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Tuesday, October 15, 2002

CHILEAN BISHOPS: DEVELOP AN AUTHENTIC EVANGELIZATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 15, 2002 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father met with prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Chile who just completed their "ad limina" visit.

In his speech, the Pope expressed his desire that "the Chilean people's efforts to introduce themselves on the global level may not cause them to lose their cultural identity or to reduce everything to a mere economic exchange. May they extend everywhere the best values of their fatherland, so strongly linked to the Catholic tradition."

John Paul II referred to the need to "light the way of peoples with Christian principles, taking advantage of the opportunities that the present situation offers to develop an authentic evangelization that makes the message of Jesus Christ more comprehensible for the men and women of today with new language and significant symbols."

After highlighting the bishops' work for the family, the Pope said that these efforts "must be accompanied by an integral pastoral ministry for the family, one that includes an adequate preparation of couples before marriage which will serve them later, especially when difficulties arise, and will guide them in educating their children."

Speaking about priests, he stated that it is necessary to offer them "well-articulated programs of permanent formation, especially in the fields of theology, spirituality, pastoral care, and the social doctrine of the Church, which allow them to be competent evangelizers and dignified ministers of the Church in today's society. ... In order for priests to feel that you are close to them, it is of the highest importance that you always treat them in a personal manner, ... showing interest in the daily trials that so often afflict them and making them see how precious their self-sacrificing daily work is in the eyes of God and the Church."

John Paul II affirmed that the second centenary of independence, which Chile will celebrate in 2010, "reminds the Church and all citizens of the crucial challenge of reaching peaceful co-existence which includes forgiveness without hiding the truth."

In conclusion, the Holy Father recalled that the Church has the mission of "being an instrument of reconciliation of men with God and among themselves," and indicated that rejection "is the negative aspect of certain social rules of our world, before which the Church must make a special effort to remind everyone that it is precisely the neediest who must not be considered the insignificant residue of a progress that only recognizes success, the disproportionate accumulation of goods and position of privilege."

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