VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI addresses the college of Cardinals: “the intense emotions experienced are followed by a deep desire for silence and two complementary feelings: an ardent desire of the heart to express gratitude and a sense of human inadequacy in the face of the lofty task awaiting me”

Friday, 22 April 2005

Vatican City (Fides Service) - This morning in the Sala Clementina in the Apostolic Building the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI received in audience all the Cardinal present in Rome. “The intense emotions experienced on the occasion of the death of my venerated predecessor John Paul II and then during the Conclave and above all at its epilogue are now followed by an ardent desire of the heart to express gratitude and a sense of human inadequacy in the face of the lofty task awaiting me”.
The Holy Father expressed gratitude first of all to God for calling him despite his human fragility to be the Successor of Saint Peter, then he thanked everyone, (bishops, priest, religious, people of all ages) for their “spiritual solidarity”, and all the Cardinals, for their “active collaboration in running the Church during the ‘Vacant See’. Benedict XVI greeted in particular the Cardinals unable for reasons of age or health to take part in the Conclave, and he thanked also the many people with various duties who helped organise the Conclave.
Thanking the Cardinals for showing such trust in him, the Pope asked for their continual support: “All that remains for me and for all of us together is to accept the will and providence of God and do our best to cooperate, helping one another in our respective duties in the service of the Church”. Lastly the Pope recalled his Predecessors: Blessed John XXIII, the servants of God Paul VI and John Paul I and especially John Paul II, “whose testimony, more than ever in his last days, sustained us and whose vibrant presence we continue to feel”.
Before ending his address to the Cardinals with an invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church the Pope said: “Now you will return to your respective sees and resume your work, but spiritually we remain united in the faith and love of the Lord, in the bond of the Eucharistic celebration, in fervent prayer and in our shared daily apostolic ministry. Your spiritual closeness, your illuminated advice and active co-operation will be for me a gift for which I will be ever grateful and an incentive to carry out the task entrusted to me with total faithfulness and dedication.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 22/4/2005, righe 28, parole 400)


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