Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - In his address on Sunday 30th October before the midday Angelus Pope Benedict XVI warmly invited the crowds in St Peter’s Square to reread the documents issued by the Second Vatican Council. The Pope said some are well known and often quoted, others are less known “but all deserve to be referred to because they retain all their value and reveal a relevance which today is even greater under certain aspects”.
Pope Benedict XVI recalled the five documents signed by Pope Paul VI and the Council Fathers on 28 October 1965: the decree Christus Dominus on the pastoral office of Bishops; the decree Perfectae caritatis on the renewal of religious life; the decree Optatam totius on priestly formation; the declaration Gravissimum educationis on Christian education; declaration Nostra Aetate on the Church’s relations with non Christian religions. “Formation of priests, consecrated life and the ministry of bishops were the subjects three ordinary assemblies of the Synod of Bishops … which reflected at length and in depth on the teaching of Vatican II” the Pope said, whereas the document on education is less known. “The Church has always worked for the education of youth … still today in the epoch of global communication, the ecclesial community is keenly aware of the importance of an education system which recognises the primacy of the person, and is open to truth and good”.
Referring to the “great relevance of” the declaration Nostra Aetate, the Holy Father said: “Starting from the principle that ‘one is the community of all peoples” and that the Church has the ‘task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations (n. 1), the Council ‘rejects nothing that is true and holy’ in other religions and to all she announces Christ, the ‘way, truth and life, in whom mankind finds ‘the fullness of religious life (n. 2). With the declaration Nostra Aetate the Council Fathers proposed certain fundamental truths: they spoke clearly of the special bond between Christians and Jews (n. 4), they confirmed their esteem for Muslims (n. 3) and followers of other religions (n. 2) and confirmed the spirit of universal brotherhood which bans all forms of discrimination or persecution (n. 5).” Pope Benedict XVI ended with a call to “take up these documents again ” and to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary to “help all believers in Christ to keep alive the spirit of Vatican II, to contribute towards installing in the world that universal brotherhood which is God’s will for man, created in the image and likeness of God.”
After the Angelus the Pope made another appeal to help earthquake victims in Kashmir: “As we know on 8 October a violent earthquake struck the region of Kashmir, especially on the Pakistan side, causing the death of over 50,000 people and serious and widespread damage. In this case too there have been many forms of solidarity, but the needs appear to be greater than aid so far received. I therefore make another appeal to the international community to increase efforts to sustain those sorely tried peoples.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 31/10/2005; righe 37, parole 531)
