Pope Benedict XVI met with the final group of bishops from the United States coming
to Rome on their ad limina visits. The 15 bishops were from the various Eastern
Churches present in the United States.
In his remarks, the Pope pointed out
the Eastern Churches, “embody in a unique way the ethnic, cultural and spiritual richness
of the American Catholic community, past and present.”
He added that historically
“the Church in America has struggled to recognize and incorporate this diversity,
and has succeeded, not without difficulty, in forging a communion in Christ and in
the apostolic faith which mirrors the catholicity which is an indefectible mark of
the Church.”
Pope Benedict also said “the Church in America is called to embrace,
incorporate and cultivate the rich patrimony of faith and culture present in America’s
many immigrant groups, including not only those of your own rites, but also the swelling
numbers of Hispanic, Asian and African Catholics.”
Below is the full
text of Pope Benedict XVI’s full remarks:
Dear Brother Bishops, I
greet all of you with fraternal affection in the Lord. Our meeting today concludes
the series of quinquennial visits of the Bishops of the United States of America ad
limina Apostolorum. As you know, over these past six months I have wished to
reflect with you and your Brother Bishops on a number of pressing spiritual and cultural
challenges facing the Church in your country as it takes up the task of the new evangelization. I
am particularly pleased that this, our final meeting, takes place in the presence
of the Bishops of the various Eastern Churches present in the United States, since
you and your faithful embody in a unique way the ethnic, cultural and spiritual richness
of the American Catholic community, past and present. Historically, the Church in
America has struggled to recognize and incorporate this diversity, and has succeeded,
not without difficulty, in forging a communion in Christ and in the apostolic faith
which mirrors the catholicity which is an indefectible mark of the Church. In this
communion, which finds its source and model in the mystery of the Triune God (cf.
Lumen Gentium, 4), unity and diversity are constantly reconciled and enhanced, as
a sign and sacrament of the ultimate vocation and destiny of the entire human family.
Throughout our meetings, you and your Brother Bishops have spoken insistently
of the importance of preserving, fostering and advancing this gift of Catholic unity
as an essential condition for the fulfilment of the Church’s mission in your country.
In this concluding talk, I would like simply to touch on two specific points which
have recurred in our discussions and which, with you, I consider crucial for the exercise
of your ministry of guiding Christ’s flock forward amid the difficulties and opportunities
of the present moment. I would begin by praising your unremitting efforts, in
the best traditions of the Church in America, to respond to the ongoing phenomenon
of immigration in your country. The Catholic community in the United States continues,
with great generosity, to welcome waves of new immigrants, to provide them with pastoral
care and charitable assistance, and to support ways of regularizing their situation,
especially with regard to the unification of families. A particular sign of this
is the long-standing commitment of the American Bishops to immigration reform. This
is clearly a difficult and complex issue from the civil and political, as well as
the social and economic, but above all from the human point of view. It is thus of
profound concern to the Church, since it involves ensuring the just treatment and
the defence of the human dignity of immigrants. In our day too, the Church in
America is called to embrace, incorporate and cultivate the rich patrimony of faith
and culture present in America’s many immigrant groups, including not only those of
your own rites, but also the swelling numbers of Hispanic, Asian and African Catholics.
The demanding pastoral task of fostering a communion of cultures within your local
Churches must be considered of particular importance in the exercise of your ministry
at the service of unity (cf. Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops,
63). This diaconia of communion entails more than simply respecting linguistic diversity,
promoting sound traditions, and providing much-needed social programs and services.
It also calls for a commitment to ongoing preaching, catechesis and pastoral activity
aimed at inspiring in all the faithful a deeper sense of their communion in the apostolic
faith and their responsibility for the Church’s mission in the United States. Nor
can the significance of this challenge be underestimated: the immense promise and
the vibrant energies of a new generation of Catholics are waiting to be tapped for
the renewal of the Church’s life and the rebuilding of the fabric of American society.
This commitment to fostering Catholic unity is necessary not only for meeting
the positive challenges of the new evangelization but also countering the forces of
disgregation within the Church which increasingly represent a grave obstacle to her
mission in the United States. I appreciate the efforts being made to encourage the
faithful, individually and in the variety of ecclesial associations, to move forward
together, speaking with one voice in addressing the urgent problems of the present
moment. Here I would repeat the heartfelt plea that I made to America’s Catholics
during my Pastoral Visit: “We can only move forward if we turn our gaze together to
Christ” and thus embrace “that true spiritual renewal desired by the Council, a renewal
which can only strengthen the Church in that holiness and unity indispensable for
the effective proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world” (Homily in Saint Patrick’s
Cathedral, New York, 19 April 2008). In our conversations, many of you have
spoken of your concern to build ever stronger relationships of friendship, cooperation
and trust with your priests. At the present time, too, I urge you to remain particularly
close to the men and women in your local Churches who are committed to following Christ
ever more perfectly by generously embracing the evangelical counsels. I wish to
reaffirm my deep gratitude for the example of fidelity and self-sacrifice given by
many consecrated women in your country, and to join them in praying that this moment
of discernment will bear abundant spiritual fruit for the revitalization and strengthening
of their communities in fidelity to Christ and the Church, as well as to their founding
charisms. The urgent need in our own time for credible and attractive witnesses to
the redemptive and transformative power of the Gospel makes it essential to recapture
a sense of the sublime dignity and beauty of the consecrated life, to pray for religious
vocations and to promote them actively, while strengthening existing channels for
communication and cooperation, especially through the work of the Vicar or Delegate
for Religious in each Diocese. Dear Brother Bishops, it is my hope that the
Year of Faith which will open on 12 October this year, the fiftieth anniversary of
the convening of the Second Vatican Council, will awaken a desire on the part of the
entire Catholic community in America to reappropriate with joy and gratitude the priceless
treasure of our faith. With the progressive weakening of traditional Christian values,
and the threat of a season in which our fidelity to the Gospel may cost us dearly,
the truth of Christ needs not only to be understood, articulated and defended, but
to be proposed joyfully and confidently as the key to authentic human fulfilment and
to the welfare of society as a whole. Now, at the conclusion of these meetings,
I willingly join all of you in thanking Almighty God for the signs of new vitality
and hope with which he has blessed the Church in the United States of America. At
the same time I ask him to confirm you and your Brother Bishops in your delicate mission
of guiding the Catholic community in your country in the ways of unity, truth and
charity as it faces the challenges of the future. In the words of the ancient prayer,
let us ask the Lord to direct our hearts and those of our people, that the flock may
never fail in obedience to its shepherds, nor the shepherds in the care of the flock
(cf. Sacramentarium Veronense, Missa de natale Episcoporum). With great affection
I commend you, and the clergy, religious and lay faithful entrusted to your pastoral
care, to the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States,
and I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Lord.