YOUNG CHURCHES: HOPE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

Vatican City,  (VIS) - This morning in Castelgandolfo Benedict XVI received a group of around one hundred recently-consecrated bishops of circumscriptions in mission territories. The prelates are currently participating in a congress organised by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

In his remarks to them the Pope observed that all the communities they serve as pastors - although in different situations in Africa, Asia, America or Oceania - are "committed to initial evangelisation and the consolidation of the faith. ... Your communities are almost all of recent foundation, and possess the merits and defects associated with their brief history", he said. "The faith attracts high levels of participation and joy, it is vivacious and creative but often not yet well rooted. Enthusiasm and apostolic zeal alternate with episodes of instability and incoherence. ... Nonetheless these Churches are maturing, thanks to pastoral activity but thanks also to that gift of 'communio sanctorum' which opens the way to an authentic osmosis of grace between ancient and recently founded Churches, as well as between the Church in heaven and the pilgrim Church on earth".

The Holy Father also turned his attention to the falling numbers of missionaries which, he noted, is compensated by an increase in diocesan and regular clergy. Thus the growing numbers of local priests produces "a new form of missionary cooperation as some young Churches have begun sending their priests to sister Churches who lack clergy, either within the same country or to other countries on the same continent. This communion must always animate the work of evangelisation", he said.

"The young Churches, then, represent a sign of hope for the future of the universal Church. It is in this context, dear brethren, that I encourage you to spare no efforts or courage in your pastoral activities. ... The Church is born of the mission and grows with the mission. ... A correct inculturation of the faith will help you to incarnate the Gospel in the cultures of peoples, and to take from them what is good. This is a long and difficult process which must not in any way compromise the specific nature and integrity of the Christian faith".

The Holy Father told the new bishops to "observe the world with the eyes of faith, in order to understand it deeply; and have a generous heart, ready to enter into communion with the women and men of our time. Do not fail in your primary responsibility as men of God, called to prayer and to the service of the Word for the benefit of the flock. ... The world today needs people who speak to God in order to be able to speak of God. Only in this way will the Word of salvation produce fruit".

"Your Churches well know the context of social instability which so worryingly affects people's daily lives. Food, health and educational emergencies raise questions before ecclesial communities and affect them directly. ... As well as natural calamities, we see cultural and religious discrimination, ... the fruit of fundamentalisms which are based on an incorrect view of man and which lead us to undervalue, or ignore outright, the right to religious freedom and respect for the weakest, especially children, women and people with disabilities. Finally, mention must be made of re-emerging contrasts between ethnic groups and castes, which lead to unjustifiable violence. Have faith in the Gospel, in its power to renew, in its capacity to reawaken consciences and to work from within to redeem people and create a new fraternity. Spreading the Word of the Lord will cause the gift of reconciliation to flourish and favour the unity of peoples".

In closing Benedict XVI highlighted the fact that "the faith is a gift to be welcomed into our hearts and lives, one for which we must always thank the Lord. But faith is donated in order to be shared; it is a talent given that it may bear fruit, a light that must not remain hidden". And he concluded by calling on the bishops "to be aware of the absolute priority of the task of evangelisation".

AUDIENCES

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience seven prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Colombia on their "ad limina" visit:

- Archbishop Ivan Antonio Marin Lopez of Popayan, apostolic administrator of the apostolic vicariate of Guapi.

- Bishop Arturo de Jesus Correa Toro of Ipilaes.

- Bishop Luis Alberto Parra Mora of Mocoa-Sibundoy.

- Bishop Julio Enrique Prado Bolanos of Pasto.

- Bishop Gustavo Giron Higuita O.C.D. of Tumaco.

- Archbishop Orlando Antonio Corrales Garcia of Santa Fe de Antioquia.

- Bishop Luis Adriano Piedrahita Sandoval of Apartado.

MAN, THE CUSTODIAN OF CREATION

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "Man, the Custodian of Creation" is the theme of the twentieth International Ecumenical Congress of Orthodox Spirituality, which began yesterday in the Italian monastery of Bose. The event is due to conclude on 8 September.

"In the Christian tradition of both East and West, dwelling on the earth is a task entrusted to mankind as custodians but also as guests of creation", reads a communique on the event. This topic will be developed on the first day of the congress in talks by Fr. Enzo Bianchi, prior of the monastic community of Bose, and by His Eminence Metropolitan Ioannis (Zizioulas) of Pergamo, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The Holy Father, through Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., has sent a telegram to participants, expressing the hope that "the fraternal encounter and discussions of these days may favour mutual knowledge and the sharing of faith, arousing and renewing a joint commitment to protect God's gift of the creation".

The congress is being attended by representatives from the Orthodox Churches and from the Catholic Church. Catholic representatives include Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, vice dean of the College of Cardinals; Archbishop Antonio Mennini, apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, and Bishop Mansueto Bianchi of Pistoia, Italy, president of the Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious Dialogue of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Also present will be representatives from the Church of England and from the Reform Churches, the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, as well as theologians and academics from all over the world.

The communique continues: "During the four days of meetings and debates, which are open to the public, speakers will examine the theological and spiritual dimensions of man's relationship with his environment, seeking values capable of inspiring responsible choices in the face of the ecological crisis, which has been provoked by man himself and is causing irreversible damage to life on our planet".

Orthodox Church teaching on ecological matters will be presented by Bishop Amvrosij, rector of the Theological Academy of Saint Petersburg, while the scholars John Behr of New York, Nestor Kavvadas of Tubingen and Assaad Elias Kattan of Munster will speak on such subjects as: the goodness of creation according to biblical narrative, the relationship between wounded and healed nature and the history of salvation, and the understanding of the relationship between human beings and the creation in the Fathers of the Church from Irenaeus of Lyons to Maximus the Confessor.

AUDIENCES

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience:

- Irena Vaisvilaite, the new ambassador of Lithuania to the Holy See, for the presentation of her Letters of Credence.

- Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium.

- Twelve prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Colombia on their "ad limina" visit:

- Archbishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez Carvajal C.I.M. of Cartagena.

- Bishop Luis Jose Rueda Aparicio of Montelibano.

- Bishop Nel H. Beltran Santamaria of Sincelejo.

- Fr. Orlando Lopez Vergara, apostolic administrator of Monteria.

- Archbishop Gonzalo Restrepo Restrepo of Manizales.

- Bishop Fabio Duque Jaramillo O.F.M. of Garzon, apostolic administrator of Armenia.

- Bishop Oscar Anibal Salazar Gomez of La Dorada - Guanduas.

- Bishop Rigoberto Corredor Bermudez of Pereira.

- Archbishop Ricardo Antonio Tobon Restrepo of Medellin, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Edgar Aristizabal Quintero, Hugo Alberto Torres Marin and Elkin Fernando Alvarez Botero.

PRAYER IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION

Vatican City,  (VIS) - Benedict XVI today resumed his general audiences in the Vatican, having held them at Castelgandolfo during the month of August. Meeting with faithful in the Paul VI Hall he turned his attention to prayer in the Book of Revelation which, he explained, "presents us with the living breathing prayer of the Christian assembly, gathered together 'on the Lord's day'".

Revelation, Pope Benedict went on, "is a difficult book, but one of great richness. ... In it a reader presents the assembly with a message entrusted by God to John the Evangelist. ... From the dialogue between them a symphony of prayer arises which is then developed in many different forms up until the conclusion".

The first part of Revelation presents us with the assembly in prayer in three successive phases. The first of these highlights how "prayer is, above all, a listening to God Who speaks. Engulfed as we are by so many words we are little used to listening, and especially to adopting an interior and exterior attitude of silence so as to attend to what the Lord wishes to say to us. These verses also teach us that our prayers, often merely prayers of request, must in fact be first and foremost prayers of praise to God for His love, for the gift of Jesus Christ which brought us strength, hope and salvation. ... God, Who reveals Himself as the beginning and the end of the story, welcomes and takes to heart the assembly's request".

This first phase also includes another important element. "Constant prayer revives in us a sense of the Lord's presence in our life and history. His presence supports us, guides us and gives us great hope. ... Prayer, even that pronounced in the most extreme solitude, is never a form of isolation and it is never sterile, it is a vital lymph which nourishes an increasingly committed and coherent Christian existence".

In the second phase of the prayer of the assembly "the relationship with Jesus Christ is developed further. The Lord makes Himself visible, He speaks and acts, and the community, increasingly close to Him, listens, reacts and accepts".

In the third phase "the Church in prayer, accepting the word of the Lord, is transformed. ... The assembly listens to the message, and receives a stimulus for repentance, conversion, perseverance, growth in love and guidance for the journey".

"The Revelation", Benedict XVI concluded, "presents us with a community gathered in prayer, because it is in prayer that we gain an increasing awareness of Jesus' presence with us and within us. The more and the better we prayer with constancy and intensity, the more we are assimilated to Him, and the more He enters into our lives to guide them and give them joy and peace. And the more we know, love and follow Jesus, the more we feel the need to dwell in prayer with Him, receiving serenity, hope and strength for our lives".