Pope baptizes 16 babies

(January 09, 2012) The decision to baptize a child or infant is the parents’ first educational choice as witnesses of faith. Although education is a "daunting" task, it is "a wonderful mission if it is accomplished in partnership with God…” said Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday during a Mass commemorating the Baptism of Jesus. During the traditional Mass in the Vatican’s famous Sistine Chapel adorned by the frescos of Michelangelo, the Pope baptized 16 babies. In his homily the Pope spoke to the parents and godparents of the infants about the value, form, and strengths of education in the faith in the present situation marked by relativism where education is regarded as merely ‘instruction’. Education, he said, is very demanding and sometimes is difficult for our limited human capacities, but is a wonderful mission if it takes place in partnership with God, who is the first and true educator of every man. That is why it is necessary for parents themselves to first draw from the good source of "the Word of God and the Sacraments" and then pass it on to children. The first and primary education "is through witness" the Pope said, noting that in our duty to teach the faith we are not alone and that our witness is supported by the Holy Spirit. He urged parents and godparents in strongly believing in the action of the Holy Spirit through prayer and the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist.
Later, during the midday ‘Angelus’ prayer with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope reflected further on the sacrament of Baptism by which we become Christians and hence children of God. Just as our birth is not our choice, but a free gift for which we later become grateful to our parents as we mature, so to with Baptism, by which we become the children of God. Being a Christian is a gift that precedes our being one – i.e. we need to be born again in a new birth. In remarks in English, the Pope said that “in the Baptism of Jesus, God the Father bears witness to his only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit anoints him for his imminent public ministry.” He urged all to implore God for the courage to be always faithful to the life of communion with the Holy Trinity which we received in Baptism.