DATE LINE: Sydney Australia, 20 JUL 2008 -
This morning the Holy Father was taken by helicopter from the heliport of Victoria Barracks to Centennial Park, a public park in Sydney founded in the year 1888. From the park he travelled by popemobile to Randwick Racecourse, making a circuit of the area as he greeted and blessed the 350,000 young people from all over the world who were gathered there to attend the closing Mass of 23rd World Youth Day. During the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Father administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 24 catechumens.
Referring in his homily to the theme of this World Youth Day - "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses" - the Holy Father affirmed that "as the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God's grace".
Benedict XVI indicated that "the power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life", explaining that "this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift".
"God's love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church".
The Pope gave thanks to the Lord for the gift of faith, "which has come down to us like a treasure passed on from generation to generation", and especially for "all those heroic missionaries, dedicated priests and religious, Christian parents and grandparents, teachers and catechists who built up the Church in these lands". In this context he mentioned the names of Blessed Mary MacKillop, St. Peter Chanel and Blessed Peter To Rot.
"Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects Him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the 'power' which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you?"
"Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith's rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished - not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of His love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.
"The world", he added, "needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns in a desperate search for meaning, the ultimate meaning that only love can give?"
"The Church also needs this renewal!" the Holy Father exclaimed. "She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit!"
Pope Benedict encouraged the young people to open their hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit. "I address this plea in a special way", he said, "to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say 'yes' to Jesus, to find your joy in doing His will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!"
Referring then to the Sacrament of Confirmation which he was about to impart upon a number of young people, he asked those present to reflect upon the significance of receiving the "seal" of the Holy Spirit. "It means", he explained, "being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation". It means "not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilisation of love".
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, 22 MAY 2008 - Corpus Christi
Extract from the Holy Father's homily on the Feast of the Most Holy Body of Christ
"...Adoring the God of Jesus Christ, made bread, broken for love, is the most valid and radical remedy against the idolatries of yesterday and of today. Kneeling in front of the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: who bends to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate before any earthly power, as strong as it may be. We, Christians, kneel only before God, before the Most Holy Sacrament, because we know and believe that in it is present the one true God, who has created the world and has so loved the world to give his only begotten Son.
We prostrate before a God who first inclined himself toward man, as Good Samaritan, to rescue him and give him life, and who knelt before us to cleanse our filthy feet. Adoring the Body of Christ means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, there is truly Christ, who gives true meaning to life, to the immense universe as well as to the smallest creature, to the entire human history as well as to the briefest existence. The adoration is a prayer which prolongs Eucharistic celebration and communion, and in which the soul continues to nourish itself: it is nourished with love, with truth, with peace; it nourished itself with hope, because the One before whom we prostrate does neither judge us, nor humiliates us, but transforms us and makes us free."
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, 18 MAY 2008 - A Message for Youth
Following his visit to Genoa's "Giannina Gaslini" paediatric hospital this morning, the Pope met with a group of young people in the city's Piazza Matteotti
"Youth still has all its future ahead. ... The future is full of promise. Today however, for many, it is also full of threats, especially the threat of a great void. Hence many people want to hold back time for fear of a future in emptiness". Faced with such a situation, "it is important to choose real promises that open to the future, even by making sacrifices. ... And the first fundamental choice must be God".
".... The Holy Father invited the young people "to cultivate spiritual life. ... The life of the soul", he explained, "is meeting with Him, the real Face of God, it is silent and persistent prayer, it is sacramental life, it is meditating upon the Gospel, it is spiritual accompaniment, it is cordial membership of the Church and of your ecclesial communities.
"Yet how", he added, "can one love what one does not know? ... Hence the need to delve more deeply into the mystery of Jesus, the truth of His thought that resounds in the Gospel and in the Church's Magisterium. Without a solid formation", he went on, "how will it be possible to explain the faith to your peers, so full of questions about life, about themselves, about Christian faith, and the Church?"
The Holy Father encouraged the young people to announce the Gospel "in the various areas of life, in your parishes, in the most difficult neighbourhoods, in the streets. Announce Christ the Lord, hope of the world. The more man distances himself from God (Who is his Source) the more he loses himself; human coexistence becomes difficult and society crumbles. Remain united to one another, help one another to live and grow in faith and Christian life, in order to become intrepid witness of the Lord".
"If you remain united to Christ and the Church, you can achieve great things. This is the hope I consign to you" he concluded. "Goodbye until we meet again in Sydney!"
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, February 6, 2008 - LENT, A GREAT SPIRITUAL RETREAT LASTING FORTY DAYS
In this morning's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope dedicated his catechesis to the subject of Lent, which begins today with the rite of the imposition of the ashes and which, he observed, "is like a great spiritual retreat lasting 40 days".
"Today, as every year, we recommence the Lenten journey, stimulated by a more intense spirit of prayer and reflection, of penance and fasting", he said.
Lent, Benedict XVI continued, "helps us to rediscover the gift of faith we received at Baptism and encourages us to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, placing our commitment to inner conversion under the protection of divine mercy".
In today's liturgy for Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that "we are limited creatures, sinners in constant need of penance and conversion. How important it is, in our own time, to listen to and accept this call! When he proclaims his complete autonomy from God, modern man becomes self-enslaved, and often finds himself tormented and alone. The call to conversion is, then, an encouragement to return to the arms of God the tender and merciful Father, to trust in Him, and to entrust ourselves to Him as adoptive children regenerated by His love".
The Pope went on to ask whether "achievement of success, desire for prestige and pursuit of luxury, when they completely absorb a person's life to the point of excluding God from the horizon, truly lead to happiness. Can real happiness exist without God? Experience shows that satisfying material wants and needs does not lead to happiness, In truth, the only joy that fills the human heart is the joy that comes from God, because we have need of infinite happiness. Neither daily concerns nor the difficulties of life are able to extinguish the delight that comes from friendship with God".
Jesus' invitation to take up the cross and follow Him may seem a "harsh" rule that "quashes our desire for personal fulfilment", said the Holy Father, going on to highlight that, in fact, "the witness of the saints shows how in the Cross of Christ - in love given as a gift, renouncing the possession of self - is a profound serenity that is the source of generous dedication to our brothers and sisters, especially the poor and needy. And this also brings joy to us".
Echoing the Gospel, "the Church proposes a number of specific duties for the faithful on this itinerary of interior renewal: prayer, fasting, almsgiving", said Benedict XVI recalling how his own Message for Lent this year had focused on "the practice of almsgiving".
"Like the disciples of Jesus Christ", he concluded, "we are called not to idolise worldly goods, but to use them as a means to live and to help others in need, ... in imitation of Jesus Who, as St. Paul says, 'was poor to enrich us with his poverty'".
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, NOVEMBER 13, 2007 - 150th Anniversary of the Apparitions at Lourdes
In the Holy See Press Office this morning, the presentation took place of the program of celebrations organized to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Immaculate Conception to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.
Participating in the press conference were Bishop Jacques Perrier of Tarbes and Lourdes, Fr. Vincenzo Battaglia O.F.M., president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, and Alessandro Pinna of UNITALSI (Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines).
Bishop Perrier indicated that for the 150th anniversary a Jubilee Year will be held, due to run from December 8, 2007, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, to December 8, 2008, and "to take place within the context of the new evangelization."
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 - Pope Highlights Need to Protect the Environment
At the end of today's general audience, Benedict XVI turned his attention to an international symposium on the defense of the Arctic, which begins tomorrow on the west coast of Greenland under the presidency of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. The theme of the meeting is: "The Arctic: Mirror of Life."
Speaking English, the Pope said: "Care of water resources and attention to climate change are matters of grave importance for the entire human family. Encouraged by the growing recognition of the need to preserve the environment, I invite all of you to join me in praying and working for greater respect for the wonders of God's creation."
DATE LINE: SIDNEY AUSTRALIA, JUL 1, 2007 - World Youth Day Cross arrives
The World Youth Day Cross arrived in Sidney on July 1st along with the icon of Our Lady. The cross and icon will tour Austraila for a year and then arrive on opening day to be placed in a prominate location for the duration of the events. The Cross is currently in Brisbane, but will depart for the next location on August 29th. Click here to see the itinery.
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, JUL 24, 2007 (VIS) - Pope observes the centenary of the founding of the Boy Scouts
August 1 will mark the centenary of the opening of the first ever scout camp, organized on Brownsea Island, United Kingdom, by Lord Baden-Powell (1857-1941), founder of the World Scout Movement.
For this occasion, thousands of Catholic scouts and guides from all over Europe will meet with Benedict XVI on Wednesday, August 1, during the general audience which is due to be held in the Vatican.
In a Letter to mark the centenary of the Scout Movement, addressed to Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and president of the Conference of Bishops of France, and published on July 2, the Holy Father recalls the founder of Catholic Scouts, Fr. Jacques Sevin S.J. and gives thanks to God "for all the fruits which, over this century, the Scout Movement has brought."
The Pope also encourages Catholic scouts and guides to continue their journey, offering "young people today an education that forms strong personalities, rooted in Christ and desirous of living exalted ideals of faith and human solidarity."
DATE LINE: VATICAN CITY, JUL 4, 2007 (VIS) - World Youth Day
At the end of today's general audience, the Pope addressed young people who are currently preparing for the next World Youth Day (WYD), due to be held in July 2008 in Sydney, Australia.
The Holy Father encouraged the young people "to prepare well for this marvelous celebration of the faith. ... Enter fully into the life of your parishes and participate enthusiastically in diocesan events! In this way you will be equipped spiritually to experience new depths of understanding of all that we believe when we gather in Sydney next July."
"I know that already the ecclesial and government authorities, together with numerous young Australians, are working very hard to ensure an exceptional experience for us all. I offer them my heartfelt thanks.
"World Youth Day is much more than an event," Pope Benedict added. "It is a time of deep spiritual renewal, the fruits of which benefit the whole of society."
"Some of you have friends with little real purpose in their lives, perhaps caught up in a futile search for endless new experiences. Bring them to World Youth Day too! In fact, I have noticed that against the tide of secularism many young people are rediscovering the satisfying quest for authentic beauty, goodness and truth. Through your witness you help them in their search for the Spirit of God."
The Holy Father concluded: "Be courageous in that witness! Strive to spread Christ's guiding light, which gives purpose to all life, making lasting joy and happiness possible for everyone."
AG/WORLD YOUTH DAY/SYDNEY VIS 070704 (270)