VATICAN CITY, DEC 4, 2001 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received prelates of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras on the occasion of their "ad limina" visit.
Opening his address, the Pope told the bishops of the close union he felt with them "in order to share 'the joy, the hope, the sadness and anguish' of Honduran citizens, still recalling the pain and anxiety of the devastation provoked by hurricane 'Mitch' in October 1998 and, more recently, by tropical storm 'Michelle.' ... Furthermore, I hope that the new and recently-elected political leaders may continue the work of a true reconstruction of national unity, bringing authentic development to the country while duly respecting the dignity of individuals and their fundamental rights.
"Another motive for hope and joy for the Church in Honduras," he said, "is the upcoming celebration of the 500th anniversary of the first Mass to be celebrated in the country. This anniversary should be lived as a providential opportunity to start down a new path full of initiatives."
He went on: "As pastors you are seriously concerned by the situation of persistent poverty in Honduras, although its land is fertile and it has no lack of material resources. This leads one to consider the need for improving the social order, for promoting greater justice and structures that favor a more equal distribution of wealth and, above all, the need to prevent vast wealth being held by a small number of citizens to the detriment of the great majority. With phenomena such as these, economic penury is aggravated by the isolation of the poorest who, closed in their own world, lose hope for a better society. For this reason the country suffers when peasants feel they are marginalized, when indigenous ethnic groups are forgotten and when those citizens most in need of protection - such as children and the young - are abandoned to their fate."
The Holy Father stressed that "a no less worrying problem of our own time, one that can also be seen in Honduras, is a certain degree of family disintegration. ... For this reason all sectors concerned must be sensitized, including the social communication media, in order to strengthen marriage and the family and to face up to particular campaigns or trends that seek to subvert the institution of the family and even life itself."
After underlining the need for pastors to promote the union of priests "among themselves and around their bishop," he recalled that "in Honduras, where priests frequently have large numbers of faithful in their care - at times living in isolated areas - and where a significant number of those priests have left their places of origin to serve in Honduran ecclesial communities, bishops must show the utmost willingness to welcome them, 'considering them as children and friends'."
The Pope affirmed that "the participation of lay people in Honduran ecclesial life merits special recognition." On this subject he emphasized that "the service that the lay faithful offer the Church is most valuable. Effort must nonetheless be made to avoid the error of thinking they can substitute ordained ministers when the latter are lacking."
"It is of prime importance," he concluded, "that parishes offer a systematic education in the Catholic faith, not one limited to superficial preparation for receiving the sacraments of Christian initiation. All the faithful have the right to receive from the Church a profound formation in the Catholic faith, as appropriate to their age and condition, in order to thus grow in faith. Indeed, shortcomings in this field could be one of the causes for which many faithful leave and join sects."
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