Pope: Church needs irreplaceable contribution of American faithful

December 10, 2012 - “The universal Church expects and needs”, the “missionary spirit”, “zealous generosity” and “irreplaceable contribution” of the Church in America, both North and South, said Pope Benedict XVI Sunday evening in an address to cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and laity from the American continent. The occasion was an opening Mass in St Peter’s Basilica for the Dec 9-11 International Congress on the Church in America, to mark 15 years since the Synod of Bishops for America. At the end of the Mass led by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Pope Benedict addressed the congregation. He noted that the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, ‘Ecclesia in America’ cited challenges and difficulties that are still current. Challenges such as secularism and religious groups which, he said, are spreading, giving rise to numerous problems. The Pope said there is an urgent need for an “education to and promotion of a culture of life” to counter the spread of a mentality “that undermines the dignity and protection of life” and opposes the institution of marriage and family. He also mentioned painful situations such as migration, displaced peoples, violence especially by organized crime, drug trafficking, corruption and the arms trade, inequalities and poverty. Adequate solution to such issues can come only from an encounter with Christ, that leads to attitudes and ways of acting based on love and truth. This is the decisive force which will transform the American continent, the Pope added.
Speaking to the congress participants in the context of the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict reminded the Church in the Americas of its duty to quench the thirst of its faithful for God. He encouraged priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and pastoral agents to purify and strengthen their interior lives ever more fully through a sincere relationship with the Lord and a worthy and frequent reception of the sacraments. This, he said, will be encouraged by suitable catechesis and a correct and ongoing doctrinal formation marked by complete fidelity to the word of God and the Church’s magisterium and aimed at offering a response to the deepest questions and aspirations of the human heart. The witness of your faith will thus be more eloquent and incisive, and you will grow in unity in the fulfilment of your apostolate. A renewed missionary spirit and zealous generosity in your commitment will be an irreplaceable contribution to what the universal Church expects and needs from the Church in America, the Pope said.