Pope: Church needs irreplaceable contribution of American faithful
(Vatican Radio) “The universal Church expects and needs”, the “missionary spirit”,
“zealous generosity” and “irreplaceable contribution” of the Church in America, North
and South, said Pope Benedict XVI Sunday evening in an address to cardinals, bishops,
priests, religious and laity from the American continent. Emer McCarthy reports
listen:
They had gathered
around the Altar of the Chair in St Peter’s Basiliaca for the Opening Mass of the
International Congress on the Church in America. The congress, Dec 9-11, is marking
15 years since the Synod of Bishops for America.
The liturgical celebration
was presided by Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who
is also President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. At the end of the
celebration the congregation was also addressed by Pope Benedict XVI.
He noted
that the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, cited challenges
and difficulties that are still current. Challenges such as secularism and religious
groups which, he said, are spreading, giving rise to numerous problems.
The
Pope noted that there is an urgent need for an “education to and promotion of a culture
of life” to counter the spread of a mentality “that undermines the dignity and protection
of life” and does not favor the institution of marriage and family.
He asked
“how can we not worry about the painful situations of migration, uprooting of peoples,
or violence, especially those caused by organized crime, drug trafficking, corruption
and the arms trade? What about the searing inequalities and poverty traps caused by
questionable economic, political and social measures?”
“All these important
questions require careful study. Yet in addition to their technical evaluation, the
Catholic Church is convinced that the light for an adequate solution can only come
from encounter with the living Christ, which gives rise to attitudes and ways of acting
based on love and truth. This is the decisive force which will transform the American
continent.
Dear friends, the love of Christ impels us to devote ourselves without
reserve to proclaiming his Name throughout America, bringing it freely and enthusiastically
to the hearts of all its inhabitants. There is no more rewarding or beneficial work
than this. There is no greater service that we can provide to our brothers and sisters.
They are thirsting for God. For this reason, we ought to take up this commitment
with conviction and joyful dedication, encouraging priests, deacons, consecrated men
and women and pastoral agents to purify and strengthen their interior lives ever more
fully through a sincere relationship with the Lord and a worthy and frequent reception
of the sacraments. This will be encouraged by suitable catechesis and a correct and
ongoing doctrinal formation marked by complete fidelity to the word of God and the
Church’s magisterium and aimed at offering a response to the deepest questions and
aspirations of the human heart. The witness of your faith will thus be more eloquent
and incisive, and you will grow in unity in the fulfilment of your apostolate. A
renewed missionary spirit and zealous generosity in your commitment will be an irreplaceable
contribution to what the universal Church expects and needs from the Church in America.
As
a model of openness to God’s grace and of perfect concern for others, there shines
forth on your continent the figure of Mary Most Holy, Star of the New Evangelization,
invoked throughout America under the glorious title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As
I commend this Congress to her maternal and loving protection, I impart to you, the
organizers and participants, my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of abundant divine
graces.
Below please find the text of Cardinal Marc Ouellets
homily
Opening Mass of the International Congress on the
occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops for America St. Peter's
Basilica in Rome December 9, 2012
“People of God, behold,
the Lord will come to save all men. The Lord will make his word resound
for the joy of your heart”
Dear friends, let us welcome this promise
of God that resonates in the heart of Advent and already fills us with hope and joy.
We welcome it joyfully in the faith of Peter and of Mary, at the center of Catholicity,
while bringing here the intentions of America and its response to the appeal of Blessed
Pope John Paul II:
On the threshold of the third Christian millennium and
at a time when many walls and ideological barriers have fallen, the Church feels absolutely
duty-bound to bring into still deeper spiritual union the peoples who compose this
great continent and also, prompted by the religious mission which is proper to the
Church, to stir among these peoples a spirit of solidarity. Motivated by this prophetic
vision of Blessed John Paul II and engaged in its realization, we are gathered here,
bishops, priests, religious and laity to take stock of the implementation of the Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America. I am very happy to greet you
all and to thank you warmly for having accepted the invitation of the Pontifical Commission
for Latin America, supported generously by the Knights of Columbus, and spending a
few days of this Advent 2012 looking for a deeper communion and solidarity among our
particular Churches in America. The Synod of 1999 marked a milestone in reconciliation
and effective collaboration between our dioceses of North America and South America.
We are pleased to give thanks to God here at St. Peter's in Rome and invoke the Holy
Spirit together with Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego on another stage of
new evangelization of the great continent that is home to more than half of the world's
Catholics. The Word of God for this second Sunday of Advent throws light on the
spirit and attitudes that should stimulate us in these days of reflection and hope.
Let us listen to the prophet Baruch: Rise up, Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children gathered from east to west at the word of the
Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God (Bar 5:5). The Word of God
who unites us is Christ the Lord, the Desired of the nations. It is He who rises from
the East as the rising sun, He whom America met and embraced 500 years ago, thanks
to the maternal tenderness of Mary who deigned to manifest herself to Juan Diego with
the Indian features of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Touched to the heart by the divine
mercy revealed in these features, from that moment on, America marches forward in
the hope of the God who comes in Christ, in the midst of the hopes and challenges
of the present time. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain and the age-old
hills be made low, that the valleys be filled to make level ground, that Israel may
advance securely in the glory of God (Bar 5:7). God decided to save his people
and to lead them along smoothed paths toward the glory of his Kingdom. This is why
Christ pitched his tent in America, especially among the poor, and He has established
his home of glory among those who share his love. His great arms extended on the heights
of the Cubilete (Leon, Mexico) and the Corcovado (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) beckon us
to remain faithful to the courage of the missionaries, to the perseverance of the
saints and to the blood of martyrs who have made America a sacred land. Let us
rejoice in His divine heart by welcoming in our turn the message of John the Baptist:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low” (Lk 3:4-5). The Church in America needs
to hear again the call of the Synod of 1999, which has been revitalized for the universal
Church by the recent Synod on the new evangelization, a call to conversion, communion
and solidarity. There has never been a living Church without a permanent conversion
of its members to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; there cannot be a living Church without
a deep and frequent communion to the Body of Christ, the gushing and crystalline source
of its unity; there will not be a radiant and missionary Church in America without
a solidarity that is more concrete and creative between the North and the South of
the continent. We are aware of these challenges, we want to approach them with
the audacity of children of God who rely on His grace. This is why our presence in
this basilica is foremost an act of faith in the spirit of the Year of Faith; it is
also a plea to the Holy Spirit for the necessary conversion of our Churches to communion
and solidarity among all. The words of St. Paul to the Philippians fill us with
hope: “The [God] who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the
day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6). Dear friends, let us welcome this word of comfort
and hope that will be confirmed soon by our Holy Father Benedict XVI, Successor of
Peter and guarantor of the unity of the whole Church. Let us open our hearts as God's
children to the blessing of the Holy Father. The greatest grace of unity and solidarity
between our Churches, we must draw from the charism of unity of the successor of Peter.
Fifteen years ago it was he, in the person of Blessed John Paul II, who traced the
road map for America to unite. Today, once again it is he, in the person of His Holiness
Benedict XVI, who will confirm our momentum and initiatives of the new evangelization
of the American continent. Let us thank God for the unity of the universal Church
that lives within and protects the communion and solidarity of all the particular
Churches. This congress is placed especially under the patronage of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, Star of the New Evangelization. As her beloved
children, we humbly entrust to her our needs and our projects of the new evangelization,
with the certainty that she will lead us safely to the joy of her Son, who was promised
to the poor. Thus, says St. Paul, in righteousness, you will be pure
and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes
through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. Amen!
Marc
Cardinal Ouellet Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops