VATICAN CITY, NOV 9, 2004 (VIS) - As they conclude their "ad limina" visit, the bishops from the Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean (CEDOI) were welcomed today by the Holy Father who, in his talk to them in French, underscored the need for "authentic spiritual communion" given "the diversity of human and religious situations of your region" and "also the great distances that separate your dioceses."
Bishop Gilbert Aubry, president of the conference, pointed out in his address to the Holy Father that CEDOI is in fact composed of one Islamic republic (the Comoros Islands), two republics that are part of the Commonwealth (Seychelles and Mauritius), an overseas French department which is also an ultra-peripheral region of Europe (La Reunion) and a French territorial community (the island of Mayotte).
The Pope began his talk by inviting "Christian people to live the just-begun Year of the Eucharist as an intense time of encounters with Christ," calling it a time to "discover in this incomparable treasure that Jesus left us the joy and goodness of the loving presence of the Savior" and a time to "rediscover the meaning of Sunday and the need to make it holy, notably by regular participation in Sunday Mass."
Calling the formation of future priests "a challenge" for the Church, John Paul II encouraged seminary formators "in their precious service" of seeing that seminaries "become the place of a serious discernment of vocations and an authentic community formation to the ministerial priesthood." He urged the bishops to reevaluate the pastoral ministry for vocations and "to make it an essential concern in your dioceses." Care for your priests in their spiritual lives, he exhorted, and give them a solid foundation on which to build, especially "through assiduous prayer life and the sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance. ... Be close to them through welcoming, listening, and shared friendship so they do not feel isolated or misunderstood."
The Pope then underlined the importance of having lay people with "a solid religious formation" whose presence and work in society, "in the presence of other religions and also with the activity of sects," will communicate the Christian message and encourage other disciples of Christ to give witness to their faith. He added that "inculturation of the Gospel message is a task of great importance," and said that "for people to progress peacefully inter-religious dialogue is also a necessity."
The Holy Father dedicated closing remarks to the family and to young people. "Attention to families and to their harmonious development," he said, "is one of your pastoral priorities," especially because "societal evolutions today contribute to making family structures fragile." He asked the bishops to insist on "the value of marriage and the family in God's plan," stating that families "are the privileged place for forming young people and for transmitting moral and spiritual values." And, he said, "the human and spiritual formation of young people is urgent in order to respond to the challenges of witnessing to the Gospel today."
AL/.../CEDOI VIS 20041109 (500)
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