ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - March 19, 2009
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POPE IN AFRICA Africa Urged to Care for Its Soul Pontiff Notes Africa's Vocation to Know Christ Benedict XVI: When Suffering, Trust God Spokesman Explains Church's Fight Against AIDS VATICAN DOSSIER Coliseum Way of the Cross Echoes Plight of Christians in India WORLD FEATURES Media Reports on Condoms Seen as Superficial Growing Concern in Cameroon Over Wahhabite Muslims Pontiff Tells Muslims Religion Must Unveil Reason ROME NOTES Pro-lifers Ready for the Fight DOCUMENTS Benedict XVI's Homily at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium Papal Address to Special Council for Africa Pontiff's Words at Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger Centre Pope's Words to Cameroon Muslim Leaders Clarification of Pope's Words on AIDS
POPE IN AFRICA
Africa Urged to Care for Its Soul
Benedict XVI Presided at Stadium Mass in Cameroon
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- If Africa isn't careful, it is at risk of losing its many human and spiritual values, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today to more than 40,000 faithful who attended the Mass he presided over at Yaoundé's Amadou Ahidjo stadium, which marked the publication of the "instrumentum laboris" of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
Speaking to the mothers and fathers present, the Pontiff asked, "Do you accept that [God] is counting on you to pass on to your children the human and spiritual values that you yourselves have received and which will prepare them to live with love and respect for his holy name?"
"You must be very careful," he warned. "Africa in general, and Cameroon in particular, place themselves at risk if they do not recognize the True Author of Life!
"Brothers and sisters in Cameroon and throughout Africa, you who have received from God so many human virtues, take care of your souls!"
"Do not let yourselves be captivated by selfish illusions and false ideals," he continued. "Believe -- yes! -- continue to believe in God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- he alone truly loves you in the way you yearn to be loved, he alone can satisfy you, can bring stability to your lives. Only Christ is the way of Life."
Benedict XVI noted that the family in Africa "is experiencing a difficult time," and that "certain values of the traditional life have been overturned."
For example, he said, "relationships between different generations have evolved in a way that no longer favors the transmission of accumulated knowledge and inherited wisdom."
The Pope also cited the "rural exodus" as a factor that is affecting "the quality of family ties."
"Uprooted and fragile members of the younger generation who often -- sadly -- are without gainful employment, seek to cure their pain by living in ephemeral and man-made paradises which we know will never guarantee the human being a deep, abiding happiness," he explained.
Solutions
Benedict XVI said the trend isn't irreversible, and that the first step to restoring strength to the family consists in "restoring a sense of the acceptance of life as a gift from God."
"According to both sacred Scripture and the wisest traditions of your continent, the arrival of a child is always a gift, a blessing from God," he explained. "Today it is high time to place greater emphasis on this: Every human being, every tiny human person, however weak, is created 'in the image and likeness of God.'
"Every person must live! Death must not prevail over life! Death will never have the last word!"
"Sons and daughters of Africa, do not be afraid to believe, to hope, and to love," the Pontiff urged. "Do not be afraid to say that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that we can be saved by him alone."
"'Hoping against hope': Is this not a magnificent description of a Christian," Benedict XVI asked. "Africa is called to hope through you and in you! With Jesus Christ, who trod the African soil, Africa can become the continent of hope!"
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Pontiff Notes Africa's Vocation to Know Christ
Highlights Need for Reconciliation Among Peoples
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Africa has a particular vocation to know Christ, and that's something all Africans should be proud of, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today upon meeting with the Special Council of the Synod for Africa at the apostolic nunciature of Yaoundé. The meeting took place to mark the publication of the "instrumentum laboris" (working document) of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
The synod will be held Oct. 4-25 in the Vatican on the theme "The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace: You Are the Salt of the Earth; You Are the Light of the World."
"Your continent has been blessed by our Lord Jesus himself," the Pontiff began. "At the dawn of his earthly life, sad circumstances led him to set foot on African soil. God chose your continent to become the dwelling-place of his Son.
"In Jesus, God drew near to all men and women, of course, but also, in a particular way, to the men and women of Africa. Africa is where the Son of God was weaned, where he was offered effective sanctuary."
Noting the continent's long history of Christianity, the Holy Father recalled that "God himself brought salt and light to Africa. From that time on, the seed of his presence was buried deep within the hearts of this dear continent, and it has blossomed gradually, beyond and within the vicissitudes of its human history.
"As a result of the coming of Christ who blessed it with his physical presence, Africa has received a particular vocation to know Christ. Let Africans be proud of this!"
Rebirth
In reflecting on the events since the Second Vatican Council, which coincided with the emergence of new democracies on the continent, Benedict XVI noted the progress of the Church in Africa, which "accompanied the building of new national identities and, at the same time, sought to translate the identity of Christ along its own ways."
"As the hierarchy became increasingly African following Pope Pius XII’s ordination of Bishops from your continent, theological reflection began to ferment quickly," the Pope continued. "It would be well for your theologians today to continue to probe the depth of the Trinitarian mystery and its meaning for everyday African life.
"This century will perhaps permit, by God’s grace, the rebirth, on your continent, albeit certainly under a different and new form, of the prestigious School of Alexandria. Why could we not hope that Africans today and the universal Church might thereby be furnished with great theologians and spiritual masters capable of contributing to the sanctification of those who dwell in this continent and throughout the Church?"
Turning toward the themes to be addressed by the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, Benedict XVI spoke of the need for reconciliation "between peoples, ethnic groups and individuals" on the continent.
"Your continent," he said, "has been and continues to be a theatre of grave tragedies which cry out for true reconciliation between peoples, ethnic groups and individuals."
For Christians, the Pope said, "reconciliation is rooted in the merciful love of God the Father, and it is accomplished through the person of Christ Jesus who, in the Holy Spirit, has offered the grace of reconciliation to all. Its consequences will be shown, then, in the justice and peace which are indispensable for building a better world."
"If it is true," he added, "that in Jesus Christ we belong to the same family and share the same life -- since in our veins there flows the Blood of Christ himself, who has made us children of God, members of God’s Family -- there must no longer be hatred, injustice and internecine war."
Nourishment
Benedict XVI also spoke of the need of fostering a deeper eucharistic life and a "profound listening to the word of God and meditative reading of sacred Scripture."
"The word of life and the Bread of life offer light and nourishment as medicine and food for our journey in fidelity to the Teacher and Shepherd of our souls, so that the Church in Africa can carry out the service of reconciliation, justice and peace," the Pope explained.
"If they are truly to be this, the faithful must undergo conversion and follow Jesus Christ; they must become his disciples in order to be witnesses of his saving power," he added.
"No ethnic or cultural difference, no difference of race, sex or religion must become a cause for dispute among you," the Holy Father concluded. "You are all children of the one God, our Father, who is in heaven. With this conviction, it will then be possible to build a more just and peaceful Africa, an Africa worthy of the legitimate expectations of all its children."
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Benedict XVI: When Suffering, Trust God
Visits Sick at Cardinal Léger Centre
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Although many doubt God's presence in their lives when facing suffering, it's actually the best time to entrust oneself even more to him, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today upon meeting with sick people at the Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger Centre. He assured those present, "You are not alone in your pain, for Christ himself is close to all who suffer."
"Faced with suffering, sickness and death, it is tempting to cry out in pain, as Job did, whose name means 'suffering,'" the Pontiff reflected. "As our condition deteriorates, our anguish increases; some are tempted to doubt whether God is present in their lives.
"Job, however, was conscious of God’s presence; his was not a cry of rebellion, but, from the depths of his sorrow, he allowed his trust to grow.
"His friends, like each of us when faced with the suffering of a loved one, tried to console him, but they used hollow and empty words."
"In the presence of such torment," the Holy Father continued, "we feel powerless and we cannot find the right words. Before a brother or sister plunged into the mystery of the cross, a respectful and compassionate silence, a prayerful presence, a gesture of tenderness and comfort, a kind look, a smile, often achieve more than many words."
You visited me
Addressing the hospital staff and those who work in the field of health care, Benedict XVI said that by "accompanying those who suffer, through the care and attention you offer them, you accomplish an act of charity and love that God recognizes: 'I was sick, and you visited me.'"
He reminded the doctors and researchers of their "task of putting into practice every legitimate form of pain relief."
"You are called, in the first place, to protect human life, you are the defenders of life from conception to natural death," the Pope affirmed. "For every person, respect for life is a right and at the same time a duty, since all life is a gift from God."
The Pontiff urged priests and those who visit the sick to "commit themselves to an active and friendly presence in their hospital chaplaincy, or to assure an ecclesial presence in the home, for the comfort and spiritual support of the sick. In accordance with his promise, God will give you a just reward, and he will recompense you in heaven."
"I also want to express my wish that none of you should ever feel alone," the Holy Father concluded. "In fact it is the task of every human person, created in the image of Christ, to be a good neighbor to those around him."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text:
www.zenit.org/article-25413?l=english
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Spokesman Explains Church's Fight Against AIDS
Clarifies Media's Misrepresentation of Papal Words on Condoms
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- The Vatican spokesman commented on Benedict XVI's words regarding the fight against AIDS, clarifying that the Church's priority is education, research and human and spiritual assistance, not condom distribution.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, clarified this in a communiqué published Wednesday from Yaoundé. He responded to interpretations by the media and by government representatives, of the Pope's words to journalists during his flight from Rome to Cameroon.
A front-page editorial by Giovanni Maria Vian, director of L'Osservatore Romano, stated that some of the media reduced the Pontiff's message on AIDS "to just one aspect -- moreover, taken out of context and in a controversial vein -- namely, that of the methods to confront the spread of AIDS."
He noted that, based on a partial version of the Pope's words in his reference to AIDS and condoms reported by the media on Tuesday, government representatives and institutions responded with harsh criticism.
For example, Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is quoted on French radio and other sources as expressing his "profound indignation" and asking the Pope to retract his statements, considering them "unacceptable," as they represent "a denial of the epidemic."
Representatives of the governments of Spain, France and Belgium also attacked the Holy Father.
Church's position
Father Lombardi stated that the Pontiff, in his address, "confirmed the positions of the Catholic Church and the essential lines of her commitment to combat the terrible scourge of AIDS."
The first step, he explained, is "education in the responsibility of persons in the use of sexuality and with the reaffirmation of the essential role of marriage and the family."
Second, the spokesman said, the epidemic must be fought "with research and the implementation of effective treatments for AIDS, making them available to the greatest number of patients through many health initiatives and institutions."
Thirdly, he noted, the response must include "human and spiritual assistance to AIDS patients, as well as to all those who suffer, who have always been in the heart of the Church."
Father Lombardi underlined the Church's commitment to fight AIDS in these ways, noting that "to seek essentially a greater diffusion of condoms, is not in reality the best way, the broadest view or the most effective way to address the scourge of AIDS and to safeguard human life."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Text of Benedict XVI's words to journalists:
http://www.zenit.org/article-25405?l=englishFull text of Father Lombardi's communiqué:
http://www.zenit.org/article-25408?l=english
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VATICAN DOSSIER
Coliseum Way of the Cross Echoes Plight of Christians in India
Prelate Chosen to Prepare Meditations for Papal Stations
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, India, was chosen to prepare the meditations for this year's Way of the Cross that the Pope will pray on Good Friday at the Coliseum in Rome.
A Vatican statement confirmed that "these past years the Pope, in solidarity with the suffering Christians, has called on Church leaders from persecuted Churches to prepare meditations and prayers to be used at the Good Friday devotion which the Pope will personally preside to mark the suffering and death of Jesus."
The Indian agency SARnews reported that Archbishop Menamparampil is known for his peacemaking efforts in the ethnic conflicts in northeastern India in recent years, as well as for his advocacy for Dalit Christians -- also known as social outcasts who have been a target of religious persecution in the past months in Orissa.
The report noted that the archbishop of Guwahati wrote his reflections based on the plight of persecuted Christians in India, as well as the oppressed peoples of Sudan and Congo, "who were denied their rights and human dignity."
For the second consecutive year, Benedict XVI looks to Asia to prepare the Way of the Cross, which was prepared last Lent by Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop of Hong Kong. The cardinal is known as a fighter for religious freedom for Catholics in mainland China.
Archbishop Menamparampil, 72, has been head of the archdiocese of Guwahati since 1995. He is president of the Federation of Asian Bishop’s Conference Commission for Evangelization. In 1998 he was given the Maschio Award in Bombay for his work in favor of reconciliation among different ethnic groups in northeastern India.
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WORLD FEATURES
Media Reports on Condoms Seen as Superficial
President of Catholic Medical Federation Offers Clarification
BARCELONA, Spain, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- The president of the World Federation of the Catholic Medical Associations is asserting that the media got it wrong when reporting on Benedict XVI's latest statement about condoms.
Dr. José María Simón Castellví observed that many recent newspaper articles are portraying the Church as saying that, if a person is to have relations with a prostitute, he must not use a condom.
He noted the superficiality with which some media sources have reported Benedict XVI's press conference Tuesday on the plane en route to Cameroon, when the Pope said that condoms are not the solution for AIDS.
"The Church defends faithfulness, abstinence and monogamy as the best weapons," the president told ZENIT.
However, he said, the media and even some political representatives have accused the Church of promoting AIDS in Africa. Obviously, the Church is not saying that one can have all sorts of promiscuous sexual relations, as long as one does not use a condom, he clarified.
Love without barriers
The doctor explained that, to understand what the Church says about condoms, it is necessary to understand what love is. He noted that the Pope himself explained this to journalists, although that passage of his conversation was censured by most of the media.
Simón added: "A condom is a barrier, but a barrier with limits that many times is crossed. It can be counterproductive, especially in the case of young people, from the point of view of viral transmission.
"We, Catholic doctors, are in favor of scientific knowledge. We do not say things only because of ideological obligations.
"In the same way that we say that adultery in one's thoughts does not transmit a virus but is something evil, we must say that condoms have their dangers, limited barriers."
He illustrated the Church's position by recalling a historical case that was reported by the media.
In 1993 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, he said, the 7th International AIDS Meeting was held with expert doctors and health agents. It was a meeting that brought together some 300 participants. At the end, a questionnaire was handed out asking the participants if, during the three days of the meeting, they had sexual relations outside of a stable relationship.
Of those questioned, 28% answered yes, and of these, one third said that they had not taken any "precaution" to avoid contamination, the doctor reported.
He asked, "If this happens among people who are 'aware,' what must be the case among ordinary people?"
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Growing Concern in Cameroon Over Wahhabite Muslims
Professor Notes Government's Peacemaking Efforts
By Nieves San Martin
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- A Cameroon university center that specializes in the study of Islam is noting a growing concern over the influence of Wahhabite Muslims who have arrived in the country from Sudan and Nigeria.
The concern was expressed to ZENIT by Father Krzysztof Zielenda, director of Yaoundé's St. Joseph Mukasa Institute, a university for religious of 14 congregations.
According to Father Zielenda, a Mary Immaculate oblate, who has lived for many years in the country and who is a professor of Islamic religion at the institute, "in Cameroon, Islam is changing its physiognomy."
He explained that "it is moving from the traditional Islam of fraternities, to an Islam marked by the Wahhabite movement," a Muslim sect founded in Arabia in the 18th century by Muhammad ibn-Abdul Wahhab.
The priest explained "these are more fundamentalist movements that have arrived in Nigeria from Sudan and are now coming here from Nigeria. So the Muslim world is being reformed in Cameroon."
He said Cameroon's Islam community "has always been very linked to Nigeria because the first Muslim communities came from there." He added, "And now the influence coming from there is not good because they are more fundamentalist groups."
Father Zielenda asserted that up until now Muslims and Christians have lived together in harmony in Cameroon in a large extent due to the attitude of the political authorities.
He noted: "If coexistence between religions is good here, it is because the government watches over that coexistence. For example, in 2004, in a city in the north, there was a problem because a group of young Muslims virtually called a war against Cameroon's Christians. All the administrative authorities were involved to try to calm spirits."
The priest, a Polish missionary, was then a pastor in that city and recalled that the governor called him, along with other Protestant pastors and two Muslim imams and "asked each of us to calm the spirits in our communities." He said, "The bishop also met with the governor and with the head of the Muslim community for the same end."
The missionary stated his opinion that the government's work of mediation to maintain coexistence between the country's religions was not an isolated case. He said, "I am certain that the government really watches so that those relations are not broken."
Moreover, he said, the attitude of Cameroonian Muslims in general is one of understanding with other religions, especially with Christianity.
Father Zielenda emphasized in particular their attitude on the controversial topic of Benedict XVI's address in Regensburg. He noted that they did not follow the line of many other Muslim groups in reacting to the Pope's address.
He explained: "The day after the Pope's conference in Regensburg, there was to be a joint meeting here of the government, Muslims and Catholics. The Muslims said they would not attend.
"But the same ones who did not want to attend that meeting published a document making it very clear that the Muslims who were going to confront the Pope's address had nothing to do with the Muslims who live in Cameroon."
"Traditionally relations between Christians and Muslims have been good and continue to be good," concluded Father Zielenda. "However, both Christians and Muslims are very worried over the influence of Wahhabites, which is increasingly visible."
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Pontiff Tells Muslims Religion Must Unveil Reason
Encourages Cooperation in Building Civilization of Love
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging the participation of all faiths to affirm the unity of reason and religion, to imbue society with genuine values and to build an authentically human culture.
The Pope said this today in an address to Muslim leaders of Cameroon in the Yaoundé apostolic nunciature.
He acknowledged that the meeting was "is a vivid sign of the desire we share with all people of good will -- in Cameroon, throughout Africa and across the globe -- to seek opportunities to exchange ideas about how religion makes an essential contribution to our understanding of culture and the world, and to the peaceful coexistence of all the members of the human family."
The Pontiff noted that both Christians and Muslims "believe in one, merciful God who on the last day will judge mankind."
"Together," he affirmed, "they bear witness to the fundamental values of family, social responsibility, obedience to God’s law and loving concern for the sick and suffering."
He added, "By patterning their lives on these virtues and teaching them to the young, Christians and Muslims not only show how they foster the full development of the human person, but also how they forge bonds of solidarity with one’s neighbors and advance the common good."
Right reason
The Holy Father underlined the "urgent task of religion today," to "unveil the vast potential of human reason, which is itself God’s gift and which is elevated by revelation and faith."
He continued: "We are called to help others see the subtle traces and mysterious presence of God in the world which he has marvelously created and continually sustains with his ineffable and all-embracing love.
"Although his infinite glory can never be directly grasped by our finite minds in this life, we nonetheless catch glimpses of it in the beauty that surrounds us.
"When men and women allow the magnificent order of the world and the splendor of human dignity to illumine their minds, they discover that what is 'reasonable' […] includes the goodness and innate attractiveness of upright and ethical living made known to us in the very language of creation.
Benedict XVI noted that this recognition "prompts us to seek all that is right and just," and "act for the good of others."
Thus, he said, genuine religion "rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith, but also of right reason."
He added that "religion and reason mutually reinforce one another since religion is purified and structured by reason, and reason’s full potential is unleashed by revelation and faith."
The Pope encouraged his "dear Muslim friends" to "imbue society with the values that emerge from this perspective and elevate human culture, as we work together to build a civilization of love."
He expressed a prayer that "the enthusiastic cooperation of Muslims, Catholics and other Christians in Cameroon" will inspire "other African nations of the enormous potential of an interreligious commitment to peace, justice and the common good."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text:
http://www.zenit.org/article-25409?l=english
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ROME NOTES
Pro-lifers Ready for the Fight
C-FAM Founder Says He Won't Give an Inch
By Edward Pentin
ROME, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- In the short time he’s been in office, President Barack Obama has already enacted policies that threaten the lives of the most vulnerable not only in his own country but beyond the shores of the United States.
One of his very first decisions was to allow U.S. government funding of organizations that sponsor abortion provision across the globe. He also restarted federal funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- an organization that sponsors birth control, and has in the past promoted abortion and sterilization.
But for Austin Ruse, founding president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), an organization that lobbies the United Nations on pro-life issues, these crises are not moments of discouragement, but cues to take action. “Right after the election, my staff were a little despondent,” recalled Ruse, who was passing through Rome last week. “But I made the point that this is going to be the best four years of their lives.”
“Rarely in the history of the Church will people have been so needed as we are at the United Nations,” he said. “This is almost as good as the second century because nobody can be wasted, there is just so much work to do.”
Ruse said he has asserted for a long while that Obama, just like the Clintons, will pursue more radical policies at the United Nations than anywhere else because people pay little attention to the organization, particularly when it comes to social policy. “It means he [Obama] can be his true self on social policy and pay off a lot of debts to the hard left on abortion, homosexual marriage and a whole host of things,” Ruse explained. “And all of this is coming to pass.”
He pointed out that only days earlier, the Obama administration had endorsed radical international guidelines on HIV/AIDS, which calls for criminalizing critics of homosexuality. And he warned of further challenges brought about by current international crises.
“Sadly, at a time like this, when there is widespread social dislocation, uncertainty, financial panic and war, this is precisely when our social enemies make the most progress because they’re busy while everyone is looking at the other way,” he explained. “Our opponents on these issues almost never ever sleep, so they look upon these difficult times as nothing but an opportunity to further their cause.”
Ruse has seen it all before, of course, during the Clinton administration in the 1990s. And he wasn’t for one moment taken in by Obama’s talk of reaching across the aisle. “What consensus means for the left is talking to the farther left,” he said. “It never really means talking to us.”
Now in its 11th year, C-FAM, together with a coalition of other pro-life organizations, has had numerous successes over the years, from helping to prevent abortion becoming a universally recognized human right, to thwarting attempts to redefine the family and gender. Now, one of its other major bugbears is the push toward global governance, also expected to gain ground under Obama. Ruse is about to launch a blog called "The New Sovereigntists" on this theme -- just one of no doubt many future initiatives to draw attention to the real dangers of this administration.
“The pro-life movement is determined to fight him [Obama] on every single thing related to our issues,” said Ruse. “We’re not going to give an inch, and we’re going to repeatedly paint him for what he is, which is the most pro-abortion president in the history of the United States.”
* * *
No More Letters
A group of American pro-life activists who visited the Vatican earlier this month were likewise determined to draw attention to serious concerns over the Obama administration -- but their attention was more directed at the Church.
Under the name "Oves Sine Pastore" (Sheep Without a Shepherd), the group called in on various dicasteries, and asked senior officials to put pressure on U.S. bishops to stand up vigorously in defense of life in the face of Obama’s liberal social agenda.
They believe the reason Obama was elected was the fruit of some bishops not standing up in the public square to properly defend the Church’s teachings. The group therefore asked three things of the Vatican: to replace certain archbishops serving in key sees who are lax on these issues, to stop serving Communion to pro-abortion politicians, and to halt the “cycle of mediocrity and disobedience” among some bishops by appointing orthodox replacements.
“These bishops will not teach what the Church herself teaches in the magisterium,” says Ed Faddour, a pensioner from Iowa. By not defending the Church’s pro-life teachings, he adds, there is a direct effect on the daily life of Catholic families and a consequent “emptying out of churches.”
The group, some of whose members said they had been arrested by their bishop for handing out pro-life leaflets in a diocesan parking lot, believes that two shackles are thwarting the mission of the American Church: fear and corruption. Too many bishops, they say, fear bad press, angry parishioners, not being invited to important engagements, offending large donors, losing their reputation, or exposing something wrong in their own lives.
Joseph Landry, one of the group’s younger members, says it’s time the Church held up heroic figures who will stand up for pro-life issues. “We’re not lukewarm, we’re white hot, and we’re ready to follow just as long as we have a hero at the front,” he says.
The group was led by Randall Terry, the outspoken pro-life activist and founder of Operation Rescue. A convert to the Church from evangelical Protestantism who has the fiery zeal of an evangelical preacher, Terry says some of the “greatest roadblocks” to ending abortion are found in diocesan offices.
The way forward, he believes, is to ensure bishops and priests pass a three-point litmus test: Has he preached against birth control? Has he made a public stand against abortion? And will he refuse to serve Communion to openly pro-abortion Catholics such as politicians? If he doesn’t fulfill these requirements, says Terry, “he doesn’t have the metal to wear red -- to be a martyr.”
Terry, who stresses that 50 million babies have been killed through surgical abortions since Roe v. Wade, says Obama is “behaving like Herod” by threatening to forbid Catholic doctors the right to refuse to perform abortions on conscience grounds. And he adds such a policy is “all the fruit of Catholic bishops’ silence and fear.”
He believes hope for change rests with the Holy See which, he says, has an opportunity, by appointing the right bishops, “to change the course of history” and “show the world they mean business about stopping child killing and standing up to the tyrants of our age.”
Although the group met several high-ranking officials, they weren’t granted an audience with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But the redoubtable Terry is unfazed. “We’ll be back with a larger delegation,” he says. “The time for simply writing letters has passed.”
* * *
Edward Pentin is a freelance writer living in Rome. He can be reached at: epentin@zenit.org.
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DOCUMENTS
Benedict XVI's Homily at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium
"Do Not Be Afraid to Believe, to Hope, and to Love"
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI gave today during the Mass he presided over at Yaoundé's Amadou Ahidjo stadium, which marked the publication of the "instrumentum laboris" of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
* * *
Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Praised be Jesus Christ who has gathered us in this stadium today that we may enter more deeply into his life!
Jesus Christ brings us together on this day when the Church, here in Cameroon and throughout the world, celebrates the Feast of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Virgin Mary. I begin by wishing a very happy feast day to all those who, like myself, have received the grace of bearing this beautiful name, and I ask Saint Joseph to grant them his special protection in guiding them towards the Lord Jesus Christ all the days of their life. I also extend cordial best wishes to all the parishes, schools, colleges, and institutions named after Saint Joseph. I thank Archbishop Tonyé-Bakot of Yaoundé for his kind words, and I warmly greet the representatives of the African Episcopal Conferences who have come to Yaoundé for the promulgation of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
How can we enter into the specific grace of this day? In a little while, at the end of Mass, the liturgy will remind us of the focal point of our meditation when it has us pray: "Lord, today you nourish us at this altar as we celebrate the feast of Saint Joseph. Protect your Church always, and in your love watch over the gifts you have given us." We are asking the Lord to protect the Church always -- and he does! -- just as Joseph protected his family and kept watch over the child Jesus during his early years.
Our Gospel reading recalls this for us. The angel said to Joseph: "Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home," (Mt 1:20) and that is precisely what he did: "he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him" (Mt 1:24). Why was Saint Matthew so keen to note Joseph’s trust in the words received from the messenger of God, if not to invite us to imitate this same loving trust?
Although the first reading which we have just heard does not speak explicitly of Saint Joseph, it does teach us a good deal about him. The prophet Nathan, in obedience to God’s command, tells David: "I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins" (2 Sam 7:12). David must accept that he will die before seeing the fulfilment of this promise, which will come to pass "when (his) time comes" and he will rest "with (his) ancestors". We thus come to realize that one of mankind’s most cherished desires -- seeing the fruits of one’s labours -- is not always granted by God. I think of those among you who are mothers and fathers of families. Parents quite rightly desire to give the best of themselves to their children, and they want to see them achieve success. Yet make no mistake about what this "success" entails: what God asks David to do is to place his trust in him. David himself will not see his heir who will have a throne "firm for ever" (2 Sam 7:16), for this heir, announced under the veil of prophecy, is Jesus. David puts his trust in God. In the same way, Joseph trusts God when he hears his messenger, the Angel, say to him: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her" (Mt 1:20). Throughout all of history, Joseph is the man who gives God the greatest display of trust, even in the face of such astonishing news.
Dear fathers and mothers here today, do you have trust in God who has called you to be the fathers and mothers of his adopted children? Do you accept that he is counting on you to pass on to your children the human and spiritual values that you yourselves have received and which will prepare them to live with love and respect for his holy name? At a time when so many people have no qualms about trying to impose the tyranny of materialism, with scant concern for the most deprived, you must be very careful. Africa in general, and Cameroon in particular, place themselves at risk if they do not recognize the True Author of Life! Brothers and sisters in Cameroon and throughout Africa, you who have received from God so many human virtues, take care of your souls! Do not let yourselves be captivated by selfish illusions and false ideals! Believe -- yes! -- continue to believe in God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- he alone truly loves you in the way you yearn to be loved, he alone can satisfy you, can bring stability to your lives. Only Christ is the way of Life.
God alone could grant Joseph the strength to trust the Angel. God alone will give you, dear married couples, the strength to raise your family as he wants. Ask it of him! God loves to be asked for what he wishes to give. Ask him for the grace of a true and ever more faithful love patterned after his own. As the Psalm magnificently puts it: his "love is established for ever, his loyalty will stand as long as the heavens" (Ps 88:3).
Just as on other continents, the family today -- in your country and across Africa -- is experiencing a difficult time; but fidelity to God will help see it through. Certain values of the traditional life have been overturned. Relationships between different generations have evolved in a way that no longer favours the transmission of accumulated knowledge and inherited wisdom. Too often we witness a rural exodus not unlike that known in many other periods of human history. The quality of family ties is deeply affected by this. Uprooted and fragile members of the younger generation who often -- sadly -- are without gainful employment, seek to cure their pain by living in ephemeral and man-made paradises which we know will never guarantee the human being a deep, abiding happiness. Sometimes the African people too are constrained to flee from themselves and abandon everything that once made up their interior richness. Confronted with the phenomenon of rapid urbanization, they leave the land, physically and morally: not as Abraham had done in response to the Lord’s call, but as a kind of interior exile which alienates them from their very being, from their brothers and sisters, and from God himself.
Is this an irreversible, inevitable development? By no means! More than ever, we must "hope against all hope" (Rom 4:18). Here I wish to acknowledge with appreciation and gratitude the remarkable work done by countless associations that promote the life of faith and the practice of charity. May they be warmly thanked! May they find in the word of God renewed strength to carry out their projects for the integral development of the human person in Africa, especially in Cameroon!
The first priority will consist in restoring a sense of the acceptance of life as a gift from God. According to both Sacred Scripture and the wisest traditions of your continent, the arrival of a child is always a gift, a blessing from God. Today it is high time to place greater emphasis on this: every human being, every tiny human person, however weak, is created "in the image and likeness of God" (Gen 1:27). Every person must live! Death must not prevail over life! Death will never have the last word!
Sons and daughters of Africa, do not be afraid to believe, to hope, and to love; do not be afraid to say that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that we can be saved by him alone. Saint Paul is indeed an inspired author given to the Church by the Holy Spirit as a "teacher of nations" (1 Tim 2:7) when he tells us that Abraham, "hoping against hope, believed that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, ‘So shall your descendants be’" (Rom 4:18).
"Hoping against hope": is this not a magnificent description of a Christian? Africa is called to hope through you and in you! With Jesus Christ, who trod the African soil, Africa can become the continent of hope! We are all members of the peoples that God gave to Abraham as his descendants. Each and every one of us was thought, willed and loved by God. Each and every one of us has a role to play in the plan of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If discouragement overwhelms you, think of the faith of Joseph; if anxiety has its grip on you, think of the hope of Joseph, that descendant of Abraham who hoped against hope; if exasperation or hatred seizes you, think of the love of Joseph, who was the first man to set eyes on the human face of God in the person of the Infant conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Let us praise and thank Christ for having drawn so close to us, and for giving us Joseph as an example and model of love for him.
Dear brothers and sisters, I want to say to you once more from the bottom of my heart: like Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary into your home, that is to say do not be afraid to love the Church. Mary, Mother of the Church, will teach you to follow your pastors, to love your bishops, your priests, your deacons and your catechists; to heed what they teach you and to pray for their intentions. Husbands, look upon the love of Joseph for Mary and Jesus; those preparing for marriage, treat your future spouse as Joseph did; those of you who have given yourselves to God in celibacy, reflect upon the teaching of the Church, our Mother: "Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people" (Redemptoris Custos, 20).
Once more, I wish to extend a particular word of encouragement to fathers so that they may take Saint Joseph as their model. He who kept watch over the Son of Man is able to teach them the deepest meaning of their own fatherhood. In the same way, each father receives his children from God, and they are created in God’s own image and likeness. Saint Joseph was the spouse of Mary. In the same way, each father sees himself entrusted with the mystery of womanhood through his own wife. Dear fathers, like Saint Joseph, respect and love your spouse; and by your love and your wise presence, lead your children to God where they must be (cf. Lk 2:49).
Finally, to all the young people present, I offer words of friendship and encouragement: as you face the challenges of life, take courage! Your life is priceless in the eyes of God! Let Christ take hold of you, agree to pledge your love to him, and – why not? – maybe even do so in the priesthood or in the consecrated life! This is the supreme service. To the children who no longer have a father, or who live abandoned in the poverty of the streets, to those forcibly separated from their parents, to the maltreated and abused, to those constrained to join paramilitary forces that are terrorizing some countries, I would like to say: God loves you, he has not forgotten you, and Saint Joseph protects you! Invoke him with confidence.
May God bless you and watch over you! May he give you the grace to keep advancing towards him with fidelity! May he give stability to your lives so that you may reap the fruits he awaits from you! May he make you witnesses of his love here in Cameroon and to the ends of the earth! I fervently beg him to give you a taste of the joy of belonging to him, now and for ever. Amen.
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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Papal Address to Special Council for Africa
"Africa Has Received a Particular Vocation to Know Christ"
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI gave today upon meeting with the Special Council of the Synod for Africa at the apostolic nunciature of Yaoundé.
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Dear Cardinals,
Dear Brother Bishops,
It is with deep joy that I greet all of you here in Africa. A First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was convoked for Africa in 1994 by my venerable predecessor, the Servant of GodJohn Paul II, as a sign of his pastoral solicitude for this continent so rich both in promise and in pressing human, cultural and spiritual needs. This morning I called Africa “the continent of hope”. I recall with gratitude the signing of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa here at the Apostolic Nunciature fourteen years ago on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 1995.
My thanks go to Archbishop Nikola Eterović, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, for the words which he addressed to me in your name, as he introduced this meeting on African soil with you, dear members of the Special Council for Africa. The whole Church looks to our meeting today in anticipation of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, which, God willing, will be celebrated next October, on the theme: “The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace: ‘You are the Salt of the Earth … You are the Light of the World’ (Mt 5:13-14)”.
I sincerely thank the Cardinals, the Archbishops and Bishops who are members of the Special Council for Africa for their expert collaboration in the drawing up of the Lineamenta and the Instrumentum Laboris. I am grateful to you, dear Brothers in the Episcopate, for having also presented in your contributions several important aspects of the present ecclesial and social situation in your countries of origin and in the region. In this way you have emphasized the great dynamism of the Church in Africa, but you have also evoked the challenges which the Synod needs to examine, so that the growth of the Church in Africa will be not only quantitative but qualitative as well.
Dear friends, at the beginning of my address, I consider it important to stress that your continent has been blessed by our Lord Jesus himself. At the dawn of his earthly life, sad circumstances led him to set foot on African soil. God chose your continent to become the dwelling-place of his Son. In Jesus, God drew near to all men and women, of course, but also, in a particular way, to the men and women of Africa. Africa is where the Son of God was weaned, where he was offered effective sanctuary. In Jesus, some two thousand years ago, God himself brought salt and light to Africa. From that time on, the seed of his presence was buried deep within the hearts of this dear continent, and it has blossomed gradually, beyond and within the vicissitudes of its human history. As a result of the coming of Christ who blessed it with his physical presence, Africa has received a particular vocation to know Christ. Let Africans be proud of this! In meditating upon, and in coming to a deeper spiritual and theological appreciation of this first stage of the kenosis, Africa will be able to find the strength needed to face its sometimes difficult daily existence, and thus it will be able to discover immense spaces of faith and hope which will help it to grow in God.
The intimate bond existing between Africa and Christianity from the beginning can be illustrated by recalling some significant moments in the Christian history of this continent.
According to the venerable patristic tradition, the Evangelist Saint Mark, who “handed down in writing the preaching of Peter” (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, I, 1), came to Alexandria to give new life to the seed planted by the Lord. This Evangelist bore witness in Africa to the death of the Son of God on the Cross -- the final moment of the kenosis -- and of his sovereign exaltation, in order that “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11). The Good News of the coming of the Kingdom of God spread rapidly in North Africa, where it raised up distinguished martyrs and saints, and produced outstanding theologians.
Christianity lasted for almost a millennium in the north-eastern part of your continent, after being put to the test by the vicissitudes of history. With the arrival of Europeans seeking the passage to the Indies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the sub-Saharan peoples encountered Christ. The coastal peoples were the first to receive Baptism. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sub-Saharan Africa saw the arrival of missionaries, men and women from throughout the West, from Latin America and even from Asia. I wish to pay homage to the generosity of their unconditional response to the Lord’s call, and to their ardent apostolic zeal. Here, I would also like to speak of the African catechists, the inseparable companions of the missionaries in evangelization. God prepared the hearts of certain African lay persons, men and women, young and old alike, to receive his gifts and to bring the light of his word to their brothers and sisters. Laity in the midst of laity, they were able to find in their ancestral languages the words of God which would touch the hearts of their brothers and sisters. They were able to share the savour of the salt of the word and to give splendour to the light of the sacraments which they proclaimed. They accompanied families in their spiritual growth, they encouraged priestly and religious vocations, and they served as a link between their communities and the priests and Bishops. Quite naturally, they brought about a successful inculturation which yielded wondrous fruit (cf. Mk 4:20). The catechists allowed their “light to shine before others” (Mt 5:16), for in seeing the good they did, entire peoples were able to give glory to Our Father in heaven. This was a case of Africans evangelizing other Africans. In evoking their glorious memory, I greet and encourage their worthy successors who work today with the same selflessness, the same apostolic courage and the same faith as their predecessors. May God bless them generously! During this period, Africa was also blessed with numerous saints. I will content myself with naming the martyrs of Uganda, the great missionaries Anne-Marie Javouhey and Daniele Comboni, as well as Sister Anuarite Nengapeta and the catechist Isidore Bakanja, without forgetting the humble Josephine Bakhita.
We find ourselves presently at a historical moment which coincides from the civil standpoint with regained independence and from the ecclesial standpoint with the Second Vatican Council. During this time the Church in Africa contributed to and accompanied the building of new national identities and, at the same time, sought to translate the identity of Christ along its own ways. As the hierarchy became increasingly African following Pope Pius XII’s ordination of Bishops from your continent, theological reflection began to ferment quickly. It would be well for your theologians today to continue to probe the depth of the Trinitarian mystery and its meaning for everyday African life. This century will perhaps permit, by God’s grace, the rebirth, on your continent, albeit certainly under a different and new form, of the prestigious School of Alexandria. Why could we not hope that Africans today and the universal Church might thereby be furnished with great theologians and spiritual masters capable of contributing to the sanctification of those who dwell in this continent and throughout the Church? The First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops helped to point out the directions to be taken, and it brought out, among other things, the need to appreciate more deeply and to incarnate the mystery of the Church-as-Family.
I would now like to suggest some reflections about the specific theme of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, namely: reconciliation, justice and peace.
According to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, “the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament – a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all men and women” (Lumen Gentium, 1). To carry out her mission well, the Church must be a community of persons reconciled with God and among themselves. In this way, she can proclaim the Good News of reconciliation to contemporary society, which unfortunately experiences in many places conflicts, acts of violence, war and hatred. Your continent, sadly, has not been spared, and it has been and continues to be a theatre of grave tragedies which cry out for true reconciliation between peoples, ethnic groups and individuals. For us Christians, this reconciliation is rooted in the merciful love of God the Father, and it is accomplished through the person of Christ Jesus who, in the Holy Spirit, has offered the grace of reconciliation to all. Its consequences will be shown, then, in the justice and peace which are indispensable for building a better world.
Truly, what is more dramatic, in the present socio-political and economic context of the African continent, than the often savage conflicts between ethnic groups or peoples bound by brotherhood? And if the Synod of 1994 insisted on the Church as Family of God, what can this year’s Synod contribute to the building up of Africa, thirsting for reconciliation and in pursuit of justice and peace? The local or regional wars, massacres and genocides perpetrated on the continent must challenge us in a special way: if it is true that in Jesus Christ we belong to the same family and share the same life – since in our veins there flows the Blood of Christ himself, who has made us children of God, members of God’s Family – there must no longer be hatred, injustice and internecine war.
Cognizant of the growth of violence and the emergence of selfishness in Africa, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin of venerable memory called in 1988 for a theology of fraternity as a response to the pressing appeals of the poor and the little ones (L’Osservatore Romano, French edition, 12 April 1988, pp. 4-5). Perhaps he had in mind the words of the African Lactantius, written at the dawn of the fourth century: “The first duty of justice is to recognize others as brothers and sisters. Indeed, if the same God created us and gave us birth in the same condition, in view of righteousness and life eternal, we are surely united by bonds of brotherhood: whoever does not acknowledge those bonds is unjust” (Divine Institutions 54, 4-5: S.C. 335, p. 210). The Church, as the Family of God in Africa, made a preferential option for the poor at the First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. In this way she showed that the situation of dehumanization and oppression afflicting the African peoples is not irreversible; on the contrary, she set before everyone a challenge: that of conversion, holiness and integrity.
The Son, through whom God speaks to us, is himself the Word made flesh. This was the subject of the discussions at the recent Twelfth General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Having become flesh, this Word is at the origin of all that we are and all that we do; he is the foundation of every life. It is therefore on the basis of this Word that we need to enhance African traditions, and to correct and perfect their concept of life, humanity and the family. Christ Jesus, the Word of life, is the source and fulfilment of all our lives, for the Lord Jesus is the one mediator and redeemer.
It is urgent that Christian communities increasingly become places of profound listening to the word of God and meditative reading of sacred Scripture. It is through such meditative and communitarian reading in the Church that every Christian encounters the Risen Christ, who speaks to him and offers renewed hope in the fullness of life which he gives to the world.
As for the Eucharist, it makes the Lord truly present in history. Through the reality of his Body and his Blood, the whole Christ makes himself substantially present in our lives. He is with us always, until the end of time (cf. Mt 28:20) and he sends us back to our daily lives so that we can fill them with his presence. In the Eucharist, it becomes clearly evident that our life is a relationship of communion with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with all creation. The Eucharist is the source of a unity reconciled in peace.
The word of life and the Bread of life offer light and nourishment as medicine and food for our journey in fidelity to the Teacher and Shepherd of our souls, so that the Church in Africa can carry out the service of reconciliation, justice and peace, in accordance with the programme of life provided by the Lord himself: “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:13-14). If they are truly to be this, the faithful must undergo conversion and follow Jesus Christ; they must become his disciples in order to be witnesses of his saving power. During his earthly life, Jesus was “mighty in deed and word” (Lk 24:19). By his resurrection, he has subjected to himself every authority and power (cf. Col 2:15), every power of evil, in order to set free those who are baptized in his name. “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1). The Christian vocation consists in letting oneself be freed by Jesus Christ. He has conquered sin and death and he offers to all the fullness of life. In the Lord Jesus there is no more Jew or Gentile, man or woman (cf. Gal 3:28). In his flesh he has reconciled all peoples. In the power of the Holy Spirit, I appeal to everyone: “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Cor5:20). No ethnic or cultural difference, no difference of race, sex or religion must become a cause for dispute among you. You are all children of the one God, our Father, who is in heaven. With this conviction, it will then be possible to build a more just and peaceful Africa, an Africa worthy of the legitimate expectations of all its children.
In conclusion, I invite you to advance the preparation of the Synodal event by reciting, together with the faithful, the prayer found at the end of the Instrumentum Laboris which I presented to you this morning, a prayer for the successful outcome of the Synodal Assembly. Together, my brothers, let us pray:
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, Protectress of Africa, you have given the world its true light, Jesus Christ. By your obedience to the Father and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, you have given us the source of our reconciliation and our joy.
Mother of tenderness and wisdom, show us Jesus, your Son and the Son of God, sustain our journey of conversion, so that Jesus may enlighten us with his Glory in all the settings of our personal, family and social life.
Mother full of Mercy and Justice, by your docility to the Spirit, the Comforter, obtain for us the grace to be witnesses of the Risen Lord, so that we may become ever more fully the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Mother of Perpetual Succour, to your maternal intercession we entrust the preparation and the fruits of the Second Synod for Africa. Queen of Peace, pray for us! Our Lady of Africa, pray for us!”
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Pontiff's Words at Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger Centre
"Christ Himself Is Close to All Who Suffer"
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI gave today in the afternoon upon meeting with sick people at the Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger Centre.
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Dear Cardinals,
Minister of Social Affairs,
Health Minister,
Brother Bishops, Bishop Joseph Djida,
Director of the Léger Centre,
Dear Carers and Patients,
I have been looking forward to spending this time with you, and I am happy to be able to greet you, dear brothers and sisters, who bear the burden of sickness and suffering. You are not alone in your pain, for Christ himself is close to all who suffer. He reveals to the sick and infirm their place in the heart of God and in society. The Evangelist Mark gives us the example of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law: "Immediately they told him of her", it is written, Jesus "came and took her by the hand and lifted her up" (Mk 1:30-31). In this Gospel passage, we see Jesus spending a day with the sick in order to bring them relief. He thereby shows us, through specific actions, his fraternal tenderness and benevolence towards all the broken-hearted, all whose bodies are wounded.
This Centre is named after Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger, a son of Canada who came among you to bring relief to bodies and souls. As I stand here today, I am mindful of all the people in hospitals, in specialized health centres or clinics, who suffer from a disability, mental or physical. I also think of those whose flesh bears the scars of wars and violence. I remember too all the sick and, especially here in Africa, the victims of such diseases as Aids, malaria and tuberculosis. I know how actively engaged the Catholic Church in your country is in the fight against these terrible afflictions, and I encourage you to pursue this urgent task with great determination. To those of you who endure the trials of sickness and suffering, and to all your families, I wish to bring a word of comfort from the Lord, to renew my support, and to invite you to turn towards Christ and towards Mary, whom he has given to us as our mother. She knew suffering, and she followed her Son along the path to Calvary, preserving in her heart that love which Jesus came to bring to all people.
Faced with suffering, sickness and death, it is tempting to cry out in pain, as Job did, whose name means "suffering" (cf. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, I,1,15). Even Jesus cried out, shortly before his death (cf. Mk 15:37; Heb 5:7). As our condition deteriorates, our anguish increases; some are tempted to doubt whether God is present in their lives. Job, however, was conscious of God’s presence; his was not a cry of rebellion, but, from the depths of his sorrow, he allowed his trust to grow (cf. Job 19; 42:2-6). His friends, like each of us when faced with the suffering of a loved one, tried to console him, but they used hollow and empty words.
In the presence of such torment, we feel powerless and we cannot find the right words. Before a brother or sister plunged into the mystery of the Cross, a respectful and compassionate silence, a prayerful presence, a gesture of tenderness and comfort, a kind look, a smile, often achieve more than many words. This was the experience of a small group of men and women, including the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John, who followed Jesus in the depths of his suffering at the time of his Passion and his death on the Cross. Among them, the Gospel tells us, was an African, Simon of Cyrene. He was given the task of helping Jesus to carry his Cross on the way to Golgotha. This man, albeit through no choice of his own, came to the aid of the Man of Sorrows when he had been abandoned by all his followers and handed over to blind violence. History tells us, then, that an African, a son of your continent, took part, at the price of his own suffering, in the infinite suffering of the one who ransomed all men, including his executioners. Simon of Cyrene could not have known that it was his Saviour who stood there before him. He was "drafted in" to assist him (cf. Mk15:21); he was constrained, forced to do so. It is hard to accept to carry someone else’s cross. Only after the resurrection could he have understood what he had done. Brothers and sisters, it is the same for each of us: in the depths of our anguish, of our own rebellion, Christ offers us his loving presence even if we find it hard to understand that he is at our side. Only the Lord’s final victory will reveal for us the definitive meaning of our trials.
Can it not be said that every African is in some sense a member of the family of Simon of Cyrene? Every African who suffers, indeed every person who suffers, helps Christ to carry his Cross and climbs with him the path to Golgotha in order one day to rise again with him. When we see the infamy to which Jesus was subjected, when we contemplate his face on the Cross, when we recognize his appalling suffering, we can glimpse, through faith, the radiant face of the Risen Lord who tells us that suffering and sickness will not have the last word in our human lives. I pray, dear brothers and sisters, that you will be able to recognize yourselves in "Simon of Cyrene". I pray, dear brothers and sisters who are sick, that many of you will encounter a Simon at your bedside.
Since the resurrection, and right up to our own time, there have been countless witnesses who have turned, with faith and hope, towards the Saviour of mankind, recognizing his presence at the heart of their suffering. May the Father of mercies graciously grant the prayers of all who turn to him. He answers our call and our prayer, as and when he wishes, for our good and not according to our desires. It is for us to discern his response and to accept the gifts that he offers us as a grace. Let us fix our gaze upon the Crucified one, with faith and courage, for from him come life, comfort, and healing. Let us learn to gaze on him who desires our good and knows how to wipe the tears from our eyes. Let us learn to abandon ourselves into his embrace, like a small child in his mother’s arms.
The saints have given us a fine example by living lives entirely dedicated to God, our Father. Saint Teresa of Avila, who placed her monastery under the protection of Saint Joseph, was healed from a particular ailment on the very day of his feast. She said she had never prayed to him in vain, and she recommended him to all who claimed not to know how to pray: "I do not understand", she wrote, "how anyone can think of the Queen of angels and of all the trials she suffered during the early years of the divine child Jesus, without thanking Saint Joseph for the perfect devotion with which he came to assist them both. May anyone who lacks a teacher of prayer choose this admirable Saint as a master, for under his guidance no one need be afraid of going astray" (Life, 6). Saint Teresa saw in Saint Joseph not only an intercessor for bodily health, but also an intercessor for the health of the soul, a teacher of prayer.
Dear friends who are sick, we too can choose him as a teacher of prayer, whatever our state of health, and all families can do the same. I am thinking especially of hospital staff, and all those who work in the field of health care. By accompanying those who suffer, through the care and attention you offer them, you accomplish an act of charity and love that God recognizes: "I was sick, and you visited me" (Mt 25:36). All of you, doctors and researchers, have the task of putting into practice every legitimate form of pain relief; you are called, in the first place, to protect human life, you are the defenders of life from conception to natural death. For every person, respect for life is a right and at the same time a duty, since all life is a gift from God. With you, I would like to give thanks to the Lord for all who, in one way or another, work in the service of the suffering. I encourage priests and those who visit the sick to commit themselves to an active and friendly presence in their hospital chaplaincy, or to assure an ecclesial presence in the home, for the comfort and spiritual support of the sick. In accordance with his promise, God will give you a just reward, and he will recompense you in heaven.
Before greeting you more personally, and then taking my leave, I would like to assure each of you of my affection and my prayer. I also want to express my wish that none of you should ever feel alone. In fact it is the task of every human person, created in the image of Christ, to be a good neighbour to those around him. I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, our Mother, and to the intercession of Saint Joseph. May God grant that we become bearers for one another of the mercy, tenderness and love of our God, and may he bless you!
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Pope's Words to Cameroon Muslim Leaders
"Religion and Reason Mutually Reinforce One Another"
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI gave today upon meeting with Muslim leaders of Cameroon at the apostolic nunciature.
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My Dear Friends,
Grateful for this opportunity to meet representatives of the Muslim community in Cameroon, I express my heartfelt thanks to Mr Amadou Bello for his kind words of greeting extended to me on your behalf. Our encounter is a vivid sign of the desire we share with all people of good will -- in Cameroon, throughout Africa and across the globe -- to seek opportunities to exchange ideas about how religion makes an essential contribution to our understanding of culture and the world, and to the peaceful coexistence of all the members of the human family. Initiatives in Cameroon, such as the Association Camerounaise pour le Dialogue Interreligieux, illustrate how such dialogue enhances mutual understanding and assists in the building up of a stable and just political order.
Cameroon is home to thousands of Christians and Muslims, who often live, work and worship in the same neighbourhood. Both believe in one, merciful God who on the last day will judge mankind (cf. Lumen Gentium, 16). Together they bear witness to the fundamental values of family, social responsibility, obedience to God’s law and loving concern for the sick and suffering. By patterning their lives on these virtues and teaching them to the young, Christians and Muslims not only show how they foster the full development of the human person, but also how they forge bonds of solidarity with one’s neighbours and advance the common good.
My friends, I believe a particularly urgent task of religion today is to unveil the vast potential of human reason, which is itself God’s gift and which is elevated by revelation and faith. Belief in the one God, far from stunting our capacity to understand ourselves and the world, broadens it. Far from setting us against the world, it commits us to it. We are called to help others see the subtle traces and mysterious presence of God in the world which he has marvellously created and continually sustains with his ineffable and all-embracing love. Although his infinite glory can never be directly grasped by our finite minds in this life, we nonetheless catch glimpses of it in the beauty that surrounds us. When men and women allow the magnificent order of the world and the splendour of human dignity to illumine their minds, they discover that what is "reasonable" extends far beyond what mathematics can calculate, logic can deduce and scientific experimentation can demonstrate; it includes the goodness and innate attractiveness of upright and ethical living made known to us in the very language of creation.
This insight prompts us to seek all that is right and just, to step outside the restricted sphere of our own self-interest and act for the good of others. Genuine religion thus widens the horizon of human understanding and stands at the base of any authentically human culture. It rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith, but also of right reason. Indeed, religion and reason mutually reinforce one another since religion is purified and structured by reason, and reason’s full potential is unleashed by revelation and faith.
I therefore encourage you, my dear Muslim friends, to imbue society with the values that emerge from this perspective and elevate human culture, as we work together to build a civilization of love. May the enthusiastic cooperation of Muslims, Catholics and other Christians in Cameroon be a beacon to other African nations of the enormous potential of an interreligious commitment to peace, justice and the common good!
With these sentiments, I once again express my gratitude for this auspicious occasion to meet you during my visit to Cameroon. I thank Almighty God for the blessings he has bestowed upon you and your fellow citizens, and I pray that the links that bind Christians and Muslims in their profound reverence for the one God will continue to grow stronger, so that they will reflect more clearly the wisdom of the Almighty, who enlightens the hearts of all mankind.
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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Clarification of Pope's Words on AIDS
"The Pontiff Confirmed the Positions of the Catholic Church"
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon, MARCH 19, 2009 (
Zenit.org).- Here is the statement published Wednesday from Yaounde by Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, clarifying the Pope's comments on AIDS.
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In regard to the reaction caused by the Holy Father's words on the AIDS problem, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, explained that the Pontiff confirmed the positions of the Catholic Church and the essential lines of her commitment to combat the terrible scourge of AIDS: first, with education in the responsibility of persons in the use of sexuality and with the reaffirmation of the essential role of marriage and the family; second, with research and the implementation of effective treatments for AIDS, making them available to the greatest number of patients through many health initiatives and institutions; third, with human and spiritual assistance to AIDS patients, as well as to all those who suffer, who have always been in the heart of the Church.
These are the directions in which the Church concentrates her commitment, considering that, to seek essentially a greater diffusion of condoms, is not in reality the best way, the broadest view or the most effective way to address the scourge of AIDS and to safeguard human life.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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