FAITH, A FORCE FOR FREEDOM AFTER THE MEETING WITH CHRIST

VATICAN CITY, APR 19, 2006 (VIS) - The meaning of Easter was the theme chosen by Benedict XVI for today's general audience, which coincided with the first anniversary of his election to the pontificate. The Pope arrived by helicopter for the audience - held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of more than 60,000 people - from his residence at Castelgandolfo where he is spending a few days following the Easter celebrations.

  "How quickly time passes," said the Pope to the faithful. "A year has already gone since ... the cardinals meeting in conclave chose me to succeed the much mourned and beloved Servant of God, the great Pope John Paul II. With emotion I recall the first impact I received from the loggia of the Vatican Basilica ... with the faithful gathered in this same square."

  He continued: "That meeting, which remains impressed upon my mind and heart, was followed by many others, giving me the chance to experience how real the words were that I pronounced during the course of the solemn concelebration with which I began my exercise of the Petrine ministry: 'I feel with renewed conviction that I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone'." Apart from God's celestial protection, the Pope mentioned the closeness, understanding, love and prayers of the faithful. "I ask each of you to continue to support me, praying to God to enable me to be mild and firm pastor of His Church," he said.

  "Immediately after His resurrection, Jesus called Peter to tend His flock," Pope Benedict added. "Who then could have humanly imagined the development that, over the centuries, would mark that small group of the Lord's disciples? Peter, together with the Apostles and later their successors, ... courageously spread the evangelical message, the fundamental and indispensable core of which is constituted by the Paschal mystery: the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. This is the mystery the Church celebrates at Easter: Christ's triumph over evil and death."

  "The Gospel accounts narrating the appearances of the Risen One usually conclude with an invitation to overcome all uncertainty ... and to announce that Jesus, beyond death, is eternally alive, a source of new life for all those who believe. ... Faith is born from the personal meeting with the Risen Christ, and becomes a force of courage and freedom that brings us to cry out to the world that Jesus has risen and lives forever. This is the mission of the Lord's disciples in all ages including our own."

  At the end of the audience, Benedict XVI returned to Castelgandolfo. In the first year of his pontificate, more than four million people have participated in his general and special audiences, his Sunday Angelus and liturgical celebrations celebrated by him.
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