Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Presenting today at the Holy See Press Office a few considerations at the end of the Year of St Paul Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St Paul's outside the Walls, said “the outcome has been most positive, beyond all expectations”. Retracing the genesis of this Jubilee year, the first Year of St Paul in the history of the Church, the Cardinal recalled: “shortly after his election to the Pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI decided to give the extra-territorial complex of St Paul's new arrangement and new vitality, according to a project which had been studied in the past few years by a special commission ”, instituted by Pope John Paul II. As part of the vast programme of rearrangement and reorganisation, the Cardinal, appointed the Basilica's first Archpriest, proposed to the Holy Father, a special Year dedicated to the Apostle of the Nations, whose 2000th anniversary of birth falls between 2006 and 2010. Benedict XVI welcomed the suggestion, assigning to the Year of St Paul two fundamental motivations: to foster better knowledge of and meditation on the powerful message left by the Apostle of the Nations in his writings, perhaps little known or poorly interpreted; and develop programmes with an ecumenical dimension.
“The call to celebrate a Year of St Paul, was welcomed in general with enthusiasm by the faithful all over the world – the Cardinal Archpriest affirmed -, in the first few months (despite the fact that the announcement had been made in good time) some coldness was noted with regard to planning celebrations and slowness to promote events, which however soon followed with growing intensity”.
Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo Archpriest, then leafed through the “diary” of events in the Year of St Paul, "opened by Pope Benedict XVI in the early evening of 28 June 2008. Groups arrived on pilgrimage from all over the world - not only Catholics, but Christians of many denominations Orthodox, Protestants, Anglicans - in such great numbers that it was impossible to count them”. “Whereas before the Year of St Paul – the Cardinal said - we saw at the most a few thousand visitors a day in the Basilica, this year on one day alone, 1 May 2009, we welcomed over 18,000. And in these recent weeks the number has been more than 10,000 every day”.
If the centre of the Year of St Paul was the Papal Basilica of St Paul's outside the Walls, numerous initiatives and events were held all over the world, “not only in the religious field, prayers, liturgy, penance, catechesis and pastoral, but also in the field of culture, studies, publications and even music, theatre, cinema, exhibitions of art, sports events and other initiatives”. All over the world celebrations for the second millennium of the birth of the Apostle of the Nations “have been recognised and lived as new impulse, convinced motivation for evangelisation. This necessity has been felt also among the Orthodox churches and the other Christian Communities, and become a common commitment on the path of rebuilding Christian unity ”.
“The Year of St Paul comes to an end – the Cardinal concluded -, but its spiritual benefits and the transformation produced all over the world must continue. The great fervour of pastoral initiatives, catechesis, cultural events is destined to continue and have an important follow-up at the local level and on every continent … with the closing of the Year of St Paul and the beginning of the Year of the Priesthood, recently inaugurated by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, a loud call goes out to the entire Christian world to continue to heed the message of St Paul, Apostle of the Nations, who spoke and wrote to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Thessalonians, the Jews and the Romans in his time, and continues today to speak to the Nations on every continent”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 26/6/2009; righe 47, parole 663)
