14 Feb 2009
Why?
In many recent articles, Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged the faithful to spread the word throughout the internet. The Vatican's own YouTube channel is a major step in that direction. But His Holiness has also stressed that Catholics should also be fully aware and knowledgeable on Church's position on many moral and social issues. The Osservatore Romano does publish a weekly edition in English for free, but once archived at the end of the week it is only accessible through a paid subscription. There are many a time when even we have missed an edition! So to avoid this, we are posting copies of English articles so that you may be able to read them at leisure. We encourage you to make your own copies by saving the pages or printing them out. As the Osservatore publishes archived materials on CD we will delete each article after 6 months. This should give everybody plenty of time to read and digest the words of His Holiness.
The Church: a body vitalized by Christ's commandments
The Church: a body vitalized by
Christ's commandments
On Wednesday, 14 January, at the General Audience in the Paul vi Audience Hall, continuing his Catecheses on the teaching of St Paul, the Holy Father focused on the "twin" Letters, Colossians and Ephesians, which uniquely develop the theme of Christ as "Head". The following is a translation of the Holy Father's Catechesis, which was given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In St Paul's correspondence there are two Letters to the Colossians and to the Ephesians that to a certain extent can be considered twins. In fact, they both contain expressions that are found in them alone, and it has been calculated that more than a third of the words in the Letter to the Colossians are also found in the Letter to the Ephesians.
For example, while in Colossians we read literally the invitation: "admonish one another. Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" (Col 3: 16), in his Letter to the Ephesians St Paul likewise recommends "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing praise to the Lord with all your heart" (Eph 5: 19).
We could meditate upon these words: the heart must sing with psalms and hymns, and the voice in the same way, in order to enter the tradition of prayer of the whole of the Church of the Old and New Testaments. Thus we learn to be with ourselves and one another and with God.
In addition, the "domestic code" that is absent in the other Pauline Letters is found in these two in other words, a series of recommendations addressed to husbands and wives, to parents and children, to masters and slaves (cf. Col 3: 18-4: 1 and Eph 5: 22-6: 9 respectively).
It is even more important to notice that only in these two Letters is the title "head" kefalé given to Jesus Christ. And this title is used on two levels. In the first sense, Christ is understood as head of the Church (cf. Col 2: 18-19 and Eph 4: 15-16).
This means two things: first of all that he is the governor, the leader, the person in charge who guides the Christian community as its leader and Lord (cf. Col 1: 18: "He is the head of the body, the Church"). The other meaning is then that, as head, he innervates and vivifies all the members of the body that he controls. (In fact, according to Colossians 2: 19, it is necessary "[to hold] fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, [is] nourished and knit together"). That is, he is not only one who commands but also one who is organically connected with us, from whom comes the power to act in an upright way.
In both cases, the Church is considered subject to Christ, both in order to follow his supervision the commandments and to accept all of the vital influences that emanate from him. His commandments are not only words or orders but a vital energy that comes from him and helps us.
This idea is developed particularly in Ephesians where, instead of being traced back to the Spirit (as in 1 Corinthians 12), even the ministries of the Church are conferred by the Risen Christ. It is he who established "that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers" (4: 11). And it is from him that "the whole body grows, and... joined firmly together by each supporting ligament, builds itself up in love" (4: 16).
Christ, in fact, fully strives to "present to himself a glorious Church, holy and immaculate, without stain or wrinkle or anything of that sort" (Eph 5: 27). In saying this he tells us that the power with which he builds the Church with which he guides the Church, with which he also gives the Church the right direction is precisely his love.
The first meaning is therefore Christ, Head of the Church; both with regard to her direction and, above all, with regard to her inspiration and organic revitalization by virtue of his love.
Then, in a second sense, Christ is not only considered as head of the Church but also as head of the heavenly powers and of the entire cosmos. Thus, in Colossians, we read that Christ has "disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him" (2: 15).
Similarly, in Ephesians we find it written that with his Resurrection God placed Christ "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come" (1: 21).
With these words the two Letters bring us a highly positive and fruitful message. It is this: Christ has no possible rival to fear since he is superior to every form of power that might presume to humble man.
He alone "loved us and gave himself up for us" (Eph 5: 2). Thus, if we are united with Christ, we have no enemy or adversity to fear; but this therefore means that we must continue to cling firmly to him, without loosening our grip!
For the pagan world that believed in a world filled with spirits for the most part dangerous and from which it was essential to protect oneself the proclamation that Christ was the only conqueror and that those with Christ need fear no one seemed a true liberation.
The same is also true for the paganism of today, since current followers of similar ideologies see the world as full of dangerous powers. It is necessary to proclaim to them that Christ is triumphant, so that those who are with Christ, who stay united to him, have nothing and no one to fear. I think that this is also important for us, that we must learn to face all fears because he is above all forms of domination, he is the true Lord of the world.
Even the entire cosmos is subject to him and converges in him as its own head. The words in the Letter to the Ephesians that speak of God's plan "to unite all things in him, things in Heaven and things on earth" (1: 10) are famous. Likewise, we read in the Letter to the Colossians that "in him all things were created, in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible" (1: 16), and that "making peace by the Blood of his Cross.... reconcile[d] to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (1: 20).
Therefore there is not, on the one hand, the great material world and, on the other, this small reality of the history of our earth, of the world of people: it is all one in Christ. He is the head of the cosmos; the cosmos too was created by him, it was created for us to the extent that we are united with him. It is a rational and personalistic vision of the universe. I would say that it would have been impossible to conceive of a vision more universalistic than this, and that it befits the Risen Christ alone.
Christ is the Pantokrator to which all things are subordinate. Our thoughts turn precisely to Christ the Pantocrator, who fills the vault of the apse in Byzantine churches, sometimes depicted seated on high, above the whole world, or even on a rainbow, to show his equality with God himself at whose right hand he is seated (cf. Eph 1: 20; Col 3: 1) and thus also his incomparable role as the guide of human destiny.
A vision of this kind can only be conceived by the Church, not in the sense that she wishes to misappropriate that to which she is not entitled, but in another double sense: both to the extent that the Church recognizes that Christ is greater than she is, given that his lordship extends beyond her confines, and to the extent that the Church alone not the cosmos is described as the Body of Christ.
All of this means that we must consider earthly realities positively, since Christ sums them up in himself, and at the same time we must live to the full our specific ecclesial identity, which is the one most homogeneous to Christ's own identity.
Then there is also a special concept which is typical of these two Letters, and it is the concept of "mystery". The "mystery of [God's] will" is mentioned once (Eph 1: 9) and, other times, as the "mystery of Christ" (Eph 3: 4; Col 4: 3) or even as "God's mystery, of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2: 2-3). This refers to God's inscrutable plan for the destiny of mankind, of peoples and of the world.
With this language the two Epistles tell us that the fulfilment of this mystery is found in Christ. If we are with Christ, even if our minds are incapable of grasping everything, we know that we have penetrated the nucleus of this "mystery" and are on the way to the truth.
It is he in his totality and not only in one aspect of his Person or at one moment of his existence who bears within him the fullness of the unfathomable divine plan of salvation. In him what is called "the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph 3: 10) takes shape, for in him "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Col 2: 9).
From this point on, therefore, it is not possible to reflect on and worship God's will, his sovereign instruction, without comparing ourselves personally with Christ in Person, in whom that "mystery" is incarnate and may be tangibly perceived. Thus one arrives at contemplation of the "unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph 3: 8) which are beyond any human understanding.
It is not that God did not leave footprints on his journey, for Christ himself is God's impression, his greatest footprint; but we realize "what is the breadth and length and height and depth" of this mystery "which surpasses knowledge" (Eph 3: 18-19).
Mere intellectual categories prove inadequate here, and, recognizing that many things are beyond our rational capacities, we must entrust them to the humble and joyful contemplation not only of the mind but also of the heart. The Fathers of the Church, moreover, tell us that love understands better than reason alone.
A last word must be said on the concept, already mentioned above, of the Church as the spousal partner of Christ. In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul had compared the Christian community to a bride, writing thus: "I feel a divine jealousy for you", for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband" (11: 2).
The Letter to the Ephesians develops this image, explaining that the Church is not only a betrothed bride, but the real bride of Christ. He has won her, so to speak, and has done so at the cost of his life: as the text says, he "gave himself up for her" (Eph 5: 25).
What demonstration of love could be greater than this? But in addition, he was concerned about her beauty: not only the beauty already acquired through Baptism, but also that beauty "without stain or wrinkle" that is due to an irreproachable life which must grow in her moral conduct every day (cf. Eph 5: 26-27).
It is a short step from here to the common experience of Christian marriage; indeed, it is not even very clear what the initial reference point of the Letter was for its author: whether it was the Christ-Church relationship, in whose light the union of the man and woman should be seen, or whether it was the experiential event of conjugal union, in whose light should be seen the relationship between Christ and the Church. But both aspects illuminate each other reciprocally: we learn what marriage is in the light of the communion of Christ and the Church, we learn how Christ is united to us in thinking of the mystery of matrimony.
In any case, our Letter presents itself as nearly a middle road between the Prophet Hosea, who expressed the relationship between God and his people in terms of the wedding that had already taken place (cf. Hos 2: 4, 16, 20), and the Seer of the Apocalypse, who was to propose the eschatological encounter between the Church and the Lamb as a joyful and indefectible wedding (cf. Rv 19: 7-9; 21: 9).
There would be much more to say, but it seems to me that from what has been expounded it is already possible to realize that these two Letters form a great catechesis, from which we can learn not only how to be good Christians but also how to become truly human. If we begin by understanding that the cosmos is the impression of Christ, we learn our correct relationship with the cosmos, along with all of the problems of the preservation of the cosmos.
Let us learn to see it with reason, but with a reason motivated by love, and with the humility and respect that make it possible to act in the right way. And if we believe that the Church is the Body of Christ, that Christ gave himself for her, we learn how to live reciprocal love with Christ, the love that unites us to God and makes us see in the other the image of Christ, Christ himself.
Let us pray the Lord to help us to meditate well upon Sacred Scripture, his word, and thus truly learn how to live well.
To special groups I am glad to greet the St Thérèse of Lisieux pilgrimage which, together with the Bishops of Bayeux-Lisieux and of Sées, has accompanied the reliquary of Bl. Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus who so profoundly shared in this mystery of Christ's love. I also offer my best wishes to the contemplative Women Religious of the Holy Family from Bordeaux, as well as to the young members of the Institution Jeanne d'Arc from Colombes.
I extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims present at today's Audience. May your time in Rome strengthen you to imitate St Paul in "giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father" (Eph 5: 20)!
Lastly, I address as usual the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Yesterday the liturgy recalled St Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers who "defended the divinity of Christ your Son" (cf. Liturgy), an ardent champion of the faith and teacher of truth. May his example sustain you, dear young people, in the constant and courageous search for Christ; may it encourage you, dear sick people, to offer up your sufferings so that the Kingdom of God may spread throughout the world; and may it help you, dear newlyweds, to be witnesses of Christ's love in family life. I ask you to join in my prayer to implore an abundance of divine graces on the Sixth World Meeting of Families that is taking place in these days in Mexico City. May this important ecclesial event express once again the beauty and value of the family, inspiring in it new energy for this irreplaceable fundamental cell of society and of the Church.
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 21 January 2009)
Affirm inalienable rights of the family
Affirm inalienable rights of the family
On Sunday evening, 18 January, the Holy Father spoke via videoconference broadcast live by satellite to the families taking part in the Sixth World Meeting of Families being held in Mexico City after its concluding Mass. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State and $\Papal Legate, presided at the Eucharistic celebration in which more than 20 Cardinals and 200 Bishops from across the world took part and hundreds of married couples renewed their vows. The solemn Mass was celebrated in several languages and was broadcast throughout Mexico and abroad. $\The Holy Father also took advantage of the occasion to announce the next World Meeting of Families to be held in Milan, Italy, in 2012. The following is a translation of the Pope's Message, which was given in Spanish and which concludes this world event.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I warmly greet you all at the end of this solemn Eucharistic celebration with which the Sixth World Meeting of Families in Mexico City is ending. I thank God for the many families who, sparing no effort, have gathered together around the altar of the Lord.
I particularly greet Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, who has presided at this celebration as my Legate. I would like to express my affection and gratitude to Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, and likewise to the members of the Pontifical Council for the Family of which he is President, to Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Archbishop and Primate of Mexico, and the Central Commission that has overseen the organization of this Sixth World Meeting.
I extend my gratitude to all who with their self-sacrificing dedication and devotion made the Meeting possible. I also greet the Cardinals and Bishops present at the celebration, especially the members of the Mexican Bishop's Conference, and to the Authorities of this beloved nation, who have generously hosted this important event and made it possible.
You Mexicans know well that you are very close to the Pope's heart. I think of you and offer to God the Father your joys and your hopes, your plans and your anxieties. In Mexico the Gospel has put down deep roots, forging its traditions, its culture and the identity of its noble people.
It is necessary to guard this rich patrimony so that it may continue to be a source of the moral and spiritual energy needed to face today's challenges with courage and creativity, and may be handed on as a precious gift to the new generations.
With joy and interest I have participated in this World Meeting, above all with my prayers, giving specific guidance and attentively following its preparation and development. Today, through the means of communication, I have come on a spiritual pilgrimage to this Marian Shrine, the heart of Mexico and of all America, to entrust all the world's families to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This World Meeting of Families has aimed to encourage Christian homes so that their members may be people who are free and rich in human and Gospel values, on their way towards holiness; that is the best service that we Christians can offer contemporary society.
The Christian response to the challenges that confront the family and human life in general must face consists in reinforcing trust in the Lord and the vigour that derives from faith itself, which is nourished in attentive listening to the Word of God.
How beautiful it is to gather as a family to let God speak to the hearts of its members through his living and effective Word. In prayer, especially in the recitation of the Rosary, as it was recited yesterday, the family contemplates the mysteries of the life of Jesus, interiorizes the values on which it meditates and feels called to embody them in its life.
The family is an indispensable foundation for society and for peoples, just as it is an irreplaceable good for children, whose coming into the world as the fruit of love, of the total and generous gift of their parents, deserve to be born.
As Jesus demonstrated by honouring the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, the family occupies a fundamental role in a person's upbringing. It is a true school of humanity and perennial values. No one has given life to himself. From others we received life, which develops and matures with the truths and values that we learn in our relationship and communion with others.
In this regard, the family founded on the indissoluble matrimony of a man and a woman is the expression of the relational, filial and communal dimensions. It is the setting in which men and women can be born with dignity, and can grow and develop in an integral manner (cf. Homily at Holy Mass for the Fifth World Meeting of Families, Valencia, 9 July 2006; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 12 July 2006, p. 7).
However, this educational task is complicated by a deceptive concept of freedom, in which caprice and the subjective impulses of the individual are exalted to the point of leaving each person locked within the prison of his own self.
The true freedom of the human being derives from his creation in the image and likeness of God. For this reason freedom must be exercised responsibly, always opting for the authentic good so that it may become love, a gift of self.
For this reason, more than theories, the intimacy and love that are characteristic of the family community are needed. It is at home that people truly learn to live, to value life and health, freedom and peace, justice and truth, work, harmony and respect.
Today more than ever the witness and public commitment of all the baptized is necessary to reaffirm the dignity and the unique, irreplaceable value of the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman open to life, and also of human life in all of its stages.
Legal and administrative measures must be promoted that support families with their inalienable rights, necessary if they are to continue to carry out their extraordinary mission. The witnesses given at yesterday's celebration show that today too the family can stand firm in the love of God and renew humanity in the new millennium.
I wish to express my closeness and to assure my prayers for all the families that bear witness to fidelity in especially difficult circumstances. I encourage the many families who, at times living in the midst of setbacks and misunderstandings, set an example of generosity and trust in God, in the hope that they will not lack the assistance they need.
I am also thinking of the families who are suffering because of poverty, sickness, marginalization or emigration and, most especially, of Christian families that are being persecuted for their faith. The Pope is very close to all of you and accompanies you in your daily efforts.
Before concluding this meeting, I am pleased to announce that the Seventh World Meeting of Families will take place, God willing, in Italy, in the city of Milan in the year 2012, on the theme: "The family, work and celebration". I am deeply grateful to Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan, for his kindness in accepting this important commitment.
I entrust all the families of the world to the protection of the Most Holy Virgin, so widely venerated in the noble land of Mexico under the title of Guadalupe. To her, the one who always reminds us that our happiness lies in doing Christ's will (cf. Jn 2: 5), I now say:
Most Holy Mother of Guadalupe,
who have shown your love
and your tenderness to the peoples
of the American continent,
fill with joy and hope all the peoples and families of the world.
We entrust to you,
who go before us and guide us
on our journey of faith
towards the eternal Homeland,
the joys, the plans, the anxieties and
the desires of all families.
O Mary,
to you we turn, trusting in
your tenderness as Mother.
Do not ignore the prayers
we address to you
for the whole
world's families in this crucial
period in history;
instead, welcome us all in your heart
as Mother
and guide us
on our way towards
the heavenly Homeland.
Amen.
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 21 January 2009)
Develop a family culture and policy consistent with the Gospel
Develop a family culture
and policy consistent with the Gospel
The Holy Father spoke via videoconference to the families taking part in the Sixth World Meeting of Families currently being held in Mexico City on the theme "The family, teacher of human and Christian values". The following is a translation of the Pope's Address, broadcast live via satellite, which was given in Spanish on 18 January.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Dear Families,
I wish all of you who have gathered to celebrate the Sixth World Meeting of Families under the motherly gaze of Our Lady of Guadalupe "Grace... and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thes 1: 2).
You have just finished praying the Holy Rosary, contemplating the Joyful Mysteries of the Son of God made man who was born into the family of Mary and Joseph and grew up in Nazareth in the intimacy of the home, amid his daily occupations, prayer and relations with neighbours.
His family welcomed him and protected him lovingly, initiated him into the observance of the religious traditions and laws of his people and accompanied him to human maturity and the mission for which he had been destined. "And Jesus", says the Gospel according to St Luke, "increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man" (Lk 2: 52).
The Joyful Mysteries have alternated with the accounts of several Christian families from the five continents that are, as it were, an echo and a reflection in our time of the history of Jesus and his family. These accounts have shown us how the seed of the Gospel continues to germinate and bear fruit in various situations in today's world.
The theme of this Sixth World Meeting of Families The family, teacher of human and Christian values reminds us that the home environment is a school of humanity and Christian life for all its members, with beneficial consequences for people, the Church and society. In fact, the home is called to live and to foster reciprocal love and truth, respect and justice, loyalty and collaboration, service and availability to others, especially the weakest.
The Christian home, which must "show forth to all men Christ's living presence in the world and the authentic nature of the Church" (Gaudium et spes, n. 48), must be imbued with God's presence, placing in his hands everyday events and asking his help in carrying out its indispensable mission.
For this reason prayer in the family at the most suitable and significant moments is of supreme importance since, as the Lord himself assured us: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt 18: 20).
And the Teacher is certainly with the family that listens and meditates on the Word of God, that learns from him what is most important in life (cf. Lk 10: 41-42)and puts his teachings into practice (cf. Lk 11: 28). In this way, personal and family life is transformed, gradually improved and enriched with dialogue, faith is transmitted to the children, the pleasure of being together grows and the home is further united and consolidated, like the house built upon rock (cf. Mt 7: 24-25). May Pastors not cease to help families to benefit fully from the Word of God in Sacred Scripture.
With the strength that stems from prayer the family is transformed into a community of disciples and missionaries of Christ. In the family the Gospel is welcomed, passed on and it radiates. As my venerable Predecessor Pope Paul vi said: "The parents not only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can themselves receive the same Gospel as deeply lived by them" (Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 71).
By living filial trust and obedience to God, fidelity and the generous acceptance of children, care for the weakest and promptness in forgiving, the Christian family becomes a living Gospel legible to all (cf. 2 Cor 3: 2), as a sign of credibility that is perhaps more persuasive and better able to challenge the world today.
The family should also bring its witness of life and explicit profession of faith to the various contexts of its surroundings, such as the school and various other associations. It should also be committed to the catechetical formation of the children and the pastoral activities of its parish community, especially those related to preparation for marriage or specifically addressed to family life.
Coexistence in the home is a gift for people and a source of inspiration for social coexistence, showing that freedom and solidarity are complementary, that the good of each one must take into account the good of the others and that strict justice demands openness to understanding and forgiveness for the sake of the common good.
Indeed, social relations can take as a reference point the values that constitute authentic family life in order to become increasingly humanized every day and directed towards building "the civilization of love".
Furthermore, the family is also a vital cell of society, the first and decisive resource for its development. It is also, frequently, the last resort for people whose needs the established structures cannot meet satisfactorily.
Because of its essential role in society, the family has a right to have its proper identity recognized that is not to be confused with other forms of coexistence. It is likewise entitled to expect proper cultural, legal, financial, social, and health-care protection and, most particularly, to receive support that, taking into account the number of children, provides sufficient financial resources to allow it to choose the type of education and school freely.
It is therefore necessary to promote a family culture and policy that the families themselves can develop in an organized manner. For this reason I encourage them to join associations that promote the identity and rights of the family, in accordance with an anthropological vision consistent with the Gospel, while I invite the said organizations to cooperate with one another to ensure that their coordinated activity may be more effective.
To conclude, I urge all of you to have great trust, for the family is in the Heart of God, Creator and Saviour. Working for families is working for the worthy and luminous future of humanity and for the construction of the Kingdom of God. Let us humbly invoke divine grace so that it may help us to collaborate with enthusiasm and joy in the noble cause of the family, called to be evangelized and evangelizing, human and humanizing.
In this beautiful task, may we be accompanied by the maternal intercession and heavenly protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, whom I invoke today with the glorious title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to whom, as Mother, I entrust the families of the whole world.
Many thanks.
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 21 January 2009)
Unfailing wisdom for a just and free society
Unfailing wisdom for
a just and free society
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House, Washington, DC
On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America I offer cordial good wishes, together with the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you unfailing wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities. Under your leadership may the American people continue to find in their impressive religious and political heritage the spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly just and free society, marked by respect for the dignity, equality and rights of each of its members, especially the poor, the outcast and those who have no voice. At a time when so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world yearn for liberation from the scourge of poverty, hunger and violence, I pray that you will be confirmed in your resolve to promote understanding, cooperation and peace among the nations, so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole human family (cf. Isaiah 25: 6-7). Upon you and your family, and upon all the American people, I willingly invoke the Lord's blessings of joy and peace.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 21 January 2009)
Called to imitate Christ in peaceful coexistence and active dialogue
Called to imitate Christ
in peaceful coexistence and active dialogue
On Sunday, 18 January, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, prior to leading the Angelus the Holy Father spoke on the Church's mission in the globalized world. The following is a translation of the Pope's Reflection, given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today is the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Since the Pauline Year is being celebrated this year, thinking precisely of St Paul as the great itinerant missionary of the Gospel, I have chosen the theme: "St Paul migrant, "Apostle of the peoples'".
Saul this was his Hebrew name was born into a family of Jews that had emigrated to Tarsus, an important city in Cilicia, and he grew up with three cultures Hebrew, Hellenistic and Roman and a cosmopolitan mentality. When he converted from being a persecutor of Christians to an apostle of the Gospel, Paul became an "ambassador" of the Risen Christ to make him known to all, in the conviction that in him all peoples are called to form the great family of God's children.
This is also the Church's mission, particularly in our time of globalization. As Christians, we cannot fail to feel the need to transmit the message of the love of Jesus, especially to those who do not know him, or rather who are in difficult or grevious situations.
Today I am thinking of migrants in particular. Their actual situation is undoubtedly varied: in some cases, thank God, it is serene and well integrated; at other times, unfortunately, it is painful, difficult and sometimes even dramatic.
I would like to assure you that the Christian community looks at each person and each family with attention, and asks St Paul for the strength for a renewed effort to favour peaceful coexistence among men and women of different races, cultures and religions in every part of the world.
The Apostle tells us what the secret of his new life was: "I", he writes, "have been grasped by Christ Jesus" (Phil 3: 12); and he adds: "Be imitators of me" (Phil 3: 17). Yes, each one of us, according to his/her own vocation and the place where one lives and works, is called to witness to the Gospel, with greater concern for those brothers and sisters who, from other countries and for various reasons, have come to live among us, thus turning the phenomenon of migration into an opportunity for encounter among civilizations.
Let us pray and act so that this may occur in an ever more peaceful and constructive way, in respect and in dialogue, averting every temptation of conflict and oppression.
I would like to add a special word for seafarers and fishermen who have been living for some time in great hardship. In addition to the usual difficulties, their freedom to go ashore and bring chaplains on board is restricted, and they also risk piracy and the damage of illegal fishing. I express my closeness to them and the wish that their generosity, in sea rescue operations, may be rewarded by greater consideration.
I am thinking, lastly, of the World Meeting of Families that is drawing to a close in Mexico City, and of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that begins precisely today. Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to pray for all of these intentions, invoking the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary.
With deep apprehension I am following the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Today let us also remember before the Lord the hundreds of children, the elderly, women, innocent victims of the unheard of violence, the injured, those who are mourning their dear ones and those who have lost their possessions.
I invite you, at the same time, to accompany with prayer the efforts that many people of good will are making to stop the tragedy. I ardently hope that they will be able to wisely avail themselves of the openings that are appearing in order to restore the truce and to move towards peaceful and lasting solutions.
In this sense, I renew my encouragement to those on the one side as on the other who believe that in the Holy Land there is room for all, so that they may help their people to recover from the wreckage and terror and, courageously resume the path of dialogue in justice and truth. This is the only path that can effectively safeguard a future of peace for the children of that dear region!
After the Angelus the Pope said:
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that will conclude next Sunday, 25 January, begins today. In the southern hemisphere, in the wake of the novena recommended by Pope Leo xiii at the end of the 19th century, the prayer for Christian Unity will take place between the Ascension and Pentecost. The biblical theme, instead, is common to all. This year it has been suggested by an ecumenical group from Korea and it is taken from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: "That they may become one in your hand" (37: 17).
May we welcome this invitation too and pray with greater intensity that Christians may walk resolutely towards full communion among themselves. I address particularly Catholics scattered throughout the world so that, united in prayer, they do not tire of working to overcome the obstacles that still impede full communion among all Christ's disciples. The ecumenical commitment is even more urgent today, to give to our society, marked by tragic conflicts and lacerating divisions, a sign of and an incentive for reconciliation and peace.
We shall conclude this Week of Prayer in the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls with the celebration of Vespers, next Sunday, recalling the Conversion of St Paul, who has made the unity of the body of Christ an essential nucleus of his preaching.
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 21 January 2009)
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