Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Dear brothers, our bond has a precise root, the same root which unites all the Bishops of the world with the Successor of Peter, but in this country it is even stronger because the Pope is also the Bishop of Rome and Primate of Italy” Pope Benedict XVI said in an address to the Bishops of Italy who welcomed him on 30 May to their 54th plenary assembly being held in the Synod Hall in the Vatican. The Holy Father thanked the Bishops for the warm welcome and recalled Italy’s close relation with the Christian faith dating to apostolic times and still profound and sincere. Despite a certain culture today which tends to exclude Christianity and religious and moral traditions in general from the continent of Europe, “above all in Italy the Church maintains a capillary presence among people of all ages and conditions and can therefore propose in all kinds of situations the message of salvation entrusted to her by the Lord.”
The Pope underlined the Church’s efforts “to maintain its presence and to increase its missionary dynamism”, putting at the base of all contemplation of Jesus Christ and in Him the true face of God the Father, as Pope John Paul II said in “Novo Millennio Ineunte”. “Here lies in fact the Church’s secret heart and strength, the source of the effectiveness of our apostolate. Above all in the mystery of the Eucharist, we, our priests and all the faithful can live this relation with Christ to the full: here he becomes tangible among us, he gives himself to us again and again, he becomes ours so that we may become his and may learn his love.” In this contemplation of the face of Christ, “Most Holy Mary goes before us, she sustains us and accompanies us. Love and devotion for the Lord’s Mother so widespread and deeply rooted among the people of Italy, is a precious heritage which we must always cultivate and a great resource also in view of evangelisation”.
The Church is present among the people in a network of parishes which must be sustained at these times of change so they may acquire “an ever more missionary attitude in daily pastoral and thus open to more intense collaboration with all the forces of which the Church disposes”. It is important to reinforce parish structures and the different ‘charismatic’ realities formed in recent decades, “so that mission may reach every ambient of life”. A precious contribution comes from the presence of religious communities very numerous in Italy.
The Holy Father encouraged the Bishops to continue working to ensure that “the voice of Catholics is always present in the cultural debate in Italy and even before to increase the capacity to elaborate rationally in the light of the faith the many questions arising in various areas of knowledge and the major decisions of life.”
Another pastoral question touched by the Pope was the family, “exposed in the present cultural climate to many risks and threats”: fragility and internal instability, a tendency to question the unique character and special mission of the family founded on marriage. “Sad to say Italy is one of those countries in which scarcity of births is most grave and persistent and is already having serious consequences on the entire social body.” Benedict XVI recalled the Bishops’ efforts to defend the sacredness of human life and the value of the institution of marriage while promoting the family’s role in the Church and in society. “In the same spirit you are also involved in enlightening and motivating the decision of Catholics and all the citizens of Italy with regard to the referendums now imminent concerning the law on fertility treatment: precisely because it is clear and concrete your intervention is a sign of your concern as Bishops for every human person who can never be reduced to a means, the person is always an end, as Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in the Gospel and as human reason tells us”.
The Pope thanked the Bishops and Catholics of Italy for their “generous charity” towards the poor, the sick, immigrants, peoples decimated by disease, war and hunger. Recalling that on the occasion of World Youth Day in Cologne in the coming month of August he will meet crowds of young people, the Pope said: “They need our help to grow and mature in the faith: this is the first service they must receive from the Church, especially from us, the Bishops and from our priests...young people must feel loved by the Church, loved concretely by us the Bishops and our priests. In this way they will experience in the Church the friendship and love which the Lord has for them, they will understand that in Christ the truth coincides with love and they in turn will learn to love the Lord and to have faith in his body the Church. Today this, my dear Brother Bishops of Italy, is the central point of the great challenge to hand on the faith to the young generations.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 31/5/2005, righe 56, parole 828)
