VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI at general audience reflects on his recent pastoral visit to Brazil: “ it was first of all to give praise to God for the ‘wonders’ worked among the peoples of Latin America, for the faith which has animated their life and the culture for over five hundred years ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “During this general audience I would like to reflect on my recent apostolic journey to Brazil from the, 9 to the 14 of this month. After two years of Pontificate, at last I had the joy of going to Latin America which I love so much and where in fact a large number of the world's Catholics live”. With these words Pope Benedict XVI began his address to thousands of visitors gathered in St Peter's Square on Wednesday 23 May. After explaining that the destination was Brazil but the intent was to “embrace the whole of the Latin American sub-continent ”, the Holy Father expressed profound gratitude for the welcome he received from the bishops, the civil authorities and the people.
The Pope then explained to reason for his journey: “it was first of all to give praise to God for the ‘wonders’ worked among the peoples of Latin America, for the faith which has animated their life and their culture for over five hundred years. In this sense it was a pilgrimage which reached its peak at the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil's principal patron saint”. The Pope then recalled that the relationship faith - culture always received major attention from his Predecessors, and he said: “I wished to affirm this and confirm the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean on the path of faith which became and becomes lived history, popular piety, art, in dialogue with the rich pre-Colombian traditions and then with the numerous European influences and from other continents. Of course the memory of a glorious past cannot ignore the shadows which accompanied the work of evangelising the continent of Latin America: it is impossible in fact to forget the suffering and injustice inflicted by colonisers on indigenous peoples, whose basic human rights were often violated. However the dutiful mention of those unjustifiable crimes - which already at the time were condemned by missionaries such as Bartolomeo de Las Casas and theologians like Francesco da Vitoria of the University of Salamanca - cannot prevent us from acknowledging with gratitude the wonderful work achieved by divine grave among those peoples through in those centuries. In this way the Gospel became on that continent the basic element of a dynamic synthesis which, with various nuances according to the different countries, expresses the identity of the Latin American peoples. Today in the epoch of globalisation, this Catholic identity still presents itself as the most adequate response as long as it is animated by serious spiritual formation and the principles of the social doctrine of the Church.”
Brazil possesses deeply rooted Christian values but it still experiences serious social and economic difficulties, the Pope recalled, highlighting the need to mobilise all the Church's spiritual and moral forces to help overcome these difficulties. Benedict XVI then recalled his visit to the Fazenda da Esperança, community of rehabilitation of young drug addicts. The Fazenda includes a convent of Poor Clare Sisters: “I found this emblematic for the world today in need of psychological and social still more profound, spiritual 'recuperation' ”. The Pope then mentioned the canonisation of the first Brazilian born saint: Frei Antonio de Sant’Anna Galvão: “His witness confirms that holiness is the real revolution which can promote authentic reform in the Church and society”.
In the cathedral in Sao Paulo the Pope met the Bishops of Brazil, the largest bishops' conference in the world: “I encouraged my brother bishops to proceed with new evangelisation. I urged them to develop capillary and methodical diffusion of the Word of God so that in people's innate and diffused religiosity may grow stronger becoming mature faith, personal and community acceptance of the God of Jesus Christ”.
Another important event recalled by the Pope was his meeting with young people: “I asked them to be apostles of their peers; and for this to give special care to human and spiritual formation; to have great esteem for marriage and the path leading to it in chastity and responsibility; to be ready for the call to the consecrated life for the Kingdom of God. In brief, I encouraged them to put to good use the riches of youth to be the youthful face of the Church.”
The culmination of the visit was the inauguration of the 5th General Conference of the Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean at the shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida on the theme "Disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ that our people may have life in Him - I am the Way, the Truth and the Life". “To be disciples and missionaries - the Pope said at the audience - implies a close bond with the Word of God, the Eucharist, the other Sacraments, living in the Church in obedient listening to her teaching. To joyfully renew the will to be disciples of Jesus to "be with Him", is the fundamental condition for being his missionaries "starting out from Christ "… With my apostolic visit, I wanted to encourage Catholics to continue on this path and I offered as unifying perspective that of the encyclical Deus caritas est, a perspective inseparably theological and social, which can be summarised in this expression: it is love which gives life”. Last of all Pope Benedict XVI said he entrusted the fruits of that unforgettable apostolic journey to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe as patron of all America and the newly made Brazilian Saint, Frei Antonio de Sant’Anna Galvão.
At the end of the audience the Pope greeted various groups including priests from mission territories in Rome for higher studies: “In particular, I greet the student priests at the Collegio San Paolo who have concluded their studies at various pontifical universities in Rome. Dear priests when you return to your respective countries may you put to good use the cultural, pastoral experience and priestly communion of these years ”.
Before the audience the Pope blessed a statue placed in an external niche of St Peter's of Saint Joseph Manyanet (1833-1901), founder of the Congregation of the Sons of the Holy Family Jesus Mary and Joseph and the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 24/5/2007 - righe 74, parole 1042)