On Thursday Benedict XVI thanked a tireless and enterprising group of Catholics from
the United States of America for doing so much for the many charities world-wide that
in his own words “are close to the heart of the Pope”.
The group is called
the Papal Foundation and they were led by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington
, to greet Pope Benedict in the Apostolic palace. Foundation grants support the world’s
poor, sick, and infirmed through the construction and operation of shelters for homeless
adults and children, hospitals and other health facilities, the reconstruction of
destroyed churches, the construction of seminaries and retreat houses, providing relief
for victims of natural disasters, strengthening services for refugees and migrants,
providing funding to pro-life programs, and residences for elderly priests and religious.
All of these are gifts to the Church in areas of tremendous need.
Below
we publish the text of Pope Benedict XVI’s address to Foundation members:
Dear
Friends, I am pleased to welcome you, the members of the Papal Foundation, on the
occasion of your annual visit to Rome. During this Easter season, marked by spiritual
joy and gratitude for the gift of our new life in Christ, I pray that this pilgrimage
to the tombs of the apostles and martyrs will renew all of you in your love for the
Lord and his Church. This meeting gives me a welcome opportunity to renew my thanks
for the important contribution which the Foundation makes to the Church’s mission
by its promotion of charities close to the heart of the Pope. I am most grateful
for your involvement in projects aimed at integral human development, your encouragement
of the apostolic activities of dioceses and religious congregations throughout the
world, your concern for the education of the Church’s future leaders and your support
for the activities of the Holy See. The Papal Foundation was born as a means of demonstrating
practical solidarity with the Successor of Peter in his solicitude for the universal
Church. May you see your commitment to the ideals of the Foundation as a privileged
expression of your Christian engagement in the Church and before the world. In this
way, you will testify that the Church is missionary by her very nature; for “it is
our responsibility to pass on what, by God’s grace, we ourselves have received” (Verbum
Domini, 91). Dear friends, with these sentiments and with affection in the Lord,
I commend you and your families to the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the
Church, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of Easter joy and peace.