VATICAN CITY, SEP 27, 2007 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Swiss Hall of the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo, Benedict XVI attended a concert by the "Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli" International Festival Orchestra of Brescia and Bergamo, Italy. The event was organized to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Pope Paul VI who was a native of the town of Concesio near Brescia.
"Listening to these famous passages of music," said the Pope in a brief address he gave at the end of the concert, "has given us the opportunity to recall an illustrious Pope, Paul VI, who rendered a vital service to the Church and to the world in uneasy times, and in social conditions marked by profound cultural and religious changes."
The Holy Father praised the "evangelical wisdom" with which Paul VI "guided the Church during and after Vatican Council II. With prophetic intuition, he understood the hopes and fears of the men and women of that time, seeking to highlight the positive aspects and illuminate them with the light of truth and of the love of Christ."
"The love he nourished for humanity and its progress," Pope Benedict went on, "did not, however, prevent him from highlighting the contradictions ... and the risks of scientific and technological advancement disassociated from solid ... ethical and spiritual values."
"Paul VI," the Holy Father concluded, "guided the Church prudently and courageously, with a realism and evangelical optimism nourished by indomitable faith. He hoped for the advent of a 'civilization of love,' convinced that evangelical charity is indispensable in creating authentic universal fraternity. ... His successors have taken up the spiritual heritage of Servant of God Paul VI and followed in his wake."
BXVI-CONCERT/ANNIVERSARY:PAUL VI/... VIS 20070927 (300)
"Listening to these famous passages of music," said the Pope in a brief address he gave at the end of the concert, "has given us the opportunity to recall an illustrious Pope, Paul VI, who rendered a vital service to the Church and to the world in uneasy times, and in social conditions marked by profound cultural and religious changes."
The Holy Father praised the "evangelical wisdom" with which Paul VI "guided the Church during and after Vatican Council II. With prophetic intuition, he understood the hopes and fears of the men and women of that time, seeking to highlight the positive aspects and illuminate them with the light of truth and of the love of Christ."
"The love he nourished for humanity and its progress," Pope Benedict went on, "did not, however, prevent him from highlighting the contradictions ... and the risks of scientific and technological advancement disassociated from solid ... ethical and spiritual values."
"Paul VI," the Holy Father concluded, "guided the Church prudently and courageously, with a realism and evangelical optimism nourished by indomitable faith. He hoped for the advent of a 'civilization of love,' convinced that evangelical charity is indispensable in creating authentic universal fraternity. ... His successors have taken up the spiritual heritage of Servant of God Paul VI and followed in his wake."
BXVI-CONCERT/ANNIVERSARY:PAUL VI/... VIS 20070927 (300)
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