(September 20, 2010) Before leaving the United Kingdom on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI
entrusted the bishops of England, Scotland and Wales with the several pastoral tasks,
including nurturing a faith life centred on the Eucharist, and ecumenism. The meeting
with the bishops took place at St. Mary's College seminary, Birmingham, from where
he left for city’s international airport for his flight back to Rome. The Pope exhorted
the bishops to nurture in their faithful a true devotion to the Eucharist making use
of the new translation of the Roman Missal, saying "the more lively the Eucharistic
faith of the people of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life…” On the
issue of Anglicans wanting to join the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict urged them to
be generous in implementing the apostolic constitution 'Anglicanorum Coetibus,' the
November 2009 document that has called for the creation of what are called "personal
ordinariates" - similar to dioceses - to oversee the pastoral care of those who wanted
to maintain some of their Anglican identity while in communion with the Catholic Church.
The Holy Father exhorted the British bishops to encourage their flocks to be generous
and stand in solidarity with the poor. He also acknowledged that the "shameful" clerical
sex abuse crisis "seriously undermines the moral credibility of church leaders."
He spoke of the deep wounds that such behaviour causes - in the victims first and
foremost - but also in the relationships of trust that should exist between priests
and people, between priests and their bishops, and between the church authorities
and the public. Pope urged the bishops to reach out to the victims, to carefully
screen candidates for the priesthood and other church offices and "deal properly and
transparently with allegations as they arise."