Pope receives faculty and students of Pontifical Filipino College

Pope Benedict XVI granted a special private audience to the students and faculty of Rome’s Pontifical Filipino College on Saturday, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its founding. Blessed John XXIII established the Pontifical Filipino College in 1961 as a house of priestly formation – a fact of history the current Rector of the College recalled in remarks presenting the students and faculty to Pope Benedict.

Pope Benedict said; “Your Pontificio Collegio Filippino family thanks God for this opportunity to humbly listen once again to the Vicar of Christ, and to be especia1ly close to You both spiritually and physically.
Fifty years ago, on October 7, 1961, His Holiness Pope John XXIII inaugurated our Pontifical College. He said that it "is both a Roman and Philippine College, for here, that is, near the Seat of Peter and the summit of the Church," the students "will draw faith and science from the genuine and rich font. Fully imbued with this they shall return to their people as beloved heralds of truth." Holy Father, it is along this line that we strive to make the most out of our stay in Rome”.

A mission he said the College has fulfilled in a variety of ways. Its first and most important task remains to assist students in their formation in the sacred sciences. “This the College has accomplished well, as hundreds of priests have returned home with advanced degrees obtained from the various Pontifical universities and institutions in the city, and have gone on to serve the Church throughout the world, some of them with great distinction. Let me encourage you, the present generation of students at the College, to grow in faith, to strive for excellence in your studies, and to grasp every opportunity afforded you to attain spiritual and theological maturity, so that you will be equipped, trained, and stout-hearted for whatever awaits you in the future”.

The Holy Father went on to say that the students of the Filipino College are also formed spiritually through the Church of Rome’s living history and the shining example of her martyrs, whose sacrifice configures them perfectly to the person of Jesus Christ himself.

He said ;“I am confident that each of you will be inspired by their union with the mystery of Christ and embrace the Lord's call to holiness which demands from you as priests nothing less than the complete gift of your lives and labours to God. Doing so in the company of other young priests and seminarians gathered here from throughout the world, you will return home, like those before you, with a grateful and permanent sense of the Church of Rome’s history, of her roots in the paschal mystery of Christ, and of her wonderful universality”.

Pope Benedict also encouraged the students and faculty to be pastorally solicitous, saying that it is right, even for priests in studies, to consider the needs of those around them, including the members of the Filipino community living in Rome and its environs. “In doing so, let the use of your time always strike a healthy balance between local pastoral concerns and the academic requirements of your stay here, to the benefit of all”.

In conclusion, the Holy Father asked the students and faculty of the Pontifical Filipino College not to forget his own affection for his guests and for their homeland: “I urge you all to return to the Philippines with an unshakeable affection of your own for the Successor of Peter and with the desire to strengthen and maintain the communion which binds the Church in charity around him. In this way, having completed your studies, you will surely be a leaven of the Gospel in the life of your beloved nation”. Listen to John Kelly's report: