Vatican
City, 22 June 2013
(VIS) – Shortly after noon today in the Vatican Basilica, the Holy
Father received 5,000 pilgrims from the Diocese of Bresica, Italy,
accompanied by their bishop, Luciano Monari. They had travelled to
Rome as part of the Year of Faith to celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the election of their fellow Brescian, Paul VI, to the
pontificate. The Pope focused on three fundamental aspects in Paul
VI's witness and teachings: love for Christ, love for Church, and
love for humanity.
“Paul
VI,” said the Pope, “knew how to witness, in difficult years, to
the faith in Jesus Christ. … The total love for Christ emerges
throughout Montini's life, even in his choice of name as Pope, which
he explained with these words: He is the Apostle 'who loved Christ so
supremely, that he wished and tried in the highest degree to bring
Christ's Gospel to all nations and offered his life out of love of
Christ.' [His was] a profound love for Christ, not to possess, but to
proclaim him,” the pontiff continued. “These passionate words are
great words. Let me tell you something: this address in Manila, and
also the one in Nazareth, have been a spiritual strength for me. They
have done me good in my life. I go back to this address, again and
again, because it it does me good to hear these words of Paul VI
today. And do we have the same love for Christ? Is He the centre of
our lives? Do our everyday actions witness to him?”
Francis
then spoke of his second point, Paul VI's love for the Church. It was
“a passionate love, the love of a lifetime, joyful and painful,
expressed from his first encyclical, 'Ecclesiam suam'. … He loved
the Church and offered himself for her without reservation. … This
is the heart of a true Shepherd, a true Christian, a man capable of
loving!” Pope Francis then stressed that, for him, “Evangelii
Nuntiandi” is the “greatest pastoral document written to date.”
“Paul VI had a very clear vision that the Church is a Mother who
bears Christ and who leads to Christ.” The Holy Father then
addressed the faithful again, asking them: “Are we truly a Church
united to Christ, going out and proclaiming to all, even and
especially those whom I call the 'existential periphery', or are we
wrapped up in ourselves, in our groups, in our little cliques? Do we
love the great Church, the Mother Church, the Church that sends us on
mission and makes us go out of ourselves?”
The
pontiff then turned to his third point, love for humanity. This is
also tied to Christ. It is the passion for God that compels us to
meet persons, to respect them, recognize them, and serve them.”
Francis recalled Paul VI's words at the last session of Vatican
Council II: “The religion of the God who became Man has met the
religion of man who made himself God. What happened? A combat, a
fight, an anathema? This could have happened, but it didn't. The old
story of the Samaritan was the paradigm for the Council's
spirituality. … All this doctrinal wealth was focused in a single
direction: to serve humanity … in its every condition, in its every
sickness, in its every need. The Church has almost declared herself
humanity's handmaid.”
Pope
Francis then added, “this also gives us light today, in this world
where humanity is denied, where it's preferred to travel the path of
gnosticism—either the 'no flesh' of a God who didn't take flesh, or
the 'no God' of Promethean man who can go forward [alone]. At this
time we can say the same things as Paul VI: the Church is the
handmaid of humanity, the Church believes in Christ who came in the
flesh and therefore serves humanity, loves humanity, believes in
humanity. This is the inspiration of the great Paul VI.”
“Dear
friends,” the Pope concluded, “gathering in the name of the
Venerable Servant of God Paul VI does us good! His witness nourishes
the flame of love for Christ in us.”
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