Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “May the Malagasy people live in God’s peace and continue with courage to build a society ever more respectful of the human person and human dignity” Pope Benedict XVI said on 18 June in the Vatican when he addressed a group of Bishops from Madagascar, in Rome for their five-yearly ad limina visit to pray at the tombs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and meet with the present Bishop of Rome Successor of Peter.
In this Year of the Eucharist the Pope urged the Bishops to give special attention to the celebration of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. “Through an exemplary life and your teaching, and actively collaborating among yourselves, you will lead the faithful towards friendship with Christ, encouraging them to be ever more generous in charity towards their brothers and sisters! In this way you will sustain the lay people in your dioceses in their commitment in public life in fidelity to their vocation.”
Benedict XVI also spoke about the Bishop’s duty to help his people “acquire an illuminated faith rooted in an intimate encounter with Christ” and for this “the inculturation of the faith in Malagasy culture remains an important objective. The acceptance of modernity does not exclude roots, on the contrary it demands them. Illuminated faith is indispensable for authentic progress in the search for unity of Christ’s disciples.” The Pope underscored the necessity to build brotherly relations among all Christians “based on the demands of the Catholic identity in the truth, avoiding gestures which might not only worry the faithful but also support religious relativism”.
With regard to priests, their closest collaborators, the Pope asked the Bishops to sustain them in their difficulties and to be for each of them a demanding father and leader. Since “the proclamation of the Gospel calls for priests of quality from the intellectual, spiritual and moral point of view”, priority must be given to serious formation in seminaries and on-going formation for priests. At the end of his address the Pope asked the Bishops to greet affectionately on his behalf priests, men and women religious, catechists and the faithful of their respective dioceses: “I warmly encourage them as they bear witness to Christ with faith and charity often under very difficult conditions appreciating also the generous work of missionaries. May the Spirit of the Lord be their hope and help them to contribute each according to his or her own vocation, to the proclamation of the Gospel!” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2005; righe 29, parole 400)
