Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Saturday 7 May in the morning in his private library Pope Benedict XVI received the Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka on their ad limina visit, the first to take place since his election, as the Pope himself recalled.
“You come from a Continent particularly marked by a wealth of cultures, languages and traditions - the Pope said - and you bear witness to the deep faith of your people in Jesus Christ, the sole Redeemer of the world”.
Benedict XVI told the Bishops he had been deeply disturbed to observe the devastating effects of the tsunami last December and he asked them to accept his sympathy and that of Catholics everywhere. “In the faces of the bereaved and dispossessed, we cannot fail to recognise the suffering face of Christ, and indeed it is he whom we serve when we show our love and compassion to those in need”. The Pope mentioned the young victims in particular: “The Christian community has a particular obligation to care for those children who have lost their parents as a result of the natural disaster. To these most vulnerable members of society the Kingdom of heaven belongs yet so often they are simply forgotten or shamelessly exploited as soldiers, labourers, or innocent victims in the trafficking of human beings. No effort should be spared to urge civil authorities and the international community to fight these abuses and to offer young children the legal protection they justly deserve.”.
Recalling that “Even in the darkest moments of our lives, we know that God is never absent”, the Holy Father commended the outstanding way in which the Church Sri Lanka sought to meet the needs of the victims and the fact that “members of different religious and ethnic groups in Sri Lanka and throughout the global community came together to show their solidarity towards the afflicted and rediscovering the fraternal bonds that unite them”.
In Sri Lanka one third of the population is under the age of fifteen, Benedict XVI said that religious education in schools and spiritual and theological formation in seminaries are priorities, and he said: “It is gratifying to know that your country is already blessed with a good number of priestly vocations, and I pray that many more young people will recognise and respond to God’s call to give themselves completely for the sake of the Kingdom.”.
Last of all the Pope called to mind the image of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, ‘so recently invoked by my beloved predecessor to guide us in this Year of the Eucharist: “Christ accompanies you as you lead your people forward along the path of discipleship. Renew your trust in him! Open your hearts to him! Plead with him, in union with the whole Church throughout the world: “Mane nobiscum, Domine”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 9/5/2005; righe 31, parole 480)
