Below we publish the full text of the Pope Benedict XVI’s discourse to the Roman
Curia on the occasion of the exchange of greetings, Christmas 2011. Dear
Cardinals, Brother Bishops and Priests, Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The
occasion that brings us together today is always particularly moving. The holy feast
of Christmas is almost upon us and it prompts the great family of the Roman Curia
to come together for a gracious exchange of greetings, as we wish one another a joyful
and spiritually fruitful celebration of this feast of the God who became flesh and
established his dwelling in our midst (cf. Jn 1:14). For me, this is an occasion
not only to offer you my personal good wishes, but also to express my gratitude and
that of the Church to each one of you for your generous service; I ask you to convey
this to all the co-workers of our extended family. I offer particular thanks to the
Dean of the College, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who has given voice to the sentiments
of all present and of all who work in the various offices of the Curia and the Governorate,
including those whose apostolate is carried out in the Pontifical Representations
throughout the world. All of us are committed to spreading throughout the world the
resounding message that the angels proclaimed that night in Bethlehem, “Glory to God
in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will” (Lk 2:14), so as
to bring joy and hope to our world.
As this year draws to a close, Europe is
undergoing an economic and financial crisis, which is ultimately based on the ethical
crisis looming over the Old Continent. Even if such values as solidarity, commitment
to one’s neighbour and responsibility towards the poor and suffering are largely uncontroversial,
still the motivation is often lacking for individuals and large sectors of society
to practise renunciation and make sacrifices. Perception and will do not necessarily
go hand in hand. In defending personal interests, the will obscures perception, and
perception thus weakened is unable to stiffen the will. In this sense, some quite
fundamental questions emerge from this crisis: where is the light that is capable
of illuminating our perception not merely with general ideas, but with concrete imperatives?
Where is the force that draws the will upwards? These are questions that must be
answered by our proclamation of the Gospel, by the new evangelization, so that message
may become event, so that proclamation may lead to life.
The key theme of this
year, and of the years ahead, is this: how do we proclaim the Gospel today? How can
faith as a living force become a reality today? The ecclesial events of the outgoing
year were all ultimately related to this theme. There were the journeys to Croatia,
to the World Youth Day in Spain, to my home country of Germany, and finally to Africa
– Benin – for the consignment of the Post-Synodal document on justice, peace and reconciliation,
which should now lead to concrete results in the various local churches. Equally
memorable were the journeys to Venice, to San Marino, to the Eucharistic Congress
in Ancona, and to Calabria. And finally there was the important day of encounter
in Assisi for religions and for people who in whatever way are searching for truth
and peace, representing a new step forward in the pilgrimage towards truth and peace.
The establishment of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization is at the same
time a pointer towards next year’s Synod on the same theme. The Year of Faith, commemorating
the beginning of the Council fifty years ago, also belongs in this context. Each
of these events had its own particular characteristics. In Germany, where the Reformation
began, the ecumenical question, with all its trials and hopes, naturally assumed particular
importance. Intimately linked to this, at the focal point of the debate, the question
that arises repeatedly is this: what is reform of the Church? How does it take place?
What are its paths and its goals? Not only faithful believers but also outside observers
are noticing with concern that regular churchgoers are growing older all the time
and that their number is constantly diminishing; that recruitment of priests is stagnating;
that scepticism and unbelief are growing. What, then, are we to do? There are endless
debates over what must be done in order to reverse the trend. There is no doubt that
a variety of things need to be done. But action alone fails to resolve the matter.
The essence of the crisis of the Church in Europe – as I argued in Freiburg – is the
crisis of faith. If we find no answer to this, if faith does not take on new life,
deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ, then all other
reforms will remain ineffective.
On this point, the encounter with Africa’s
joyful passion for faith brought great encouragement. None of the faith fatigue that
is so prevalent here, none of the oft-encountered sense of having had enough of Christianity
was detectable there. Amid all the problems, sufferings and trials that Africa clearly
experiences, one could still sense the people’s joy in being Christian, buoyed up
by inner happiness at knowing Christ and belonging to his Church. From this joy comes
also the strength to serve Christ in hard-pressed situations of human suffering, the
strength to put oneself at his disposal, without looking round for one’s own advantage.
Encountering this faith that is so ready to sacrifice and so full of happiness is
a powerful remedy against fatigue with Christianity such as we are experiencing in
Europe today.
A further remedy against faith fatigue was the wonderful experience
of World Youth Day in Madrid. This was new evangelization put into practice. Again
and again at World Youth Days, a new, more youthful form of Christianity can be seen,
something I would describe under five headings.
Firstly, there is a new
experience of catholicity, of the Church’s universality. This is what struck the
young people and all the participants quite directly: we come from every continent,
but although we have never met one another, we know one another. We speak different
languages, we have different ways of life and different cultural backgrounds, yet
we are immediately united as one great family. Outward separation and difference
is relativized. We are all moved by the one Lord Jesus Christ, in whom true humanity
and at the same time the face of God himself is revealed to us. We pray in the same
way. The same inner encounter with Jesus Christ has stamped us deep within with the
same structure of intellect, will and heart. And finally, our common liturgy speaks
to our hearts and unites us in a vast family. In this setting, to say that all humanity
are brothers and sisters is not merely an idea: it becomes a real shared experience,
generating joy. And so we have also understood quite concretely: despite all trials
and times of darkness, it is a wonderful thing to belong to the worldwide Church that
the Lord has given to us.
From this derives a new way
of living our humanity, our Christianity. For me, one of the most important experiences
of those days was the meeting with the World Youth Day volunteers: about 20,000 young
people, all of whom devoted weeks or months of their lives to working on the technical,
organizational and material preparations for World Youth Day, and who thus made it
possible for the whole event to run smoothly. Those who give their time always give
a part of their lives. At the end of the day, these young people were visibly and
tangibly filled with a great sense of happiness: their time had meaning; in giving
of their time and labour, they had found time, they had found life. And here something
fundamental became clear to me: these young people had given a part of their lives
in faith, not because it was asked of them, not in order to attain Heaven, nor in
order to escape the danger of Hell. They did not do it in order to find fulfilment.
They were not looking round for themselves. There came into my mind the image of
Lot’s wife, who by looking round was turned into a pillar of salt. How often the
life of Christians is determined by the fact that first and foremost they look out
for themselves, they do good, so to speak, for themselves. And how great is the temptation
of all people to be concerned primarily for themselves; to look round for themselves
and in the process to become inwardly empty, to become “pillars of salt”. But here
it was not a matter of seeking fulfilment or wanting to live one’s life for oneself.
These young people did good, even at a cost, even if it demanded sacrifice, simply
because it is a wonderful thing to do good, to be there for others. All it needs
is the courage to make the leap. Prior to all of this is the encounter with Jesus
Christ, inflaming us with love for God and for others, and freeing us from seeking
our own ego. In the words of a prayer attributed to Saint Francis Xavier: I do good,
not that I may come to Heaven thereby and not because otherwise you could cast me
into Hell. I do it because of you, my King and my Lord. I came across this same
attitude in Africa too, for example among the Sisters of Mother Teresa, who devote
themselves to abandoned, sick, poor and suffering children, without asking anything
for themselves, thus becoming inwardly rich and free. This is the genuinely Christian
attitude. Equally unforgettable for me was the encounter with handicapped young people
in the Saint Joseph Centre in Madrid, where I encountered the same readiness to put
oneself at the disposal of others – a readiness that is ultimately derived from encounter
with Christ, who gave himself for us.
A third element,
that has an increasingly natural and central place in World Youth Days and in the
spirituality that arises from them, is adoration. I still look back to that unforgettable
moment during my visit to the United Kingdom, when tens of thousands of predominantly
young people in Hyde Park responded in eloquent silence to the Lord’s sacramental
presence, in adoration. The same thing happened again on a smaller scale in Zagreb
and then again in Madrid, after the thunderstorm which almost ruined the whole night
vigil through the failure of the microphones. God is indeed ever-present. But again,
the physical presence of the risen Christ is something different, something new.
The risen Lord enters into our midst. And then we can do no other than say, with
Saint Thomas: my Lord and my God! Adoration is primarily an act of faith – the act
of faith as such. God is not just some possible or impossible hypothesis concerning
the origin of all things. He is present. And if he is present, then I bow down before
him. Then my intellect and will and heart open up towards him and from him. In the
risen Christ, the incarnate God is present, who suffered for us because he loves us.
We enter this certainty of God’s tangible love for us with love in our own hearts.
This is adoration, and this then determines my life. Only thus can I celebrate the
Eucharist correctly and receive the body of the Lord rightly.
A further important element of the World Youth Days is the sacrament of
Confession, which is increasingly coming to be seen as an integral part of the experience.
Here we recognize that we need forgiveness over and over again, and that forgiveness
brings responsibility. Openness to love is present in man, implanted in him by the
Creator, together with the capacity to respond to God in faith. But also present,
in consequence of man’s sinful history (Church teaching speaks of original sin) is
the tendency that is opposed to love – the tendency towards selfishness, towards becoming
closed in on oneself, in fact towards evil. Again and again my soul is tarnished
by this downward gravitational pull that is present within me. Therefore we need
the humility that constantly asks God for forgiveness, that seeks purification and
awakens in us the counterforce, the positive force of the Creator, to draw us upwards.
Finally, I would like to speak of one last feature, not to be overlooked,
of the spirituality of World Youth Days, namely joy. Where does it come from? How
is it to be explained? Certainly, there are many factors at work here. But in my
view, the crucial one is this certainty, based on faith: I am wanted; I have a task;
I am accepted, I am loved. Joseph Pieper, in his book on love, has shown that man
can only accept himself if he is accepted by another. He needs the other’s presence,
saying to him, with more than words: it is good that you exist. Only from the You
can the I come into itself. Only if it is accepted, can it accept itself. Those
who are unloved cannot even love themselves. This sense of being accepted comes in
the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile.
Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts
me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist.
It is good to be a human being. If ever man’s sense of being accepted and loved by
God is lost, then there is no longer any answer to the question whether to be a human
being is good at all. Doubt concerning human existence becomes more and more insurmountable.
Where doubt over God becomes prevalent, then doubt over humanity follows inevitably.
We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it in the joylessness, in
the inner sadness, that can be read on so many human faces today. Only faith gives
me the conviction: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being, even
in hard times. Faith makes one happy from deep within. That is one of the wonderful
experiences of World Youth Days.
It would take too long now to
go into detail concerning the encounter in Assisi, as the significance of the event
would warrant. Let us simply thank God, that as representatives of the world’s religions
and as representatives of thinking in search of truth, we were able to meet that day
in a climate of friendship and mutual respect, in love for the truth and in shared
responsibility for peace. So let us hope that, from this encounter, a new willingness
to serve peace, reconciliation and justice has emerged.
As I conclude, I would
like to thank all of you from my heart for shouldering the common mission that the
Lord has given us as witnesses to his truth, and I wish all of you the joy that God
wanted to bestow upon us through the incarnation of his Son. A blessed Christmas
to you all!