely in
a moment of a values crisis, seems to me important to reconfirm
both that everything began in this moment and to recover it for
our future.
Father Lombardi: Let us move now to the questions that you have
turned in during these days and that some of you will ask the
Holy Father. Let's begin with the question from John Allen, who
I don't think needs an introduction because he is very well
known as a Vatican commentator in the United States.
Q: Holy Father, I ask the question in English, if you allow me,
and maybe, if it could be possible, if we could have a phrase, a
word in English, we would be very thankful. The question: The
Church that you will find in the United States is a large
Church, a living Church, but also a Church that suffers, in a
certain sense, above all because of the recent crisis due to
sexual abuses. The American people are awaiting a word from you,
a message from you about this crisis. What will be your message
for this suffering Church?
Benedict XVI [in English]: It is a great suffering for the
Church in the United States and for the Church in general, for
me personally, that this could happen. If I read the history of
these events, it is difficult for me to understand how it was
possible for priests to fail in this way the mission to give
healing, to give God's love to these children. I am ashamed and
we will do everything possible to ensure that this does not
happen in future. I think we have to act on three levels: the
first is at the level of justice and the political level. I will
not speak at this moment about homosexuality: this is another
thing. We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred
ministry; it is absolutely incompatible and who is really guilty
of being a pedophile cannot be a priest. So at this first level
we can do justice and help the victims, because they are deeply
affected; these are the two sides of justice: one, that
pedophiles cannot be priests and the other, to help in any
possible way the victims.
Then, there's a pastoral level. The victims will need healing
and help and assistance and reconciliation: this is a big
pastoral engagement and I know that the bishops and the priests
and all Catholic people in the United States will do whatever
possible to help, to assist, to heal. We have made a visitation
of the seminaries and we will do all that is possible in the
education of seminarians for a deep spiritual, human and
intellectual formation for the students. Only sound persons can
be admitted to the priesthood and only persons with a deep
personal life in Christ and who have a deep sacramental life.
So, I know that the bishops and directors of seminarians will do
all possible to have a strong, strong discernment because it is
more important to have good priests than to have many priests.
This is also our third level, and we hope that we can do and we
have done and we will do in the future all that is possible to
heal these wounds.
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. Another theme about
which we've had many questions from our colleagues is that of
immigration -- the presence in U.S. society of Spanish-speaking
people as well. And because of this, the question will be asked
by our colleague Andrés Leonardo Beltramo Álvarez, who is from
an information agency of Mexico.
Q: Your Holiness, I will ask the question in Italian, and then
if you want, you can make your comments in Spanish. ... A
greeting, just a greeting. ... There is an enormous growth in
Hispanic presence also in the Church in the United States in
general: The Catholic community is becoming ever more bilingual
and ever more bicultural. At the same time, there exists in the
society an increasing anti-immigration movement. The situation
of the immigrants is characterized by unstable situations and
discrimination. Do you intend to speak of this problem and to
invite America to welcome immigrants, many of whom are Catholic?
Benedict XVI: I cannot speak in Spanish but mis saludos y mi
bendición para todos los hispánicos [my greetings and my
blessing for the Hispanic people.] I certainly will touch on
this point. I have received various "ad limina" visits from the
Central American bishops and also from South America, and I have
seen the amplitude of this problem, above all the grave problem
of the separation of families. And this is truly dangerous for
the social, moral and human fabric of these countries.
Nevertheless, one must differentiate between measures that must
be adopted right away and long-term solutions.
The fundamental solution is that there would no longer exist the
need to emigrate because there would be in one's own country
sufficient work, a sufficient social fabric, such that no one
has to emigrate. Therefore we should all work for this
objective, for a social development that permits offering
citizens work and a future in their land of origin. And also
about this point, I would like to speak with the president,
because above all the United States should help with the aim
that these countries can develop in this way. This is in the
interest of everyone, not just of these countries, but of the
world, and also of the United States.
Besides this, short-term measures: It is very important to help
the families above all. In the light of the conversations that I
have had with the bishops, the principal problem is that there
be protection for the families, that they not be destroyed. What
can be done should be done. In the same way, naturally, all that
is possible must be done to work against the instability of the
situations and against all the violations, and to help so that
they can have a truly dignified life where they find themselves
in this moment.
I would like to also say that there are many problems, many
sufferings, but there is also a lot of hospitality! I know that
above all the American episcopal conference collaborates a lot
with the Latin American episcopal conferences in the face of
needed help. With all the sorrowful things, let's not forget
also so much true humanity, so many positive actions that also
exist.
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. Now a question that
refers to American society: precisely about the role of
religious values in American society. We give the floor to our
colleague Andrea Tornielli, who is a Vatican reporter for an
Italian newspaper:
Q: Holy Father, when you received the new ambassador of the
United States to the Holy See, [she] mentioned as a positive
value the public recognition of religion in the United States. I
would like to ask you if you consider it as a possible model
also for secularized Europe, or if you think that there can also
be the risk that religion and the name of God can be used to
justify certain policies, or even war.
Benedict XVI: Certainly in Europe, we cannot simply copy the
United States: We have our history. But all of us should learn
from each other. What I find fascinating in the United States is
that they began with a positive concept of secularism, because
this new people was formed by communities and people who had
fled from the state churches and wanted to have a lay state,
secular, that would open possibilities to all confessions, for
all the types of religious exercise. In this way, an
intentionally secular state was born: They were against a state
church.
But the state should be secular precisely out of love for
religion in its authenticity, which can be lived only with
liberty. And in this manner we find this mix of a state that is
intentionally and decidedly secular, but precisely because of a
religious will, to give authenticity to religion. We already
know that Alexis de Tocqueville, studying America, saw that the
secular institutions live with a moral consensus that exists in
fact among the citizens.
This seems to me a fundamental and positive model. One must
consider that in Europe, meanwhile, 200 years have passed, more
than 200 years, with a lot of developments. Now there exists
also in the United States the assault of a new secularism, of
everything being diverse, and therefore, before, the problem was
the immigration, but the situation has become more complicated
and diverse over the course of history. But the basis, the
fundamental model, seems to me all the same today, worthy of
having it present also in Europe.
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. And now a last theme
regarding your visit to the United Nations, and this last
question falls to John Thavis, who is the Rome director of the
Catholic news agency of the United States.
Q: Holy Father, the Pope is frequently thought of as the
conscience of humanity, and also because of this your address at
the United Nations is much awaited. I would like to ask: Do you
think that a multilateral institution like the United Nations
can safeguard the principles takes as "non-negotiables" by the
Catholic Church, that is, the fundamental principles of natural
law?
Benedict XVI: That is precisely the objective of the United
Nations: that it safeguard the common values of humanity, upon
which the peaceful coexistence of the nations is based: the
observance of justice and the development of justice. I have
already briefly mentioned that it seems to me very important
that the basis of the United Nations be precisely the idea of
human rights, of the rights that express non-negotiable values,
that come before all institutions and are the basis of all
institutions. And it is important that there exist this
convergence between cultures that have found a consensus on the
fact that these values are fundamental, that they are inscribed
in the very being of the human [person]. To renew this awareness
that the United Nations, with its peacemaking function, can work
only if has the common basis of the values that are expressed
afterward in "rights" that should be observed by everyone; to
confirm this fundamental idea and to actualize it as much as
possible is one objective of my mission.
Finally, given that at the beginning Father Lombardi asked me
about my sentiments, I want to say "I go to the United States
with joy!" I have been in the United States various times
before; I am familiar with this great country; I am familiar
with the great vivacity of the Church despite all the problems
and I am content to be able to meet, in this historical moment
both for the Church and for the United Nations, this great
people and this great Church. Thank you to everyone!
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness, on behalf of all of
us. We truly renew our desires for this trip: that it may have
all the fruits you hope for, and that we also, together with
you, await. Thank you and have a good trip!
[Translation by ZENIT]
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