Pope Benedict XVI Address to the ROACO Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches”

(June 25, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI greeted Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, and President and all the members of the ROACO, the Aid Agencies of Oriental Churches, and said that he appreciated their support of Eastern and Latin communities in the territories entrusted to the congregation and to those in other regions of the world where the children of the Catholic, with their pastors, are trying to build peaceful coexistence with the faithful of other Christian denominations and other religions. The R.O.A.C.O. that is the “Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches” is a committee which unites funding agencies from various countries around the world for the sake of providing assistance in different areas of life from worship buildings to scholarships, from houses of study and formation to social and health care facilities. The Pontiff added that the current meeting rekindles the joy of his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. “There were many moments of grace,” he said, “ when I was able to encourage and comfort the Catholic communities in the Holy Land, urging their members to persevere in their witness - a witness filled with fidelity, celebration, and at times great suffering.” He invited the ROACO Agencies to continue their charitable activities with zeal and with fidelity to the Successor of Peter. Stressing the importance of Education and training of the people of God, the Pope said “now that we have just begun the Year of Priests, I would advise you to consider with the utmost care favour of priests and support for seminarians. When, last Friday, on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I opened this special jubilee year, I entrusted to the Heart of Christ and the Immaculate Mother, all priests in the world, with a special thought for those in the East and the West.”