VIDEO MESSAGE FOR CLOSURE OF NAPLES JUBILEE YEAR

VATICAN CITY, 17 DEC 2011 (VIS) - The Jubilee year of the Church in Naples, Italy, came to a close yesterday evening with a celebration presided by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, archbishop of Naples, in the city's cathedral. The ceremony also included the projection of a video message from the Holy Father, specially recorded for the occasion. Extracts from his remarks are published below.

  "Your journey over these months has involved the joyful participation of the ecclesial and civil communities, and of many people of good will. ... This special Jubilee Year has, for the Church in Naples, been a time of immersion in the mystery of God, and therefore a time of grace. ... The Jubilee caused heaven to open above you and the power of the Holy Spirit to descend upon your lives and communities, just as it descended on the disciples in the Upper Room at Pentecost".

  "Now, with renewed enthusiasm and with the strength of faith, hope and charity, you can face the many and complex problems of your daily lives. Just as, after Pentecost, the Apostles courageously began to announce the Good News so you too, after this Jubilee, can renew your hope, allow yourselves to be guided by the power of the Holy Spirit and work together with renewed energy in the mission of the Church. May each of you put the gifts you have received to good use, placing them at the service of others and of the entire community, without selfishness or rivalry, but in a spirit of sincere humility and joyful fraternity. Have special care, as you already do, for the weakest and most fragile, the poorest and most disadvantaged of our brothers and sisters.

  "May Our Lady of Mount Carmel, protectress of the city of Naples, and St. Genarius, watch over you and help you to maintain, with perseverance and faithfulness the commitments you have taken on in this Jubilee Year".
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