Pope Benedict spoke calmly, wisely, thoughtfully, during the quiet, festive second day of his April 15-20 visit to America. He dealt at length with the issue of priestly pedophilia, and with the challenge posed by secular culture to Christian faith.
He met first in the morning with President George W. Bush and about 10,000 carefully selected guests at the White House, and then with all of the US bishops in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception next to The Catholic University of America, where several thousand people gathered to greet him.
Today at 10 a.m., Benedict will celebrate a public Mass at Nationals Park, the new baseball stadium in Washington D.C. About 50,000 people are expected to attend.
Here below are the key texts from Day 2, along with an insightful report from one of Italy’s leading Vatican watchers, Sandro Magister, and the transcript of answers the Pope gave on the airplane on April 15 as he flew toward America.
The key phrase in the morning address at the White House: “The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate.”
The key phrase during his late afternoon meeting with the bishops: “It is becoming more and more difficult, in our Western societies, to speak in a meaningful way of ‘salvation.’ Yet salvation — deliverance from the reality of evil, and the gift of new life and freedom in Christ — is at the heart of the Gospel. We need to discover, as I have suggested, new and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and awakening a thirst for the fulfillment which only Christ can bring.”
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Full Text: Pope Benedict XVI’s White House Speech, April 16, 2008
WASHINGTON, April 16, 2008 — In the first papal visit to the White House in 29 years, Pope Benedict XVI greeted President Bush and nearly 10,000 others in attendance with warm prayers of hope and prosperity. Here is the entire text of the pontiff’s speech:
Mr. President,
Thank you for your gracious words of welcome on behalf of the people of the United States of America. I deeply appreciate your invitation to visit this great country. My visit coincides with an important moment in the life of the Catholic community in America: the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the elevation of the country’s first Diocese Baltimore to a metropolitan Archdiocese, and the establishment of the Sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville. Yet I am happy to be here as a guest of all Americans. I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society. America’s Catholics have made, and continue to make, an excellent contribution to the life of their country. As I begin my visit, I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the Church in the United States, and strengthen the resolve of Catholics to contribute ever more responsibly to the life of this nation, of which they are proud to be citizens.
From the dawn of the Republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the “self-evident truth” that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God. The course of American history demonstrates the difficulties, the struggles, and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society which faithfully embodied these noble principles. In that process, which forged the soul of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as for example in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement. In our time too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength in a commitment to this patrimony of shared ideals and aspirations.
In the next few days, I look forward to meeting not only with America’s Catholic community, but with other Christian communities and representatives of the many religious traditions present in this country. Historically, not only Catholics, but all believers have found here the freedom to worship God in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, while at the same time being accepted as part of a commonwealth in which each individual and group can make its voice heard. As the nation faces the increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.
Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24). Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows, time and again, that “in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation”, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul (cf. Centesimus Annus, 46). Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.
The Church, for her part, wishes to contribute to building a world ever more worthy of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27). She is convinced that faith sheds new light on all things, and that the Gospel reveals the noble vocation and sublime destiny of every man and woman (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 10). Faith also gives us the strength to respond to our high calling, and the hope that inspires us to work for an ever more just and fraternal society. Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation.
For well over a century, the United States of America has played an important role in the international community. On Friday, God willing, I will have the honor of addressing the United Nations Organization, where I hope to encourage the efforts under way to make that institution an ever more effective voice for the legitimate aspirations of all the world’s peoples. On this, the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever, if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity as brothers and sisters dwelling in the same house and around that table which God’s bounty has set for all his children. America has traditionally shown herself generous in meeting immediate human needs, fostering development and offering relief to the victims of natural catastrophes. I am confident that this concern for the greater human family will continue to find expression in support for the patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts and promote progress. In this way, coming generations will be able to live in a world where truth, freedom and justice can flourish a world where the God-given dignity and rights of every man, woman and child are cherished, protected and effectively advanced.
Mr. President, dear friends: as I begin my visit to the United States, I express once more my gratitude for your invitation, my joy to be in your midst, and my fervent prayers that Almighty God will confirm this nation and its people in the ways of justice, prosperity and peace. God bless America!
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Full Text: Pope Benedict XVI’s Address to US Bishops, April 16, 2008
Here is the text of the address Benedict XVI gave today to the bishops of the United States at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. At the end he answers three questions posed to him by the prelates.
Dear Brother Bishops,
It gives me great joy to greet you today, at the start of my visit to this country, and I thank Cardinal George for the gracious words he has addressed to me on your behalf. I want to thank all of you, especially the Officers of the Episcopal Conference, for the hard work that has gone into the preparation of this visit. My grateful appreciation goes also to the staff and volunteers of the National Shrine, who have welcomed us here this evening. American Catholics are noted for their loyal devotion to the see of Peter. My pastoral visit here is an opportunity to strengthen further the bonds of communion that unite us. We began by celebrating Evening Prayer in this Basilica dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a shrine of special significance to American Catholics, right in the heart of your capital city. Gathered in prayer with Mary, Mother of Jesus, we lovingly commend to our heavenly Father the people of God in every part of the United States.
For the Catholic communities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Louisville, this is a year of particular celebration, as it marks the bicentenary of the establishment of these local Churches as Dioceses. I join you in giving thanks for the many graces granted to the Church there during these two centuries. As this year also marks the bicentenary of the elevation of the founding see of Baltimore to an Archdiocese, it gives me an opportunity to recall with admiration and gratitude the life and ministry of John Carroll, the first Bishop of Baltimore – a worthy leader of the Catholic community in your newly independent nation. His tireless efforts to spread the Gospel in the vast territory under his care laid the foundations for the ecclesial life of your country and enabled the Church in America to grow to maturity. Today the Catholic community you serve is one of the largest in the world, and one of the most influential. How important it is, then, to let your light so shine before your fellow citizens and before the world, “that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).
Many of the people to whom John Carroll and his fellow Bishops were ministering two centuries ago had travelled from distant lands. The diversity of their origins is reflected in the rich variety of ecclesial life in present-day America. Brother Bishops, I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home. This, indeed, is what your fellow countrymen have done for generations. From the beginning, they have opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (cf. Sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty). These are the people whom America has made her own.
Of those who came to build a new life here, many were able to make good use of the resources and opportunities that they found, and to attain a high level of prosperity. Indeed, the people of this country are known for their great vitality and creativity. They are also known for their generosity. After the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001, and again after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Americans displayed their readiness to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in need. On the international level, the contribution made by the people of America to relief and rescue operations after the tsunami of December 2004 is a further illustration of this compassion. Let me express my particular appreciation for the many forms of humanitarian assistance provided by American Catholics through Catholic Charities and other agencies. Their generosity has borne fruit in the care shown to the poor and needy, and in the energy that has gone into building the nationwide network of Catholic parishes, hospitals, schools and universities. All of this gives great cause for thanksgiving.
America is also a land of great faith. Your people are remarkable for their religious fervor and they take pride in belonging to a worshipping community. They have confidence in God, and they do not hesitate to bring moral arguments rooted in biblical faith into their public discourse. Respect for freedom of religion is deeply ingrained in the American consciousness – a fact which has contributed to this country’s attraction for generations of immigrants, seeking a home where they can worship freely in accordance with their beliefs.
In this connection, I happily acknowledge the presence among you of Bishops from all the venerable Eastern Churches in communion with the Successor of Peter, whom I greet with special joy. Dear Brothers, I ask you to assure your communities of my deep affection and my continued prayers, both for them and for the many brothers and sisters who remain in their land of origin. Your presence here is a reminder of the courageous witness to Christ of so many members of your communities, often amid suffering, in their respective homelands. It is also a great enrichment of the ecclesial life of America, giving vivid expression to the Church’s catholicity and the variety of her liturgical and spiritual traditions.
It is in this fertile soil, nourished from so many different sources, that all of you, Brother Bishops, are called to sow the seeds of the Gospel today. This leads me to ask how, in the twenty-first century, a bishop can best fulfill the call to “make all things new in Christ, our hope”? How can he lead his people to “an encounter with the living God”, the source of that life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks (cf. Spe Salvi, 4)? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to such an encounter. While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.
For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an encounter with the living God lies in the subtle influence of materialism, which can all too easily focus the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now in this time, at the expense of the eternal life which he promises in the age to come (cf. Mk 10:30). People today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for God. They need to be given opportunities to drink from the wells of his infinite love. It is easy to be entranced by the almost unlimited possibilities that science and technology place before us; it is easy to make the mistake of thinking we can obtain by our own efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an illusion. Without God, who alone bestows upon us what we by ourselves cannot attain (cf. Spe Salvi, 31), our lives are ultimately empty. People need to be constantly reminded to cultivate a relationship with him who came that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The goal of all our pastoral and catechetical work, the object of our preaching, and the focus of our sacramental ministry should be to help people establish and nurture that living relationship with “Christ Jesus, our hope” (1 Tim 1:1).
In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy, it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear towards them. This emphasis on individualism has even affected the Church (cf. Spe Salvi, 13-15), giving rise to a form of piety which sometimes emphasizes our private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be members of a redeemed community. Yet from the beginning, God saw that “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). We were created as social beings who find fulfillment only in love – for God and for our neighbor. If we are truly to gaze upon him who is the source of our joy, we need to do so as members of the people of God (cf. Spe Salvi, 14). If this seems counter-cultural, that is simply further evidence of the urgent need for a renewed evangelization of culture.
Here in America, you are blessed with a Catholic laity of considerable cultural diversity, who place their wide-ranging gifts at the service of the Church and of society at large. They look to you to offer them encouragement, leadership and direction. In an age that is saturated with information, the importance of providing sound formation in the faith cannot be overstated. American Catholics have traditionally placed a high value on religious education, both in schools and in the context of adult formation programs. These need to be maintained and expanded. The many generous men and women who devote themselves to charitable activity need to be helped to renew their dedication through a “formation of the heart”: an “encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others” (Deus Caritas Est, 31). At a time when advances in medical science bring new hope to many, they also give rise to previously unimagined ethical challenges. This makes it more important than ever to offer thorough formation in the Church’s moral teaching to Catholics engaged in health care. Wise guidance is needed in all these apostolates, so that they may bear abundant fruit; if they are truly to promote the integral good of the human person, they too need to be made new in Christ our hope.
As preachers of the Gospel and leaders of the Catholic community, you are also called to participate in the exchange of ideas in the public square, helping to shape cultural attitudes. In a context where free speech is valued, and where vigorous and honest debate is encouraged, yours is a respected voice that has much to offer to the discussion of the pressing social and moral questions of the day. By ensuring that the Gospel is clearly heard, you not only form the people of your own community, but in view of the global reach of mass communication, you help to spread the message of Christian hope throughout the world.
Clearly, the Church’s influence on public debate takes place on many different levels. In the United States, as elsewhere, there is much current and proposed legislation that gives cause for concern from the point of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under your guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness on such matters. Even more important, though, is the gradual opening of the minds and hearts of the wider community to moral truth. Here much remains to be done. Crucial in this regard is the role of the lay faithful to act as a “leaven” in society. Yet it cannot be assumed that all Catholic citizens think in harmony with the Church’s teaching on today’s key ethical questions. Once again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life.
In this regard, a matter of deep concern to us all is the state of the family within society. Indeed, Cardinal George mentioned earlier that you have included the strengthening of marriage and family life among the priorities for your attention over the next few years. In this year’s World Day of Peace Message I spoke of the essential contribution that healthy family life makes to peace within and between nations. In the family home we experience “some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them” (no. 3). The family is also the primary place for evangelization, for passing on the faith, for helping young people to appreciate the importance of religious practice and Sunday observance. How can we not be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it altogether. To some young Catholics, the sacramental bond of marriage seems scarcely distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a purely informal and open-ended arrangement to live with another person. Hence we have an alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the United States together with an increase in cohabitation, in which the Christ-like mutual self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent. In such circumstances, children are denied the secure environment that they need in order truly to flourish as human beings, and society is denied the stable building blocks which it requires if the cohesion and moral focus of the community are to be maintained.
As my predecessor, Pope John Paul II taught, “The person principally responsible in the Diocese for the pastoral care of the family is the Bishop … he must devote to it personal interest, care, time, personnel and resources, but above all personal support for the families and for all those who assist him in the pastoral care of the family” (Familiaris Consortio, 73). It is your task to proclaim boldly the arguments from faith and reason in favor of the institution of marriage, understood as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, open to the transmission of life. This message should resonate with people today, because it is essentially an unconditional and unreserved “yes” to life, a “yes” to love, and a “yes” to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and with the Lord.
Among the countersigns to the Gospel of life found in America and elsewhere is one that causes deep shame: the sexual abuse of minors. Many of you have spoken to me of the enormous pain that your communities have suffered when clerics have betrayed their priestly obligations and duties by such gravely immoral behavior. As you strive to eliminate this evil wherever it occurs, you may be assured of the prayerful support of God’s people throughout the world. Rightly, you attach priority to showing compassion and care to the victims. It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged.
Responding to this situation has not been easy and, as the President of your Episcopal Conference has indicated, it was “sometimes very badly handled”. Now that the scale and gravity of the problem is more clearly understood, you have been able to adopt more focused remedial and disciplinary measures and to promote a safe environment that gives greater protection to young people. While it must be remembered that the overwhelming majority of clergy and religious in America do outstanding work in bringing the liberating message of the Gospel to the people entrusted to their care, it is vitally important that the vulnerable always be shielded from those who would cause harm. In this regard, your efforts to heal and protect are bearing great fruit not only for those directly under your pastoral care, but for all of society.
If they are to achieve their full purpose, however, the policies and programs you have adopted need to be placed in a wider context. Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today. They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person. This brings us back to our consideration of the centrality of the family and the need to promote the Gospel of life. What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today? We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults alike. All have a part to play in this task – not only parents, religious leaders, teachers and catechists, but the media and entertainment industries as well. Indeed, every member of society can contribute to this moral renewal and benefit from it. Truly caring about young people and the future of our civilization means recognizing our responsibility to promote and live by the authentic moral values which alone enable the human person to flourish. It falls to you, as pastors modelled upon Christ, the Good Shepherd, to proclaim this message loud and clear, and thus to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores. Moreover, by acknowledging and confronting the problem when it occurs in an ecclesial setting, you can give a lead to others, since this scourge is found not only within your Dioceses, but in every sector of society. It calls for a determined, collective response.
Priests, too, need your guidance and closeness during this difficult time. They have experienced shame over what has occurred, and there are those who feel they have lost some of the trust and esteem they once enjoyed. Not a few are experiencing a closeness to Christ in his Passion as they struggle to come to terms with the consequences of the crisis. The Bishop, as father, brother and friend of his priests, can help them to draw spiritual fruit from this union with Christ by making them aware of the Lord’s consoling presence in the midst of their suffering, and by encouraging them to walk with the Lord along the path of hope (cf. Spe Salvi, 39). As Pope John Paul II observed six years ago, “we must be confident that this time of trial will bring a purification of the entire Catholic community”, leading to “a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate and a holier Church” (Address to the Cardinals of the United States, 23 April 2002, 4). There are many signs that, during the intervening period, such purification has indeed been taking place. Christ’s abiding presence in the midst of our suffering is gradually transforming our darkness into light: all things are indeed being made new in Christ Jesus our hope.
At this stage a vital part of your task is to strengthen relationships with your clergy, especially in those cases where tension has arisen between priests and their bishops in the wake of the crisis. It is important that you continue to show them your concern, to support them, and to lead by example. In this way you will surely help them to encounter the living God, and point them towards the life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks. If you yourselves live in a manner closely configured to Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, you will inspire your brother priests to rededicate themselves to the service of their flocks with Christ-like generosity. Indeed a clearer focus upon the imitation of Christ in holiness of life is exactly what is needed in order for us to move forward. We need to rediscover the joy of living a Christ-centred life, cultivating the virtues, and immersing ourselves in prayer. When the faithful know that their pastor is a man who prays and who dedicates his life to serving them, they respond with warmth and affection which nourishes and sustains the life of the whole community.
Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. Adoration of Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament prolongs and intensifies the union with him that is established through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 66). Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). Fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours ensures that the whole of our day is sanctified and it continually reminds us of the need to remain focused on doing God’s work, however many pressures and distractions may arise from the task at hand. Thus our devotion helps us to speak and act in persona Christi, to teach, govern and sanctify the faithful in the name of Jesus, to bring his reconciliation, his healing and his love to all his beloved brothers and sisters. This radical configuration to Christ, the Good Shepherd, lies at the heart of our pastoral ministry, and if we open ourselves through prayer to the power of the Spirit, he will give us the gifts we need to carry out our daunting task, so that we need never “be anxious how to speak or what to say” (Mt 10:19).
As I conclude my words to you this evening, I commend the Church in your country most particularly to the maternal care and intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States. May she who carried within her womb the hope of all the nations intercede for the people of this country, so that all may be made new in Jesus Christ her Son. My dear Brother Bishops, I assure each of you here present of my deep friendship and my participation in your pastoral concerns. To all of you, and to your clergy, religious and lay faithful, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Lord.
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Here follow the texts of three questions posed to the Pope, and his three responses.
Question 1. The Holy Father is asked to give his assessment of the challenge of increasing secularism in public life and relativism in intellectual life, and his advice on how to confront these challenges pastorally and evangelize more effectively.
Answer 1. I touched upon this theme briefly in my address. It strikes me as significant that here in America, unlike many places in Europe, the secular mentality has not been intrinsically opposed to religion. Within the context of the separation of Church and State, American society has always been marked by a fundamental respect for religion and its public role, and, if polls are to be believed, the American people are deeply religious. But it is not enough to count on this traditional religiosity and go about business as usual, even as its foundations are being slowly undermined. A serious commitment to evangelization cannot prescind from a profound diagnosis of the real challenges the Gospel encounters in contemporary American culture.
Of course, what is essential is a correct understanding of the just autonomy of the secular order, an autonomy which cannot be divorced from God the Creator and his saving plan (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). Perhaps America’s brand of secularism poses a particular problem: it allows for professing belief in God, and respects the public role of religion and the Churches, but at the same time it can subtly reduce religious belief to a lowest common denominator. Faith becomes a passive acceptance that certain things “out there” are true, but without practical relevance for everyday life. The result is a growing separation of faith from life: living “as if God did not exist”. This is aggravated by an individualistic and eclectic approach to faith and religion: far from a Catholic approach to “thinking with the Church”, each person believes he or she has a right to pick and choose, maintaining external social bonds but without an integral, interior conversion to the law of Christ. Consequently, rather than being transformed and renewed in mind, Christians are easily tempted to conform themselves to the spirit of this age (cf. Rom 12:3). We have seen this emerge in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion.
On a deeper level, secularism challenges the Church to reaffirm and to pursue more actively her mission in and to the world. As the Council made clear, the lay faithful have a particular responsibility in this regard. What is needed, I am convinced, is a greater sense of the intrinsic relationship between the Gospel and the natural law on the one hand, and, on the other, the pursuit of authentic human good, as embodied in civil law and in personal moral decisions. In a society that rightly values personal liberty, the Church needs to promote at every level of her teaching – in catechesis, preaching, seminary and university instruction – an apologetics aimed at affirming the truth of Christian revelation, the harmony of faith and reason, and a sound understanding of freedom, seen in positive terms as a liberation both from the limitations of sin and for an authentic and fulfilling life. In a word, the Gospel has to be preached and taught as an integral way of life, offering an attractive and true answer, intellectually and practically, to real human problems. The “dictatorship of relativism”, in the end, is nothing less than a threat to genuine human freedom, which only matures in generosity and fidelity to the truth.
Much more, of course, could be said on this subject: let me conclude, though, by saying that I believe that the Church in America, at this point in her history, is faced with the challenge of recapturing the Catholic vision of reality and presenting it, in an engaging and imaginative way, to a society which markets any number of recipes for human fulfillment. I think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people, who, despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel, continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth. Much remains to be done, particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in parishes and schools, if the new evangelization is to bear fruit for the renewal of ecclesial life in America.
Question 2. The Holy Father is asked about “a certain quiet attrition” by which Catholics are abandoning the practice of the faith, sometimes by an explicit decision, but often by distancing themselves quietly and gradually from attendance at Mass and identification with the Church.
Answer 2. Certainly, much of this has to do with the passing away of a religious culture, sometimes disparagingly referred to as a “ghetto”, which reinforced participation and identification with the Church. As I just mentioned, one of the great challenges facing the Church in this country is that of cultivating a Catholic identity which is based not so much on externals as on a way of thinking and acting grounded in the Gospel and enriched by the Church’s living tradition.
The issue clearly involves factors such as religious individualism and scandal. Let us go to the heart of the matter: faith cannot survive unless it is nourished, unless it is “formed by charity” (cf. Gal 5:6). Do people today find it difficult to encounter God in our Churches? Has our preaching lost its salt? Might it be that many people have forgotten, or never really learned, how to pray in and with the Church?
Here I am not speaking of people who leave the Church in search of subjective religious “experiences”; this is a pastoral issue which must be addressed on its own terms. I think we are speaking about people who have fallen by the wayside without consciously having rejected their faith in Christ, but, for whatever reason, have not drawn life from the liturgy, the sacraments, preaching. Yet Christian faith, as we know, is essentially ecclesial, and without a living bond to the community, the individual’s faith will never grow to maturity. Indeed, to return to the question I just discussed, the result can be a quiet apostasy.
So let me make two brief observations on the problem of “attrition”, which I hope will stimulate further reflection.
First, as you know, it is becoming more and more difficult, in our Western societies, to speak in a meaningful way of “salvation”. Yet salvation – deliverance from the reality of evil, and the gift of new life and freedom in Christ – is at the heart of the Gospel. We need to discover, as I have suggested, new and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and awakening a thirst for the fulfillment which only Christ can bring. It is in the Church’s liturgy, and above all in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that these realities are most powerfully expressed and lived in the life of believers; perhaps we still have much to do in realizing the Council’s vision of the liturgy as the exercise of the common priesthood and the impetus for a fruitful apostolate in the world.
Second, we need to acknowledge with concern the almost complete eclipse of an eschatological sense in many of our traditionally Christian societies. As you know, I have pointed to this problem in the Encyclical Spe Salvi. Suffice it to say that faith and hope are not limited to this world: as theological virtues, they unite us with the Lord and draw us toward the fulfillment not only of our personal destiny but also that of all creation. Faith and hope are the inspiration and basis of our efforts to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. In Christianity, there can be no room for purely private religion: Christ is the Savior of the world, and, as members of his Body and sharers in his prophetic, priestly and royal munera, we cannot separate our love for him from our commitment to the building up of the Church and the extension of his Kingdom. To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul.
Let me conclude by stating the obvious. The fields are still ripe for harvesting (cf. Jn 4:35); God continues to give the growth (cf. 1 Cor 3:6). We can and must believe, with the late Pope John Paul II, that God is preparing a new springtime for Christianity (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 86). What is needed above all, at this time in the history of the Church in America, is a renewal of that apostolic zeal which inspires her shepherds actively to seek out the lost, to bind up those who have been wounded, and to bring strength to those who are languishing (cf. Ez 34:16). And this, as I have said, calls for new ways of thinking based on a sound diagnosis of today’s challenges and a commitment to unity in the service of the Church’s mission to the present generation.
Question 3. The Holy Father is asked to comment on the decline in vocations despite the growing numbers of the Catholic population, and on the reasons for hope offered by the personal qualities and the thirst for holiness which characterize the candidates who do come forward.
Answer 3. Let us be quite frank: the ability to cultivate vocations to the priesthood and the religious life is a sure sign of the health of a local Church. There is no room for complacency in this regard. God continues to call young people; it is up to all of us to to encourage a generous and free response to that call. On the other hand, none of us can take this grace for granted.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers. He even admits that the workers are few in comparison with the abundance of the harvest (cf. Mt 9:37-38). Strange to say, I often think that prayer – the unum necessarium – is the one aspect of vocations work which we tend to forget or to undervalue!
Nor am I speaking only of prayer for vocations. Prayer itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation, strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.
It has been noted that there is a growing thirst for holiness in many young people today, and that, although fewer in number, those who come forward show great idealism and much promise. It is important to listen to them, to understand their experiences, and to encourage them to help their peers to see the need for committed priests and religious, as well as the beauty of a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and his Church. To my mind, much is demanded of vocation directors and formators: candidates today, as much as ever, need to be given a sound intellectual and human formation which will enable them not only to respond to the real questions and needs of their contemporaries, but also to mature in their own conversion and to persevere in life-long commitment to their vocation. As Bishops, you are conscious of the sacrifice demanded when you are asked to release one of your finest priests for seminary work. I urge you to respond with generosity, for the good of the whole Church.
Finally, I think you know from experience that most of your brother priests are happy in their vocation. What I said in my address about the importance of unity and cooperation within the presbyterate applies here too. There is a need for all of us to move beyond sterile divisions, disagreements and preconceptions, and to listen together to the voice of the Spirit who is guiding the Church into a future of hope. Each of us knows how important priestly fraternity has been in our lives. That fraternity is not only a precious possession, but also an immense resource for the renewal of the priesthood and the raising up of new vocations. I would close by encouraging you to foster opportunities for ever greater dialogue and fraternal encounter among your priests, and especially the younger priests. I am convinced that this will bear great fruit for their own enrichment, for the increase of their love for the priesthood and the Church, and for the effectiveness of their apostolate.
Dear Brother Bishops. with these few observations, I once more encourage all of you in your ministry to the faithful entrusted to your pastoral care, and I commend you to the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate, Mother of the Church.
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Before leaving, I would like to pause to acknowledge the immense suffering endured by the people of God in the Archdiocese of New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina, as well as their courage in the challenging work of rebuilding. I would like to present Archbishop Alfred Hughes with a chalice, which I hope will be accepted as a sign of my prayerful solidarity with the faithful of the Archdiocese, and my personal gratitude for the tireless devotion which he and Archbishops Philip Hannan and Francis Schulte showed toward the flock entrusted to their care.
Copyright 2008 — Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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Here follows the interesting report and analysis posted today by Italian Vatican analyst Sandro Magister, an old friend of Inside the Vatican. Magister includes a relevant selection from one of the Pope’s own writings on the realtionship between faith and secular society today. Magister’s e-mail address: [email protected]
The Pope’s First Day in the U.S. Against Sexual Abuse, and for America as a “Model of Positive Secularism”
Benedict XVI explains what should be done so that the “scandal” does not happen again. And he praises the relationship between religion and politics in the United States, as a lesson for Europe
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, April 17, 2008 On the plane heading toward the United States, responding to the questions of journalists, Benedict XVI immediately took up the question that most inflames American public opinion, that of sexual abuse committed against minors by Catholic priests.
The Pope addressed the topic, in English, as follows:
“It is a great suffering for the Church in the United States and for the Church in general, for me personally, that this could happen. If I read the history of these events, it is difficult for me to understand how it was possible for priests to fail in this way the mission to give healing, to give God’s love to these children. I am ashamed and we will do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen in future. I think we have to act on three levels: the first is at the level of justice and the political level. I will not speak at this moment about homosexuality: this is another thing. We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry; it is absolutely incompatible and who is really guilty of being a paedophile cannot be a priest. So at this first level we can do justice and help the victims, because they are deeply affected; these are the two sides of justice: one, that paedophiles cannot be priests and the other, to help in any possible way the victims. Then, there is a pastoral level. The victims will need healing and help and assistance and reconciliation: this is a big pastoral engagement and I know that the Bishops and the priests and all Catholic people in the United States will do whatever possible to help, to assist, to heal. We have made a visitation of the seminaries and we will do all that is possible in the education of seminarians for a deep spiritual, human and intellectual formation for the students. Only sound persons can be admitted to the priesthood and only persons with a deep personal life in Christ and who have a deep sacramental life. So, I know that the Bishops and directors of seminarians will do all possible to have a strong, strong discernment because it is more important to have good priests than to have many priests. This is also our third level, and we hope that we can do and we have done and we will do in the future all that is possible to heal these wounds.”
* * *
Responding to another question, Benedict XVI then touched upon a topic that is dear to him, that of the American model of relations between religion and politics:
“What I find fascinating about the United States is that it was born with a positive concept of secularism. This new people was made up of communities and persons who had fled from state Churches, and they wanted a secular state in order to open up the possibility for all confessions to practice their religion. They were secular precisely out of love for religion, for the authenticity of religion, which can be lived only in freedom. [….] This seems fundamental and positive to me, […] to be considered also in Europe.”
These are concepts that Joseph Ratzinger has expressed on a number of occasions, before and after his election as pope. The last time was last February 29, when he received at the Vatican the new United States ambassador to the Holy See, Mary Ann Glendon, a Catholic.
And Benedict XVI took up these concepts again in the speech that he addressed to president George W. Bush on the morning of Wednesday, April 16, at the White House.
But to understand better why Benedict XVI considers the United States an example for the whole world and above all for Europe of a positive relationship between religion and politics, it is illuminating to read this page from a book he wrote and published as cardinal in 2004, entitled Without Roots: Europe, Relativism, Christianity, Islam:
Secularists for love of religion
by Joseph Ratzinger
The idea of a civil Christian religion brings to my mind the work Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. During his studies in the United States, the French scholar had noted to put it briefly that the system of rules seen from the outside as making up this democracy, while unstable and fragmentary on its own, worked only because within American society there was active a whole complex of religious and moral convictions of Christian-Protestant inspiration, which no one had prescribed or defined, but were simply presumed by all as an obvious spiritual foundation. The recognition of these basic religious and moral guidelines, which stretched beyond the individual confessions but determined society from within, strengthened its ordinances as a whole and defined the limits of individual freedom from within, offering precisely for this reason the conditions for shared and participatory freedom.
In this regard, I would like to cite a significant expression from Tocqueville: “Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.” John Adams was thinking along the same lines when he said that the American constitution “was made only for a moral and religious people”. Although in America as well secularization is proceeding at a more rapid pace, and the confluence of many different cultures is shaking the basic Christian consensus, it can be seen there, rather more clearly than in Europe, that there is implicit recognition of the religious and moral foundations that stem from Christianity and reach beyond the individual confessions. Europe unlike America is on a collision course with its own history, and is often speaking out in favor of an almost visceral rejection of any possible public dimension for Christian values.
Why? Why in the world does Europe, which has a very ancient Christian tradition, no longer show such a consensus? A consensus that, independently of membership in a particular community of faith, would confer a public and essential value on the fundamental conceptions of Christianity? Since the historical bases of this difference are well known, it will be enough to mention them briefly.
American society was built in great part by groups that had fled from the system of state Churches in place in Europe, and had found their own religious accommodation in free communities of faith outside of the state Church. The foundation of American society is therefore constituted by the free Churches, for which because of their religious approach it is essential that they not be state Churches, but founded on a free union of individuals. In this sense, one can say that at the basis of American society there is a separation between state and Church that is determined, even demanded by religion; a separation, therefore, that is motivated and structured quite differently in comparison with the one imposed, under the banner of conflict, by the French Revolution and by the systems that followed it. The state in America is nothing other than the free space for different religious communities; it is in its nature to recognize these communities in their particularity and in their non-statal identity, and to let them live. It is a separation that intends to let religion be itself, that respects and protects its vital space distinguished from the state and from its ordinances, it is a separation conceived of positively.
This also involved a unique relationship between the state sphere and the “private” sphere, completely different from the one that we know in Europe: the “private” sphere has an absolutely public character, and what is not of the state is not at all excluded for this reason from the public dimension of social life. Most of the cultural institutions are not statal we could take the example of the universities, or of the organizations for safeguarding the artistic disciplines, etc.; the entire legal and fiscal system favors this type of non-statal culture and makes it possible, while in Europe, for example, the private universities constitute a recent, and in fact marginal, phenomenon. Of course, it has also happened that the free Churches have considered themselves in a fairly relative manner, but they were aware nonetheless that they were united by a common factor that went beyond the institutions and was at the foundation of all.
Naturally, in this context there are also hidden dangers. Today there seem to be certain circles that are dusting off the ideology of the WASP: the true American is the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. This ideology emerged when the arrival of groups of Catholic immigrants, above all Italians, Poles, and people of color, seemed to threaten the established identity of America. This remained true until the 20th century, in this sense that in order to aspire to an important position in American public life, one had to be a WASP. But in reality, the Catholic community had already integrated into the American identity.
Catholics also recognized the positive character of the religiously motivated separation between state and Church, in addition to the importance of the religious freedom that it guarantees. It is in part thanks to their significant contribution that a Christian conscience has been maintained in society; and this is still a valid contribution, at a time when radical, profound changes are taking place within Protestantism. Insofar as they adapt themselves increasingly to secularized society, the mainline Protestant communities are losing their internal cohesion and their power of persuasion; the “evangelicals,” until now the staunchest enemies of Catholicism, are not only gaining more and more ground against the mainline communities, but are also discovering a new closeness to Catholicism, which they recognize as a defender against the pressure exerted by secularization, and of the same great ethical values that they themselves uphold, values that they instead see declining among their Protestant brethren.
On the basis of the structure of Christianity in America, the American Catholic bishops made a specific contribution to Vatican Council II: the declaration “Dignitatis Humanae” on religious freedom was largely influenced [by this contribution], and brought into the Catholic tradition, in regard to freedom of faith, the experience of the “non-state” Church (which had demonstrated itself as a condition for preserving the public value of fundamental Christian principles) as a Christian form emerging from the very nature of the Church. Today American society, partly through the increasing pressure exercised by secularization, finds itself having to face serious new challenges. One can nonetheless say at least it seems so to me that there still exists in America a civil Christian religion, even if it is seriously threatened and has become unclear in its content.
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Full Text: Pope Benedict XVI’s Press Conference Aboard Papal Flight, April 15, 2008 (translated and posted by the Zenit news agency)
“I Go to the United States With Joy”
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 16, 2008 (Zenit.org) – Here is a translation of the press conference Benedict XVI gave on the plane en route to the United States on Tuesday.
The transcription was provided today by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office. Father Lombardi acted as a moderator during the press conference.
* * *
Father Lombardi: Your Holiness, welcome! On behalf of all my colleagues here present, I thank you for your very kind availability in coming to greet us and also for giving us some indications and ideas for following this trip. This is your second intercontinental trip, your first as Holy Father to America, to the United States and the United Nations. An important and very awaited trip. To begin with, would you like to tell us something about your sentiments, the hopes with which you face this journey and what is your fundamental objective, from your point of view?
Benedict XVI: My trip has above all two objectives. The first objective is the visit to the Church in America, in the United States. There is a particular motive: The Diocese of Baltimore, 200 years ago, was elevated to the status of metropolis and at the same time, four other dioceses were born — New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Louisville. So it is a great jubilee for this nucleus of the Church in the United States, a moment of reflection about the past and above all of reflection about the future, about how to respond to the great challenges of our time, in the present and with sights set on the future. And naturally, the interreligious encounter and the ecumenical encounter form part of this trip too, particularly also an encounter in the synagogue with our Jewish friends, on the eve of their feast of Passover. Therefore, this is the religious-pastoral aspect of the Church in the United States in this moment of our history, and the encounter with all the others in this common brotherhood that links us in a common responsibility.
I would like in this moment to also give thanks to President Bush, who will come to the airport, will set aside a lot of time for conversation and will receive me on the occasion of my birthday.
Second objective, the visit to the United Nations. Also here there is a particular motive: 60 years have passed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is the anthropological base, the founding philosophy of the United Nations, the human and spiritual base on which it is constructed. Thus it is really a moment of reflection, a moment to again become aware of this important stage in history. In the Universal Declaration of Human Right, various cultural traditions have blended together, above all an anthropology that recognizes in man the subject of rights, coming before all institutions, with common values that must be respected by everyone. Therefore, this visit, which takes place precisely in a moment of a values crisis, seems to me important to reconfirm both that everything began in this moment and to recover it for our future.
Father Lombardi: Let us move now to the questions that you have turned in during these days and that some of you will ask the Holy Father. Let’s begin with the question from John Allen, who I don’t think needs an introduction because he is very well known as a Vatican commentator in the United States.
Q: Holy Father, I ask the question in English, if you allow me, and maybe, if it could be possible, if we could have a phrase, a word in English, we would be very thankful. The question: The Church that you will find in the United States is a large Church, a living Church, but also a Church that suffers, in a certain sense, above all because of the recent crisis due to sexual abuses. The American people are awaiting a word from you, a message from you about this crisis. What will be your message for this suffering Church?
Benedict XVI [in English]: It is a great suffering for the Church in the United States and for the Church in general, for me personally, that this could happen. If I read the history of these events, it is difficult for me to understand how it was possible for priests to fail in this way the mission to give healing, to give God’s love to these children. I am ashamed and we will do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen in future. I think we have to act on three levels: the first is at the level of justice and the political level. I will not speak at this moment about homosexuality: this is another thing. We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry; it is absolutely incompatible and who is really guilty of being a pedophile cannot be a priest. So at this first level we can do justice and help the victims, because they are deeply affected; these are the two sides of justice: one, that pedophiles cannot be priests and the other, to help in any possible way the victims.
Then, there’s a pastoral level. The victims will need healing and help and assistance and reconciliation: this is a big pastoral engagement and I know that the bishops and the priests and all Catholic people in the United States will do whatever possible to help, to assist, to heal. We have made a visitation of the seminaries and we will do all that is possible in the education of seminarians for a deep spiritual, human and intellectual formation for the students. Only sound persons can be admitted to the priesthood and only persons with a deep personal life in Christ and who have a deep sacramental life. So, I know that the bishops and directors of seminarians will do all possible to have a strong, strong discernment because it is more important to have good priests than to have many priests. This is also our third level, and we hope that we can do and we have done and we will do in the future all that is possible to heal these wounds.
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. Another theme about which we’ve had many questions from our colleagues is that of immigration — the presence in U.S. society of Spanish-speaking people as well. And because of this, the question will be asked by our colleague Andrés Leonardo Beltramo Álvarez, who is from an information agency of Mexico.
Q: Your Holiness, I will ask the question in Italian, and then if you want, you can make your comments in Spanish. … A greeting, just a greeting. … There is an enormous growth in Hispanic presence also in the Church in the United States in general: The Catholic community is becoming ever more bilingual and ever more bicultural. At the same time, there exists in the society an increasing anti-immigration movement. The situation of the immigrants is characterized by unstable situations and discrimination. Do you intend to speak of this problem and to invite America to welcome immigrants, many of whom are Catholic?
Benedict XVI: I cannot speak in Spanish but mis saludos y mi bendición para todos los hispánicos [my greetings and my blessing for the Hispanic people.] I certainly will touch on this point. I have received various ad limina visits from the Central American bishops and also from South America, and I have seen the amplitude of this problem, above all the grave problem of the separation of families. And this is truly dangerous for the social, moral and human fabric of these countries. Nevertheless, one must differentiate between measures that must be adopted right away and long-term solutions.
The fundamental solution is that there would no longer exist the need to emigrate because there would be in one’s own country sufficient work, a sufficient social fabric, such that no one has to emigrate. Therefore we should all work for this objective, for a social development that permits offering citizens work and a future in their land of origin. And also about this point, I would like to speak with the president, because above all the United States should help with the aim that these countries can develop in this way. This is in the interest of everyone, not just of these countries, but of the world, and also of the United States.
Besides this, short-term measures: It is very important to help the families above all. In the light of the conversations that I have had with the bishops, the principal problem is that there be protection for the families, that they not be destroyed. What can be done should be done. In the same way, naturally, all that is possible must be done to work against the instability of the situations and against all the violations, and to help so that they can have a truly dignified life where they find themselves in this moment.
I would like to also say that there are many problems, many sufferings, but there is also a lot of hospitality! I know that above all the American episcopal conference collaborates a lot with the Latin American episcopal conferences in the face of needed help. With all the sorrowful things, let’s not forget also so much true humanity, so many positive actions that also exist.
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. Now a question that refers to American society: precisely about the role of religious values in American society. We give the floor to our colleague Andrea Tornielli, who is a Vatican reporter for an Italian newspaper:
Q: Holy Father, when you received the new ambassador of the United States to the Holy See, [she] mentioned as a positive value the public recognition of religion in the United States. I would like to ask you if you consider it as a possible model also for secularized Europe, or if you think that there can also be the risk that religion and the name of God can be used to justify certain policies, or even war.
Benedict XVI: Certainly in Europe, we cannot simply copy the United States: We have our history. But all of us should learn from each other. What I find fascinating in the United States is that they began with a positive concept of secularism, because this new people was formed by communities and people who had fled from the state churches and wanted to have a lay state, secular, that would open possibilities to all confessions, for all the types of religious exercise. In this way, an intentionally secular state was born: They were against a state church.
But the state should be secular precisely out of love for religion in its authenticity, which can be lived only with liberty. And in this manner we find this mix of a state that is intentionally and decidedly secular, but precisely because of a religious will, to give authenticity to religion. We already know that Alexis de Tocqueville, studying America, saw that the secular institutions live with a moral consensus that exists in fact among the citizens.
This seems to me a fundamental and positive model. One must consider that in Europe, meanwhile, 200 years have passed, more than 200 years, with a lot of developments. Now there exists also in the United States the assault of a new secularism, of everything being diverse, and therefore, before, the problem was the immigration, but the situation has become more complicated and diverse over the course of history. But the basis, the fundamental model, seems to me all the same today, worthy of having it present also in Europe.
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness. And now a last theme regarding your visit to the United Nations, and this last question falls to John Thavis, who is the Rome director of the Catholic news agency of the United States.
Q: Holy Father, the Pope is frequently thought of as the conscience of humanity, and also because of this your address at the United Nations is much awaited. I would like to ask: Do you think that a multilateral institution like the United Nations can safeguard the principles takes as “non-negotiables” by the Catholic Church, that is, the fundamental principles of natural law?
Benedict XVI: That is precisely the objective of the United Nations: that it safeguard the common values of humanity, upon which the peaceful coexistence of the nations is based: the observance of justice and the development of justice. I have already briefly mentioned that it seems to me very important that the basis of the United Nations be precisely the idea of human rights, of the rights that express non-negotiable values, that come before all institutions and are the basis of all institutions. And it is important that there exist this convergence between cultures that have found a consensus on the fact that these values are fundamental, that they are inscribed in the very being of the human [person]. To renew this awareness that the United Nations, with its peacemaking function, can work only if has the common basis of the values that are expressed afterward in “rights” that should be observed by everyone; to confirm this fundamental idea and to actualize it as much as possible is one objective of my mission.
Finally, given that at the beginning Father Lombardi asked me about my sentiments, I want to say “I go to the United States with joy!” I have been in the United States various times before; I am familiar with this great country; I am familiar with the great vivacity of the Church despite all the problems and I am content to be able to meet, in this historical moment both for the Church and for the United Nations, this great people and this great Church. Thank you to everyone!
Father Lombardi: Thank you, Your Holiness, on behalf of all of us. We truly renew our desires for this trip: that it may have all the fruits you hope for, and that we also, together with you, await. Thank you and have a good trip!
[Translation by ZENIT]
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The schedule and documents for the visit of Benedict XVI, on the Vatican website:
The papal visit on the website of the United States bishops’ conference:
And on the online news agency of the conference, Catholic News Service:
