Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “At the beginning of the general audience today in this joyous spirit of Easter, together with you I wish to thank the Lord who called me exactly one year ago to serve the Church as the Successor of St Peter - thank you for your joy, thank you for your cheering - and who continues to assist me with His indispensable help”. At the audience on Wednesday 19 April, the first anniversary of his election to the Chair of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that important moment when “the Cardinals gathered in the Conclave chose me to succeed the late beloved Servant of God, great Pope John Paul II”. In particular the Pope recalled with emotion the first encounter with the people in St Peter’s Square and many successive meetings, “which enabled me to experience the truth of what I said during the solemn concelebration of Mass for the beginning of my Petrine ministry: ‘I am keenly aware that I am not alone as I carry on something I know I could never carry alone’. And I am ever more aware that I could never carry this task, this mission alone that you carry it with me and I am in a great communion and together we can continue the Lord’s mission … I offer deep thanks to all those who in different ways are close to assist me and those who follow me spiritually from afar with their affection and their prayers. I ask each of you to continue to sustain me and to pray that God will help me be a meek and firm shepherd for His Church.”
Pope Benedict XVI then reflected on the events following the Lord’s resurrection: “Peter and the other apostles, and later their successors, first in Jerusalem and then to the ends of the earth boldly proclaimed the Gospel message of which the fundamental and inseparable nucleus is the Paschal Mystery: the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. The Church celebrates this mystery at Easter and prolongs its joyous resonance in the days that follow ”. Indeed Easter joy pervades the whole of the liturgical year and is renewed in a special way on Sunday "little Easter" every week. The Holy Father went on to underline that “the event of Jesus’ death and resurrection constitutes the centre of our faith and it is on this announcement that the Church is founded and grows”.
In the last part of his catechesis, the Pontiff noted that “the apparitions of the Risen Lord usually conclude with a call to overcome all uncertainty, to confront the event with Scripture and to announce that Jesus, death overcome, is the eternal living One, the source of new life for all who believe … a person who encounters the Risen Jesus is transformed inwardly: it is impossible to ‘see’ the Risen Lord and not ‘believe’ in Him … faith, born of a personal encounter with the Risen Christ, becomes an impulse of courage and freedom and makes us cry out to the whole world: Jesus is risen and lives for ever. This is the mission of the Lord’s disciples of every epoch, in our day too”.
After greeting visitors in various languages Pope Benedict XVI made the following appeal for peace in the Middle East: “With deep sadness I heard the news of the terrible bombing on Monday in Tel Aviv, Israel, and I feel it is my duty to firmly condemn that terrorist attack. Such appalling actions are no way to protect the legitimate rights of a people. May the Lord, the Prince of Peace, be close to Israelis and Palestinians that they will not let themselves go tragically adrift but rather take steps to live side by side in peace and security as children of the same Father who is in heaven.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/4/2006, righe 43, parole 650)
