Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
Papal
Address to Bishops
"Join Your Voice to the Voices of the
Least Powerful"
Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima.
May 13, 2010
Dear Brother Bishops,
I thank God for giving me this occasion to
meet all of you here at the Shrine of
Fatima, the spiritual heart of Portugal,
where multitudes of pilgrims from all over
the world come looking to discover or to
reinforce their certainty in the truths of
Heaven. Among them has come from Rome the
Successor of Peter, accepting the
oft-repeated invitations and moved by a debt
of gratitude to the Virgin Mary, who herself
transmitted to her seers and pilgrims an
intense love for the Holy Father which has
borne fruit in a great multitude which
prays, with Jesus as its guide: Peter, "I
have prayed for you, that your faith may not
fail; and when you have turned again,
strengthen your brethren" (Lk 22:32).
As you see, the Pope needs to open himself
ever more fully to the mystery of the Cross,
embracing it as the one hope and the supreme
way to gain and to gather in the Crucified
One all his brothers and sisters in
humanity. Obeying the word of God, he is
called to live not for himself but for the
presence of God in the world. I am comforted
by the determination with which you too
follow me closely, fearing nothing except
the loss of eternal salvation for your
people, as was clearly expressed in the
words of greeting spoken by Archbishop Jorge
Ortiga upon my arrival in your midst, and
which testify to the unconditional fidelity
of the Bishops of Portugal to the Successor
of Peter. From my heart I thank you. I thank
you as well for all the attention that you
have given to organizing my Visit. May God
reward you, and pour out the Holy Spirit in
abundance upon you and your Dioceses so
that, with one heart and with one soul, you
may bring to completion the pastoral work
which you have begun, that is, offering each
member of the faithful an exacting and
attractive Christian initiation, one which
communicates the integrity of the faith and
genuine spirituality, rooted in the Gospel,
and capable of forming free and generous
labourers in the midst of public life.
In truth, the times in which we live demand
a new missionary vigour on the part of
Christians, who are called to form a mature
laity, identified with the Church and
sensitive to the complex transformations
taking place in our world. Authentic
witnesses to Jesus Christ are needed, above
all in those human situations where the
silence of the faith is most widely and
deeply felt: among politicians,
intellectuals, communications professionals
who profess and who promote a monocultural
ideal, with disdain for the religious and
contemplative dimension of life. In such
circles are found some believers who are
ashamed of their beliefs and who even give a
helping hand to this type of secularism,
which builds barriers before Christian
inspiration. And yet, dear brothers, may all
those who defend the faith in these
situations, with courage, with a vigorous
Catholic outlook and in fidelity to the
magisterium, continue to receive your help
and your insightful encouragement in order
to live out, as faithful lay men and women,
their Christian freedom.
You maintain a strong prophetic dimension,
without allowing yourselves to be silenced,
in the present social context, for "the word
of God is not fettered" (2 Tim 2:9). People
cry out for the Good News of Jesus Christ,
which gives meaning to their lives and
protects their dignity. In your role as
first evangelizers, it will be useful for
you to know and to understand the diverse
social and cultural factors, to evaluate
their spiritual deficiencies and to utilize
effectively your pastoral resources; what is
decisive, however, is the ability to
inculcate in all those engaged in the work
of evangelization a true desire for
holiness, in the awareness that the results
derive above all from our union with Christ
and the working of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, when, in the view of many people,
the Catholic faith is no longer the common
patrimony of society and, often, seen as
seed threatened and obscured by the "gods"
and masters of this world, only with great
difficulty can the faith touch the hearts of
people by means of simple speeches or moral
appeals, and even less by a general appeal
to Christian values. The courageous and
integral appeal to principles is essential
and indispensable; yet simply proclaiming
the message does not penetrate to the depths
of people's hearts, it does not touch their
freedom, it does not change their lives.
What attracts is, above all, the encounter
with believing persons who, through their
faith, draw others to the grace of Christ by
bearing witness to him. The words of Pope
John Paul II come to mind: "The Church needs
above all great currents, movements and
witnesses of holiness among the
‘Christifideles' because it is from holiness
that is born every authentic renewal of the
Church, all intelligent enrichment of the
faith and of the Christian life, the vital
and fecund reactualization of Christianity
with the needs of man, a renewed form of
presence in the heart of human existence and
of the culture of nations (Address for the
XX Anniversary of the Promulgation of the
Conciliar Decree "Apostolicam Actuositatem",
18 November 1985). One could say, "the
Church has need of these great currents,
movements and witnesses of holiness..., but
there are none!"
In this regard, I confess to you the
pleasant surprise that I had in making
contact with the movements and the new
ecclesial communities. Watching them, I had
the joy and the grace to see how, at a
moment of weariness in the Church, at a time
when we were hearing about "the winter of
the Church", the Holy Spirit was creating a
new springtime, awakening in young people
and adults alike the joy of being Christian,
of living in the Church, which is the living
Body of Christ. Thanks to their charisms,
the radicality of the Gospel, the objective
contents of the faith, the living flow of
her tradition, are all being communicated in
a persuasive way and welcomed as a personal
experience, as adherence in freedom to the
present event of Christ.
The necessary condition, naturally, is that
these new realities desire to live in the
one Church, albeit with spaces in some way
set aside for their own life, in such a way
that this life becomes fruitful for all the
others. The bearers of a particular charism
must feel themselves fundamentally
responsible for communion, for the common
faith of the Church, and submit themselves
to the leadership of their Bishops. It is
they who must ensure the ecclesial nature of
the movements. Bishops are not only those
who hold an office, but those who themselves
are bearers of charisms, and responsible for
the openness of the Church to the working of
the Holy Spirit. We, Bishops, in the
sacrament of Holy Orders, are anointed by
the Holy Spirit and thus the sacrament
ensures that we too are open to his gifts.
Thus, on the one hand, we must feel
responsibility for welcoming these impulses
which are gifts for the Church and which
give her new vitality, but, on the other
hand, we must also help the movements to
find the right way, making some corrections
with understanding - with the spiritual and
human understanding that is able to combine
guidance, gratitude and a certain openness
and a willingness to learn.
This is precisely what you must foster or
confirm in your priests. In this Year for
Priests now drawing to a close, rediscover,
dear brothers, the role of the Bishop as
father, especially with regard to your
priests. For all too long the responsibility
of authority as a service aimed at the
growth of others and in the first place of
priests, has been given second place.
Priests are called to serve, in their
pastoral ministry, and to be part of a
pastoral activity of communion or oneness,
as the Conciliar Decree Presbyterorum
Ordinis reminds us, "No priest is
sufficiently equipped to carry out his
mission alone and as it were single-handed.
He can only do so by joining forces with
other priests, under the leadership of those
who govern the Church" (No. 7). This is not
a matter of turning back to the past, nor of
a simple return to our origins, but rather
of a recovery of the fervour of the origins,
of the joy of the initial Christian
experience, and of walking beside Christ
like the disciples of Emmaus on the day of
Easter, allowing his word to warm our hearts
and his "broken bread" to open our eyes to
the contemplation of his face. Only in this
way will the fire of charity blaze strongly
enough to impel every Christian to become a
source of light and life in the Church and
among all men and women.
Before concluding, I would like to ask you,
in your role as leaders and ministers of
charity in the Church, to rekindle, in
yourselves as individuals and as a group, a
sense of mercy and of compassion, in order
to respond to grave social needs. New
organizations must be established, and those
already existing perfected, so that they can
be capable of responding creatively to every
form of poverty, including those experienced
as a lack of the meaningfulness in life and
the absence of hope. The efforts you are
making to assist the Dioceses most in need,
especially in Portuguese-speaking countries,
is praiseworthy. May difficulties, which
today are more deeply felt, not make you
shrink from the logic of self-giving. Let
there continue and flourish in this country,
your witness as prophets of justice and
peace, and defenders of the inalienable
rights of the person. Join your voice to the
voices of the least powerful, whom you have
wisely helped to gain a voice of their own,
without ever being afraid of raising your
voice on behalf of the oppressed, the
downtrodden and those who have been
mistreated.
I entrust all of you to Our Lady of Fatima,
and I ask her to sustain you with her
maternal care amid the challenges which you
face, so that you will be promoters of a
culture and a spirituality of charity,
peace, hope and justice, faith and service.
To you, to the members of your families and
to your diocesan communities I cordially
impart my Apostolic Blessing.
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