ST. AUGUSTINE LIVES THROUGH HIS WORKS

VATICAN CITY, 20 FEB 2008 (VIS) - Benedict XVI returned to his catechesis on St. Augustine in the Wednesday general audience. The Pope greeted pilgrims in St. Peter's Basilica and then moved to the Paul VI audience hall where the rest of those attending the audience waited.

  St. Augustine, the Holy Father said, was "a great witness of Christ, much loved by my predecessors and whom I also have studied and meditated upon often. He is the Father of the Church who has left us the most works, some of which are of vital importance for the history of Christianity."

  Benedict XVI first cited the "Confessions", in which "we can follow, step by step, the inner journey of this extraordinary man who was passionate about God". He also mentioned the "Retractions" in which an aged Augustine returned to everything that he had written, noting revisions and "leaving a unique and precious literary document that was also a teaching of sincere intellectual humility".

  "On the City of God" was "a decisive work for the development of Western political thought and in the history of Christian theology". It was written between 413 and 416 to respond to the accusations made by pagans who ascribed the fall of Rome in 410 to the Christian God and the apostles who could not protect the city, while under the pagan divinities Rome was the "caput mundi" and it was unimaginable that it could have fallen into enemy hands.

  As the Pope explained, many thought that Rome "was not safe with the God of the Christians" and that "the Christian God could not offer protection, which is why they could not trust in Him". Augustine responded to this objection, "which touched the hearts of the Christians profoundly, with his illustrious "On the City of God", clarifying what we can and what we cannot hope for from God, referring to the relationship between the political sphere and that of the faith of the Church". "Even today", he continued, "this text is a source for defining the lay life and the Church's duty, the true and great hope that gives us faith".

 In the text Augustine "presents the history of humanity governed by divine providence, which is, however, divided between the two opposing loves that give origin to the two cities: the earthly one that originates in self love and indifference toward God, and the celestial one born of love of God and indifference to self".

  "On the Trinity", the Pope continued, "deals with the nucleus of the Christian faith", while "On Christian Doctrine" is a cultural introduction to the interpretation of the Bible, and thus to Christianity itself, and was of great importance in the formation of Western culture".

  The saint, "aware of his intellectual stature (…) always gave preference to the spread of the Christian message to ordinary persons over learned theological works. This concern is evident in his "On the Catechizing of the Uninstructed" dedicated to the problems of teaching illiterate Christians" and the "Psalm Against the Donatists".

Benedict XVI explained that the Donatists, who the book was aimed at, held that the true Church was the African one. He noted that St. Augustine had fought his whole life against this schism, sustaining that only in the unity of the Church was an African Church also possible. The "Psalm Against the Donatists", therefore, although it is a doctrinal treatise, is written in an accessible manner so that all might understand that it is "only in the unity of the Church that our relationship with God and others comes to be and that peace in the world grows".

  In his "Expositions on the Book of Psalms", the Holy Father added, are found many homilies "that were collected by scribes while the saint preached (…) Their fame ensured their wide distribution and they served as models that were always adaptable to new contexts".

  "Even today," the Pope finished, "St. Augustine lives through his works and is present among us. We thus see the lasting vitality of the faith for which he spent his entire life."
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RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES: REDISCOVER THE ORIGINAL CHARISM

VATICAN CITY, 19 FEB 2008 (VIS) - Made public today was the address Benedict XVI delivered yesterday to members of the executive committee of the International Union of Superiors General, who were meeting in the Vatican to reflect on "some particularly relevant and important aspects of consecrated life".

  "We are all aware how, in modern globalised society, it is becoming ever more difficult to announce and bear witness to the Gospel", said the Pope. "The process of secularisation which is advancing in contemporary culture does not, unfortunately, spare even religious communities.

  "Nonetheless", he added, "we must not be discouraged, because if (as has been said) many clouds are gathering on the horizon of religious life today, there also exist (indeed they are constantly growing) signs of a providential reawakening which gives rise to consolation and hope.

  "The Holy Spirit blows powerfully throughout the Church, creating a new commitment to faithfulness, both in the historical institutes and, at the same time, in new forms of religious consecration that reflect the needs of the times. ... What characterises these new forms of consecrated life is a shared desire ... for a radical form of evangelical poverty, for faithful love of the Church, and for generous dedication to the needy with particular attention to that spiritual poverty which so markedly characterises the modern age".

  The Pope subsequently went on to refer to "the orders and congregations with a long tradition in the Church", noting how they have suffered a "difficult crisis due to the ageing of members, a more or less accentuated fall in vocations and, sometimes, a spiritual and charismatic 'weariness'".

  Although describing this crisis as "worrying", Benedict XVI highlighted certain positive signs, "especially when communities have chosen to return to the origins and live in a way more in keeping with the spirit of the founder. In almost all recent general chapters of religious institutes the recurring theme has been precisely that of rediscovering the original charism, to then incarnate it and renew it in the present".

  Such rediscovery "has helped give institutes a promising new ascetic, apostolic and missionary impulse", said the Pope and he concluded: "It is along this road that we must continue, praying to the Lord to bring to full fruition the work He began".
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EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO MEET POPE

VATICAN CITY, 19 FEB 2008 (VIS) - On Saturday, 1 March, to mark the Sixth European Day for Universities, the Holy Father will preside at a Marian prayer vigil in the Paul VI Hall. The theme of the vigil will be: "Europe and the Americas together to build a civilisation of love".

  The Day has been promoted by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) and the vicariate of Rome's office for pastoral care in universities.

  The university students gathered in the Paul VI Hall will be linked by satellite to other students in various European and American cities: Naples, Italy; Bucharest, Romania; Toledo, Spain; Avignon, France; Minsk, Belarus; Washington DC, U.S.A.; Mexico City, Mexico; Havana, Cuba, Aparecida, Brazil, and Loja, Ecuador.

  At 5 p.m. the Holy Father will lead the praying of the Rosary, then address some words to the participants before distributing copies of his Encyclical "Spe salvi" to a number of student representatives.

  Also for the occasion of this European Day, a congress is due to be held at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University from 28 February to 1 March on the theme: "Europe and the Americas together towards integral and solidary development". The event has been promoted by the vicariate of Rome's office for pastoral care in universities together with the European Commission's office in Italy, and the Italian ministries for communication, for university research and for foreign affairs".

  The congress will begin with opening addresses on the theme of "The shared roots and historical ties of the relationship between Europe and the Americas" to be given by Florencio Hubenak of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina "Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires", and by Bianca Maria Tedeschini Lalli of the "Universita degli Studi Roma Tre".

  The meeting will then continue with three main sessions, the first on: "Europe and the Americas in the global society", the second on: "The role of university formation in facing development challenges", and the third on: "University cultures and models in globalisation".

  The meeting will come to an end on the morning of 1 March with two round table discussions on "The brain drain problem: U.S.A. - Latin America - Europe" and "Experiences of and prospects for university co-operation for integral and solidary development".
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 19 FEB 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

 - Fr. Valter Dario Maggi, pastor and secretary of the episcopal commission for education of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Guayaquil (area 18,711, population 3,357,000, Catholics 3,022,000, priests 339, permanent deacons 25, religious 678), Ecuador. The bishop-elect was born in Brignano Gera d'Adda, Italy in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1985.
 
 - Fr. Joseph Ponniah, vicar general of Trincomalee-Batticaloa, India, as auxiliary of the same diocese (area 8,397, population 1,545,129, Catholics 68,174, priests 66, religious 131). The bishop-elect was born in Thannamunai, India in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1980.
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POPE THANKS THE PREACHER OF THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

VATICAN CITY, 16 FEB 2008 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel, at the conclusion of the Roman Curia's spiritual exercises, the Pope expressed thanks, in the name of all those present, to the preacher Cardinal Albert Vanhoye S.J. The theme of this year's exercises was: "Let us welcome Christ, our High Priest. 'Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession'".

  In his remarks, the Pope recalled how Jesus knelt before Peter to wash his feet. This image, he said, "was always before my eyes" and "spoke to me. I saw that it was here, through such behaviour, through such an act of extreme humility, that Jesus' new priesthood was fulfilled. It was fulfilled precisely in the act of solidarity with us, with our weaknesses, our suffering, our trials, even unto death.

  "With new eyes I also saw Jesus' red clothing, which speaks to us of His blood", the Pope added. And addressing Cardinal Vanhoye he went on: "You showed us how Jesus' blood was, through His prayer, 'oxygenated' by the Holy Spirit. And thus it became a force of resurrection and a source of life for us".

  The Holy Father also noted how Peter had asked the Lord to wash not only his feet but also his head and hands, commenting: "It seems to me that - beyond that specific moment - this expresses the difficulty faced by St. Peter and by all the Lord's disciples in understanding the amazing novelty of Jesus' priesthood, of this priesthood which is debasement, solidarity with us, and thus gives us access to the true shrine: the risen body of Jesus.

  "Throughout the period of his discipleship and ... until his own crucifixion, St. Peter had to listen ever and anew to Jesus, in order to enter more deeply into the mystery of His priesthood, the priesthood that Christ communicated to the Apostles and to their successors. In this context, the figure of Peter seems to me like one of us today. You", he concluded, still addressing Cardinal Vanhoye, "have helped us to listen to the voice of the Lord, to relearn the meaning of His priesthood and of ours. You have helped us to participate in Christ's priesthood and thus to receive a new heart, the heart of Jesus, as the centre of the mystery of the new Covenant".
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