Vatican
City, 21 March 2013
(VIS) – Today was made public the message that Benedict XVI wrote
this past 4 February to the Most Reverend Justin Welby on the
occasion of his election as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The
Pope wrote that the archbishop was taking
up his office “at a time when the Christian faith is being called
into question in many parts of the Western world by those who claim
that religion is a private matter, with no contribution to offer to
public debate. Ministers of the Gospel today have to respond to a
widespread deafness to the music of faith, and a general weariness
that shuns the demands of discipleship. Yet the hunger for God, even
if unrecognised, is ever-present in our society, and the preacher's
task, as a messenger of hope, is to speak the truth with love,
shedding the light of Christ into the darkness of people's lives. May
your apostolate yield a rich harvest and may it open the eyes and
ears of many to the life-giving message of the Gospel.”
Benedict
XVI concluded with the prayer
that “the Lord grant you strength and wisdom” in whatever
challenges the new archbishop may encounter and asking that “the
Holy Spirit guide you in all that you undertake in his name.”
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