VATICAN - Benedict XVI in the General Audience calls for support for African Church that “faith in Christ may not only spread and grow, but also to help those who suffer” and recalls that “the month of October invites us to renew our active cooperation with the mission of the Church”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The Synod for Africa is about to end. As you know, the Church in that continent, in spite of various difficulties, is continually growing. May faith in Christ may not only spread and grow, but also to help those who suffer from poverty, conflict, or a lack of access to education and health services. May our spiritual and material support never be lacking!” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI in addressing the Polish-speaking faithful during a General Audience on October 21, recalling the Synod for Africa which is almost over, and the need to support the Church in Africa.
Another call to the Church's mission was made in his greeting to Italian pilgrims. The Pope expressed his particular greeting to the participants in the General Chapter of the Combonian Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, underway in Rome. The Pope said: “I thank this religious family for its missionary work, especially in Africa, and I encourage them to continue with renewed apostolic zeal, to make the charism of St. Daniel Comboni more present in the world today.” Lastly, addressing the youth, sick, and newly-weds, Benedict XVI recalled that “the month of October invites us to renew our active cooperation with the mission of the Church,” and he exhorted them saying: “With the fresh energies of youth, with the strength of prayer and of sacrifice and with the capacity of conjugal life, may you be missionaries of the Gospel, offering your concrete support to all those who labor, dedicating their whole existence to the evangelization of peoples.”
In his catechesis, the Pope reflected on the figure of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, recalling two main aspects of his rich doctrine, on Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. “For Bernard, in fact, true knowledge of God consists in a personal, profound experience of Jesus Christ and of his love. And this, dear brothers and sisters, is true for every Christian: Faith is above all a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, and to experience his closeness, his friendship, his love; only in this way does one learn to know him ever more, and to love and follow him ever more. May this happen to each one of us.” Reflecting on the intimate “participation of Mary in the redemptive sacrifice of her Son,” Bernard highlights that “through Mary we are led to Jesus. He attests clearly to Mary's subordination to Jesus, according to the principles of traditional Mariology. But...also documents the privileged place of the Virgin in the economy of salvation, in reference to the very singular participation of the Mother in the sacrifice of the Son.”
Concluding the catechesis, Benedict XVI mentioned that today “at times an attempt is made to resolve the fundamental questions on God, on man and on the world with the sole force of reason. Instead, St. Bernard, solidly based on the Bible and on the Fathers of the Church, reminds us that without a profound faith in God, nourished by prayer and contemplation, by a profound relationship with the Lord, our reflections on the divine mysteries risk becoming a futile intellectual exercise, and lose their credibility...In the end, the truest figure of the theologian and of every evangelizer is that of the Apostle John, who leaned his head on the heart of the Master.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 22/10/2009)