APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI TO GERMANY 22 - 25 SEPTEMBER 2011 All
17 addresses of the Pope during his visit
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address
at the Welcome CeremonyMr President of the Federal Republic, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends, I am honoured by the kind welcome which you have given to me here in
Bellevue Castle. I am particularly grateful to you, President Wulff, for inviting
me to make this official visit, which marks the third time I have come as Pope to
the Federal Republic of Germany. I thank you most heartily for your cordial and profound
words of welcome. I am likewise grateful to the representatives of the Federal Government,
the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, and the City of Berlin for their presence,
which signifies their respect for the Pope as the Successor of the Apostle Peter.
Last but not least, I thank the three Bishops who are my hosts, Archbishop Woelki
of Berlin, Bishop Wanke of Erfurt and Archbishop Zollitsch of Freiburg, and all those
at the various ecclesial and civil levels who helped in preparing this visit to my
native land and contributed to its happy outcome. Even though this journey is
an official visit which will consolidate the good relations existing between the Federal
Republic of Germany and the Holy See, I have not come here primarily to pursue particular
political or economic goals, as other statesmen do, but rather to meet people and
to speak to them about God. I am pleased, therefore, to see such a large turnout of
German citizens here. Many thanks! As you mentioned, Mr President, we are witnessing
a growing indifference to religion in society, which considers the issue of truth
as something of an obstacle in its decision-making, and instead gives priority to
utilitarian considerations. All the same, a binding basis for our coexistence is needed;
otherwise people live in a purely individualistic way. Religion is one of these foundations
for a successful social life. “Just as religion has need of freedom, so also freedom
has need of religion.” These words of the great bishop and social reformer Wilhelm
von Ketteler, the second centenary of whose birth is being celebrated this year, remain
timely. Freedom requires a primordial link to a higher instance. The fact that
there are values which are not absolutely open to manipulation is the true guarantee
of our freedom. The man who feels a duty to truth and goodness will immediately agree
with this: freedom develops only in responsibility to a greater good. Such a good
exists only for all of us together; therefore I must always be concerned for my neighbours.
Freedom cannot be lived in the absence of relationships. In human coexistence, freedom
is impossible without solidarity. What I do at the expense of others is not freedom
but a culpable way of acting which is harmful to others and hence ultimately also
to myself. I can truly develop as a free person only by using my powers also for the
welfare of others. And this holds true not only in private matters but also for society
as a whole. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, society must give sufficient
space for smaller structures to develop and, at the same time, must support them so
that one day they will stand on their own. Here in Bellevue Castle, named for its
splendid view of the banks of the Spree and situated close to the Victory Column,
the Bundestag and the Brandenburg Gate, we are in the very heart of Berlin,
the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. This castle, with its dramatic history
– like many buildings of this city – is a testimony to the history of Germany. We
are familiar with its great and noble pages, and we are grateful for them. But a clear
look at its dark pages is also possible, and this is what enables us to learn from
the past and to receive an impetus for the present. The Federal Republic of Germany
has become what it is today thanks to the power of freedom shaped by responsibility
before God and before one another. It needs this dynamism, which engages every human
sector in order to continue developing now. It needs this in a world which requires
a profound cultural renewal and the rediscovery of fundamental values upon which to
build a better future (Caritas in Veritate, 21). I trust that my meetings
throughout this visit – here in Berlin, in Erfurt, in Eichsfeld and in Freiburg –
can make a small contribution in this regard. In these days may God grant all of us
his blessing. Thank you. XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address at the German Parliament,
Berlin 22 September 2011The Listening Heart Reflections on the Foundations
of Law Mr President of the Federal Republic, Mr President of the Bundestag, Madam
Chancellor, Mr President of the Bundesrat, Ladies and Gentlemen Members of the House,
It is an honour and a joy for me to speak before this distinguished house, before
the Parliament of my native Germany, that meets here as a democratically elected representation
of the people, in order to work for the good of the Federal Republic of Germany. I
should like to thank the President of the Bundestag both for his invitation to deliver
this address and for the kind words of greeting and appreciation with which he has
welcomed me. At this moment I turn to you, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, not
least as your fellow-countryman who for all his life has been conscious of close links
to his origins, and has followed the affairs of his native Germany with keen interest.
But the invitation to give this address was extended to me as Pope, as the Bishop
of Rome, who bears the highest responsibility for Catholic Christianity. In issuing
this invitation you are acknowledging the role that the Holy See plays as a partner
within the community of peoples and states. Setting out from this international responsibility
that I hold, I should like to propose to you some thoughts on the foundations of a
free state of law. Allow me to begin my reflections on the foundations of law [Recht]
with a brief story from sacred Scripture. In the First Book of the Kings, it is recounted
that God invited the young King Solomon, on his accession to the throne, to make a
request. What will the young ruler ask for at this important moment? Success – wealth
– long life – destruction of his enemies? He chooses none of these things. Instead,
he asks for a listening heart so that he may govern God’s people, and discern between
good and evil (cf. 1 Kg 3:9). Through this story, the Bible wants to tell us what
should ultimately matter for a politician. His fundamental criterion and the motivation
for his work as a politician must not be success, and certainly not material gain.
Politics must be a striving for justice, and hence it has to establish the fundamental
preconditions for peace. Naturally a politician will seek success, as this is what
opens up for him the possibility of effective political action. Yet success is subordinated
to the criterion of justice, to the will to do what is right, and to the understanding
of what is right. Success can also be seductive and thus can open up the path towards
the falsification of what is right, towards the destruction of justice. “Without justice
– what else is the State but a great band of robbers?”, as Saint Augustine once said
. We Germans know from our own experience that these words are no empty spectre. We
have seen how power became divorced from right, how power opposed right and crushed
it, so that the State became an instrument for destroying right – a highly organized
band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge
of the abyss. To serve right and to fight against the dominion of wrong is and remains
the fundamental task of the politician. At a moment in history when man has acquired
previously inconceivable power, this task takes on a particular urgency. Man can destroy
the world. He can manipulate himself. He can, so to speak, make human beings and he
can deny them their humanity. How do we recognize what is right? How can we discern
between good and evil, between what is truly right and what may appear right? Even
now, Solomon’s request remains the decisive issue facing politicians and politics
today. For most of the matters that need to be regulated by law, the support of
the majority can serve as a sufficient criterion. Yet it is evident that for the fundamental
issues of law, in which the dignity of man and of humanity is at stake, the majority
principle is not enough: everyone in a position of responsibility must personally
seek out the criteria to be followed when framing laws. In the third century, the
great theologian Origen provided the following explanation for the resistance of Christians
to certain legal systems: “Suppose that a man were living among the Scythians, whose
laws are contrary to the divine law, and was compelled to live among them ... such
a man for the sake of the true law, though illegal among the Scythians, would rightly
form associations with like-minded people contrary to the laws of the Scythians.”
This conviction was what motivated resistance movements to act against the Nazi
regime and other totalitarian regimes, thereby doing a great service to justice and
to humanity as a whole. For these people, it was indisputably evident that the law
in force was actually unlawful. Yet when it comes to the decisions of a democratic
politician, the question of what now corresponds to the law of truth, what is actually
right and may be enacted as law, is less obvious. In terms of the underlying anthropological
issues, what is right and may be given the force of law is in no way simply self-evident
today. The question of how to recognize what is truly right and thus to serve justice
when framing laws has never been simple, and today in view of the vast extent of our
knowledge and our capacity, it has become still harder. How do we recognize what
is right? In history, systems of law have almost always been based on religion: decisions
regarding what was to be lawful among men were taken with reference to the divinity.
Unlike other great religions, Christianity has never proposed a revealed body of law
to the State and to society, that is to say a juridical order derived from revelation.
Instead, it has pointed to nature and reason as the true sources of law – and to the
harmony of objective and subjective reason, which naturally presupposes that both
spheres are rooted in the creative reason of God. Christian theologians thereby aligned
themselves with a philosophical and juridical movement that began to take shape in
the second century B.C. In the first half of that century, the social natural law
developed by the Stoic philosophers came into contact with leading teachers of Roman
Law. Through this encounter, the juridical culture of the West was born, which was
and is of key significance for the juridical culture of mankind. This pre-Christian
marriage between law and philosophy opened up the path that led via the Christian
Middle Ages and the juridical developments of the Age of Enlightenment all the way
to the Declaration of Human Rights and to our German Basic Law of 1949, with which
our nation committed itself to “inviolable and inalienable human rights as the foundation
of every human community, and of peace and justice in the world”. For the development
of law and for the development of humanity, it was highly significant that Christian
theologians aligned themselves against the religious law associated with polytheism
and on the side of philosophy, and that they acknowledged reason and nature in their
interrelation as the universally valid source of law. This step had already been taken
by Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans, when he said: “When Gentiles who have not
the Law [the Torah of Israel] do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to
themselves ... they show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while
their conscience also bears witness ...” (Rom 2:14f.). Here we see the two fundamental
concepts of nature and conscience, where conscience is nothing other than Solomon’s
listening heart, reason that is open to the language of being. If this seemed to offer
a clear explanation of the foundations of legislation up to the time of the Enlightenment,
up to the time of the Declaration on Human Rights after the Second World War and the
framing of our Basic Law, there has been a dramatic shift in the situation in the
last half-century. The idea of natural law is today viewed as a specifically Catholic
doctrine, not worth bringing into the discussion in a non-Catholic environment, so
that one feels almost ashamed even to mention the term. Let me outline briefly how
this situation arose. Fundamentally it is because of the idea that an unbridgeable
gulf exists between “is” and “ought”. An “ought” can never follow from an “is”, because
the two are situated on completely different planes. The reason for this is that in
the meantime, the positivist understanding of nature and reason has come to be almost
universally accepted. If nature – in the words of Hans Kelsen – is viewed as “an aggregate
of objective data linked together in terms of cause and effect”, then indeed no ethical
indication of any kind can be derived from it. A positivist conception of nature as
purely functional, in the way that the natural sciences explain it, is incapable of
producing any bridge to ethics and law, but once again yields only functional answers.
The same also applies to reason, according to the positivist understanding that is
widely held to be the only genuinely scientific one. Anything that is not verifiable
or falsifiable, according to this understanding, does not belong to the realm of reason
strictly understood. Hence ethics and religion must be assigned to the subjective
field, and they remain extraneous to the realm of reason in the strict sense of the
word. Where positivist reason dominates the field to the exclusion of all else – and
that is broadly the case in our public mindset – then the classical sources of knowledge
for ethics and law are excluded. This is a dramatic situation which affects everyone,
and on which a public debate is necessary. Indeed, an essential goal of this address
is to issue an urgent invitation to launch one. The positivist approach to nature
and reason, the positivist world view in general, is a most important dimension of
human knowledge and capacity that we may in no way dispense with. But in and of itself
it is not a sufficient culture corresponding to the full breadth of the human condition.
Where positivist reason considers itself the only sufficient culture and banishes
all other cultural realities to the status of subcultures, it diminishes man, indeed
it threatens his humanity. I say this with Europe specifically in mind, where there
are concerted efforts to recognize only positivism as a common culture and a common
basis for law-making, so that all the other insights and values of our culture are
reduced to the level of subculture, with the result that Europe vis-à-vis other world
cultures is left in a state of culturelessness and at the same time extremist and
radical movements emerge to fill the vacuum. In its self-proclaimed exclusivity, the
positivist reason which recognizes nothing beyond mere functionality resembles a concrete
bunker with no windows, in which we ourselves provide lighting and atmospheric conditions,
being no longer willing to obtain either from God’s wide world. And yet we cannot
hide from ourselves the fact that even in this artificial world, we are still covertly
drawing upon God’s raw materials, which we refashion into our own products. The windows
must be flung open again, we must see the wide world, the sky and the earth once more
and learn to make proper use of all this. But how are we to do this? How do we find
our way out into the wide world, into the big picture? How can reason rediscover its
true greatness, without being sidetracked into irrationality? How can nature reassert
itself in its true depth, with all its demands, with all its directives? I would like
to recall one of the developments in recent political history, hoping that I will
neither be misunderstood, nor provoke too many one-sided polemics. I would say that
the emergence of the ecological movement in German politics since the 1970s, while
it has not exactly flung open the windows, nevertheless was and continues to be a
cry for fresh air which must not be ignored or pushed aside, just because too much
of it is seen to be irrational. Young people had come to realize that something is
wrong in our relationship with nature, that matter is not just raw material for us
to shape at will, but that the earth has a dignity of its own and that we must follow
its directives. In saying this, I am clearly not promoting any particular political
party – nothing could be further from my mind. If something is wrong in our relationship
with reality, then we must all reflect seriously on the whole situation and we are
all prompted to question the very foundations of our culture. Allow me to dwell a
little longer on this point. The importance of ecology is no longer disputed. We must
listen to the language of nature and we must answer accordingly. Yet I would like
to underline a further point that is still largely disregarded, today as in the past:
there is also an ecology of man. Man too has a nature that he must respect and that
he cannot manipulate at will. Man is not merely self-creating freedom. Man does not
create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly
ordered if he listens to his nature, respects it and accepts himself for who he is,
as one who did not create himself. In this way, and in no other, is true human freedom
fulfilled. Let us come back to the fundamental concepts of nature and reason, from
which we set out. The great proponent of legal positivism, Kelsen, at the age of 84
– in 1965 – abandoned the dualism of “is” and “ought”. He had said that norms can
only come from the will. Nature therefore could only contain norms if a will had put
them there. But this would presuppose a Creator God, whose will had entered into nature.
“Any attempt to discuss the truth of this belief is utterly futile”, he observed.
Is it really? – I find myself asking. Is it really pointless to wonder whether the
objective reason that manifests itself in nature does not presuppose a creative reason,
a Creator Spiritus? At this point Europe’s cultural heritage ought to come to our
assistance. The conviction that there is a Creator God is what gave rise to the idea
of human rights, the idea of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition
of the inviolability of human dignity in every single person and the awareness of
people’s responsibility for their actions. Our cultural memory is shaped by these
rational insights. To ignore it or dismiss it as a thing of the past would be to dismember
our culture totally and to rob it of its completeness. The culture of Europe arose
from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – from the encounter between
Israel’s monotheism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This three-way
encounter has shaped the inner identity of Europe. In the awareness of man’s responsibility
before God and in the acknowledgment of the inviolable dignity of every single human
person, it has established criteria of law: it is these criteria that we are called
to defend at this moment in our history. As he assumed the mantle of office, the young
King Solomon was invited to make a request. How would it be if we, the law-makers
of today, were invited to make a request? What would we ask for? I think that, even
today, there is ultimately nothing else we could wish for but a listening heart –
the capacity to discern between good and evil, and thus to establish true law, to
serve justice and peace. Thank you for your attention!XXX XXX XXX Apostolic
Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address of the Holy
Father - Meeting with Representatives of the Jewish Community Berlin, Reichstag
Building 22 September 2011Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to be taking
part in this meeting with you here in Berlin. I warmly thank President Dr Dieter Graumann
for his kind words of greeting. They make it very clear to me how much trust has grown
between the Jewish people and the Catholic Church, who hold in common a not insignificant
part of their essential traditions. At the same time it is clear to us all that a
loving relationship of mutual understanding between Israel and the Church, each respecting
the being of the other, still has further to grow and needs to be built into the heart
of our proclamation of the faith. On my visit to the Synagogue in Cologne six years
ago, Rabbi Teitelbaum spoke of remembrance as one of the supporting pillars that are
needed if a future of peace is to be built. And today I find myself in a central place
of remembrance, the appalling remembrance that it was from here that the Shoah, the
annihilation of our Jewish fellow citizens in Europe, was planned and organized. Before
the Nazi terror, there were about half a million Jews living in Germany, and they
formed a stable component of German society. After the Second World War, Germany was
considered the “Land of the Shoah”, where it had become virtually impossible to live.
Initially there were hardly any efforts to re-establish the old Jewish communities,
even though Jewish individuals and families were constantly arriving from the East.
Many of them wanted to emigrate and build a new life, especially in the United States
or Israel. In this place, remembrance must also be made of the Kristallnacht that
took place from 9 to 10 November 1938. Only a few could see the full extent of this
act of contempt for humanity, like the Berlin Cathedral Provost, Bernhard Lichtenberg,
who cried out from the pulpit of Saint Hedwig’s Cathedral: “Outside, the Temple is
burning – that too is the house of God”. The Nazi reign of terror was based on a racist
myth, part of which was the rejection of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the
God of Jesus Christ and of all who believe in him. The supposedly “almighty” Adolf
Hitler was a pagan idol, who wanted to take the place of the biblical God, the Creator
and Father of all men. Refusal to heed this one God always makes people heedless of
human dignity as well. What man is capable of when he rejects God, and what the face
of a people can look like when it denies this God, the terrible images from the concentration
camps at the end of the war showed. In the light of this remembrance, it is to be
acknowledged with thankfulness that a new development has been seen in recent decades,
which makes it possible to speak of a real blossoming of Jewish life in Germany. It
should be stressed that the Jewish community during this time has made particularly
laudable efforts to integrate the Eastern European immigrants. I would also like
to express my appreciation for the deepening dialogue of the Catholic Church with
Judaism. The Church feels a great closeness to the Jewish people. With the Declaration
Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, an “irrevocable commitment to pursue
the path of dialogue, fraternity and friendship” was made (cf. Address in the Synagogue
in Rome, 17 January 2010). This is true of the Catholic Church as a whole, in which
Blessed John Paul II committed himself to this new path with particular zeal. Naturally
it is also true of the Catholic Church in Germany, which is conscious of its particular
responsibility in this regard. In the public domain, special mention should be made
of the “Week of Fraternity”, organized each year during the first week of March by
local Societies for Christian-Jewish Partnership. On the Catholic side there are also
annual meetings between bishops and rabbis as well as structured conversations with
the Central Council of Jews. Back in the 1970s, the Central Committee of German Catholics
(ZdK) took the initiative of establishing a “Jews and Christians” forum, which over
the years has issued many well-written and helpful documents. Nor must we overlook
the historic meeting for Jewish-Christian dialogue that took place in March 2006 with
the participation of Cardinal Walter Kasper. That meeting has continued to bear rich
fruit right up to the present time. Alongside these praiseworthy concrete initiatives,
it seems to me that we Christians must also become increasingly aware of our own inner
affinity with Judaism. For Christians, there can be no rupture in salvation history.
Salvation comes from the Jews (cf. Jn 4:22). When Jesus’ conflict with the Judaism
of his time is superficially interpreted as a breach with the Old Covenant, it tends
to be reduced to the idea of a liberation that views the Torah merely as a slavish
enactment of rituals and outward observances. In fact, the Sermon on the Mount does
not abolish the Mosaic Law, but reveals its hidden possibilities and allows more radical
demands to emerge. It points us towards the deepest source of human action, the heart,
where choices are made between what is pure and what is impure, where faith, hope
and love blossom forth. The message of hope contained in the books of the Hebrew
Bible and the Christian Old Testament has been appropriated and continued in different
ways by Jews and Christians. “After centuries of antagonism, we now see it as our
task to bring these two ways of rereading the biblical texts – the Christian way and
the Jewish way – into dialogue with one another, if we are to understand God’s will
and his word aright” (Jesus of Nazareth. Part Two: From the Entrance into Jerusalem
to the Resurrection, pp. 33f.). This dialogue should serve to strengthen our common
hope in God in the midst of an increasingly secularized society. Without this hope,
society loses its humanity. All in all, we may conclude that the exchanges between
the Catholic Church and Judaism in Germany have already borne promising fruits. Enduring
relations of trust have been forged. Jews and Christians certainly have a shared responsibility
for the development of society, which always includes a religious dimension. May all
those taking part in this journey move forward together. To this end, may the One
and Almighty, Ha Kadosch Baruch Hu, grant his blessing. XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic
Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Homily during the Holy
Mass in Berlin, Olympic Stadium Dear Brother Bishops, Dear Brothers
and Sisters, As I look around the vast arena of the Olympic Stadium, where you have
gathered today in such large numbers, my heart is filled with great joy and confidence.
I greet all of you most warmly – the faithful from the Archdiocese of Berlin and the
Dioceses of Germany as well as the many pilgrims from neighbouring countries. It was
fifteen years ago that Berlin, the capital of Germany, was first visited by a Pope.
We all remember vividly the visit of my venerable predecessor, Blessed John Paul II,
and the beatification of the Berlin Cathedral Provost Bernhard Lichtenberg – together
with Karl Leisner – here in this very place. If we consider these beati and the great
throng of those who have been canonized and beatified, we can understand what it means
to live as branches of Christ, the true vine, and to bring forth rich fruit. Today’s
Gospel puts before us once more the image of this climbing plant, that spreads so
luxuriantly in the east, a symbol of vitality and a metaphor for the beauty and dynamism
of Jesus’ fellowship with his disciples and friends. In the parable of the vine,
Jesus does not say: “You are the vine”, but: “I am the vine, you are the branches”
(Jn 15:5). In other words: “As the branches are joined to the vine, so you belong
to me! But inasmuch as you belong to me, you also belong to one another.” This
belonging to each other and to him is not some ideal, imaginary, symbolic relationship,
but – I would almost want to say – a biological, life-transmitting state of belonging
to Jesus Christ. Such is the Church, this communion of life with him and for the sake
of one another, a communion that is rooted in baptism and is deepened and given more
and more vitality in the Eucharist. “I am the true vine” actually means: “I am you
and you are I” – an unprecedented identification of the Lord with us, his Church.
On the road to Damascus, Christ himself asked Saul, the persecutor of the Church:
“Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). With these words the Lord expresses the common
destiny that arises from his Church’s inner communion of life with himself, the risen
Christ. He continues to live in his Church in this world. He is present among us,
and we are with him. “Why do you persecute me?” It is Jesus, then, who is on the receiving
end of the persecutions of his Church. At the same time, when we are oppressed for
the sake of our faith, we are not alone: Jesus is with us. Jesus says in the parable:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (Jn 15:1), and he goes on to
explain that the vinedresser reaches for his knife, cuts off the withered branches
and prunes the fruit-bearing ones, so that they bring forth more fruit. Expressed
in terms of the image from the prophet Ezekiel that we heard in the first reading,
God wants to take the dead heart of stone out of our breast in order to give us a
living heart of flesh (cf. Ez 36:26). He wants to bestow new life upon us, full of
vitality. Christ came to call sinners. It is they who need the doctor, not the healthy
(cf. Lk 5:31f.). Hence, as the Second Vatican Council expresses it, the Church is
the “universal sacrament of salvation” (Lumen Gentium, 48), existing for sinners in
order to open up to them the path of conversion, healing and life. That is the Church’s
true and great mission, entrusted to her by Christ. Many people see only the outward
form of the Church. This makes the Church appear as merely one of the many organizations
within a democratic society, whose criteria and laws are then applied to the task
of evaluating and dealing with such a complex entity as the “Church”. If to this is
added the sad experience that the Church contains both good and bad fish, wheat and
darnel, and if only these negative aspects are taken into account, then the great
and deep mystery of the Church is no longer seen. It follows that belonging to this
vine, the “Church”, is no longer a source of joy. Dissatisfaction and discontent begin
to spread, when people’s superficial and mistaken notions of “Church”, their “dream
Church”, fail to materialize! Then we no longer hear the glad song “Thanks be to God
who in his grace has called me into his Church” that generations of Catholics have
sung with conviction. The Lord’s discourse continues: “Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in me ... for apart from me [i.e. separated from me, or outside
me] you can do nothing” (Jn 15:4f.). Every one of us is faced with this choice.
The Lord reminds us how much is at stake as he continues his parable: “If a man does
not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered,
thrown into the fire and burned” (Jn 15:6). In this regard, Saint Augustine says:
“The branch is suitable only for one of two things, either the vine or the fire: if
it is not in the vine, its place will be in the fire; and that it may escape the latter,
may it have its place in the vine” (In Ioan. Ev. Tract. 81:3 [PL 35, 1842]). The decision
that is required of us here makes us keenly aware of the existential significance
of our life choices. At the same time, the image of the vine is a sign of hope and
confidence. Christ himself came into this world through his incarnation, to be our
root. Whatever hardship or drought befall us, he is the source that offers us the
water of life, that feeds and strengthens us. He takes upon himself all our sins,
anxieties and sufferings and he purifies and transforms us, in a way that is ultimately
mysterious, into good wine. In such times of hardship we can sometimes feel as if
we ourselves were in the wine-press, like grapes being utterly crushed. But we know
that if we are joined to Christ we become mature wine. God can transform into love
even the burdensome and oppressive aspects of our lives. It is important that we “abide”
in Christ, in the vine. The evangelist uses the word “abide” a dozen times in this
brief passage. This “abiding in Christ” characterizes the whole of the parable. In
our era of restlessness and lack of commitment, when so many people lose their way
and their grounding, when loving fidelity in marriage and friendship has become so
fragile and short-lived, when in our need we cry out like the disciples on the road
to Emmaus: “Lord, stay with us, for it is almost evening and darkness is all around
us!” (cf. Lk 24:29), then the risen Lord gives us a place of refuge, a place of light,
hope and confidence, a place of rest and security. When drought and death loom over
the branches, then future, life and joy are to be found in Christ. To abide in Christ
means, as we saw earlier, to abide in the Church as well. The whole communion of the
faithful has been firmly incorporated into the vine, into Christ. In Christ we belong
together. Within this communion he supports us, and at the same time all the members
support one another. They stand firm together against the storm and they offer one
another protection. Those who believe are not alone. We do not believe alone, but
we believe with the whole Church. The Church, as the herald of God’s word and dispenser
of the sacraments, joins us to Christ, the true vine. The Church as “fullness and
completion of the Redeemer” (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, AAS 35 [1943] p. 230: “plenitudo
et complementum Redemptoris”) is to us a pledge of divine life and mediator of those
fruits of which the parable of the vine speaks. The Church is God’s most beautiful
gift. Therefore Saint Augustine also says: “as much as any man loves the Church of
Christ, so much has he the Holy Spirit” (In Ioan. Ev. Tract. 32:8 [PL 35:1646]). With
and in the Church we may proclaim to all people that Christ is the source of life,
that he exists, that he is the one for whom we long so much. He gives himself. Whoever
believes in Christ has a future. For God has no desire for what is withered, dead,
ersatz, and finally discarded: he wants what is fruitful and alive, he wants life
in its fullness. Dear Brothers and Sisters! My wish for all of you is that you may
discover ever more deeply the joy of being joined to Christ in the Church, that you
may find comfort and redemption in your time of need and that you may increasingly
become the precious wine of Christ’s joy and love for this world. Amen.XXX XXX
XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address
to Muslim Communities, Berlin, Apostolic Nunciature 23 September 2011Dear
Muslim Friends,I am glad to be able to welcome you here, as the representatives of
different Muslim communities in Germany. I thank Professor Mouhanad Khorchide most
sincerely for his kind greetings and for the profound reflections that he shared with
us. His words illustrate what a climate of respect and trust has grown up between
the Catholic Church and the Muslim communities in Germany and how the convictions
we share are becoming visible. Berlin is a good place for a meeting like this, not
only because the oldest mosque in Germany is located here, but also because Berlin
has the largest Muslim population of all the cities in Germany. From the 1970s onwards,
the presence of numerous Muslim families has increasingly become a distinguishing
mark of this country. Constant effort is needed in order to foster better mutual acquaintance
and understanding. Not only is this important for peaceful coexistence, but also for
the contribution that each can make towards building up the common good in this society. Many
Muslims attribute great importance to the religious dimension of life. At times this
is thought provocative in a society that tends to marginalize religion or at most
to assign it a place among the individual’s private choices. The Catholic Church firmly
advocates that due recognition be given to the public dimension of religious adherence.
In an overwhelmingly pluralist society, this demand is not unimportant. In the process,
care must be taken to guarantee that the other is always treated with respect. This
mutual respect grows only on the basis of agreement on certain inalienable values
that are proper to human nature, in particular the inviolable dignity of every single
person as created by God. Such agreement does not limit the expression of individual
religions; on the contrary, it allows each person to bear witness explicitly to what
he believes, not avoiding comparison with others. In Germany – as in many other
countries, not only Western ones – this common frame of reference is articulated by
the Constitution, whose juridical content is binding on every citizen, whether he
belong to a faith community or not. Naturally, discussion over the best formulation
of principles like freedom of public worship is vast and open-ended, yet it is significant
that the German Basic Law expresses them in a way that is still valid today at a distance
of over sixty years (cf. Art. 4:2). In this law we find above all the common ethos
that lies at the heart of human coexistence and that also in a certain way pervades
the apparently formal rules of operation of the institutions of democratic life. We
could ask ourselves how such a text – drawn up in a radically different historical
epoch, that is to say in an almost uniformly Christian cultural situation – is also
suited to present-day Germany, situated as it is within a globalized world and marked
as it is by a remarkable degree of pluralism in the area of religious belief. The
reason for this seems to me to lie in the fact that the fathers of the Basic Law at
that important moment were fully conscious of the need to find truly solid ground
with which all citizens would be able to identify and which could serve as the supporting
foundation for everyone, irrespective of their differences. In seeking this, mindful
of human dignity and responsibility before God, they did not prescind from their own
religious beliefs; indeed for many of them, the real source of inspiration was the
Christian vision of man. But they knew that everyone has to engage with the followers
of other religions and none: common ground for all was found in the recognition of
some inalienable rights that are proper to human nature and precede every positive
formulation. In this way, a society which at that time was essentially homogenous
laid the foundations that we today may consider valid for a markedly pluralistic era,
foundations that actually point out the evident limits of pluralism: it is inconceivable,
in fact, that a society could survive in the long term without consensus on fundamental
ethical values. Dear friends, on the basis of what I have outlined here, it seems
to me that there can be fruitful collaboration between Christians and Muslims. In
the process, we help to build a society that differs in many respects from what we
brought with us from the past. As believers, setting out from our respective convictions,
we can offer an important witness in many key areas of life in society. I am thinking,
for example, of the protection of the family based on marriage, respect for life in
every phase of its natural course or the promotion of greater social justice. This
is another reason why I think it important to hold a day of reflection, dialogue and
prayer for peace and justice in the world, which as you know we plan to do on 27 October
next in Assisi, twenty-five years after the historic meeting there led by my predecessor,
Blessed Pope John Paul II. Through this gathering, we wish to express, with simplicity,
that we believers have a special contribution to make towards building a better world,
while acknowledging that if our actions are to be effective, we need to grow in dialogue
and mutual esteem. With these sentiments I renew my sincere greetings and I thank
you for this meeting, which for me has been a great enrichment of my visit to my homeland.
Thank you for your attention!XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Meeting with the Council of the Evangelical
Church in Germany 23 September 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters, As
I begin to speak, I would like first of all to say how deeply grateful I am that we
are able to come together. I am particularly grateful to you, my dear brother, Pastor
Schneider, for receiving me and for the words with which you have welcomed me here
among you. You have opened your heart and openly expressed a truly shared faith, a
longing for unity. And we are also glad, for I believe that this session, our meetings
here, are also being celebrated as the feast of our shared faith. Moreover, I would
like to express my thanks to all of you for your gift in making it possible for us
to speak with one another as Christians here, in this historic place. As the Bishop
of Rome, it is deeply moving for me to be meeting you here in the ancient Augustinian
convent in Erfurt. As we have just heard, this is where Luther studied theology. This
is where he was ordained a priest. Against his father’s wishes, he did not continue
the study of Law, but instead he studied theology and set off on the path towards
priesthood in the Order of Saint Augustine. And on this path, he was not simply concerned
with this or that. What constantly exercised him was the question of God, the deep
passion and driving force of his whole life’s journey. “How do I receive the grace
of God?”: this question struck him in the heart and lay at the foundation of all his
theological searching and inner struggle. For Luther theology was no mere academic
pursuit, but the struggle for oneself, which in turn was a struggle for and with God. “How
do I receive the grace of God?” The fact that this question was the driving force
of his whole life never ceases to make a deep impression on me. For who is actually
concerned about this today – even among Christians? What does the question of God
mean in our lives? In our preaching? Most people today, even Christians, set out from
the presupposition that God is not fundamentally interested in our sins and virtues.
He knows that we are all mere flesh. And insofar as people believe in an afterlife
and a divine judgement at all, nearly everyone presumes for all practical purposes
that God is bound to be magnanimous and that ultimately he mercifully overlooks our
small failings. The question no longer troubles us. But are they really so small,
our failings? Is not the world laid waste through the corruption of the great, but
also of the small, who think only of their own advantage? Is it not laid waste through
the power of drugs, which thrives on the one hand on greed and avarice, and on the
other hand on the craving for pleasure of those who become addicted? Is the world
not threatened by the growing readiness to use violence, frequently masking itself
with claims to religious motivation? Could hunger and poverty so devastate parts of
the world if love for God and godly love of neighbour – of his creatures, of men and
women – were more alive in us? I could go on. No, evil is no small matter. Were we
truly to place God at the centre of our lives, it could not be so powerful. The question:
what is God’s position towards me, where do I stand before God? – Luther’s burning
question must once more, doubtless in a new form, become our question too, not an
academic question, but a real one. In my view, this is the first summons we should
attend to in our encounter with Martin Luther. Another important point: God, the one
God, creator of heaven and earth, is no mere philosophical hypothesis regarding the
origins of the universe. This God has a face, and he has spoken to us. He became one
of us in the man Jesus Christ – who is both true God and true man. Luther’s thinking,
his whole spirituality, was thoroughly Christocentric: “What promotes Christ’s cause”
was for Luther the decisive hermeneutical criterion for the exegesis of sacred Scripture.
This presupposes, however, that Christ is at the heart of our spirituality and that
love for him, living in communion with him, is what guides our life. Now perhaps one
might say: all well and good, but what has this to do with our ecumenical situation?
Could this just be an attempt to talk our way past the urgent problems that are still
waiting for practical progress, for concrete results? I would respond by saying that
the first and most important thing for ecumenism is that we keep in view just how
much we have in common, not losing sight of it amid the pressure towards secularization
– everything that makes us Christian in the first place and continues to be our gift
and our task. It was the error of the Reformation period that for the most part we
could only see what divided us and we failed to grasp existentially what we have in
common in terms of the great deposit of sacred Scripture and the early Christian creeds.
For me, the great ecumenical step forward of recent decades is that we have become
aware of all this common ground, that we acknowledge it as we pray and sing together,
as we make our joint commitment to the Christian ethos in our dealings with the world,
as we bear common witness to the God of Jesus Christ in this world as our inalienable,
shared foundation. To be sure, the risk of losing it is not unreal. I would like to
make two brief points here. The geography of Christianity has changed dramatically
in recent times, and is in the process of changing further. Faced with a new form
of Christianity, which is spreading with overpowering missionary dynamism, sometimes
in frightening ways, the mainstream Christian denominations often seem at a loss.
This is a form of Christianity with little institutional depth, little rationality
and even less dogmatic content, and with little stability. This worldwide phenomenon
– that bishops from all over the world are constantly telling me about – poses a question
to us all: what is this new form of Christianity saying to us, for better and for
worse? In any event, it raises afresh the question about what has enduring validity
and what can or must be changed – the question of our fundamental faith choice. The
second challenge to worldwide Christianity of which I wish to speak is more profound
and in our country more controversial: the secularized context of the world in which
we Christians today have to live and bear witness to our faith. God is increasingly
being driven out of our society, and the history of revelation that Scripture recounts
to us seems locked into an ever more remote past. Are we to yield to the pressure
of secularization, and become modern by watering down the faith? Naturally faith today
has to be thought out afresh, and above all lived afresh, so that it is suited to
the present day. Yet it is not by watering the faith down, but by living it today
in its fullness that we achieve this. This is a key ecumenical task in which we have
to help one another: developing a deeper and livelier faith. It is not strategy that
saves us and saves Christianity, but faith – thought out and lived afresh; through
such faith, Christ enters this world of ours, and with him, the living God. As the
martyrs of the Nazi era brought us together and prompted that great initial ecumenical
opening, so today, faith that is lived from deep within amid a secularized world is
the most powerful ecumenical force that brings us together, guiding us towards unity
in the one Lord. And we pray to him, asking that we may learn to live the faith anew,
and that in this way we may then become one.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic
Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Ecumenical Celebration 23
September 2011Dear Sisters and Brothers, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but
also on behalf of those who will believe in me through them” (Jn 17:20). These
words Jesus addressed to the Father in the Upper Room. He intercedes for coming generations
of believers. He looks beyond the Upper Room, towards the future. He also prayed for
us. And he prayed for our unity. This prayer of Jesus is not simply something from
the past. He stands before the Father, forever making intercession for us. At this
moment he also stands in our midst and he desires to draw us into his own prayer.
In the prayer of Jesus we find the very heart of our unity. We will become one if
we allow ourselves to be drawn into this prayer. Whenever we gather in prayer as Christians,
Jesus’ concern for us, and his prayer to the Father for us, ought to touch our hearts.
The more we allow ourselves to be drawn into this event, the more we grow in unity. Did
Jesus’ prayer go unheard? The history of Christianity is in some sense the visible
element of this drama in which Christ strives and suffers with us human beings. Ever
anew he must endure the rejection of unity, yet ever anew unity takes place with him
and thus with the triune God. We need to see both things: the sin of human beings,
who reject God and withdraw within themselves, but also the triumphs of God, who upholds
the Church despite her weakness, constantly drawing men and women closer to himself
and thus to one another. For this reason, in an ecumenical gathering, we ought not
only to regret our divisions and separations, but we should also give thanks to God
for all the elements of unity which he has preserved for us and bestows on us ever
anew. And this gratitude must be at the same time a resolve not to lose, at a time
of temptations and perils, the unity thus bestowed. Our fundamental unity comes from
the fact that we believe in God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth.
And that we confess that he is the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The highest
unity is not the solitude of a monad, but rather a unity born of love. We believe
in God – the real God. We believe that God spoke to us and became one of us. To bear
witness to this living God is our common task at the present time. Does man need God,
or can we do quite well without him? When, in the first phase of God’s absence, his
light continues to illumine and sustain the order of human existence, it appears that
things can also function quite well without God. But the more the world withdraws
from God, the clearer it becomes that man, in his hubris of power, in his emptiness
of heart and in his longing for satisfaction and happiness, increasingly loses his
life. A thirst for the infinite is indelibly present in human beings. Man was created
to have a relationship with God; we need him. Our primary ecumenical service at this
hour must be to bear common witness to the presence of the living God and in this
way to give the world the answer which it needs. Naturally, an absolutely central
part of this fundamental witness to God is a witness to Jesus Christ, true man and
true God, who lived in our midst, suffered and died for us and, in his resurrection,
flung open the gates of death. Dear friends, let us strengthen one another in this
faith! This is a great ecumenical task which leads us into the heart of Jesus’ prayer.
The seriousness of our faith in God is shown by the way we live his word. In our own
day, it is shown in a very practical way by our commitment to that creature which
he wished in his own image: to man. We live at a time of uncertainty about what it
means to be human. Ethics are being replaced by a calculation of consequences. In
the face of this, we as Christians must defend the inviolable dignity of human beings
from conception to death – from issues of pre-implantation diagnosis to the question
of euthanasia. As Romano Guardini once put it: “Only those who know God, know man.”
Without knowledge of God, man is easily manipulated. Faith in God must take concrete
form in a common defence of man. To this defence of man belong not only these fundamental
criteria of what it means to be human, but above all and very specifically, love,
as Jesus Christ taught us in the account of the final judgement (Mt 25): God
will judge us on how we respond to our neighbour, to the least of his brethren. Readiness
to help, amid the needs of the present time and beyond our immediate circle, is an
essential task of the Christian. As I mentioned, this is true first and foremost in
our personal lives as individuals. But it also holds true in our community, as a people
and a state in which we must all be responsible for one another. It holds true for
our continent, in which we are called to European solidarity. Finally, it is true
beyond all frontiers: today Christian love of neighbour also calls for commitment
to justice throughout the world. I know that Germans and Germany are doing much to
enable all men and women to live in dignity, and for this I would like to express
deep gratitude. In conclusion, I would like to mention an even deeper dimension
of our commitment to love. The seriousness of our faith is shown especially when it
inspires people to put themselves totally at the disposal of God and thus of other
persons. Great acts of charity become concrete only when, on the ground, we find persons
totally at the service of others; they make the love of God credible. People of this
sort are an important sign of the truth of our faith. Prior to my visit there was
some talk of an “ecumenical gift” which was expected from such a visit. There is no
need for me to specify the gifts mentioned in this context. Here I would only say
that, in most of its manifestions, this reflects a political misreading of faith and
of ecumenism. In general, when a Head of State visits a friendly country, contacts
between the various parties take place beforehand to arrange one or more agreements
between the two states: by weighing respective benefits and drawbacks a compromise
is reached which in the end appears beneficial for both parties, so that a treaty
can then be signed. But the faith of Christians does not rest on such a weighing of
benefits and drawbacks. A self-made faith is worthless. Faith is not something we
work out intellectually and negotiate between us. It is the foundation for our lives.
Unity grows not by the weighing of benefits and drawbacks but only by entering ever
more deeply into the faith in our thoughts and in our lives. In the past fifty years,
and especially after the visit of Pope John Paul II some thirty years ago, we have
drawn much closer together, and for this we can only be grateful. I willingly think
of the meeting with the Commission led by Bishop Lohse, in which this kind of joint
growth in reflecting upon and living the faith was practised. To all those engaged
in that process – and especially, on the Catholic side, to Cardinal Lehmann – I wish
to express deep gratitude. I will refrain from mentioning other names – the Lord knows
them all. Together we can only thank the Lord for the paths of unity on which he has
led us, and unite ourselves in humble trust to his prayer: Grant that we may all be
one, as you are one with the Father, so that the world may believe that he has sent
you (cf. Jn 17:21). XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address at the Vespers of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Etzelsbach, Chapel of the Shrine 23 September 2011Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Now I am able to fulfil my wish to visit Eichsfeld, and here
in Etzelsbach to thank Mary in company with you. “Here in the beloved quiet vale”,
as the pilgrims’ hymn says, “under the old lime trees”, Mary gives us security and
new strength. During two godless dictatorships, which sought to deprive the people
of their ancestral faith, the inhabitants of Eichsfeld were in no doubt that here
in this shrine at Etzelsbach an open door and a place of inner peace was to be found.
The special friendship with Mary that grew from all this, is what we seek to cultivate
further, not least through this evening’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When
Christians of all times and places turn to Mary, they are acting on the spontaneous
conviction that Jesus cannot refuse his mother what she asks; and they are relying
on the unshakable trust that Mary is also our mother – a mother who has experienced
the greatest of all sorrows, who feels all our griefs with us and ponders in a maternal
way how to overcome them. How many people down the centuries have made pilgrimages
to Mary, in order to find comfort and strength before the image of the Mother of Sorrows,
as here at Etzelsbach! Let us look upon her likeness: a woman of middle age, her
eyelids heavy with much weeping, gazing pensively into the distance, as if meditating
in her heart upon everything that had happened. On her knees rests the lifeless body
of her son, she holds him gently and lovingly, like a precious gift. We see the marks
of the crucifixion on his bare flesh. The left arm of the corpse is pointing straight
down. Perhaps this sculpture of the Pietà, like so many others, was originally placed
above an altar. The crucified Jesus would then be pointing with his outstretched arm
to what was taking place on the altar, where the holy sacrifice that he had accomplished
is made present in the Eucharist. A particular feature of the holy image of Etzelsbach
is the position of Our Lord’s body. In most representations of the Pietà, the dead
Jesus is lying with his head facing left, so that the observer can see the wounded
side of the Crucified Lord. Here in Etzelsbach, however, the wounded side is concealed,
because the body is facing the other way. It seems to me that a deep meaning lies
hidden in this representation, that only becomes apparent through silent contemplation:
in the Etzelsbach image, the hearts of Jesus and his mother are turned to one another;
they come close to each other. They exchange their love. We know that the heart is
also the seat of the most tender affection as well as the most intimate compassion.
In Mary’s heart there is room for the love that her divine Son wants to bestow upon
the world. Marian devotion focuses on contemplation of the relationship between the
Mother and her divine Son. The faithful constantly discover new dimensions and qualities
which this mystery can help to disclose for us, for example when the image of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary is seen as a symbol of her deep and unreserved loving unity
with Christ. It is not self-fulfilment that truly enables people to flourish, according
to the model that modern life so often proposes to us, which can easily turn into
a sophisticated form of selfishness. Rather it is an attitude of self-giving directed
towards the heart of Mary and hence also towards the heart of the Redeemer. “We
know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called
according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28), as we have just heard in the Scripture reading.
With Mary, God has worked for good in everything, and he does not cease, through Mary,
to cause good to spread further in the world. Looking down from the Cross, from the
throne of grace and salvation, Jesus gave us his mother Mary to be our mother. At
the moment of his self-offering for mankind, he makes Mary as it were the channel
of the rivers of grace that flow from the Cross. At the foot of the Cross, Mary becomes
our fellow traveller and protector on life’s journey. “By her motherly love she cares
for her son’s sisters and brothers who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers
and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home” (Lumen Gentium, 62).
Yes indeed, in life we pass through high-points and low-points, but Mary intercedes
for us with her Son and conveys to us the strength of divine love. Our trust in
the powerful intercession of the Mother of God and our gratitude for the help we have
repeatedly experienced impel us, as it were, to think beyond the needs of the moment.
What does Mary actually want to say to us, when she rescues us from our plight? She
wants to help us grasp the breadth and depth of our Christian vocation. With a mother’s
tenderness, she wants to make us understand that our whole life should be a response
to the love of our God, who is so rich in mercy. “Understand,” she seems to say to
us, “that God, who is the source of all that is good and who never desires anything
other than your true happiness, has the right to demand of you a life that yields
unreservedly and joyfully to his will, striving at the same time that others may do
likewise.” Where God is, there is a future. Indeed – when we allow God’s love to influence
the whole of our lives, then heaven stands open. Then it is possible so to shape the
present that it corresponds more and more to the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then the little things of everyday life acquire meaning, and great problems find solutions.
Amen.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI to Germany Homily during the Holy Mass in Erfurt Cathedral Square 24
September 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters,“Praise the Lord at all times, for
he is good.” These are the words that we sang just before the Gospel. Yes, we truly
have reason to thank God with our whole hearts. If we think back thirty years to the
Elizabeth Year 1981, when this city formed part of the German Democratic Republic,
who would have thought that a few years later, the wall and the barbed wire at the
border would have come down? And if we think even further back, some 70 years, to
the year 1941, in the days of National Socialism, who could have predicted that the
so-called “thousand-year Reich” would turn to dust and ashes just four years later?
Dear Brothers and Sisters, here in Thuringia and in the former German Democratic Republic,
you have had to endure first a brown and then a red dictatorship, which acted on the
Christian faith like acid rain. Many late consequences of that period are still having
to be worked through, above all in the intellectual and religious fields. Most people
in this country since that time have spent their lives far removed from faith in Christ
and from the communion of the Church. Yet the last two decades have also brought good
experiences: a broader horizon, an exchange that reaches beyond borders, a faithful
confidence that God does not abandon us and that he leads us along new paths. “Where
God is, there is a future”. We are all convinced that the new freedom has helped bring
about greater dignity and a great many new possibilities for people’s lives. On the
part of the Church, we can point gratefully to many things that have become easier,
whether it be new opportunities for parish activities, renovation and enlargement
of churches and community centres, or diocesan initiatives of a pastoral or cultural
nature. But have these opportunities led to an increase in faith? Are not the deep
roots of faith and Christian life to be sought in something very different from social
freedom? It was actually amid the hardships of pressure from without that many committed
Catholics remained faithful to Christ and to the Church. They accepted personal disadvantages
in order to live their faith. Here I should like to thank the priests and the men
and women who assisted them during that period. I would like to remember especially
the pastoral care of refugees immediately after the Second World War: many priests
and laypersons achieved great things in order to relieve the plight of those driven
from their homes, and to provide them with a new home. Sincere thanks go not least
to the parents who brought up their children in the Catholic faith in the midst of
the diaspora and in an anticlerical political environment. With gratitude we remember,
for example, the Religious Weeks for Children during the holidays and the fruitful
work of the Catholic youth centres “Saint Sebastian” in Erfurt and “Marcel Callo”
in Heiligenstadt. Especially in Eichsfeld, many Catholic Christians resisted the Communist
ideology. May God richly reward their tenacity in the faith. That courageous witness
and that patient trust in God’s guidance are like a precious seed that promises rich
fruit for the future. God’s presence is seen especially clearly in his saints. Their
witness to the faith can also give us the courage to begin afresh today. Above all,
we may think of the patron saints of the Diocese of Erfurt: Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia,
Saint Boniface and Saint Kilian. Elizabeth came from a foreign land, from Hungary,
to the Wartburg here in Thuringia. She led an intense life of prayer, linked to the
spirit of penance and evangelical poverty. She regularly went down from her castle
into the town of Eisenach, in order to care personally for the poor and the sick.
Her life on this earth was only short – she was just twenty-four years old when she
died – but the fruit of her holiness was vast. Saint Elizabeth is greatly esteemed
also by Protestant Christians. She can help us all to discover the fullness of the
faith that has been handed down to us and to translate it into our everyday lives. The
foundation of the diocese of Erfurt in 742 by Saint Boniface reminds us of the Christian
roots of our country. This event at the same time forms the first recorded mention
of the city of Erfurt. The missionary bishop Boniface had come from England and he
worked in close association with the successor of Saint Peter. We honour him as the
“Apostle of Germany”; he died as a martyr. Two of his companions, who also bore witness
by shedding their blood for the Christian faith, are buried here in the Cathedral
of Erfurt: Saints Eoban and Adelar. Even before the Anglo-Saxon missionaries, Saint
Kilian, an itinerant missionary from Ireland, was at work in Thuringia. Together with
two companions he died in Würzburg as a martyr, because he criticized the moral misconduct
of the Duke of Thuringia whose seat was in that place. Nor must we forget Saint Severus,
the patron saint of the Severus Church here on the Cathedral Square: he was Bishop
of Ravenna in the fourth century and his remains were brought to Erfurt in 836, in
order to anchor the Christian faith more firmly in this region. What do these saints
have in common? How can we describe the particular qualities of their lives and make
them fruitful for ourselves? The saints show us that it is truly possible and good
to live our relationship with God in a radical way, to put him in first place, not
as one concern among others. The saints help us to see that God first reached out
to us, he revealed and continues to reveal himself to us in Jesus Christ. Christ comes
towards us, he speaks to every individual with an invitation to follow him. This was
an opportunity that the saints acted on, they as it were reached out to him from deep
within themselves in the ongoing dialogue of prayer, and in return they received from
him the light that shows where true life is to be found. Faith always includes as
an essential element the fact that it is shared with others. In the first place I
have God to thank for the fact that I can believe, for God approaches me and so to
speak “ignites” my faith. But on a practical level, I also have to thank my fellow
human beings for my faith, those who believed before me and who believe with me. This
“with”, without which there can be no personal faith, is the Church. And this Church
does not stop at national borders, as we can see from the nationalities of the saints
I mentioned earlier: Hungary, England, Ireland and Italy. Here we see the importance
of spiritual exchange, which encompasses the entire universal Church. If we open ourselves
up to the whole of the faith in all of history and the testimony given to it in the
whole Church, then the Catholic faith also has a future as a public force in Germany.
At the same time the saints that I mentioned show us the great fruitfulness of a holy
life, of this radical love for God and neighbour. Saints, even if there are only a
few of them, change the world. Thus the political changes that swept through your
country in 1989 were motivated not just by the demand for prosperity and freedom of
movement, but also decisively by the longing for truthfulness. This longing was kept
awake partly through people completely dedicated to serving God and neighbour and
ready to sacrifice their lives. They and the saints I mentioned before give us courage
to make good use of this new situation. We have no wish to hide in a purely private
faith, but we want to shape this hard-won freedom responsibly. Like Saints Kilian,
Boniface, Adelar, Eoban and Elizabeth of Thuringia, we want to engage with our fellow
citizens as Christians and to invite them to discover with us the fullness of the
Good News. Then we will resemble the famous bell of the Cathedral of Erfurt, which
bears the name “Gloriosa”, the “glorious”. It is thought to be the largest free-swinging
medieval bell in the world. It is a living sign of our deep rootedness in the Christian
tradition, but also a summons to set out upon the mission. It will ring out once more
at the end of today’s solemn Mass. May it inspire us, after the example of the saints,
to ensure that witness to Christ is both seen and heard in the world in which we live.
Amen. XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI to Germany Address to the he citizens of Freiburg, Münsterplatz 24
September 2011 Dear Friends,With great joy I greet you all and I thank you
for the warm welcome you have accorded me. After the wonderful meetings that took
place in Berlin and Erfurt, I am happy now that I can be here in Freiburg with you,
in the warm sunlight. A special word of thanks goes to your dear Archbishop Robert
Zollitsch for the invitation – he was so insistent that in the end I had to say, I
really must come to Freiburg – and for his gracious words of welcome. “Where God is,
there is a future”, as the motto of these days reminds us. As the Successor of Saint
Peter, who was commissioned by the Lord in the Upper Room to strengthen his brethren
(cf. Lk 22:32), I have come gladly to you, to this beautiful city, in order
to pray together with you, to proclaim the word of God and together to celebrate the
Eucharist. I ask for your prayers, that these days will be fruitful, that God will
deepen our faith, strengthen our hope and increase our love. During these days, may
we become aware once more how much God loves us and that he is truly good. And so
we must be full of confidence that he is good to us, that he has power for good, that
he carries us and all our cares and concerns in his hands. And we want to place all
this consciously into his hands. In him our future is assured: he gives meaning to
our lives and he can bring them to fulfilment. May the Lord accompany you in peace
and make us all messengers of his peace! Thank you very much for your welcome! XXX
XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address
to the representatives of the Orthodox Churches and Eastern Orthodox 24
September 2011Dear Cardinals, Brother Bishops, Distinguished Representatives of
Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches! It is a great joy for me that we have come
together here today. From my heart I thank all of you for coming and for the possibility
of this friendly exchange. I offer a particular word of thanks to you, dear Metropolitan
Augoustinos for your profound words. I was especially moved by what you said about
the Mother of God and about the saints who encompass and unite all the centuries.
And I willingly repeat in this setting what I have said elsewhere: among Christian
Churches and communities, it is undoubtedly the Orthodox who are theologically closest
to us; Catholics and Orthodox have maintained the same basic structure inherited from
the ancient Church; in this sense we are all the early Church that is still present
and new. And so we dare to hope, even if humanly speaking constantly new difficulties
arise, that the day may still be not too far away when we may once again celebrate
the Eucharist together (cf. Light of the World. A Conversation with Peter Seewald,
p. 86). With interest and sympathy the Catholic Church – and I personally – follow
the development of Orthodox communities in Western Europe, which in recent decades
have grown remarkably. In Germany today, as I have learned, there are approximately
1.6 million Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians. They have become a constitutive
part of society that helps bring alive the treasury of the Christian cultures and
the Christian faith of Europe. I welcome the increase of pan-Orthodox cooperation,
which has made significant progress in recent years. The founding of Orthodox Episcopal
Conferences in places where the Orthodox Churches exist in the Diaspora – of which
you spoke to us – is an expression of the consolidation of intra-Orthodox relations.
I am pleased that this step has been taken in Germany in the past year. May the work
of these Episcopal Conferences strengthen the bond between the Orthodox Churches and
hasten the progress of efforts to establish a pan-Orthodox council. Since the time
when I was a professor in Bonn and especially while I was Archbishop of Munich and
Freising, I have come to know and love Orthodoxy more and more through my personal
friendships with representatives of the Orthodox Churches. At that time the Joint
Commission of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Orthodox Church also began its
work. Since then, through its texts on pastoral and practical questions, it has furthered
mutual understanding and contributed to the consolidation and further development
of Catholic-Orthodox relations in Germany. Equally important is the ongoing work to
clarify theological differences, because the resolution of these questions is indispensable
for restoration of the full unity that we hope and pray for. We know that above all
it is the question of primacy that we must continue patiently and humbly struggling
to understand aright. In this regard, I think that the ideas put forward by Pope John
Paul II in the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint (no. 95) on the distinction between the nature
and form of the exercise of primacy can yield further fruitful discussion points. I
also express my appreciation of the work of the Mixed International Commission for
Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
I am glad, distinguished Eminences and Delegates of the Oriental Orthodox Churches,
that you are here representing the Churches that are taking part in this dialogue.
The results so far obtained allow us to grow in mutual understanding and to draw closer
to one another. In the present climate, in which many would like, as it were, to “liberate”
public life from God, the Christian Churches in Germany – including Orthodox and Oriental
Orthodox Christians – are walking side by side along the path of peaceful witness
for understanding and solidarity among peoples, on the basis of their faith in the
one God and Father of all. At the same time they continue to place the miracle of
God’s incarnation at the centre of their proclamation. Realizing that on this mystery
all human dignity depends, they speak up jointly for the protection of human life
from conception to natural death. Faith in God, the Creator of life, and unconditional
adherence to the dignity of every human being strengthen faithful Christians to oppose
vigorously every manipulative and selective intervention in the area of human life.
Knowing too the value of marriage and the family, we as Christians attach great importance
to defending the integrity and the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one
woman from any kind of misinterpretation. Here the common engagement of Christians,
including Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians, makes a valuable contribution
to building up a society equipped for the future, in which the human person is given
the respect which is his due. Finally, I would like to direct our gaze towards Mary
– you presented her to us as the Panagia – and she is also the Hodegetria, the “Guide
along the Way”, who is also venerated in the West under the title “Our Lady of the
Way”. The Most Holy Trinity has given the Virgin Mother Mary to mankind, that she
might guide us through history with her intercession and point out to us the way towards
fulfilment. To her we entrust ourselves and our prayer that we may become a community
ever more intimately united in Christ, to the praise and glory of his name. May God
bless you all! Thank you.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness
Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address to the Seminarians 24 September
2011 Dear Seminarians, Dear Sisters and Brothers! It is a great joy for me
to be able to come together here with young people who are setting out to serve the
Lord, young people who want to listen to his call and follow him. I would like to
express particularly warm thanks for the beautiful letter that the Rector and the
seminarians wrote to me. It truly touched my heart, to see how you had reflected on
my letter, and developed your own questions and answers from it, and to see how seriously
you are taking what I tried to say in my letter, on the basis of which you are now
working out your own path. Of course it would be wonderful if we could hold a conversation
with one another, but my travel schedule, which I am bound to follow, sadly does not
permit such things. So I can only try, in the light of what you have written and what
I myself had written, to offer just one or two further ideas. In considering the
question -- What is the seminary for? What does this time mean? -- I am always particularly
struck by the account that St. Mark gives of the birth of the apostolic community
in the third chapter of his Gospel. Mark says: "And he appointed twelve". He makes
something, he does something, it is a creative act; and he made them, "to be with
him, and to be sent out to preach" (Mk 12:14). That is a twofold purpose, which in
many respects seems contradictory. "To be with him": they are to be with him, in order
to come to know him, to hear what he says, to be formed by him; they are to go with
him, to accompany him on his path, surrounding him and following him. But at the same
time they are to be envoys who go out, who take with them what they have learnt, who
bring it to others who are also on a journey -- into the margins, into the wide open
spaces, even into places far removed from him. And yet this paradox holds together:
if they are truly with him, then they are also always journeying towards others, they
are searching for the lost sheep; they go out, they must pass on what they have found,
they must make it known, they must become envoys. And conversely, if they want to
be good envoys, then they must always be with him. As St. Bonaventure once said: the
angels, wherever they go, however far away, always move within the inner being of
God. This is also the case here: as priests we must go out onto the many different
streets, where we find people whom we should invite to his wedding feast. But we can
only do this if in the process we always remain with him. And learning this: this
combination of, on the one hand, going out on mission, and on the other hand being
with him, remaining with him, is -- I believe -- precisely what we have to learn in
the seminary. The right way of remaining with him, becoming deeply rooted in him --
being more and more with him, knowing him more and more, being more and more inseparable
from him -- and at the same time going out more and more, bringing the message, passing
it on, not keeping it to ourselves, but bringing the word to those who are far away
and who nevertheless, as God’s creatures and as people loved by Christ, all have a
longing for him in their hearts.
The seminary is therefore a time for training;
also, of course, a time for discernment, for learning: does he want me for this? The
mission must be tested, and this includes being in community with others and also
of course speaking with your spiritual directors, in order to learn how to discern
what his will is. And then learning to trust: if he truly wants this, then I may entrust
myself to him. In today’s world, which is changing in such an unprecedented way and
in which everything is in a constant state of flux, in which human ties are breaking
down because of new encounters, it is becoming more and more difficult to believe
that I will hold firm for the whole of my life. Even for my own generation, it was
not exactly easy to imagine how many decades God might assign to me, and how different
the world might become. Will I be able to hold firm with him, as I have promised to
do? ... It is a question that demands the testing of the vocation, but then also --
the more I recognize that he does indeed want me -- it demands trust: if he wants
me, then he will also hold me, he will be there in the hour of temptation, in the
hour of need, and he will send people to me, he will show me the path, he will hold
me. And faithfulness is possible, because he is always there, because he is yesterday,
today and tomorrow, because he belongs not only to this time, but he is the future
and he can support us at all times. A time for discernment, a time for learning,
a time for vocation ... and then, naturally, a time for being with him, a time for
praying, for listening to him. Listening, truly learning to listen to him -- in the
word of sacred Scripture, in the faith of the Church, in the liturgy of the Church
-- and learning to understand the present time in his word. In exegesis we learn much
about the past: what happened, what sources there are, what communities there were,
and so on. This is also important. But more important still is that from the past
we should learn about the present, we should learn that he is speaking these words
now, and that they all carry their present within them, and that over and above the
historical circumstances in which they arose, they contain a fullness which speaks
to all times. And it is important to learn this present-day aspect of his word --
to learn to listen out for it -- and thus to be able to speak of it to others. Naturally,
when one is preparing the homily for Sunday, it often seems ... my goodness, so remote!
But if I live with the word, then I see that it is not at all remote, it is highly
contemporary, it is right here, it concerns me and it concerns others. And then I
also learn how to explain it. But for this, a constant inner journey with the word
of God is needed. Personally being with Christ, with the living God, is one thing:
another is that we can only ever believe within the "we". I sometimes say that St.
Paul wrote: "Faith comes from hearing" -- not from reading. It needs reading as well,
but it comes from hearing, that is to say from the living word, addressed to me by
the other, whom I can hear, addressed to me by the Church throughout the ages, from
her contemporary word, spoken to me the priests, bishops and my fellow believers.
Faith must include a "you" and it must include a "we". And it is very important to
practice this mutual support, to learn how to accept the other as the other in his
otherness, and to learn that he has to support me in my otherness, in order to become
"we", so that we can also build community in the parish, calling people into the community
of the word, and journeying with one another towards the living God. This requires
the very particular "we" that is the seminary, and also the parish, but it also requires
us always to look beyond the particular, limited "we" towards the great "we" that
is the Church of all times and places: it requires that we do not make ourselves the
sole criterion. When we say: "We are Church" -- well, it is true: that is what we
are, we are not just anybody. But the "we" is more extensive than the group that asserts
those words. The "we" is the whole community of believers, today and in all times
and places. And so I always say: within the community of believers, yes, there is
as it were the voice of the valid majority, but there can never be a majority against
the apostles or against the saints: that would be a false majority. We are Church:
let us be Church, let us be Church precisely by opening ourselves and stepping outside
ourselves and being Church with others.
Well now, according to the schedule,
I daresay I ought really to draw to a close now. I would like to make just one more
point to you. In preparing for the priesthood, study is very much a part of the journey.
This is not an academic accident that has arisen in the western Church, it is something
essential. We all know that St. Peter said: "Always be prepared to make a defence
to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet 3:15). Our
world today is a rationalist and thoroughly scientific world, albeit often somewhat
pseudo-scientific. But this scientific spirit, this spirit of understanding, explaining,
know-how, rejection of the irrational, is dominant in our time. There is a good side
to this, even if it often conceals much arrogance and nonsense. The faith is not a
parallel world of feelings that we can still afford to hold on to, rather it is the
key that encompasses everything, gives it meaning, interprets it and also provides
its inner ethical orientation: making clear that it is to be understood and lived
as tending towards God and proceeding from God. Therefore it is important to be informed
and to understand, to have an open mind, to learn. Naturally in twenty years' time,
some quite different philosophical theories will be fashionable from those of today:
when I think what counted as the highest, most modern philosophical fashion in our
day, and how totally forgotten it is now ... still, learning these things is not in
vain, for there will be some enduring insights among them. And most of all, this is
how we learn to judge, to think through an idea -- and to do so critically -- and
to ensure that in this thinking the light of God will serve to enlighten us and will
not be extinguished. Studying is essential: only thus can we stand firm in these times
and proclaim within them the reason for our faith. And it is essential that we study
critically -- because we know that tomorrow someone else will have something else
to say -- while being alert, open and humble as we study, so that our studying is
always with the Lord, before the Lord, and for him. Yes, I could say much more, and
perhaps I should ... but I thank you for your attention. In my prayers, all the seminarians
of the world are present in my heart -- and not only those known to me by name, like
the individuals I had the pleasure of receiving here this evening; I pray, as they
make their inner journey towards the Lord, that he may bless them all, give light
to them all and show them the right way, and that he may grant us to receive many
good priests. Thank you very much. XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey
of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address to the Catholic laity 24
September 2011Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am grateful for this opportunity to
come together, here in Freiburg, with you, the Council Members of the Central Committee
for German Catholics (ZdK). I gladly express to you my appreciation for your work
in publicly representing the concerns of Catholics and in giving impetus to the apostolate
of the Church and of Catholics in society. I would also like to thank you, dear President
Glück, for your words, and for your many important and thought-provoking observations. Dear
friends, for some years now, development aid has included what are known as “exposure
programmes”. Leaders from the fields of politics, economics and religion live among
the poor in Africa, Asia, or Latin America for a certain period and share the day-to-day
reality of their lives. They are exposed to the circumstances in which these people
live, in order to see the world through their eyes and hence to learn how to practise
solidarity. Let us imagine that an exposure programme of this kind were to take place
here in Germany. Experts from a far country would arrive to spend a week with an average
German family. They would find much to admire here, for example the prosperity, the
order and the efficiency. But looking on with unprejudiced eyes, they would also see
plenty of poverty: poverty in human relations and poverty in the religious sphere.
We live at a time that is broadly characterized by a subliminal relativism that penetrates
every area of life. Sometimes this relativism becomes aggressive, when it opposes
those who say that they know where the truth or meaning of life is to be found. And
we observe that this relativism exerts more and more influence on human relationships
and on society. This is reflected, among other things, in the inconstancy and fragmentation
of many people’s lives and in an exaggerated individualism. Many no longer seem capable
of any form of self-denial or of making a sacrifice for others. Even the altruistic
commitment to the common good, in the social and cultural sphere or on behalf of the
needy, is in decline. Others are now quite incapable of committing themselves unreservedly
to a single partner. People can hardly find the courage now to promise to be faithful
for a whole lifetime; the courage to make a decision and say: now I belong entirely
to you, or to take a firm stand for fidelity and truthfulness and sincerely to seek
a solution to their problems. Dear friends, in the exposure programme, analysis
is followed by common reflection. This evaluation must take into account the whole
of the human person, and this includes – not just implicitly but quite clearly – the
person’s relationship to the Creator. We see that in our affluent western world much
is lacking. Many people lack experience of God’s goodness. They no longer find any
point of contact with the mainstream churches and their traditional structures. But
why is this? I think this is a question on which we must reflect very seriously. Addressing
it is the principal task of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. But
naturally it is something that concerns us all. Allow me to refer here to an aspect
of Germany’s particular situation. The Church in Germany is superbly organized. But
behind the structures, is there also a corresponding spiritual strength, the strength
of faith in the living God? We must honestly admit that we have more than enough by
way of structure but not enough by way of Spirit. I would add: the real crisis facing
the Church in the western world is a crisis of faith. If we do not find a way of genuinely
renewing our faith, all structural reform will remain ineffective. But let us return
to the people who lack experience of God’s goodness. They need places where they can
give voice to their inner longing. And here we are called to seek new paths of evangelization.
Small communities could be one such path, where friendships are lived and deepened
in regular communal adoration before God. There we find people who speak of these
small faith experiences at their workplace and within their circle of family and friends,
and in so doing bear witness to a new closeness between Church and society. They come
to see more and more clearly that everyone stands in need of this nourishment of love,
this concrete friendship with others and with the Lord. Of continuing importance is
the link with the vital life-source that is the Eucharist, since cut off from Christ
we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5). Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord always
point out to us how together we can be lights in the world and can show our fellow
men the path to the source at which they can quench their profound thirst for life.
I thank you. XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI to Germany Address at Vigil with the Young 24 September 2011 Dear
young friends, Throughout today I have been looking forward to this evening, and to
this opportunity to be together with you and to join you in prayer. No doubt some
of you were present at World Youth Day, where we were able to experience the special
atmosphere of peace, deep fellowship and inner joy that characterizes an evening prayer
vigil. It is my wish that we may all experience the same thing now: that the Lord
may touch our hearts and make us joyful witnesses who pray together and support one
another, not just this evening but throughout our lives. In all churches, in cathedrals
and religious houses, wherever the faithful gather to celebrate the Easter Vigil,
that holiest of all nights begins with the lighting of the Paschal candle, whose light
is then passed on to all who are present. One tiny flame spreads out to become many
lights and fills the darkness of God’s house with its brightness. This wonderful liturgical
rite, which we have imitated in our prayer vigil tonight, reveals to us in signs more
eloquent than words the mystery of our Christian faith. He, Christ, who says of himself:
“I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12), causes our lives to shine brightly,
so that what we have just heard in the Gospel comes true: “You are the light
of the world” (Mt 5:14). It is not our human efforts or the technical progress
of our era that brings light into this world. Again and again we experience how our
striving to bring about a better and more just world hits against its limits. Innocent
suffering and the ultimate fact of death awaiting every single person are an impenetrable
darkness which may perhaps, through fresh experiences, be lit up for a moment, as
if through a flash of lightning at night. In the end, though, a frightening darkness
remains. While all around us there may be darkness and gloom, yet we see a light:
a small, tiny flame that is stronger than the seemingly powerful and invincible darkness.
Christ, risen from the dead, shines in this world and he does so most brightly in
those places where, in human terms, everything is sombre and hopeless. He has conquered
death – he is alive – and faith in him, like a small light, cuts through all that
is dark and threatening. To be sure, those who believe in Jesus do not lead lives
of perpetual sunshine, as though they could be spared suffering and hardship, but
there is always a bright glimmer there, lighting up the path that leads to fullness
of life (cf. Jn 10:10). The eyes of those who believe in Christ see light even
amid the darkest night and they already see the dawning of a new day. Light does
not remain alone. All around, other lights are flaring up. In their gleam, space acquires
contours, so that we can find our bearings. We do not live alone in this world. And
it is for the important things of life that we have to rely on other people. Particularly
in our faith, then, we do not stand alone, we are links in the great chain of believers.
Nobody can believe unless he is supported by the faith of others, and conversely,
through my faith, I help to strengthen others in their faith. We help one another
to set an example, we give others a share in what is ours: our thoughts, our deeds,
our affections. And we help one another to find our bearings, to work out where we
stand in society. Dear friends, the Lord says: “I am the light of the world – you
are the light of the world.” It is mysterious and wonderful that Jesus applies the
same predicate to himself and to each one of us, namely “light”. If we believe that
he is the Son of God, who healed the sick and raised the dead, who rose from the grave
himself and is truly alive, then we can understand that he is the light, the source
of all the lights of this world. On the other hand, we experience more and more the
failure of our efforts and our personal shortcomings, despite our good intentions.
In the final analysis, the world in which we live, in spite of its technical progress,
does not seem to be getting any better. There is still war and terror, hunger and
disease, bitter poverty and merciless oppression. And even those figures in our history
who saw themselves as “bringers of light”, but without being fired by Christ, the
one true light, did not manage to create an earthly paradise, but set up dictatorships
and totalitarian systems, in which even the smallest spark of true humanity is choked.
At this point we cannot remain silent about the existence of evil. We see it in so
many places in this world; but we also see it – and this scares us – in our own lives.
Truly, within our hearts there is a tendency towards evil, there is selfishness, envy,
aggression. Perhaps with a certain self-discipline all this can to some degree be
controlled. But it becomes more difficult with faults that are somewhat hidden, that
can engulf us like a thick fog, such as sloth, or laziness in willing and doing good.
Again and again in history, keen observers have pointed out that damage to the Church
comes not from her opponents, but from uncommitted Christians. So how can Christ say
that Christians, presumably including these weak Christians, are the light of the
world? Perhaps we could understand if he were to call out to us: Repent! Be the light
of the world! Change your life, make it bright and radiant! Should we not be surprised
that the Lord directs no such appeal to us, but tells us that we are the light of
the world, that we shine, that we light up the darkness? Dear friends, Saint Paul
in many of his letters does not shrink from calling his contemporaries, members of
the local communities, “saints”. Here it becomes clear that every baptized person
– even before he or she can accomplish good works – is sanctified by God. In baptism
the Lord, as it were, sets our life alight with what the Catechism calls sanctifying
grace. Those who watch over this light, who live by grace, are holy. Dear friends,
again and again the very notion of saints has been caricatured and distorted, as if
to be holy meant to be remote from the world, naive and joyless. Often it is thought
that a saint has to be someone with great ascetic and moral achievements, who might
well be revered, but could never be imitated in our own lives. How false and discouraging
this opinion is! There is no saint, apart from the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has not
also known sin, who has never fallen. Dear friends, Christ is not so much interested
in how often in our lives we stumble and fall, as in how often with his help we pick
ourselves up again. He does not demand glittering achievements, but he wants his light
to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because
he is good and he wants to make you his friends. Yes, you are the light of the world
because Jesus is your light. You are Christians – not because you do special and extraordinary
things, but because he, Christ, is your life, our life. You are holy, we are holy,
if we allow his grace to work in us. Dear friends, this evening as we gather in prayer
around the one Lord, we sense the truth of Christ’s saying that the city built on
a hilltop cannot remain hidden. This gathering shines in more ways than one – in the
glow of innumerable lights, in the radiance of so many young people who believe in
Christ. A candle can only give light if it lets itself be consumed by the flame. It
would remain useless if its wax failed to nourish the fire. Allow Christ to burn in
you, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation. Do not be afraid that you might
lose something and, so to speak, emerge empty-handed at the end. Have the courage
to apply your talents and gifts for God’s kingdom and to give yourselves – like candlewax
– so that the Lord can light up the darkness through you. Dare to be glowing saints,
in whose eyes and hearts the love of Christ beams and who thus bring light to the
world. I am confident that you and many other young people here in Germany are lamps
of hope that do not remain hidden. “You are the light of the world”. Where God is,
there is a future! Amen.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness
Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Homily during the Holy Mass in Freiburg Airport 25
September 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters, It is moving for me to be here once
again to celebrate this Eucharist, this Thanksgiving, with so many people from different
parts of Germany and the neighbouring countries. We offer our thanks above all to
God, in whom we live and move. But I would also like to thank all of you for your
prayers that the Successor of Peter may continue to carry out his ministry with joy
and faithful hope, and that he may strengthen his brothers in faith. “Father, you
show your almighty power in your mercy and forgiveness”, as we said in today’s Collect.
In the first reading we heard how God manifested the power of his mercy in the history
of Israel. The experience of the Babylonian Exile caused the people to fall into a
crisis of faith: Why did this calamity happen? Perhaps God was not truly powerful? There
are theologians who, in the face of all the terrible things that happen in the world
today, say that God cannot be all-powerful. In response to this we profess God, the
all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth. We are glad and thankful that God is all-powerful.
At the same time, we have to be aware that he exercises his power differently from
the way we normally do. He has placed a limit on his power, by recognizing the freedom
of his creatures. We are glad and thankful for the gift of freedom. However, when
we see the terrible things that happen as a result of it, we are frightened. Let us
put our trust in God, whose power manifests itself above all in mercy and forgiveness.
Let us be certain, dear faithful, that God desires the salvation of his people. He
desires our salvation. He is always close to us, especially in times of danger and
radical change, his heart aches for us and he reaches out to us. We need to open ourselves
to him so that the power of his mercy can touch our hearts. We have to be ready to
abandon evil, to raise ourselves from indifference and make room for his word. God
respects our freedom. He does not constrain us. In the Gospel Jesus takes up this
fundamental theme of prophetic preaching. He recounts the parable of the two sons
invited by their father to work in the vineyard. The first son responded: “‘I will
not go’, but afterward he repented and went.” Instead the other son said to the father:
“‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.” When asked by Jesus which of the two sons did the father’s
will, those listening respond: “the first” (Mt 21:29-31). The message of the parable
is clear: it is not words that matter, but deeds, deeds of conversion and faith. Jesus
directs this message to the chief priests and elders of the people, that is, to the
experts of religion for the people of Israel. At first they say “yes” to God’s will,
but their piety becomes routine and God no longer matters to them. For this reason
they find the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus disturbing. The
Lord concludes his parable with harsh words: “Truly, the tax collectors and the harlots
go into the Kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness,
and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him,
and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him” (Mt 21:32).
Translated into the language of our time, this statement might sound something like
this: agnostics, who are constantly exercised by the question of God, those who long
for a pure heart but suffer on account of our sin, are closer to the Kingdom of God
than believers whose life of faith is “routine” and who regard the Church merely as
an institution, without letting their hearts be touched by faith. The words of
Jesus should make us all pause, in fact they should disturb us. However, this is by
no means to suggest that everyone who lives in the Church and works for her should
be considered far from Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Absolutely not! On the contrary,
this is a time to offer a word of profound gratitude to the many co-workers, employees
and volunteers, without whom life in the parishes and in the entire Church would be
hard to imagine. The Church in Germany has many social and charitable institutions
through which the love of neighbour is practised in ways that bring social benefits
and reach to the ends of the earth. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation
to all those working in Caritas Germany and in other church organizations who give
their time and effort generously in voluntary service to the Church. In the first
place, such service requires objective and professional expertise. But in the spirit
of Jesus’ teaching something more is needed – an open heart that allows itself to
be touched by the love of Christ, and thus gives to our neighbour, who needs us, something
more than a technical service: it gives love, in which the other person is able to
see Christ, the loving God. So let us ask ourselves, how is my personal relationship
with God: in prayer, in participation at Sunday Mass, in exploring my faith through
meditation on sacred Scripture and study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church?
Dear friends, in the last analysis, the renewal of the Church will only come about
through openness to conversion and through renewed faith. The Gospel for this Sunday
speaks of two sons, but behind them, in a mysterious way, there is a third son. The
first son says “no,” but does the father’s will. The second son says “yes,” but does
not do what he was asked. The third son both says “yes” and does what he was asked.
This third son is the Only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, who has gathered us
all here. Jesus, on entering the world, said: “Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God”
(Heb 10:7). He not only said “yes”, he acted on it. As the Christological hymn from
the second reading says: “Though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross” (Phil. 2: 6-8). In
humility and obedience, Jesus fulfilled the will of the Father and by dying on the
Cross for his brothers and sisters, he saved us from our pride and obstinacy. Let
us thank him for his sacrifice, let us bend our knees before his name and proclaim
together with the disciples of the first generation: “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11). The Christian life must continually measure
itself by Christ: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”
(Phil 2:5), as Saint Paul says in the introduction to the Christological hymn. A few
verses before, he exhorts his readers: “So if there is any encouragement in Christ,
any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord
and of one mind” (Phil 2:1-2). Just as Christ was totally united to the Father and
obedient to him, so too the disciples must obey God and be of one mind among themselves.
Dear friends, with Paul I dare to exhort you: complete my joy by being firmly united
in Christ. The Church in Germany will overcome the great challenges of the present
and future, and it will remain a leaven in society, if the priests, consecrated men
and women, and the lay faithful, in fidelity to their respective vocations, work together
in unity, if the parishes, communities, and movements support and enrich each other,
if the baptized and confirmed, in union with their bishop, lift high the torch of
untarnished faith and allow it to enlighten their abundant knowledge and skills. The
Church in Germany will continue to be a blessing for the entire Catholic world: if
she remains faithfully united with the Successors of Saint Peter and the Apostles,
if she fosters cooperation in various ways with mission countries and allows herself
to be “infected” by the joy that marks the faith of these young Churches. To his
exhortation to unity, Paul adds a call to humility: “Do nothing from selfishness or
conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look
not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil 2:3-4).
Christian life is a life for others: existing for others, humble service of neighbour
and of the common good. Dear friends, humility is a virtue that does not enjoy great
esteem today. But the Lord’s disciples know that this virtue is, so to speak, the
oil that makes the process of dialogue fruitful, cooperation simple and unity sincere.
The Latin word for humility, humilitas, is derived from humus and indicates closeness
to the earth. Those who are humble stand with their two feet on the ground, but above
all they listen to Christ, the Word of God, who ceaselessly renews the Church and
each of her members. Let us ask God for the courage and the humility to walk the path
of faith, to draw from the riches of his mercy, and to fix our gaze on Christ, the
Word, who makes all things new and is for us “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn
14:6): he is our future. Amen.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address at the Angelus in Freiburg
Airport 25 September 2011Dear Brothers and Sisters! At the end of this
solemn celebration of holy Mass we now pray the Angelus together. This prayer constantly
reminds us of the historical beginnings of our salvation. The Archangel Gabriel presents
God’s plan of salvation to the Virgin Mary, by which she was to become the Mother
of the Redeemer. Mary was fearful, but the angel spoke a word of comfort to her: “Do
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.” So Mary is able to respond
with her great “yes”. This “yes”, by which she accepts to become the handmaid of the
Lord, is the trusting “yes” to God’s plan, to our salvation. And she finally addresses
her “yes” to us all, whom she received as her children entrusted to her at the foot
of the Cross (cf. Jn 19:27). She never withdraws this promise. And so she is called
happy, or rather blessed, for believing that what was promised her by the Lord would
be fulfilled (cf. Lk 1:45). As we pray the Angelus, we may join Mary in her “yes”,
we may adhere trustingly to the beauty of God’s plan and to the providence that he
has assigned to us in his grace. Then God’s love will also, as it were, take flesh
in our lives, becoming ever more tangible. In all our cares we need have no fear.
God is good. At the same time we know that we are sustained by the fellowship of the
many believers who are now praying the Angelus with us throughout the world, via radio
and television.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope
Benedict XVI to Germany Address to the Catholics engaged in the life of
the Church and Society, Freiburg, Concert Hall 25 September 2011Dear
Brother Bishops and Priests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to be here today with
all of you who work in so many ways for the Church and for society. This gives me
a welcome opportunity personally to thank you most sincerely for your commitment and
your witness as “powerful heralds of the faith in things to be hoped for” (Lumen Gentium,
35 – validi praecones fidei sperandarum rerum). In your fields of activity you readily
stand up for your faith and for the Church, something that is not always easy at the
present time. For some decades now we have been experiencing a decline in religious
practice and we have been seeing substantial numbers of the baptized drifting away
from church life. This prompts the question: should the Church not change? Must she
not adapt her offices and structures to the present day, in order to reach the searching
and doubting people of today? Blessed Mother Teresa was once asked what in her opinion
was the first thing that would have to change in the Church. Her answer was: you and
I. Two things are clear from this brief story. On the one hand Mother Teresa wants
to tell her interviewer: the Church is not just other people, not just the hierarchy,
the Pope and the bishops: we are all the Church, we the baptized. And on the other
hand her starting-point is this: yes, there are grounds for change. There is a need
for change. Every Christian and the community of the faithful are constantly called
to change. What should this change look like in practice? Are we talking about the
kind of renewal that a householder might carry out when reordering or repainting
his home? Or are we talking about a corrective, designed to bring us back on course
and help us to make our way more swiftly and more directly? Certainly these and other
elements play a part. As far as the Church in concerned, though, the basic motive
for change is the apostolic mission of the disciples and the Church herself. The
Church, in other words, must constantly rededicate herself to her mission. The three
Synoptic Gospels highlight various aspects of the missionary task. The mission is
built upon personal experience: “You are witnesses” (Lk 24:48); it finds expression
in relationships: “Make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19); and it spreads a universal
message: “Preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15). Through the demands
and constraints of the world, however, the witness is constantly obscured, the relationships
are alienated and the message is relativized. If the Church, in Pope Paul VI’s words,
is now struggling “to model itself on Christ's ideal”, this “can only result in its
acting and thinking quite differently from the world around it, which it is nevertheless
striving to influence” (Ecclesiam Suam, 58). In order to accomplish her mission, she
will constantly set herself apart from her surroundings, she needs in a certain sense
to become unworldly or “desecularized”. The Church’s mission has its origins in the
mystery of the triune God, in the mystery of his creative love. Love is not just somehow
within God, he himself is love by nature. And divine love does not want to exist in
isolation, it wants to pour itself out. It has come down to men in a particular way
through the incarnation and self-offering of God’s Son. He stepped outside the framework
of his divinity, he took flesh and became man; and indeed his purpose was not merely
to confirm the world in its worldliness and to be its companion, leaving it completely
unchanged. The Christ event includes the inconceivable fact of what the Church Fathers
call a commercium, an exchange between God and man, in which the two parties – albeit
in quite different ways – both give and take, bestow and receive. The Christian faith
recognizes that God has given man a freedom in which he can truly be a partner to
God, and can enter into exchange with him. At the same time it is clear to man that
this exchange is only possible thanks to God’s magnanimity in accepting the beggar’s
poverty as wealth, so as to make the divine gift acceptable, given that man has nothing
of comparable worth to offer in return. The Church likewise owes her whole being to
this unequal exchange. She has nothing of her own to offer to him who founded her.
She finds her meaning exclusively in being a tool of salvation, in filling the world
with God’s word and in transforming the world by bringing it into loving unity with
God. The Church is fully immersed in the Redeemer’s outreach to men. She herself is
always on the move, she constantly has to place herself at the service of the mission
that she has received from the Lord. The Church must always open up afresh to the
cares of the world and give herself over to them, in order to make present and continue
the holy exchange that began with the Incarnation. In the concrete history of the
Church, however, a contrary tendency is also manifested, namely that the Church becomes
settled in this world, she becomes self-sufficient and adapts herself to the standards
of the world. She gives greater weight to organization and institutionalization than
to her vocation to openness. In order to accomplish her true task adequately, the
Church must constantly renew the effort to detach herself from the “worldliness” of
the world. In this she follows the words of Jesus: “They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world” (Jn 17:16). One could almost say that history comes to the
aid of the Church here through the various periods of secularization, which have contributed
significantly to her purification and inner reform. Secularizing trends – whether
by expropriation of Church goods, or elimination of privileges or the like – have
always meant a profound liberation of the Church from forms of worldliness, for in
the process she has set aside her worldly wealth and has once again completely embraced
her worldly poverty. In this the Church has shared the destiny of the tribe of Levi,
which according to the Old Testament account was the only tribe in Israel with no
ancestral land of its own, taking as its portion only God himself, his word and his
signs. At those moments in history, the Church shared with that tribe the demands
of a poverty that was open to the world, in order to be released from her material
ties: and in this way her missionary activity regained credibility. History has
shown that, when the Church becomes less worldly, her missionary witness shines more
brightly. Once liberated from her material and political burdens, the Church can reach
out more effectively and in a truly Christian way to the whole world, she can be truly
open to the world. She can live more freely her vocation to the ministry of divine
worship and service of neighbour. The missionary task, which is linked to Christian
worship and should determine its structure, becomes more clearly visible. The Church
opens herself to the world not in order to win men for an institution with its own
claims to power, but in order to lead them to themselves by leading them to him of
whom each person can say with Saint Augustine: he is closer to me than I am to myself
(cf. Confessions, III, 6, 11). He who is infinitely above me is yet so deeply within
me that he is my true interiority. This form of openness to the world on the Church’s
part also serves to indicate how the individual Christian can be open to the world
in effective and appropriate ways. It is not a question here of finding a new strategy
to relaunch the Church. Rather, it is a question of setting aside mere strategy and
seeking total transparency, not bracketing or ignoring anything from the truth of
our present situation, but living the faith fully here and now in the utterly sober
light of day, appropriating it completely, and stripping away from it anything that
only seems to belong to faith, but in truth is mere convention or habit. To put it
another way: for people of every era, not just our own, the Christian faith is a scandal.
That the eternal God should know us and care about us, that the intangible should
at a particular moment have become tangible, that he who is immortal should have suffered
and died on the Cross, that we who are mortal should be given the promise of resurrection
and eternal life – to believe all this is to posit something truly remarkable. This
scandal, which cannot be eliminated unless one were to eliminate Christianity itself,
has unfortunately been overshadowed in recent times by other painful scandals on the
part of the preachers of the faith. A dangerous situation arises when these scandals
take the place of the primary skandalon of the Cross and in so doing they put it beyond
reach, concealing the true demands of the Christian Gospel behind the unworthiness
of those who proclaim it. All the more, then, is it time once again for the Church
resolutely to set aside her worldliness. That does not mean withdrawing from the world.
A Church relieved of the burden of worldliness is in a position, not least through
her charitable activities, to mediate the life-giving strength of the Christian faith
to those in need, to sufferers and to their carers. “For the Church, charity is not
a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part
of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being” (Deus Caritas Est, 25).
At the same time, though, the Church’s charitable activity also needs to be constantly
exposed to the demands of due detachment from worldliness, if it is not to wither
away at the roots in the face of increasing erosion of its ecclesial character. Only
a profound relationship with God makes it possible to reach out fully towards others,
just as a lack of outreach towards neighbour impoverishes one’s relationship with
God. Openness to the concerns of the world means, then, for the Church that is
detached from worldliness, bearing witness to the primacy of God’s love according
to the Gospel through word and deed, here and now, a task which at the same time points
beyond the present world because this present life is also bound up with eternal life.
As individuals and as the community of the Church, let us live the simplicity of a
great love, which is both the simplest and hardest thing on earth, because it demands
no more and no less than the gift of oneself. Dear friends, it remains for me to
invoke God’s blessing and the strength of the Holy Spirit upon us all, that we may
continually recognize anew and bear fresh witness to God’s love and mercy in our respective
fields of activity. Thank you for your attention.XXX XXX XXX
Apostolic
Journey of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Germany Address at the Departure
Ceremony, Lahr Airport 25 September 2011Mr President of the Federal
Republic, Distinguished Representatives of the Federal Government, of Baden Württemburg
and its Communities, Dear Brother Bishops, Ladies and Gentlemen, Before leaving
Germany, I would like very much to thank you for these days, so moving and eventful,
spent in my native land. I am grateful to you, President Wulff, for welcoming me in
Berlin in the name of the German people and now, at the moment of my departure, for
again honouring me with your gracious words. My thoughts turn to the representatives
of the Federal Government and the governments of the Länder who are present at this
departure ceremony. I offer heartfelt thanks to Archbishop Zollitsch of Freiburg,
who accompanied me throughout the journey. I likewise express my gratitude to Archbishop
Woelki of Berlin and Bishop Wanke of Erfurt, who also showed me hospitality, and to
the entire German episcopate. Finally I offer a particular word of thanks to all those
who worked behind the scenes before and during these four days in order to ensure
that all went smoothly: to the civic institutions, to all those engaged in providing
security, health services and public transport, and to the many volunteers. I thank
all of you for these splendid days, for our many personal encounters and for your
many signs of attention and affection. In Berlin, the Federal Capital, I had the particular
opportunity of addressing the members of the Bundestag and presenting some reflections
on the intellectual foundations of the state. I also readily think of the fruitful
conversations which I had with the Federal President and the Federal Chancellor about
the present state of the German people and the international community. I was particularly
touched by the cordial welcome and enthusiasm shown by so many people in Berlin. Here
in the land of the Reformation, Christian unity was naturally a high point of my journey.
I would mention in particular my meeting with representatives of the Lutheran Church
in Germany, which took place in the former Augustinian convent of Erfurt. I am profoundly
grateful for our fraternal exchange and common prayer. Significant too were my meetings
with Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians, as well with Jews and Muslims. Of
course my visit was particularly aimed at the Catholic communities in Berlin, Erfurt,
Eichsfeld and Freiburg. I gladly recall our common liturgical celebrations and the
joy which accompanied them, our common listening to the word of God and our union
in prayer – especially in those parts of the country where efforts were made for decades
to remove religion from people’s lives. This gives me confidence for the future of
Christianity in Germany. As in previous visits, it was clear how many people here
are bearing witness to their faith and making its transforming power present in today’s
world. Last but not least, after the impressive celebration of World Youth Day
in Madrid, I was also delighted to be in the presence of large numbers of young people
in Freiburg at yesterday’s youth vigil. I encourage the Church in Germany to pursue
with resolute confidence the path of faith which leads people back to their roots,
to the heart of the Good News of Christ. It will be small communities of believers
– and these already exist – whose enthusiasm spreads within a pluralistic society
and makes others curious to seek the light which gives life in abundance. “There is
nothing more beautiful than to know Christ and to speak to others of our friendship
with him” (Homily for the Solemn Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry, 24 April 2005).
This experience ultimately gives the certainty that “where God is, there is a future.”
Wherever God is present, there is hope: new and often unexpected horizons open up
beyond the present and the ephemeral. In this sense I accompany in my thoughts and
prayers the path of the Church in Germany. With vivid memories of these days spent
in my native land, I now return to Rome. With the assurance of my prayers for all
of you, and for a future of peace and freedom for our country, I bid you farewell
with a hearfelt “Vergelt’s Gott” [May God reward you]. God bless you all! END