Regina Coeli: Jesus sends His Spirit to the Church

In his Regina Coeli address, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about today’s feast of Pentecost, “which completes the Easter season.”

“This feast reminds us and experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other disciples gathered in prayer to the Virgin Mary in the Upper Room,” the Pope said. “Jesus, risen and ascended into heaven, sends His Spirit to the Church, so that all Christians can share in His divine life and become His effective witness in the world.”

Noting that the Holy Spirit “continues to inspire women and men who engage in the pursuit of truth” Pope Benedict announced that on October 7, at the beginning of the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, he would proclaim St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen as Doctors of the Church. “These two great witnesses of the faith lived in very different historical periods and came from different cultural backgrounds,” he said. “But the sanctity of life and depth of teaching makes them perpetually present: the grace of the Holy Spirit, in fact, projected them into that experience of penetrating understanding of divine revelation and intelligent dialogue with the world that constitutes the horizon of permanent life and action of the Church.”

“Especially in light of the project of the New Evangelization, to which the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be dedicated, and on the vigil of the Year of Faith, these two figures of saints and doctors are of considerable importance and relevance.”

Pope Benedict then invited the tens of thousands of pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square to join him in saying the Regina Coeli, praying that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Church might “be powerfully animated by the Holy Spirit to witness Christ's Gospel with boldness and ever more open to the fullness of truth.”

After the Regina Coeli, the Holy Father addressed the pilgrims in various languages. In his remarks in English, he said “I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at this Regina Caeli on the Solemnity of Pentecost. Next Friday, I will go to Milan to be with families from all over the world celebrating the Seventh World Meeting of Families. I ask you to join me in praying for the success of this important event, and that families may be filled with the Holy Spirit, rediscover the joy of their vocation in the Church and the world, and bear loving witness to the faith. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s abundant blessings!”