Vatican City, 30 September 2015 (VIS) –
The catechesis of this Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's
Square was dedicated to the Holy Father's recent apostolic trip in
Cuba and the United States, which originated with his wish to
participate in the Eighth World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia
on 28 September. The visit was extended to include a visit to the
United States, to the headquarters of the United Nations, and to
Cuba, which was the first stage of his itinerary. The Pope took the
opportunity to once again express his gratitude to the president of
Cuba Raul Castro, the president of the United States Barack Obama,
and the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, for the
welcome they reserved to him, and to the bishops and collaborators in
the organisation of the trip for their work.
The Pope recounted that he presented
himself in Cuba, “a land rich in natural beauty, culture and
faith”, as a “Missionary of Mercy”. “God's mercy is greater
than any affliction, any conflict, any ideology; and with this gaze
of mercy I was able to embrace the entire Cuban population, at home
and abroad, looking beyond any division. The symbol of this deep
unity is Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, … Patroness of Cuba, …
Mother of Hope … who guides us on the path of justice, peace,
freedom and reconciliation. … I was able to share with the Cuban
people the hope of fulfilling the prophecy of St. John Paul II: that
Cuba will open up to the world, and the world will open up to Cuba.
No more closure, no more exploitation of the poor, but instead
freedom and dignity. It is the path that draws strength from the
Christian roots of the people, who have suffered greatly”.
After Cuba, the Pope proceeded the
United States. “A symbolic step, a bridge that, thanks be to God,
is being rebuilt”, he commented, adding that “God always wants to
build bridges; we are the ones who build walls. But walls always fall
down”.
He then spoke about the three phases of
his trip to the United States: Washington D.C., New York and
Philadelphia. In Washington D.C. he met not only with the political
authorities, but also the clergy, the poor and the marginalised. He
remarked that the greatest wealth of the country and her people is
her “spiritual and ethical heritage. And so, I wanted to encourage
to continuation of social construction faithful to the United States'
fundamental principle, that all men are created by God, equal and
endowed with inalienable rights, such as life, liberty an the pursuit
of happiness. These values, that may be shared by all, find their
fulfilment in the Gospel, as was clearly shown by the canonisation of
the Franciscan Fr. Junipero Serra, the great evangeliser of
California. St. Junipero shows us the way to joy: going forth and
sharing Christ's love with others. This is the way of Christians, but
also of any person who has known love: not to keep it to oneself but
to share it with others. The United States of America have grown on
this religious and moral base, and on this base they can continue to
be a land of freedom, welcome and cooperation for a more just and
fraternal world”.
Turning to the second phase of the
trip, in New York, the Pope recalled his address to the
representatives of nations at the General Assembly of the United
Nations, in which he renewed the Catholic Church's commitment to
support the institution and “its role in the promotion of
development and peace, especially with regard to the need for joint
and active commitment to care for creation”, and highlighted his
appeal “to stop and prevent violence against ethnic and religious
minorities and against civil populations”. The Holy Father
recounted that he had prayed at Ground Zero for peace and fraternity,
accompanied by representatives of various religions and families of
victims of the 11 September attacks, and celebrated Mass for peace
and justice in Madison Square Garden.
“In both Washington D.C. and New York
I was able to meet various charitable and educational bodies,
emblematic of the enormous service that the Catholic community –
priests, man and women religious, and laypeople – offer in these
fields”.
However, the climax of the trip was the
World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, “where the horizon
extends to all the world through the 'prism' of the family”. He
continued, “the family is the answer to the great challenge of our
world, which is a dual challenge: fragmentation and solidification,
two extremes which co-exist, support each other and together support
the consumerist economic model. The family is the answer as it is the
cell of a society that balances the personal and community
dimensions, and at the same time the model for a sustainable
management of the goods and resources of creation. The family is the
protagonist of an integral ecology, as it is the primary social
subject which contains within itself the two basic principals of
human civilisation on earth: the principles of communion and
fruitfulness. Biblical humanism presents us with this icon: the human
couple, united and fruitful, placed by God in the garden of the world
to cultivate it and protect it”.
The Holy Father concluded by greeting
the archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, noting his great love
for the family made manifest in the organisation of the event. “It
is not by chance, but rather providential that … the witness of the
World Meeting of Families came at this moment from the United States
of America – that is, the country that during the last century
reached the highest level of economic and technological development
without renouncing its religious roots. Now these same roots are
asking to be replanted in the family, to rethink and change the model
of development, for the good of the entire human family”.