2011-05-05 13:15:10

Close to the heart of the Pope


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.









All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.