POPE IN SPAIN - CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
(November, 06, 2010) On the occasion of the Holy Jacobean Year, Pope Benedict entered
the Holy Door of the Cathedral, prayed before the tomb of St. James and then embraced
his statue. Here is a text of the Pope’s discourse to the large gathering in the
Cathedral:
Your Eminences, Dear Brother Bishops, Distinguished
Authorities, Dear Priests, Seminarians and Religious, Dear Brothers
and Sisters, Dear Friends,
I thank Archbishop
Xulián Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela for his kind words. I am happy to
greet all of you with affection in the Lord and with gratitude for your presence in
this highly significant place. To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit
a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really
means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself,
where his grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion
and holiness among those who believe. Above all, Christians go on pilgrimage to the
Holy Land, to the places associated with the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection.
They go to Rome, the city of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, and also to Compostela,
which, associated with the memory of Saint James, has welcomed pilgrims from throughout
the world who desire to strengthen their spirit with the Apostle’s witness of faith
and love. In this Holy Year of Compostela, I too, as the Successor of Peter,
wished to come in pilgrimage to the “House of Saint James”, as it prepares to celebrate
the eight-hundredth anniversary of its consecration. I have come to confirm your
faith, to stir up your hope and to entrust to the Apostle’s intercession your aspirations,
struggles and labours in the service of the Gospel. As I embraced the venerable statue
of the Saint, I also prayed for all the children of the Church, which has her origin
in the mystery of the communion that is God. Through faith we are introduced to the
mystery of love that is the Most Holy Trinity. We are in some sense embraced by God,
transformed by his love. The Church is this embrace of God, in which men and women
learn also to embrace their brothers and sisters and to discover in them the divine
image and likeness which constitutes the deepest truth of their existence, and which
is the origin of genuine freedom. Truth and freedom are closely and necessarily
related. Honestly seeking and aspiring to truth is the condition of authentic freedom.
One cannot live without the other. The Church, which desires to serve unreservedly
the human person and his dignity, stands at the service of both truth and freedom.
She cannot renounce either, because what is at stake is man himself, because she is
moved by love for man, “the only creature on earth which God has wanted for its own
sake” (Gaudium et Spes, 24), and because without this aspiration for truth, justice
and freedom, man would lose his very self. From Compostela, the spiritual
heart of Galicia and at the same time a school of unbounded universality, allow me
to exhort all the faithful of this beloved Archdiocese, and those of the Church in
Spain, to live their lives enlightened by the truth of Christ, confessing the faith
with joy, consistency and simplicity, at home, at work and in their commitment as
citizens. May the joy of knowing that you are God’s beloved children
bring you to an ever deeper love for the Church and to cooperate with her in her work
of leading all men and women to Christ. Pray to the Lord of the harvest that many
young people will devote themselves to this mission in the priestly ministry and in
the consecrated life: today, it is as worthwhile as ever to dedicate one’s whole life
to the proclamation of the newness of the Gospel. I cannot conclude without
first expressing my appreciation and gratitude to the Catholics of Spain for the generosity
with which they support so many institutions of charity and of human development.
Continue to maintain these works which benefit society as a whole, and whose effectiveness
has been shown in a special way in the present economic crisis, as well as when grave
natural disasters have affected certain countries. With these
sentiments, I ask Almighty God to grant all of you the boldness which Saint James
showed in bearing witness to the Risen Christ. In this way, may you remain faithful
in the ways of holiness and spend yourselves for the glory of God and the good of
our brothers and sisters in greatest need. Thank you.