REBUILD SOCIETIES DESTROYED BY CIVIL CONFLICTS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 14, 2001 (VIS) - The Pope received in audience this morning at Castelgandolfo the members of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood who are celebrating their 17th general assembly on the theme "The Future Face of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood."

John Paul II recalled that when St. Gaspar del Bufalo founded the Congregation in 1815, Pope Pius VII asked him to "go where no one else would go and to undertake missions which seemed unpromising," such as "evangelizing the bandits who so troubled the area between Rome and Naples at that time. ... Your Founder did not hesitate to obey. ... Casting his nets into deep and dangerous waters, he made an astonishing catch."

"Two centuries later," he continued, "another Pope summons the sons of St. Gaspar to be no less bold in their decisions and actions - to go where others cannot or will not go and to undertake missions. ... I ask you to continue your efforts to build a civilization of life, seeking the protection of all human life, from the life of the unborn to the life of the aged and infirm, and promoting the dignity of every human person, especially of the weak and of those deprived of their rightful share of the earth's abundance. I urge you to pursue a mission of reconciliation, as you work to rebuild societies torn by civil strife, even bringing together victims and perpetrators of violence in a spirit of forgiveness, so that they may come to know that 'it is (the blood of Christ) that is the most powerful source of hope; indeed it is the foundation of the absolute certitude that in God's plan life will be victorious'."

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