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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On the Papal Trip to Portugal
"A Touching and Rich Experience of So Many Spiritual Gifts"
H.H. Benedict XVI
May 19, 2010
www.zenit.org
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today I wish to go over with you the various stages of the apostolic
journey I undertook in recent days to Portugal, moved especially by a
sentiment of gratitude to the Virgin Mary, who in Fatima transmitted to
her visionaries and to pilgrims an intense love for the Successor of
Peter. I thank God who gave me the possibility to pay homage to that
people, to its long and glorious history of faith and Christian witness.
Hence, as I requested you to accompany me on this pastoral visit with
prayer, I now ask you to join me in thanking the Lord for its happy
development and conclusion. I entrust to him the fruits that it has
brought and will bring to the Portuguese ecclesial community and to the
whole population.
I renew the expression of my gratitude to the president of the republic,
Mr. Aníbal Cavaco Silva, and to the other authorities of the state, who
received me with so much courtesy and planned everything so that all
would unfold in the best way. With intense affection, I think of my
brother bishops of the Portuguese dioceses, whom I had the joy to
embrace in their land and I thank them fraternally for all that they did
for the spiritual and organizational preparation of my visit, and for a
notable profuse diligence in its fulfillment. I direct a particular
thought to the patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, to
the bishops of Leiria-Fatima, António Augusto dos Santos Marto, and of
Porto, Manuel Macário do Nascimento Clemente, and to their respective
collaborators, as well as to the various organizations of the episcopal
conference led by Archbishop Jorge Ortiga.
Throughout the whole trip, which occurred on the occasion of the 10th
anniversary of the beatification of the little shepherds Jacinta and
Francisco, I felt sustained spiritually by my beloved predecessor, the
Venerable John Paul II, who went three times to Fatima, thanking that
"invisible hand" that delivered him from death in the attack of the 13th
of May, here in St. Peter's Square.
On the evening of my arrival I celebrated Holy Mass in Lisbon in the
enchanting scene of the Terreiro do Paco, which looks out on the Tago
River. It was a liturgical assembly of celebration and hope, animated by
the joyful participation of very numerous faithful. In the capital, from
where so many missionaries left over the course of the centuries to take
the Gospel to many continents, I encouraged the various components of
the local Church to a vigorous evangelizing action in the various realms
of society, to be sowers of hope in a world often marked by mistrust. In
particular, I exhorted believers to be heralds of the death and
resurrection of Christ, heart of Christianity, fulcrum and support of
our faith and reason of our joy.
I was able to manifest these sentiments also in the course of the
meeting with representatives of the world of culture, held in the
Cultural Center of Belem. In this circumstance I made evident the
patrimony of values with which Christianity has enriched the culture,
art and tradition of the Portuguese people. In this noble land, as in
every other country marked profoundly by Christianity, it is possible to
build a future of fraternal understanding and of collaboration with
other cultural entities, opening mutually to a sincere and respectful
dialogue.
I then went to Fatima, a town characterized by an atmosphere of real
mysticism, in which one perceives in an almost palpable way the presence
of Our Lady. I made myself a pilgrim with the pilgrims in that wonderful
shrine, spiritual heart of Portugal and destination of a multitude of
persons from the most diverse places of the world. After having paused
in prayer and overwhelming recollection in the Chapel of the Apparitions
in Cova da Iria, presenting to the heart of the Holy Virgin the joys and
expectations as well as the problems and sufferings of the whole world,
I had the joy of presiding over the celebration of vespers of the
Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity. Inside this
great and modern church, I manifested my heartfelt appreciation to
priests, to men and women religious, to deacons and to seminarians who
came from every part of Portugal, thanking them for their witness --
often silent and not always easy -- and for their fidelity to the Gospel
and to the Church. In this Year for Priests, which is coming to an end,
I encouraged the priests to give priority to a religious listening of
the Word of God, to profound knowledge of Christ, to the intense
celebration of the Eucharist, looking at the luminous example of the
Holy Curé d'Ars. I did not fail to entrust and consecrate to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, the true model of a disciple of the Lord, the
priests of the whole world.
In the evening, with thousands of persons who met in the great esplanade
in front of the shrine, I took part in a thought-provoking torchlight
procession. It was a stupendous manifestation of faith in God and of
devotion to his and our Mother, expressed with the recitation of the
holy rosary. This prayer, so dear to the Christian people, has found in
Fatima a propelling center for the whole Church and the world. The
"White Lady," in the apparition of June 13, said to the three little
shepherds: "I want you to recite the rosary every day." We can say that
Fatima and the rosary are almost a synonym.
My visit to that very special place had its culmination in the
Eucharistic celebration of May 13, the anniversary of Our Lady's first
apparition to Francisco, Jacinta and Lucía. Re-echoing the words of the
prophet Isaiah, I invited that immense assembly, gathered with great
love and devotion at the feet of the Virgin, to rejoice fully in the
Lord (cf. Isaiah 61:10), because his merciful love, which accompanies
our pilgrimage on this earth, is the source of our great hope. Precisely
charged with hope is the exacting and at the same time consoling message
that Our Lady left in Fatima. It is a message centered on prayer, on
penance and on conversion, which is projected beyond the threats, the
dangers and the horrors of history, to invite man to have confidence in
God's action, to cultivate great hope, and to experience the Lord's
grace to be enamored of him, source of love and peace.
Significant in this perspective was the overwhelming meeting with the
organizations of social ministry, to which I indicated the style of the
Good Samaritan in going to meet the needs of our neediest brothers and
to serve Christ, promoting the common good. Many young people learn the
importance of gratuitousness precisely in Fatima, which is a school of
faith and prayer, because it is also a school of charity and of service
to brothers.
Held in such a context of faith and prayer was the important and
fraternal meeting with the Portuguese episcopate, at the end of my visit
to Fatima: It was a moment of intense spiritual communion, in which
together we thanked the Lord for the fidelity of the Church that is in
Portugal and entrusted to the Virgin our common pastoral expectations
and concerns. To such pastoral hopes and prospects I also made reference
in the course of the Holy Mass celebrated in the historic and symbolic
city of Porto, the "City of the Virgin," the last stage of my pilgrimage
on Lusitanian soil. I reminded the great crowd of faithful gathered in
the Avenue dos Aliados of the commitment to witness the Gospel in every
environment, offering the world the Risen Christ, so that every
situation of difficulty, of suffering, of fear is transformed, through
the Holy Spirit, into an occasion of growth and life.
Dear brothers and sisters, the pilgrimage in Portugal was for me a
touching and rich experience of so many spiritual gifts. While I have
fixed in my mind and heart the images of this unforgettable trip, the
warm and spontaneous reception, the enthusiasm of the people, I give
praise to the Lord because Mary, appearing to the three little
shepherds, opened to the world a privileged space to find divine mercy
that heals and saves.
In Fatima, the Holy Virgin invites all to consider the earth as the
place of our pilgrimage to our definitive homeland, which is heaven. In
fact, we are all pilgrims, we are in need of the Mother who guides us.
"With you we walk in hope. Wisdom and Mission" was the motto of my
apostolic journey to Portugal, and in Fatima the Blessed Virgin Mary
invites us to walk with great hope, allowing ourselves to be guided by
the "wisdom of on high," which was manifested in Jesus, the wisdom of
love, to take to the world the light and joy of Christ.
Hence, I invite you to unite yourselves to my prayer, asking the Lord to
bless the efforts of all those, in that beloved nation, who are
dedicated to the service of the Gospel and to the search for the true
good of man, of every man. Let us pray, moreover, so that through the
intercession of Mary Most Holy, the Holy Spirit will make this apostolic
journey fruitful, and animate in the whole world the mission of the
Church, instituted by Christ to proclaim to all peoples the Gospel of
truth, of peace and of love.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In English,
he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My Pastoral Visit to Portugal this past week enabled me to honor Our
Lady of Fatima and to pay homage to the distinguished history of
Christian faith and evangelizing zeal of the Portuguese people. The
visit began with a Mass celebrated in the Terreiro do Paco in Lisbon,
where I urged Portugal's Christians to carry on this great work of
evangelization in our own day. The heart of my journey was my pilgrimage
to Fatima for the tenth anniversary of the Beatification of the shepherd
children Francisco and Jacinta. The evening recitation of the Rosary and
the solemn Mass on the anniversary of the first apparition were centered
on the message of Fatima. Our Lady's exhortation to prayer, penance and
conversion is essentially a summons to hope in God's merciful love and
trust in his saving plan, which triumphs over the threats and calamities
of history. As I give thanks for the blessings of my pilgrimage, I ask
you to join me in asking Our Lady of Fatima to continue, by her prayers,
to guide us on our journey to heaven, to open the hearts of all to God's
infinite mercy, and to confirm the Church in her perennial mission of
proclaiming before the world the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I am pleased to welcome the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims
present at today's Audience, including the groups from England, Malaysia
and the United States of America. I extend a special greeting to the
students who are here and to the American Patrons of the Vatican
Museums. Commending all of you to the intercession of Our Lady of
Fatima, I ask Almighty God to pour out his blessings upon you.
Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[In Italian, he added:]
Finally, I turn to young people, the sick and newlyweds.
We are in the Novena of Pentecost and I invite you, dear young people,
to be docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, given to believers in the
sacraments of baptism and confirmation. I exhort you, dear sick people,
to receive the Consoling Spirit, so that he will assist you in
difficulties and help you to transform suffering into a pleasing
offering for the good of your brothers. I wish for you, dear newlyweds,
that the life of your family is always nourished by the fire of the
Spirit, who is the Love itself of God.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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