Pope Benedict XVI in English - Weekly General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last Sunday, the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and
Paul, marked the beginning of a Year dedicated to the figure and teaching of the Apostle
Paul. Today’s Audience begins a new series of catecheses aimed at understanding more
deeply the thought of Saint Paul and its continuing relevance. Paul, as we know,
was a Jew, and consequently a member of a distinct cultural minority in the Roman
Empire. At the same time, he spoke Greek, the language of the wider Hellenistic culture,
and was a Roman citizen. Paul’s proclamation of the Risen Christ, while grounded
in Judaism, was marked by a universalist vision and it was facilitated by his familiarity
with three cultures. He was thus able to draw from the spiritual richness of contemporary
philosophy, and Stoicism in particular, in his preaching of the Gospel. The crisis
of traditional Greco-Roman religion in Paul’s time had also fostered a greater concern
for a personal experience of God. As we see from his sermon before the Areopagus
in Athens (cf. Acts 17:22ff.), Paul was able to appeal to these currents of thought
in his presentation of the Good News. Against this broad cultural background, Paul
developed his teaching, which we will explore in the catecheses of this Pauline Year. *
* * I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking visitors present today,
including the Pallottine Missionary Sisters, the Columban Missionaries and the Soweto
Catholic Church Choir. I also greet the various groups coming from England, Ireland,
Norway, The Bahamas, Canada and the United States. May your visit to Rome be a time
of deep spiritual renewal. Upon all of you I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.