Here is a translation of the words of the Holy Father before and after the recitation of the Angelus today, last one to be held this year in that town.



Dear brothers and sisters,

Today, the first day of October, I would like to dwell on two aspects which characterize this month for the ecclesiastical community: the praying of the Rosary and a commitment to the missions.

On October 7th, Saturday, we will celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, and it is as if every year, Our Lady invites us to rediscover the beauty of this prayer, so simple but so profound.

Thew beloved John Paul II was a great apostle of the Rosary: we remember him on his knees with the rosary in his hands, immersed in the contemplation of Christ, as he himself has invited us to din his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

The rosary is a contemplative, Christ-centered prayer, inseparable from meditation on the Sacred Scriptures. It is the prayer of the Christian who advances along the pilgrimage of faith, following Jesus, preceded by Mary.

I wish to invite you, brothers and sisters, to recite the Rosary this week as a family, in the community and in the parishes, for the intentions of the Pope, for the mission of the Church and for peace in the world.

October is also missionary month, and on Sunday, October 22, we will celebrate the World Day for Missions.

The Church is by nature missionary. "As the Father sent me, I also send you" (jn 20,21), said the resurrected Jesus to the Apostles in the Cenacle.

The mission of the Church is to perpetuate Christ's mission: to bring to all the love of God, announcing it in words and with the concrete testimony of charity.

In the message for the coming World Day for Missions, I wanted to present charity as the 'spirit of mission.". St. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, wrote: "The love of Christ impels us" (2 Cor 5,14). May every Christian make those his own words, in the joyous experience of being a missionary of love wherever Providence has put us, with humility and courage, serving our neighbor without ultimate purpose and drawing from prayer the strength for a happy and hardworking charity. (cf Deus caritas est, 32-39).

The universal patron of missions, along with St. Francis Xavier, is St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Carmelite virgin and doctor of the Church, whom we remember today.

May she, who indicated as the 'simple' way to holiness a trustful abandon to the love of God, help us to be credible witnesses for the Gospel of charity.

Most Blessed Mary, Virgin of the Rosary and Queen of missions, lead us all to Christ the Savior.

After the Angelus, the Holy Father said the following in Italian:

Yesterday I had the joy of meeting with His Beatitude Emmanuel III Dellay, patriarch of Babylon of the Chladeas, who told me of the tragic reality that the beloved people of Iraq must face daily, where Muslims and Christians have lived for 14 centuries as children of the same land.

I hope that these links of brotherhood shall not be drawn apart while, with my spiritual nearness to them, I invite everyine to join me in asking almighty God for the gift of peace and concord for that troubled country.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the annual World day for Habitat, designated by the United Nations and dedicated this year to the theme "Cities - magnets of hope". Managing the rapid process of urbanization - which is one of the consequences of growing migration towards the cities, represemts one of the most severe problems that man in the 21st century is called on to confront.

I express my encouragement to all those at the local and international levels who work so that persons living in the neglected peripheries may be assured worthy living conditions, the satisfaction of their primary needs, and the possibility of realizing their own aspirations, particularly in their family life, and in peaceful social coexistence.

Later, he addressed English-speaking pilgrims:

I am pleased to greet the English-speaking visitors gathered here today, including the pilgrims from Rotterdam who are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of their diocese.

In this month of October, dedicated to the Holy Rosary, we ponder with Mary the mysteries of our salvation, and we ask the Lord to help us grow in our understanding of the marvellous things he has done for us.

May God fill you with his love and may he bestow upon all those dear to you his blessings of joy and peace.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/10/2006 15.23]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square Wednesday morning.



Dear brothers and sisters,

In our series on the Apostles called by Jesus during His earthly life, the object of our attention today is the apostle Bartholomew.

In the ancient lists of the Twelve, he was always mentioned ahead of Matthew, while the name of the apostle who preceded him varied - it could be Philip (cfr Mt 10,3; Mk 3,16; Lk 6.14) or Thomas (cfr Acts 1,13).

His name is clearly a patronymic, because it is formed with specific reference to his father's name. In fact, it is a name that was probably Aramaic, 'bar Talmay' which means 'soon of Talmay.'

We don't really have any information that stands out about Bartholemew. In fact, his name is always and only mentioned within a list of the twelve Apostles cited earlier, and is theerfore never at the center of any particular story.

Traditionally, however, he is identified with Nathaniel, a name which means "God has given." This Nathaniel came from Cana (cfr Jn 21,2) and it is therefore possible that he was a witness to the great 'sign' that Jesus had worked in that place (cfr Jn 2, 1-11).

The identification of the two personages was probably motivated by the fact that this Nathaniel, in the scene of calling narrated in the Gospel of John, is placed next to Philip, that is, in the position that Bartholomew has in the Apostles' lists ,as reported by the other Gospels.

To this Nathaniel, Philip had communicated that he had found "He of whom Moses in the Laws, as well as the Prophets, had written about: Jesus, son of Joseph, of Nazareth" (Jn 1,45).

As we know, Nathaniel answered him expressing a rather heavyhanded prejudice: "Can anything good ever come out of Nazareth?" (Jn 1,46a). This manner of contesting Philip's statement is, in a way, important to us.

It makes us see that, according to Jewish expectations, the Messiah could not possibly come from a village as obscure as Nazareth (see also Jn 7,42). But at the same time, it makes evident God's freedom, which surprises our expectations, since He has situated Himself in a place where we would not have expected Him to be.

Moreover, we know that Jesus was not exclusively "from Nazareth", but that he was born in Bethlehem (cfr Mt 2,1; Lk 2,4). Therefore, Nathaniel's objection was without value because it was based, as so often happens, on incomplete information.

Another reflection suggests the importance of Nathaniel's example to us. In our relationship with Jesus, we should not be content only with words. Philip, replying to Nathaniel, makes him a significant invitation: "Come and see!" (Jn 1, 46b).

Our knowledge of Jesus requires above all a living experience: the testimony of others is certainly important, because usually, our life as Christians begins from an
announcement which reaches us through one or more witnesses.

But then we outselves must personally become involved in an intimate and profound relationship with Jesus. In like manner, the Samaritans, after having heard the testimony of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, wanted to speak directly to Him, and after they did, they said to her: "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, but because we ourselves have heard, and we know that He is truly the savior of the world."

Going back to the scene of the calling, the evangelist tells us that when Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, He exclaimed: "Here is indeed an Israelite, in whom there is no falsehood" (Jn 1,47).

It is a praise that recalls the text of a Psalm: ""Blessed is the man...in whose spirit there is no deceit" (Ps 32,2), but it arouses the curiosity of Nathaniel, who replies with wonder: "How do you know me?" (Jn 1,48a).

Jesus's answer is not immediately understandable. He says: "Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were under the fig tree" (Jn 1,48b).

Even today, it is difficult to account precisely for the sense of these last words. Going by what the experts say, it is possible, that the fig tree being mentioned sometimes as the tree under which sat the doctors of the law to read the Bible and to teach it, the reference is to the occupation Nathaniel had at the time he was called by Jesus.

Regardless, what counts above all in John's narration is the limpid confession of faith that Nathaniel finally makes: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel." (Jn 1,49).

Although this does not reach the intensity of Thomas's confession of faith with which the Gospel of John ends, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20,28), Nathaniel's confession serves to open the entire Fourth Gospel itself.

It embodies a first important step in the itinerary of adhering to Christ. Nathaniel's words highlight the double complementary aspect of the identity of Jesus: He is recognized in terms of His special relationship to God the Father, of whom He is the only Son, as well as of his relationship to the people of Israel, of which he is declared King, which is the description of the awaited Messiah.

We should never lose sight of one or the other of these two components, because if we proclaim oonly the celestial dimensions of Jesus, we risk making Him into an ethereal and evanescent being, and if on th contrary, we only see him in his concrete manifestation in history, we end by neglecting the divine dimension that properly qualifies him.

We do not have precise information on the ensuing apostolic activity of Batholomew-Nathaniel. According to a reference by the historian Eusebius in the fourth century, a certain Panthenus claims to have found signs that Bartholomew had been in India (cfr Hist, eccl, V,10,3).

In later tradition, starting with the Middle Ages, the story of his death by decortication ( being stripped of his skin) became very popular. Think of the famous scene in the last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, in which Michelangelo paints St. Batholomew holding in his left hand his own skin, on which the artist left his self-portrait.

His relics are venerated here in Rome in the church dedicated to him on Tiberine island, to which they were said to have brought by the German emperor Otto III in 983.

In conclusion, we can say that the figure of St. Bartholomew, despite the scarcity of information we have about him, is placed before our eyes to tell us that adherence to Jesus can be lived and witnessed to, even without achieving sensational works. Jesus himself is and remains extraordinary, to whom each of us is called on to consecrate our own life and death.


Later, the Holy Father synthesized the catechesisin English:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today I want to continue my series of reflections on the Apostles by speaking of Saint Bartholomew. The New Testament gives us very little direct information about him - his name is simply included in lists of the Twelve. However, he is traditionally identified with Nathanael, who was brought to Jesus by Philip at the beginning of Saint John’s Gospel.

When Philip tells Nathanael that Jesus of Nazareth is the one foretold by Moses and the Prophets, Nathanael says, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" He could not believe that the Messiah would come from somewhere so obscure. Yet we know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Nathanael’s objection was prejudiced and it was based, as so often, on incomplete information. This passage teaches us that God often acts in unexpected ways.

Philip’s reply is to say, "Come and see". This shows us that, while others have a part to play in bringing us to Jesus, we need to discover him for ourselves. Then we will be able, like Nathanael, to make that great profession of faith, "You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel!"

Both elements of Nathanael’s statement are important for us. We need to recognize Jesus’s unique relationship with the Father, and we also need to acknowledge his place in history. Our Saviour is true God and true man.

I welcome the English-speaking pilgrims here today, and I greet especially the Board of Directors of Serra International, the deacon candidates from the North American College, and the group of new students from the Beda College. I pray that you will respond generously to the call to discipleship that you have received. May God bless you all.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/10/2006 13.21]

New statue for Vatican basilica

Oct. 04 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI dedicated a new statue in an alcove of St. Peter's basilica, honoring St. Genevieve Torres Morales, before his regular weekly audience on October 4.

St. Geneveive, the Spanish founder of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Holy Angels-- popularly known as the Angelics-- was canonized by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) in 2003. The marble statue honoring her has been placed in an alcove in the rear of the Vatican basilica.

Between 1706 and 1954, some 40 statues honoring the founders of various religious orders were placed in nooks inside St. Peter's basilica. With the available sites filled, no more statues were dedicated until the pontificate of John Paul II, who suggested placing statues on the outside of the basilica's walls. There have now been 8 new statues placed in external alcoves.

Last September Pope Benedict blessed a new statue outside the basilica honoring St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. In October he installed another, honoring the first Ecuadorian saint, Mariana de Jesus Parades y Flores.

The Holy Father blesses the statue of St. Genoveva Torres Morales

POST TRANSFERRED TO 'PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE' THREAD

Lily and Chickadee, I hope you don't mind. I've moved your posts on GG over to 'PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE,' as the 'AUDIENCES AND ANGELUS TEXTS' thread is really meant for the Pope's texts and any comments or discussions it might occasion. But not about people! Thank you.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/10/2006 3.43]

POST TRANSFERRED TO 'PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE'

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/10/2006 3.41]

POST TRANSFERRED TO 'PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE'

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/10/2006 3.42]

Here is a translation of the words of the Holy Father at the Angelus today in St. Peter's Square:



Dear brothers and sisters!

On this Sunday, the Gospel presents us with the words of Jesus on matrimony.

To someone who asked him if its would be legal for a man to repudiate his wife, as a precept of the Mosaic law provided (cfr Dt 24,1), He replied that it was a concession made by Moses because of "hardness of heart," whereas the truth about matrimony "goes back to the beginning of Creation," when God, as its is written in Genesis, "created man and woman; for this, a man shall leave father and mother and the two shall be one flesh" (Mk 10,6-7; cfr Jn 1,27; 2,24).

And Jesus added: "Since they are no longer two, but one flesh only, man cannot take apart what God has put together" (Mk 10,8-9).

This is God's original plan, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us in the Constitution Gaudium et Spes: "The intimate communion of conjugal life and love, founded by the Creator and structured with its own laws, is established with the conjugal pact...God Himself is the author of matrimony" (n. 48).

My thoughts go to all Christian spouses: with them I thank the Lord for the gift of the sacrmanet of matrimony, and I exhort them to be faithful to their calling through every season of life, "in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in pain", as they promised in the sacramental rite.

Conscious of the grace they have received, may all Christian couples build a family that is open to life and capable of facing together the many complex challenges of our time.

Today we need their testimony more than ever. We need families that will not let themselves be carried away by modern cultural currents inspired by hedonism and relativism, but rather are ever ready to fulfill with generous dedication their mission in the Church and in society.

In the apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio, the servant of God John Paul II wrote that "the sacrament of matrimony makes of Christian spouses and parents witnesses for Christ 'to the ends of the earth,' true and proper 'missionaries of love and live" (cfr n. 54).

This mission is directed within the family - especially in reciprocal service and in the education of their children - as well as outside it. In fact, the domestic community is called on to be a sign of the love of God for all.

This is a mission which the Christian family can fulfill only if suppported by divine grace. Because of this, it is necessary to pray without ever tiring and to persevere in the daily effort of keeping the commitments assumed on the day of matrimony.

On all families, especially those in difficuilty, I invoke the maternal protection of the Mother of God and her spouse Joseph. Mary, Queen of th Family, pray for us!

After the Angelus, he had a special message:

I greet with affection some 350 young 'missionaries' belonging to the parishes, associations, movements and communities of the Diocese of Rome, who in the past few days, together with some priests, have given life to the third edition of the "Mission of Youth towards Youth" with the theme "Jesus at the center."

Dear friends, I am very pleased at your joyous commitment to announce the Gospel in the streets and in the public squares, in schools and hospitals, and even in the places of recreation where Roman youth gather. I encourage you to maintain this missionary commitment every day of your life, always availing of your diocese's initiatives for education.

Later, he said in English:

I warmly welcome the English-speaking pilgrims who are here today. Throughout this month of October we remember in a special way Our Blessed Lady. We ask for her prayers for our loved ones and for ourselves. May her son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, bless all of you during your stay in Rome.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/10/2006 2.23]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square today:


Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we will consider two of the Twelve Apostles: Simon the Canaanite and Jude Thaddeus (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot).

We will consider them together not only because in the listing of the Twelve they are always mentioned together (cfr Mt 10,4; Mk 3,18; Lk 6,15; Acts 1,19), but because the facts about them are not many, except that the canon of the New Testament has a letter attributed to Jude Thaddeus.

Simon receives an appelative that differs in the four listings: Matthew and Mark qualify him as the "Canaanite,", Luke calls him a "Zealot." Both are really equivalent because they mean the same thing. In Hebrew, in fact, the verb qana means "to be jealous, passionate", and can be said both of God, insofar as he is passionate for His Chosen People (cfr Is 20,5), and of men
who burn with the zeal of serving the one God with full dedication as Elia did (cfr 1 Kings 19,10).

It is therefore very possible that this Simon, even if he did not actually belong to the nationalist movement of the Zealots, was at least characterized by an ardent zeal for the Jewish identity, and therefore, for God, for His people and for the divine law.

If so, Simon is at the opposite pole from Matthew, who as a publican, represented an activity [tax-collecting for the Romans] that was considered totally impure by the Jews.

This is an evident sign that Jesus calls His disciples and co-workers from all social levels and the most diverse religions, without excluding anyone.

He is interested in persons, not social categories or labels! And the beautiful thing is that in the group of his intimate followers, everyone - although very different from each other -
lived together overcoming all imaginable difficulties.

It was Jesus Himself, in fact, who was the reason for this cohesion, Jesus in Whom all find themselves united.

This is clearly a lesson for us, who are often inclined to emphasize our differences if not our disputes, forgetting that in Jesus Christ we have the strength to resolve our conflicts.

We should also keep in mind that the Twelve Apostles prefigured the Church within which all charisms, all peoples, races and human qualities should have room and should find their composition and unity in the communion with Christ.

As for Jude Thaddeus, tradition calls him that, bringing together two different names: in fact, while Matthew and Mark refer to him simply as Thaddeus (Mt 10,3; Mk 3,18), Luke calls him "Jude the Jacobite" (Lk 6,16 Acts 1,13).

The surname Thaddeus is of uncertain origin and may be explained as coming from the Aramic tadda, which means 'breast' and therefore would mean 'magnanimous'; or as an abbreviation of a Greek name like Theodorus or Theodotus.

We are told very little about him. Only John reports a request made by him to Jesus during the Last Supper. Thaddeus asks: "Lord, how is it that You manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?"

That is a still a question today which even we can ask the Lord: Why did the Resurrected One not show Himself in all His glory to His adversaries to demonstrate that God had won? Why did He show Himself only to the Disciples?

Jesus's answer was mysterious and profound: "If one loves me, he will follow my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and dwell by him" (Jn 14,22-23).

This means that the Resurrected Jesus must be seen and perceived even with the heart, in such a way that God can dwell in us. The Lord does not take shape like an object. He wants to enter our lives, and therefore, His manifestation is one that implies and presupposes an open heart. Only in that way can we see the Resurrected Jesus.

Jude Thaddeus has been attributed with the authorship of one of the Letters of the New Testament which are called 'catholic' because they are adressed not to a specific local Church but to a wider circle.

Jude's letter is, in fact, addressed to "the elect who live in the love of God the Father and are saved by Jesus Christ" (v.1).

The central concern of this letter is to warn Christians against all who use the pretext of God's grace to excuse their own dissolution and to mislead other brothers with unacceptable teachings, introducing divisions within the Church "under the impulse of their own signs" (v. 8), as Jude defines their doctrines and personal ideas.

He likens them to the fallen angels, and in strong words, he says "they have foillowed the road of Cain" (v. 11). Besides, he brands them without reservation as "rainless clouds tossed about by the winds, or trees that have come to the end of a season without fruit, twice dead and uprooted; like wild waves of the sea foaming with horrors; like wayward stars destined for the fog of eternal shadows (vv. 12-13).

Today we are perhaps no longer used to such polemical language which nevertheless tells us something important. Amidst all the temptations around us, with all the currents of modern life, we should conserve the identity of our faith.

Of course, we will certainly follow with firm constancy the path of understanding and dialog, which the Second Vatican Council happily undertook. But this path of dialog, so necessary, should not make us forget our duty to rethink and demonstrate in equally forceful manner the major irrenounceable features of our Christian identity.

We must always bear in mind that our identity calls for strength, clarity and courage in the face of the contradictions of the world we live in.
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[Apparently, the Pope departed from his printed text to say the following instead of the above sentence - I am translating from an account by Agence France Presse:
"We must always bear in mind that our identity is not bound only to the simply cultural plane, nor is it something superficial, but it requires the strength, clarity, and the courage of provocation, which are integral to our faith."

The AsiaNews report on the audience had this translation:
"...we must bear in mind that this identity of ours is not only expressed on a merely cultural or superficial level. Rather it calls for the strength, clarity and courage of provocation that belong to the faith.”
----------------------------------------------------------------

And so, the epistolary text of Jude continues: "But you, dearest ones" - he speaks to all of us - " must construct your spiritual edifice on your most holy faith; pray through the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life; convince those who are vacillating..." (vv 20-22).

The Letter concludes with these beautiful words: "To Him who can keep you from every fall and make you appear before His glory without fault and in joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord - glory, majesty, strength and power before all time, now and for always. Amen" (vv 24-25).

We see clearly that the author of these lines lived the fullness of his faith, to which belong great things such as moral integrity, joy, confidence and finally, praise of God, all motivated solely by the goodness of our only God and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, may Simon the Canaanite and Jude Thaddeus help us to discover ever anew and to live tirelessly the beauty of the Christian faith, knowing how to give it testimony that is both strong as well as serene.

Later, the Holy Father synthesized the catechesis in English:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our weekly catechesis on the Church’s Apostolic ministry, we consider today the two Apostles Simon and Jude.

Simon is called "Cananaean" and "Zealot". Both expressions stress his passionate attachment to his Jewish identity. That Simon could live in harmony with Matthew the tax collector in the same community, shows us how in the Church, through the grace of Christ, differences can be overcome.

The other Apostle, Jude, is sometimes called Thaddaeus. When he asks a question regarding the Lord’s manifestation to the Apostles rather than to others, Jesus insists on the need for love as an inner preparation for the presence of God in our soul.

In the letter of the New Testament, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Jude, a strong emphasis is placed on keeping true to our Christian identity.

Sustained by the grace of Christ, we must be steadfast in our faith and moral values, while respecting others and remaining open to dialogue.

As we bear witness to the truth that has been revealed to us, we are encouraged by the Apostle’s words: "Build yourselves up on your most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 20-21).

I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking groups, pilgrims and visitors present at today’s audience, especially the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate. I pray that your stay in Rome will renew your faith and that the Lord will keep you strong in your Christian identity, following the example of the Apostles Simon and Jude. May God bless you all!


In his greeting to German-speaking pilgrims, the Pope had special words for the following:

,,,I greet particularly the newly consecrated priests and deacons of the Collegium Germanicum, along with their guests.

And I address heartelt greetings to the pilgrims from the archdiocese of Cologne under the leadrership of cArdinal Joachim Meisner, who have come for the blessing of Edith Stein's statue at the Basilica...

After the audience, the Pope proceeded to bless the statue of Stein, St. Theresa Benedict of the Cross, in one of the niches of the outer wall of the Basilica. After her canonization in 1998, St. Theresa Benedict was named a Co-Patroness of Europe, along with Catherine of Siena and Brigitte of Sweden. .
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*Note on reporting the Pope's addresses:
I certainly wish the Vatican Press Office would assign someone to monitor what the Pope actually says and then make the appropriate changes in the text that they publish online.

I can understand not modifying the printed text to include any plesantries that the Pope may interject - but why not? - as when he says "The clouds have lifted - let us greet the sun". But a change such as that noted above is certainly significant and worth the effort of posting the text as delivered, not as pre-printed.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/10/2006 3.22]

EWTN USA is not broadcasting Papa's GA of 10/18/06. I leave it to my European sisters to tell me about today's GA and if Papa is all right.

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis at the general audience held in St.Peter' Square this morning.


Cari fratelli e sorelle,
Dear brothers and sisters,

In finishing today with our gallery of portraits of the Apostles directly called by Jesus to work with Him during His earthly life, we cannot omit mentioning the name of him who is always mentioned last in the listings of the Twelve: Judas Iscariot. We will then mention the person who was chosen to replace him, Matthias.

Now, the very name Judas evokes in Christians an instinctive reaction of reproach and condemnation. The significance of the apellative Iscariot is controversial: The most-followed explanation is that it means "man from Keriot" referring to his village of origin in the Hebron region, which is twice mentioned in Sacred Scripture (cfr Js 15,25; Am 2,2). Others interpret it as variations of the term 'sicarius', alluding to a warrior armed with a dagger called 'sica' in Latin.

Finally, there are those who see in this surname simply a transcription of a Hebrew-Aramaic root shich means "he who was about to give him up". This designation is found twice in the fourth Gospel, namely, after a confession of faith by Peter (cfr Jn 6,71) and later during the anointing at Bethany (cfr Jn 12,4).

Other passages show that the betrayal was already in motion, saying "he who would betray him" - as during the Last Supper, after the announcement of the betrayal (cfr Mt 26,25) and then, after the arrest of Jesus (cfr Mt 26,26-28)' Jn 18,2-5).

On the other hand, the listings of the Twelve refer to the fact of the betrayal as something already done: "Judas Iscariot, he who betrayed Him," so says Mark (3,19) Matthew (10,4) and Luke (6,16) had similar formulations.

So the betrayal as such took place on two levels: above all, in its planning, when Judas agreed to do it for twenty pieces of silver from the enemies of Jesus (cfr Mt26,14-16), and then, in its execution, in the kiss that Judas gave Jesus at Gethsemani (cfr Mt 26,46-50).

In every case, the evangelists insisted on the quality of Apostleship which Judas met for all practical purposes: he is repeatedly named as "one of the Twelve" (Mt 26, 14,47); Mk 14, 10,20; Jn 6,71) or "counted among the Twelve" (Lk 22,3).

Even Jesus Himself, addressing the Apostles and speaking of him expressly, twice called him "one of you" (Mt 26,21; Mk 14,18; Jn 6,70; 13,21). And Peter would say of Judas, "He was one of us and he had been destined for the same ministry we have" (Acts 1,17).

Therefore, we are dealing with a figure who belonged to that group that Jesus had chosen to be his cloasest companions and collaborators. This gives rise to two questions in the attempt to explain what happened to Judas.

The first is that we ask ourselves how ever did Jesus come to choose this man and trust him? Beyond everything, above all, although Judas was supposed to be the bursar (keeper of the purse) among the Twelve, he was also described as a 'thief' (Jn 12,6a). So the mystery of the choice remains, especially since Jesus pronounced a very severe judgment on him, saying: "Woe to him by whom the Son of Man will be betrayed!" (Mt 26,24).

The mystery thickens regarding his eternal destiny, since we know that Judas "repented and returned the thirty peices of silver to the high priests and to the elders, saying, 'I have sinned, because I have betrayed innocent blood.'"(Mt 27,3-4). Although he then went off to hang himself (cfr Mt 27,5), it is not for us to measure his action, substituting ourselves for God who is infinitely merciful and just.

A second question is about Judas's motivation: why did he betray Jesus? This has been the object of various hypotheses. Some would refer to the fact of his greed for money. Others propose a Messianic explanation: that Judas was disappointed in seeing that Jesus's program did not include the political and military liberation of Israel.

Actually, the evangelical texts insist on another aspect: John says expressly that "the devil had already induced in the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray him" (Jn 13,2). Luke writes analogously, "Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve" (Lk 22,3).

This explanation goes beyond historical reasons and explains what happened on the basis of Judas's own personal responsibility, having yielded miserably to a temptation from the Evil One.

Judas's betrayal remains, in any case, a mystery. Jesus treated him like a friend (cfr Mt 26,50), but in His invitations (to the apostles) to follow Him on the road of the beatitudes, respecting human freedom, he did not force their will nor were they protected against the temptations of Satan.

Indeed, the possibilities of perverting the human heart are truly manifold. The only way to avoid them is not to cultivate a vision that is individualistic and autonomous, but on the contrary, to place ourselves always on the side of Jesus, taking his point of view. And so we must seek, day after day, to enter into full communion with Him.

Let us remember that even Peter wanted to oppose him, fearful of what could happen in Jerusalem, but he received a very strong reproach: "You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do"(Mk 8, 32-33).

Peter, after his fall, repented and found grace and pardon. Even Judas repented, but his repentance degenerated into despair and thus became self-destructive.

It is for us to always bear in mind what St. Benedict says at the end of the fundamental Chapter V of his "Rules": "Never despair of divine mercy! "Because God "is greater than our hearts", as St.John says (1 Jn 3,20).

So there are two things we must bear in mind. The first: Jesus respects our freedom. The second: Jesus expects our willingness to repent and to be converted - he is rich with mercy and pardon.

For the rest, when we think of the negative role Judas had, we must place it in the context of God's superior conduct of events. Judas's behavior led to the death of Jesus, which transformed a tremendous ordeal into the space for redemptive love and allowed Him to give Himself up to His Father's will (cfr Gal 2,20; Eph 5,2,25).

The verb 'betray' is the version of a Greek word which means 'to deliver.' Sometimes, its subject is God Himself in person: it was He, who out of love, 'delivered' Jesus for all of us (cfr Rm 8,32). In his mysterious project of salvation, God took on Judas's inexcusable act as an occasion for the total gift of the Son for the redemption of the world.

In conclusion, let us also remember him who, after Easter, was elected to take the traitor's place (among the Twelve). In the Church of Jerusalem, two were proposed by the community and then chosen by lot: "Joseph called Barsabba, nicknamed the Just; and Matthias" (Acts 3,23).

The latter was chosen, and so he was 'associated with the other eleven Apostles" (Acts 1,26). We know nothing of him except that he was a witness to all the events in Jesus's earhtly life (cfr Acts 1,21-22), remaining faithful to Him to the end. To the greatness of his loyalty was then added the divine call to take the place of Judas, almost making up for his betrayal.

We get out of this a last lesson: even if the Church does not lack for unworthy Christians and traitors, it is up to each of us to counteract the evil that they do with our own limpid testimony to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

In English, he said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today I conclude my series of reflections on the Apostles by speaking of Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus.

Why did he do it? Some say he was too fond of money, and the offer of thirty pieces of silver was too much to resist. The Gnostic writers say he wanted to liberate Jesus from the shackles of mortality.

But the Gospels tell us that Satan entered into the heart of Judas. He yielded to a temptation from the Evil one. It is a mistake to think that the great privilege of living in company with Jesus is enough to make a person holy. Jesus does not force our will when he invites us to follow him along the path of the Beatitudes.

The only way to avoid the pitfalls that surround us is to give ourselves entirely to Jesus, to enter into full communion with him, so that we think and act as he did, in total obedience to the Father. God can turn everything to a good purpose. Even Judas’s betrayal became, through divine Providence, the occasion for Jesus’s supreme act of love, for the salvation of the world.

Finally, a word about the one who was chosen after the Resurrection to take the traitor’s place, in a sense compensating for what Judas had done. All we know about Matthias is that he was a witness to the whole of Jesus’s earthly life, and he remained faithful to the end. We too are called to make reparation for the sins of others by our faithful witness to Christ.

I welcome the English-speaking pilgrims here today, especially the Sisters of Providence who have come for the canonization of Mother Theodore Guerin.

I greet also the pilgrims from Africa, Asia, Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and the United States of America. May God pour out his blessings upon all of you, and upon your loved ones at home.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/10/2006 16.17]

Here is a translation of the words of the Holy Father at today's Angelus:



Today we celebrate the 80th World Missionary Day. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI who gave a strong push to the mssions ad gentes, and in the Jubilee Year of 1925, promoted a grand exposition which became what is now the Ethnological-Missionary Collections of the Vatican Museums.

This year, in the message for the occasion, I proposed the theme "Charity, spirit of mission". Indeed, if mission is not inspired by love, it is reduced to a philanthropic and social activity.

But for Christians, the words of St. Paul are valid: "Love of Christ urges us on" (2 Cor 5,14). The love that moved the Father to send His Son to the world and the Son to offer Himself for us by His death on the Cross - that same love is instilled by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer.

Every baptized person, like a shoot from the vine, can thus cooperate in the mission of Jesus which can be summarized thus: to bring to every person the good news that "God is love" and because of this, He wants to save the world.

Mission comes from the heart: When one stops to pray before the Crucifix, and looks at the pierced chest of Christ, one cannot but feel the joy of knowing we are loved, and a desire to love and become an instrument of mercy and reconciliation.

That is what happened 800 years ago to the young Francis of Assisi in the little church of St. Damian which was then in ruins. From atop the Cross, now kept in the Basilica of St. Clare, Francis heard Jesus tell him: "Go, repair my house which, as you see, is all in ruins."

That 'house" was, first of all, his own life, to be 'repaired' through a true conversion; it was the Church, not that one of bricks, but that of living persons who are always in need of purification; it was also all mankind, in whom God wants to live.

Mission always starts from a heart transformed by the love of God, as shown by countless stories about the saints and martyrs who in different ways gave their lives in the service of the Gospel.

Mission is therefore a worksite where there is a place for everyone: for those committed to realize in their own families the Kingdom of God; for those who carry out their profession in the Christian spirit; for those who consecrate themselves totally to the Lord; for those who follow Jesus the Good Shepherd in the ministry ordained for the people of God; for those who specifically go forth to announce Christ to those who do not yet know Him.

May the Most Holy Mary help us live with renewed missionary impulse - each in the situation Providence has placed us - the joy and the courage of mission.


After the Angelus, he said the following:

I am happy to send a cordial greeting to the Muslims of the whoe world who these days are celebrating the end of the fasting monmth of RAmadan. I wish everyone serenity and peace!

In dramatic contrast to this joyous atmosphere is the news coming from Iraq on the most serious problems of security and the brutal violence to which so many innocents are exposed just because they are Shiite, Sunni or Christian.

I feel the great concern throughout the Christian community there and I wish to assure them that I am near to them, as I am to all victims of violence, and for all, I pray for strength and consolation.

I invite you to join me in asking the Omnipotent to grant the faith and courage needed by religious authorities and political leaders, local as well as international, to support the Iraqi people in reconstructing their homeland, in seeking a shared equilibrium, and in reciprocal respect, knowing that the multiplicity of their national components is an integral part of the nation's wealth.



In English, he said:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus. Today is Mission Sunday: a day of reflection on the call to spread the Good News to all peoples. Let us support with our recognition and our prayers the men and women who leave home and family to preach the Gospel. And may our own faith in Christ be renewed! I wish you all a blessed Sunday!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2006 6.06]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis at the General Audience today held in St. Peter's Square:

Having finished his series on the Twelve Apostles, he spoke today of St. Paul.




Dear brothers and sisters,

We have concluded our reflections on the twelve Apostles directly called by Jesus during His earthly life. Today we will start to look at other figures who were important for the early Church.

They too gave their lives for the Lord, the Gospel and the Church. These are men and women who, as Luke writes in the Acts, "dedicated their lives in the name of our Lord Jesus Chirst" (15,26).

The first of them, called by the Lord Himself, by the Resurrected Christ, to be a true Apostle is undoubtedly Paul of Tarsus. He shines like a star of the first magnitude in the history of the Church, and not only in that of the primitive Church.

St. John Chrysostom exalted him as a figure who was superior to many angels and archangels (cfr Pangeyrics, 7,3). Dante Alighieri, in the Divine Comedy, inspired by the story told by Luke in the Acts (cfr 9,15) defined him simply as the 'vessel of election" (Inferno, 2,28), which means an instrument chosen by God.

Others have called him the 13th Apostle - and in fact, he insisted himself that he was a true Apostle, having been called by the Risen One, "the first after the Only One." Certainly, after Jesus, he is the one person in the early Church about whom we are best informed.

We have not only the story told by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, but also a group of Letters coming directly from his own hand, and which reveal without intermediaries his personality and his thought.

Luke tells us that his original name was Saul (cfr Acts 7,58; 8,1; etc), which was its form in Hebrew (cfr Acts 9,14,17;22,7,13;26,14), as King Saul (cfr Acts 13,21). He was a Jew of the Diaspora, Tarsus being situated between Anatolia and Syria.

Early on, he went to Jerusalem to study Mosaic law in depth at the feet of the great Rabbi Gamaliel (cfr Acts 22,3). He also learned a manual and rough trade as a tentmaker (cfr Acts 18,3), which subsequently enabled him to support himself without imposing on the local Churches(cfr Acts 20,34; 1 Cor 4,12; 2 Cor 12,13-14).

An encounter with the community of those who professed themselves to be disciples of Jesus was decisive for him. From them, he learned of a new faith - a new path - which placed in the center not so much the law of God as much as the person of Jesus, who was crucified and resurrected for the remission of sins.

As a zealous Jew, he considered this message unacceptable, even scandalous, and so, he felt it was his duty to persecute Christ's followers even outside Jerusalem. It was on his way to Damascus, at the start of the fourth decade of the first century when, according to his own words, Christ "took possession of him. (Phi 3,12).

While Luke recounts this with little detail - that the light of the Risen One touched Saul and fundamentally changes his whole life - Paul himself in his letter goes straight to the point and speaks not only of a vision (cfr 1 Cor 9,1), but of illumination (cfr 2 Cor 4,6) and above all, of revelation and vocation in his encounter with the Risen Christ (cfr Gal 1,15-16).

In fact, he explicitly defines himself as an "apostle by calling" (cfr Rm 1,1; 1 Cor 1,1), "or apostle by the will of God" (2 Cor 1,1; Eph 1,1; Col 1,1), as if to underscore that his conversion was not the result of a development of thoughts and reflections, but the fruit of divine intervention, of unpredictable divine grace.

From then on, everything that had constituted value for him paradoxically turned into 'loss and rubbish' (cfr Phi 3,7-10). And from that moment, all his energies were placed at the exclusive service of Christ and His Gospel. From then on, his existence would be that of an Apostle who wants "to do everything for everyone" (1 Cor 9,22) without reservations.

From here we learn a very important lesson: what counts is to place Jesus Christ in the center of our life, so that our identity would be distinguished essentially by the encounter and communion with Christ and His Word. In His light, every other value derives and is purified of dross.

Another fundamental lesson offered by Paul is the universal breadth which characterizes his Apostolate. Feeling acutely the problem of access by the Gentiles, or pagans, to God who, in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, offers salvation to all men without exception, Paul dedicated himself to making this Gospel known, literally the "good news", that is, an announcement of grace that is destined to reconcile man with God, with himself and with other men.

From the first, he understood that this was a reality that did not concern only the Jews or a certain group of men, but that it had universal value and concerned everyone, because God is the God of everyone.

The point of departure for his travels was Antioch in Syria, where for the first time, the Gospel was announced to the Greeks and where the name 'Christian' was first coined (cfr Acts 11,20,26), namely "believers in Christ."

From Antioch, he headed first for Cyprus, and later, made repeated visits to the regions of Asia Minor (Pisidia, Licaonia, Galatia), then to European lands (Macedonia, Greece). The most notable visits were to Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonia, Corinth, not to forget Berea, Athens and Miletus.

Paul's Apostolate did not lack for difficulties which he faced courageously for love of Christ. He himself recalls acting through "labors..imprisonments...beatings, and numerous brushes with death...; thee times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked...; frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Cor 11,23-28).

From a ssage of his Letter to the Romans (cfr 15, 24,28) we see he intended to push farther towards Spain to the limits of the West, to announce the Gospel everywhere even to the limits of then-unknown lands.

How can we not admire a man like him? How can we not thank the Lord for having given us an Apostle of this stature? Clearly it would not have neen possible for him to face so many difficult and at times desperate situations, if there had not been a reason of absolute value before which no limits could be considered impassable.

For Paul, this reason, we know, was Jesus Christ, of whom he writes: "The love of Christ impels us...that those who live may no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and was resurrected for them" (2 Cor 5, 14-15), for us, for everyone.

In fact, the Apostle would give the supreme testimony of blood under the emperor Nero here in Rome where we keep and venerate his mortal remains. And so the Roman Clement, my predecessor in this Apostolic Seat in the last years of the first century, wrote: "For all the jealousy and discord (around him), Paul was obliged to show himself worthy of the prize for patience... After having preached justice to the whole world, and after having reached the extreme confines of the West, he suffered martyrdom at the hands of the authorities; and so he left this world and reached the holy place, becoming for us the greatest model of perseverance." (To the Corinthians, 5).

May the Lord help us to put into practice the exhortation left by the Apostle in his Letters: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11,1).

Later, he said in English:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In our catechesis on the Church’s apostolic ministry, we now turn from the twelve Apostles called by Jesus during his earthly life to some other important figures of the early Church.

Outstanding among these is Saint Paul, who has been called the "thirteenth Apostle". Paul was a devout follower of the Law, whose initial hostility to the Gospel suddenly melted when he encountered the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus.

His own accounts of this dramatic conversion speak not only about his vision of Jesus, but also his call to be an apostle. From that moment on, Paul’s life was completely dedicated to the service of Christ.

From Paul we learn to make Christ the centre of our lives and to see all things in the light of God’s universal, reconciling love.

Paul’s zeal for the Gospel led him to preach the name of Jesus in Asia and Europe, and to face countless trials with courage and undying love for the Lord. Truly, the love of Christ impelled him (cf. 2 Cor 5:14), even to his death as a martyr here in Rome.

Through the prayers of Saint Paul, may we respond joyfully to his challenge to become "imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1)!

I am pleased to greet the many English-speaking pilgrims present, especially those from England, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, India, Indonesia, Japan and the United States of America.

My special greetings go to the pilgrims from the Dioceses of Cheyenne and Wheeling-Charleston, led by their Bishops. I also greet the priests taking part in the Institute of Continuing Theological Education of the Pontifical North American College.

I thank the Holy Rosary School Choir from Gauteng, South Africa, for their praise of God in song. Upon all of you I cordially invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/10/2006 1.02]

Here are the words of the Holy Father before and after the recitation of the Angelus today at St. Peter's Square.



Dear brothers and sisters,

In today's Gospel(Mk 10, 46-52), we read that as the Lord was on his way to Jericho, a blind man named Bartimaeus called out to him loudly: "Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!"
This call touched the heart of Christ, He stopped, He had the man called to Him, and He healed him.

The decisive moment was the personal and direct encounter between the Lord and that suffering man. They found themselves face to face: God who wants to heal and the man who wanted to be healed. Two freedoms, two convergent desires.

"What do you wish me to do?" the Lord asked him.

"That I may get back my vision," said the blind man.

"Go! Your faith has saved you," Jesus said, and with these words, the miracle took place. Joy for God, joy for man.

And Bartimaeus, seeing the light once more - the Gospel tells us - "went and followed Him on His way," thus becoming His disciple. He went with the Lord towards Jerusalem to participate with Him in the great mystery of salvation.

This story essentialy evokes the itinerary of the catechumen towards the sacrament of Baptism, which in the early Church was also called Illumination.

Faith is a path of illumination. It starts from the humility of knowing oneself to be in need of salvation and leads to our personal encounter with Christ, who calls us to follow Him on the road of love.

This is the Church model for the itineraries of Christian initiation - the preparatory sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.

In places of early Christian evangelization, where baptism of babies is widespread, young people and adults are also offered catecheses and spiritual exercises which allow them to rediscover the faith in a mature and conscious manner so that they may take on a corresponding commitment to bear testimony to Christ.

How important is the work of ministers and catechists in this field! The rediscovery of the value of one's baptism is at the basis of the missionary commitment in every Christian, because we see in the Gospel that whoever allows himself to be fascinated by Christ cannot do less than to bear testimony of the joy there is in following in His footsteps.

In this month of October, which is particularly dedicated to missions, we understand more than ever that by the very power of Baptism, we also possess a co-natural missionary calling.

Let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary that missionaries of the Gospel may multiply. Intimately united to the Lord, may every baptized person feel called upon to announce to everyone the love of God with the testimony of one's own life.

After the Angelus, he said in Italian:

From many quarters I have been receiving requests to intervene in behalf of people who,i n different parts of the world, have been victims of kidnapping.

Even as I reiterate the firmest condemnation of this crime, I assure all the victims and their families and friends that I remember them in my prayers.

In particular, I join the urgent appeal made known to me by the Archbishop and the community of Sassari in behalf of Giovanni Battista Pinna, who was kidnapped last September 14, that he may be returned soon to his loved ones.

And now, I greet the young delegates from the various regions of Italy who are gathered in Rome these days for the triennial project "Agora for Youth" of the Italian Catholic Church.

Dear friends, I bless your work and I expect to see you in great numbers at the big youth assembly scheduled for September 1-2 in Loreto next year

At that beloved Marian sanctuary, let us live together a moment of grace, in the joy of faith and with the prospect of mission, as well as in preparation for World Youth Day in Sydney in 208.

In English, he said:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Sunday Angelus. In today’s Gospel Jesus gives sight to Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, whose eyes were opened and whose heart was filled with joy, after he asked our Lord for assistance.

As we strive to follow closely the teachings of Jesus, may our faith guide our steps and give joy to our hearts! I wish you all a pleasant stay in Rome, and a blessed Sunday!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/10/2006 18.33]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's message at Angelus today, All Saints Day:


Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we celebrate the solemnity of All Saints, and tomorrow, we remember the faithful departed. These two heartfelt liturgical recurrences offer us a singular opportunity to meditate on eternal life.

Does modern man still look forward to eternal life or does he believe that it belongs to a myth that has become outmoded? In our time, more than in the past, mankind is so absorbed by earthly things that it is often difficult to think of God as a protagonist in history and in our own life.

But human existence, by its very nature, reaches out to something greater which transcends it. In the human being the yearning for justice, truth and full happiness is irrepressible. Before the enigma of death, many entertain the desire and the hope to see their loved ones in the great beyond. Equally strong in them is the belief in a Last Judgment which will re-establish justice, the hope of a definitive confrontation in which each one receives what one deserves.

"Eternal life" for us Christians, however, does not simply mean a life that goes on forever, but a new quality of existence, fully immersed in the love of God, which delivers us from evil and from death, and places us in communion without end with all our brothers and sisters who share the same Love.

Eternity could alrady be present in the center of our earthly and temporal life when the soul, through grace, unites with God, its ultimate foundation. Everything passes, only God does not change.

A Psalm says: "Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever" (Ps 72/73,26). All Christians called to sainthood are men and women who live firmly anchored to this "Rock" They have their feet on the ground, but their heart is already in Heaven, the final dwelling of the friends of God.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us meditate on this reality with our spirits raised towards our ultimate and definitive destination, which gives sense to our daily situations. Let us revive the joyous sentiments of the communion of saints and allow ourselves to be drawn by them towards the goal of our existence: our encounter with God face to face.

Let us pray that this may be the legacy to us by all the faithful departed, not only to us their loved ones, but to all souls, especially those who are most forgotten and most in need of divine mercy.

May the Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints, guide us to choose eternal life every moment, the "life of the world to come", as we say in the Creed, a world inaugurated by the resurrection of Christ, and whose coming we can hasten by sincere conversion and works of charity.

After the Angelus, he said this in English:

I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer. Today’s Solemnity of All Saints invites us to rejoice in the fellowship of the saints, to imitate their example and to strive to share in their eternal reward. Through their prayers, may all of us be strengthened in our fidelity to the Gospel and its promises. God bless you all!

In greeting the Italian-speaking pilgirms at the end, he said this:

I affectionately greet the Italian-speaking pilgrims, particularly the group that is carrying the "Torch of Dialog" along the footsteps of St. Augustine. Starting from ancient Tagaste in Algeria, the Torch has gone through Hippo, Tunis and Malta, arriving in Ostia, and from there to Rome, whence it will proceed towards Pavia and the tomb of the saint.

I gladly bless this initiative of the Augustinian Order and this Torch, symbol of faith and peace.

To all present and all who are following us through radio and television, I wish you all a good All Saints Day.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 02/11/2006 2.41]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words at the Angelus today:



Dear brothers and sisters!

In these days which follow the liturgical commemoration of the faithful departed, many parishes celebrate an octave for the dead. It is a propitious opportunity to remember our loved ones in prayer and meditate on the reality of death, which the so-called "civilization of comfort" often seeks to dispel from the consciousness of people who are caught up in the daily grind.

Dying is really part of life, and this, not only at the end, but if we really think about it, at every instant. Notwithstanding all the distractions, however, the 'loss' of a loved one makes us rediscover the 'problem', making us feel death as a radically hostile presence against our natural calling to life and happiness.

"In dying, He destroyed death," the Liturgy repeats during the Paschal time. "With the Spirit which cannot die," wrote a Father of the Church, "Christ killed death which killed men" (Melitone di Sardi, On Easter, 66).

The Son of God wished in this way to share our human condition to the fullest in order to open it up to hope. In the last analysis, He was born so He could die and free us from the slavery of death.

The letter to the Hebrews says: "He underwent death for the benefit of all" (Heb 2,9). From then on, death was no longer the same: it was deprived, so to speak, of its poison. God's love, working through Jesus, gave a new sense to man's whole existence, and thereby transformed dying itself.

If in Christ, human life is "a passage from this world to the Father" (Jn 13,1), the hour of death is the moment when this takes place concretely and definitively. Whoever strives to live like He did becomes liberated from the fear of death, which no longer shows us the mocking grin of an enemy, but as St. Francis writes in the Canticle of creation, the friendly face of a 'sister' for whom one can even bless the Lord: "May the Lord be blessed, yes, for Sister Death."

From corporal death, we have nothing to fear, our faith tells us, because it is a dream from which we will will wake up one day. The true death which instead we must fear is that of the soul, which the Apocalypse calls a 'second death' (cfr Ap 20,14-15; 21,3).

Indeed, whoever dies in mortal sin, without repentance, in arrogant rejection of the love of God, excludes himself from the kingdom of life.

Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Mary and St. Joseph, let us ask the Lord for the grace of preparing ourselves peacefully to leave this world when He calls us, in the hope of being able to dwell eternally with Him, in the company of the saints and our dear departed.

After the Angelus, he said:

I am following with great concern the news on the grave deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip and I wish to express my closeness to the civilian population who are suffering the consequences of acts of violence.

I ask you to join my prayers that the almighty and merciful Lord may enlighten Israeli and Palestinian authorities, as well as the nations who have a particular responsibility in that region, so they may all work to stop the bloodshed, multiply the initatives for humanitarian aid, and favor the immediate resumption of direct, serious and concrete negotiations.

In English, he said:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for today’s Angelus, especially the students and teachers from the Arcus College of Heerlen, Holland. During this week following All Souls Day we remember in a special way our deceased brothers and sisters.

With firm confidence we pray that all who have gone before us in faith may share fully in the victory of Christ over death. I wish you all a pleasant stay in Rome and a blessed Sunday!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/11/2006 23.38]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square today. He resumed speaking about St. Paul, this time on the theme, "Paul - The centrality of Jesus Christ".

NB: For all translations of Biblical passages, I use the translation of the New American Bible - not the most satisfactory, but it is an approved text.

Dear brothers and sisters,

In our last catechesis 15 days ago, I sought to trace the essential lines of the biography of the apostle Paul. We saw how the encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus literally revolutionized his life.

Christ became his reason for being and the profound motivation of all his apostolic work. In his letters, after the name of God which appears more than 500 times, the next most mentioned name is that of Jesus (380 times).

It is therefore important that we take note of how much Jesus Christ can register in the life of one man and therefore even in our own lives. In truth, Christ is the apex of the history of salvation and therefore the true point of discrimination in our dialog with other religions.

Looking at Paul, we can formulate a basic question: How does a human being's encounter with Christ take place? And what does the resulting relationship consist of? The answer given by Paul may be understood in two instances.

In the first place, Paul helps us to understand the absolutely basic and irrreplaceable value of faith. This is what he writes in his Letter to the Romans: "We consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (3,28).

Similarly in the Letter to the Galatians: "...a person is not justified by works of the law but only through faith in Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified" (2,16).

"To be justified" means to be made one of the just, to be welcomed by the merciful justice of God, and enter in communion with Him, and consequently, to be able to establish a more authentic relationship with all our brothers: and this, on the basis of total forgiveness of our sins.

Well, Paul says in all clarity that this condition of life does not depend on our eventual good works but on the pure grace of God: "(We) are justified freely by His grace through the redemption realized in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3,24).

With these words, St. Paul expresses the fundamental substance of his conversion, the new direction of his life as a result of his encounter with the risen Christ.

Before his conversion, Paul was not a man far from God and His law. On the contrary, he was an observant (Jew), faithful to the point of fanaticism. But in the light of his encounter with Christ, he understood that in his previous life he had sought to build up himself, his own justification, and that with all this, he was living for himself alone.

He understood that a new orientation of his life was absolutely necessary. We find this new orientation expressed in his words:
"...I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given Himself up for me" (Gal 2,20).

Paul, therefore, no longer lived for himself, to achieve his own justification. He now lived for Christ and with Christ - giving himself, and no longer seeking and building himself.

This is the new justification, the new orientation given us by the Lord. Before the Cross of Christ - extreme expression of His self-giving - no one can boast of himself, of his own self-achieved and self-serving justification!

Elsewhere, Paul - echoing Jeremiah - spells out this thought by writing: "Whoever boasts should boast in the Lord" (1 Cor 1,31 = Jer 9,22f). Or: "... may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6,14).

Reflecting on the meaning of 'justification not by works but by faith,' we come to the second component which defines the Christian identity described by St. Paul in his own life.

It is a Christian identity that is composed of two elements: first, not searching for oneself but being received by Christ and giving oneself, with Christ, and thus participating personally in the experience of Jesus Himself, to the point of immersing ourselves in Him and sharing His death as well as His life.

It is as Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans: "(we) were baptized in His death...we were buried with Him...we have been completely united with him...Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as (being) dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6,3.4.5.11).

This last expression itself is emblematic: for Paul, indeed, it was not enough to say that Christians are baptized or believers; for him, it was just as important to say that they are "in Jesus Christ" (cfr Rom 8,1.2.39; 12,5; 16,3.7.10; 1 Cor 1,2.3, etc).

Other times he inverts the terms and writes that "Christ is in us" or "Christ is in you" (Rm 8,10; 2 Cor 13,5) or "in me" (Gal 2,20).

This mutual compenetration between Christ and the Christian, characteristic of Paul's teaching, completes his discourse on the faith. Indeed, faith while uniting us intimately with Christ, also underscores the distinction between us and Him.

But according to Paul, the life of a Christian also has a component tht we might call 'mystical' - insofar as it refers to our measuring ourselves with Christ and Christ in us. In this sense, the apostle even qualifies our sufferings as "Christ's sufferings in us" (2 Cor 1,5), such that we "always carry about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body" (2 Cor 4,10).

All this we should bring down to the level of our daily life, following the example of Paul who always lived in this great spiritual space.

On the one hand, faith should maintain itself in a constant attitude of humility before God, and more - in adoration and praise of Him. Because what we are as Christians we owe only to Him and to His grace.

Because nothing and no one can take the place of God, it is therefore necessary that we render the homage we give Him to nothing and no one else. No idol should contaminate our spiritual universe, otherwise, instead of enjoying the freedom we gain, we would fall into a form of humiliating slavery.

On the other hand, our radical belonging to Christ and the fact that "we are in Him" should inspire in us an attitude of total confidence and immense joy. We should exclaim with St. Paul: "If God is for us, who will be against us?" (Rm 8,31).

And the answer is that nothing and no one "could ever separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Rm 8,39).

Our Christian life, therefore, rests on the most stable and secure rock that one can imagine, from which we draw all our energy, as the Apostle writes: "I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me" (Phil 4,13).

So let us face our existence, with its joys and its sorrows, sustained by these great sentiments that Paul offers us. Experiencing these ourselves we may understand how true it is what this Apostle wrote: "...I know Him in whom I have believed and am confident that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day" (2 Tim 1,12) of our encounter with Christ the Judge, Savior of the world and ours.

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words at the noontime Angelus today:




Dear brothers and sisters!

Today we celebrate in Italy the annual Day of Thanksgiving, with this year's theme "The earth: a gift for the entire human family."

In our Christian families, we teach our young to always thank the Lord before starting a meal with a brief prayer and the sign of the Cross. This custom should be preserved or rediscovered because it educates us not to take our 'daily bread' for granted but to recognize in it a gift of Providence.

We should accustom ourselves to bless the Creator for everything: for air and for water, precious elements which are the basis of life on our planet, as well as for the nourishment that God offers us, through the fecundity of the earth, for our sustenance.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, asking the heavenly Father not for 'my' but for 'our' daily bread. He wanted it that way so that every man feels a responsibility for his brothers, that no one may lack what he needs to live. The products of the earth are a gift intended by God 'for the entire human family.'

Here we come to a very sad note: the drama of hunger which continues to be very grave, although it has been confronted at the highest institutional levels, as at the United Nations, and particularly its Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The last annual report OF FAO confirms what the Church knows very well from its direct experience in the communities and in our missions: that more than 800 million persons do not get enough food, and many of them, especially the children, die of hunger.

How do we deal with a situation which, despite being denounced repeatedly, shows no sign of being resolved but is even worsening in some respects? Definitely, it is necessary to eliminate the structural causes linked to the workings of the global economy which directs the major part of the planet's resources to a minority of its population.

Such injustice has been stigmatized on many occasions by my venerated predecessors, the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II.

In order to have large-scale impact, the model of global development must be'converted.' This is required at this time not only by the scandal of hunger but by the environmental and energy crises of our day.

Every person and every family can and should do something to alleviate hunger in the world by adopting a life style and consumer habits that are compatible with preserving creation and with ensuring justice for those who till the earth in every nation.

Dear brothers and sisters, today's Day of Thanksgiving invites us, on the one hand, to thank God for the fruits of agricultural work; on the other, it encourages us to commit ourselves concretely to defeat the scourge of hunger.

May the Virgin Mary help us to always acknowledge the gifts of Providence and to promote justice and solidarity in every part of the globe.

After the Angelus, he had a special greeting for Salesians:

I am happy to greet the Salesian Co-workers from various nations who are meeting in Rome for their World Congress, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Servant of God Margherita Occhiena, mother of St. John Bosco.

From heaven, may 'Mamma Margherita' always protect you all, dear friends, and the entire Salesian family.

In English, he said:

I greet the English-speaking visitors here today, especially the pilgrims from Billingham in England, from Perth in Western Australia, and from Salt Lake City in the United States of America. I pray that your visit to Rome will deepen your love for Christ and his Church.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of a poor widow who gave to the Lord all she had, without keeping anything for herself. Her generosity is an inspiration to all of us to give ourselves totally to Christ.

Upon all of you, and upon your families and loved ones at home, I invoke God’s abundant blessing

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/11/2006 0.03]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square today. He spoke of the Holy Spirit as St. Paul presents Him to us.



Dear brothers and sisters,

Today, as in the last two catecheses, we turn to St. Paul and his thinking. We are looking at a giant figure not only on the level of concrete apostolate but even for his theological doctrine which is extraordinarily profound and stimulating.

After having meditated last week on what Paul wrote about the centrality of Jesus Christ in our faith, today let us look at what he says about the Holy Spirit and His presence in us, because the Apostle has much of great importance to teach us.

We know what St. Luke tells of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles, where he describes what happened at Pentecost. The Pentecostal Spirit brought a vigorous impulse to the commitment to bear witness to the Gospel throughout the world.

The Acts describes a whole series of missions carried out by the Apostles, starting in Samaria, then along the coastline of Palestine, then towards Syria. Above all, it recounts the three great missionary voyages undertaken by Paul, as I recounted in an earlier catechesis.

However, in his Letters, St. Paul talks to us about the Holy Spirit from a different angle. He does not simply illustrate the dynamic and operational dimension of the Third person of the Most Holy Trinity, but he analyzes His Presence in the life of every Christian, whose very identity is branded by the Spirit.

In other words, Paul reflects on the Spirit by showing His influence not only on how the Christian acts but on his very being. It is him who says that the Spirit of God lives in us (cfr Rm 8,8; 1 Cor 3,16) and that "God has sent the Spirit of His Son to our hearts" (Gal 4,6).

Thus, for Paul, the Spirit marks us in our most profound personal intimacy. Here are some of his words that have relevant significance: "The law of the Spirit which gives us life i Jesus Christ has liberated you from the law of sin and death...For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, 'Abba, Father!'" (Rm 8, 2.15), because as sons, we can call God our Father.

Thus we see that the Christian, even before he acts, already possesses a rich and fecund interior given to him in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, an interior that establishes the objective and original relationship of being a child of God.

Therein lies our dignity: we are not only in the image of God, we are His children. We are invited to live the fact of being a child of God, to be ever more conscious that we are adopted children in the great family of God.

We are invited to transform this objective gift into a subjective reality that determines our thinking, our behavior, our very being. God considers us His children, elevating us to a similar but not equal dignity as Jesus Himself, His only true Son in the full sense. In Jesus, we are given - or rather given back - our filial condition and trustful freedom in relation to God.

Thus we discover that for the Christian, the Spirit is no longer just the 'Spirit of God' as it was normally referred to in the Old Testament and continues to be called in Christian language (cfr Jn 41,38; Es 31,3; 1 Cor 2,11.12; Phil 3,3; etc.).

Nor is it just the 'Holy Spirit' in the generic sense as expressed in the Old Testament (cfr Is 63,10.11; Sal 51,13), and by Judaism itself in its texts (Qumran, rabbinism). Indeed, one of the specifics of Christian faith is a belief in the original sharing of this Spirit with the Risen Christ who Himself became 'the life-giving Spirit' (1 Cor 15,45).

Because of this, St. Paul speaks directly of the 'Spirit of Christ' (Rm 8,9), of 'the Spirit of the Son' (Gal 4,6) or the 'spirit of Jesus Christ' (Phil 1,19). It is as though he wished to say that not only is God the Father visible in His Son (cfr Jn 14,9) but that the Spirit of God Himself is expressed in the life and actions of our Lord who was crucified and resurrected.

Paul also teaches us another important thing: that true prayer does not happen without the presence of the Spirit in us. He writes: "...the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will" (Rm 8, 26-27).

That is like saying that the Holy Spirit, that is, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, has become the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from whom a movement of prayer - whose terms we cannot even specify - constantly arises to God.

The Spirit that is always awake in us makes up for what we lack and offers the Lord our adoration along with our deepest aspirations. Of course, this requires a level of vital communion with the Spirit. And an invitation to be ever more sensible, more attentive to the presence of the Spirit in us, so we can transform this awareness into prayer, feel His presence and learn to pray, to speak to God as His child in the Holy Spirit.

There is another aspect typical of the Spirit that St. Paul teaches us: His connection with love. The Apostle thus writes: "...hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rm 5,5).

In my encyclical Deus caritas est, I cied a very eloquent sentence from St. Augustine: "If you see charity, you see the Trinity" (n. 19), and he continued by explaining: "The Spirit, in fact, is that interior power which harmonizes the hearts [of the faithful] with Christ's heart and moves them to love their brethren as Christ loved them..." ibid.).

The Spirit places us into the rhythm of divine life itself, a life of love, making us personal participants in the relationship between the Father and the Son. It is not without significance that Paul, in enumerating the various components of fructification by the Sprit, places love first: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc." (Gal 5,22).

And since, by definition, love unites, it means above all that the Spirit creates commuunion within the Christian community, as we say at the start of the Holy Mass, using a Pauline expression, "May the communion of the Holy Spirit [meaning that which is operated by Him] be with you all" (2 Cor 13,13).

On the other hand, it is also true that the Spirit inspires us to weave relations of love with all men. When we love, we give space fo the Spirit, we allow the Spirit to be expressed in His fullness. So we understand why Paul in his Letter to the Romans puts two exhortations side by side on the same page: "Be fervent in the Spirit" and "Do not repay anyone evil for evil" (Rm 12, 11.17).

Lastly, the Spirit, according to St. Paul, is a generous advance given to us by God Himself as an earnest and as a guarantee at the same time of our future legacy (cfr 2 Cor 1,22; 5,5; Ef 1,13-14).

And so we learn from St. Paul that the action of the Holy Spirit orients our life to the great values of love, joy, communion and hope. It is up to us to avail of it in our daily life by following the interior promptings of the Spirit, aided in our discernment by the enlightening guidance of the Apostle.


Later, he addressed the following to English-speaking pilgrims:

Continuing our reflections on the Apostle Paul, we now turn to his teaching on the Holy Spirit.

Saint Paul not only presents the Holy Spirit as the driving force of the Church’s mission, he also speaks of the Spirit’s presence and activity in the life of each individual Christian.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Risen Lord, the Spirit of adoption poured into our hearts (cf. Gal 4:6), by which we become, in Christ, sons and daughters of the Father. True prayer is thus the fruit of the Spirit’s presence within us.

As the Spirit of the Father and the Son, he helps us in our weakness and constantly intercedes for us before the Father.

The Spirit is also the Spirit of love (Rom 5:5): he gives us a share in God’s own life; enables us to love others with Christ’s own love; and strengthens the bonds of communion within the Church.

Finally, Paul teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the pledge and guarantee of the inheritance awaiting us in heaven (cf. 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5).

May Saint Paul’s example and insight inspire us to treasure the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and to follow his promptings with hope-filled joy and generous love!

I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims here today, including members of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations and members of ‘Jesus Youth International’ from India. May your visit to Rome be a time of joyful spiritual enrichment. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s abundant Blessings!


In his greeting to Italian-speakng pilgrims, he referred to the saint remembered in the liturgy today:

We celebrate today the memory of the bishop Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus) who worked continuously to establish peace among the warring peoples of his time. May his example be an inspiration for you, dear young people, to work for justice and reconciliation.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 15/11/2006 23.06]

Here is a translation of thee words of the Holy Father at the Angelus today:

Dear brothers and sisters!

The day after tomorrow, November 21, on the occasion of the liturgical commemoration of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mary at the Temple, we will also celebrste the Day pro Orantibus, dedicated to the cloistered religious communities.

It is an occasion that is very opportune to thank the Lord for the gift of so many people who, in monasteries and herimitages, dedicate themselves totally to prayer, in silence and in concealment. Some may ask what sense and what value their presence can have in our time, when there are numerous and urgent situations of poverty and need to be faced.

Why enclose oneself for always behind the walls of a monastery and thus deprive others of the contribution of one's own abilities and experience? What effect can their prayer have to solve so many concrete problems that continue to afflict humanity?

And yet, even today, often to the surprise of their friends and acquaintances, not a few people abandon professional careers that are often promising to embrace the austere rules of a cloistered monastery.

What impels them to take such a committed step except to have understood, as the Gospel teaches, that the Kingodm of heaven is a 'treasure' for which it is truly worth abandoning everything (Mt17, 44)?

In effect, these brothers and sisters of ours silently bear witness that in the midst of daily events, which can sometimes be quite convulsive, the only support that never vacillates is God, the unshakeable rock of faith and love.

"Todo pasa, nada se muda" -"Everything passes, God does not change" - wrote the great spiritual teacher St. Teresa of Avila in a celebrated text. For the widely felt need that many have to get out of their daily routine in great urban agglomerations to seek spaces that are favorable for silence and meditation, the monasteries of 'contemplative llfe' are 'oases' in which man, a pilgrim on earth, can draw from the springs of the Spirit and quench his thirst along the way.

These places which are apparently useless are instead as indispensable as the green 'lungs' of a city: they do good for everyone, even those who do not visit them or who are not even aware of their existence.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us give thanks to the Lord who, in His providence, willed these male and female cloistered communities. Let us not fail to give them our spiritual and even material support so that they may fulfill their mission, that of keeping alive in the Church the ardent wait for the return of Christ.

For this, let us invoke the intercession of Mary who, in memory of her Presentation at the Temple, we contemplate as Mother and model of the Church, she who unites in herself the vocations of virgnity and of matrimony, of the contemplative and of the active life.

Later, he said in English:

I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Angelus, including pilgrims from Papua New Guinea, international participants in ‘Bike for Peace Norway’, and benefactors of the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra.

Today is a special day of remembrance for those who have died on the roads this year. We pray for them and ask God for His gifts of consolation and peace for their families.

Upon all of you and your loved ones I invoke God’s blessing of peace and joy!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/11/2006 15.52]

Here is a translation of the catechesis given by the Holy Father at the General Audience on Wednesday, 11/22/06.



Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we complete our 'encounters' with the Apostle Paul, dedicating a last reflection to him. We cannot take leave of him, in fact, without taking into account one of the definitive components of his activity and one of the most important themes of his thought: the reality of the Church.

First, we must note that that his first contact with the person of Jesus took place through the testimony of the Christian community of Jerusalem. It was a tempestuous contact. Having heard of this new group of believers, he became their fiercest persecutor. He himself acknowledges this at least three times in as many letters: "I persecuted the Church of God," he writes (1 Cor 15,9; Gal 1,13; Phil 3,6), almost presenting his actions as the worst of crimes.

History shows us that one normally reaches Christ through the Church. In a certain sense, it is what happened to Paul as well, who encountered the Church before finding Jesus. But this first contact, in his case, was counterproductive; it did not cause adherence, but rather a violent repulsion. [Paul was a very devout Jew who came to Jerusalem to study with a renowned rabbi.]

Paul's adherence to the Church was brought about by the direct intervention of Christ, who, revealing Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, identified Himself with the Church and made Paul understand that to persecute the Church was to persecute him, the Lord. In fact, the Risen One said to Paul, the persecutor of the Church: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) (because) in persecuting the Church, he was persecuting Christ.

Thus, Paul converted, at one and the same time, to Christ and to the Church. So we can understand why the Church was so present in the thoughts, in the heart and in the activity of Paul. In the first place, because he literally founded many local Churches in the different cities where he went as evangelizer.

When he speaks of his "concern for all the Churches" (2 Cor 11,28), he is thinking of the various Christian communities established over time in Galatia, Ionia, Macedonia and Achaia.

Some of those Churches caused him worry and displeasure, as, for example, the Churches of Galatia, which he saw "turning to a different gospel" (Gal 1,6), something which he opposed with great determination. And yet, he felt bound to the communities he founded not coldly, bureaucratically, but intensely and passionately.

For example, he describes the Philippians as "my dearest and greatly longed-for brothers, my joy and crown" (4,1). At other times he compares the different communities to a unique letter of recommendation: "You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, a letter written in our hearts, to be known and read by all men" (2 Cor 3,2).

At other times he shows them the genuine feelings not only of a father but even of a mother, as when he addresses them "My little children, with whom I shall suffer the pains of labor until Christ takes shape in you!" (Gal 4,19; cfr l Cor 4,14-15; 1 Thes 2,7-8).

In his letters, Paul also illustrates for us his doctrine on the Church. We know well his original definition of the Church as the "Body of Christ," which we do not find in other Christian authors of the first century (cfr 1 Cor 12,27; Ef 4,12; 5,30; Col 1,24).

The most profound root of this surprising description of the Church is the Sacrament of the Body of Christ itself. St. Paul says: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Cor 10,17). In the Eucharist, Christ gives us His body and makes us His body. In this sense, St. Paul tells the Galatians: "You are all one in Christ" (Gal 3,28).

In all this, Paul makes us understand that the Church does not only belong to Christ, but that in a sense, the Church is equivalent to and identical with Christ. It is from this that the Church - and all of us who are part of the Church - derive its greatness and nobility. Because we are the limbs of Christ, an extension almost of His personal presence in the world. And thus, it follows that we have the duty to truly live in coformity with Christ.

This concept is also the basis of Paul's exhortations about the many charisms which animate and build the Christian community. All such charisms trace themselves to a single source - the Spirit of the Father and the Son - and we know that no one in the Church lacks this, because, as the Apostle writes, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Cor 12,7).

What is important, however, is that all the charisms cooperate together to build the community instead of causing them to be torn apart. And so Paul asks rhetorically: "Is the Christ divided?" (1 Cor 1,13). Paul knows well and teaches us that it is necessary "to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body, one Spirit, just as you are called to one hope" (Eph 4,3-4).

Obviously, to underline the need for unity does not mean advocating that the life of the Church should be flattened out and made to function everywhere in a uniform way. Elsewhere Paul says "Do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thes 5,19), meaning, make generous room for the unpredictable dynamism of the Spirit's charismatic manifestations, because the Spirit is an ever-new source of energy and vitality.

If there is one criterion that Paul values most, it is mutual edification: "Let all things be done for edification" (1 Cor 14,26). Everything should concur to weave the ecclesial fabric in an orderly way, without knotting up, without dropping a stitch, without tearing it.

One of Paul's letters then presents the Church as the bride of Christ (cf. Eph 5,21-33), in this way taking up a prophetic metaphor, which saw the people of Israel as the spouse of the God of the Covenant (cf. Hos 2,4.21; Isa 54,5-8). This expresses the intimacy of the relationship between Christ and his Church, both because she is the object of the most tender love on the part of her Lord, and because love must be mutual and therefore we, as members of the Church, should show Christ our passionate fidelity.

Therefore, it is a relationship of communion that is in play here: the vertical relationship between Jesus Christ and all of us, but also the horizontal relationship among all those who distinguish themselves in the world 'by invoking the name of our Lord Jesus Cirst" (1 Cor 1,2).

This defines us: we are among those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. That is why we can understand how desirable it is to realize what Paul himself wished for when he wrote the Corinthians: "If everyone is prophesying, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person should come in, he will be convinced by what he hears; he will be judged by everyone, and the secrets of his heart will be disclosed; and so he will prostrate himself and worship God, declaring, 'God is really in your midst.'" (1 Cor 14,24-25).

That is the way it should be with our liturigcal encounters. A non-Christian who comes into one of our assemblies should be able to say at the end. "God is truly with you."

Let us pray to the Lord that we may be such, in communion with Christ, and in communion among ourselves.

Later, he synthesized the catechesis in English:

Continuing our reflections on the Apostle Paul, we now turn to his teaching on the Church.

St. Paul's encounter with the risen Lord on the way to Damascus led him to understand that, in persecuting the Church, he was persecuting Christ himself. Paul was thus converted both to Christ and the Church. We can understand, then, why the Church plays so important a part in his thought and work.

Paul founded several Churches during his missionary journeys, and he demonstrated, through his letters and visits, a constant and lively "concern for all the Churches" (2 Cor 11:28).

For Paul, the Church is truly the "Body of Christ," an extension, as it were, of the risen Lord's presence in the world, enlivened, structured and built up by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Pauline image of the Church as the Bride of Christ (cf. Eph 5,21ff.) likewise stresses the relationship of fidelity and love uniting the Lord and all the members of his body.

Through the prayers of St. Paul, may we enter ever more deeply into this mystery of communion, in order to testify more effectively to Christ's presence in our world.

My prayerful greetings go to all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present in today's audience, including the groups from England, Malta, Japan and the United States of America. I greet especially the Salvatorian Sisters, the American Friends of the Vatican Library, and the delegation from the Association of the Order of Malta. May your visit to the city of the Apostles Peter and Paul renew your love for Christ and his Church, and may God's blessing be upon you all.

At the end, the Holy Father issued an appeal in Italian:

I have learned with deep sorrow the news of the assassination of the Hon. Pierre Gemayel, minister of industry of the government of Lebanon. In condemning firmly this brutal act, I give assurances of my prayers and my spiritual closeness to the family in mourning and the beloved people of Lebanon.

In the face of dark forces which seek to destroy your nation, I ask all Lebanese not to allow yourselves to be conquered by hate but to strengthen yourselves in national unity, justice and reconciliation, and to work together to construct a future of peace.

Finally, I call on the responsible authorities of those nations that have a hand in the destinies of this region to contribute to a negotiated global solution to all the many situations of injustice which have marked it for too many years.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/12/2006 13.54]

Here is a translation of the words of the Holy Father at Angelus today:




On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. The Gospel today recounts the dramatic interrogation to which Pontius Pilate subjected Jesus when He was sent to him with the accusation of having usurped the title "King of the Jews."

To the questions of the Roman governor, Jesus responded that yes, He was king, but not of this world (cfr Jn 18,36). He did not come to lord over people and territories, but to liberate men from the slavery of sin and reconcile them with God.

He added: "For this I was born, and for this I came to the world: to render testimony to the truth. Wheobver is for truth hears My voice." (Jn 18,37)

But what is the 'truth' that Christ came to bear witness to in the world? His whole existence reveals that God is love. This is the truth that He bore full witness to with the sacrifice of His own life on Calvary.

The Cross is the throne from which the sublime reality of God-Love was manifested: offering Himself in expiation for the sins of the world, He defeated the dominion of the "prince of this world" (Jn 12,31) and installed definitively the Kingdom of God. A kingdom which will be manifested in its fullness at the end of time, after all enemies, including death, will have been subjugated (cfr 1 Cor 15,25-26).At that time, the Son will render the Kingdom to the Father and finally God will be 'all in all" (1 Cor 15,28).

The road to this goal is long and will not permit shortcuts. It requires that every person freely welcome the truth of God's love. He is love and truth, and neither love nor truth can ever be imposed: they knock on the door of our mind and heart, and where they can enter, they bring peace and joy.

This is how God reigns. This is His plan of salvation, a 'mystery' in the Biblical sense of the word, that is, a design that reveals itself slowly over time.

The Virgin Mary has been associated most singularly with the Kingship of Christ. God asked her, a humble girl from Nazareth, to be the Mother of the Messiah, and Mary responded to this call with her whole being, joining her unconditional Yes to that of her Son Jesus and making herself, like Him, obedient to the point of sacrifice.

For this, God exalted her beyond every other creature and Christ crowned her Queen of Heaven and Earth. To her intercession, we entrust the Church and all humanity, so that the love of God may reign in all hearts and His plan for love and peace may be fulfilled.

After the Angelus, the Pope spoke in Italian about his coming trip to Turkey:

Dear brothers and sisters, as you know, in the coming days, I will be visiting Turkey. I wish to send my cordial greeting to the dear people of Turkey, so rich in history and culture. To them and to their representatives, I express my feelings of respect and sincere friendship.

With much emotion I look forward to meeting the small Catholic community there, which is always in my heart, and to unite myself fraternally with the Orthodox Church on the occasion of the feast of the Apostle St. Andrew.

I confidently follow in the footsteps of my venerated predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II, and I invoke the heavenly protection of the blessed John XXIII who was for ten years the Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and nourished affection and esteem for that nation.

I ask you all to accompany me with prayer that this pilgrimage may bring all the fruits that God desires.

Next December 1, we mark World Day against AIDS. It is my profound wish that the occasion will favor growing responsibility for curing the disease, together with a commitment to avoid any discrimination against those who are afflicted with it.

As I invoke the comfort of th Lord for its victims and their families, I encourage the many initiatives that the Church is carrying on this field.

In English, he said:

I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer. On this Solemnity of Christ the King, let us pray for the spread of the Gospel, the triumph of God’s reconciling love and the coming of his eternal Kingdom of holiness, justice and peace. May Christ’s peace always reign in your hearts!

At the end, addressing the Italian-speaking pilgrims, he said:

I salute the Italian-speaking pilgrims, particularly the numerous choir directors, musicians and singers who are taking part in the XXVIII National Congress of Sacred Music promoted by the Italian Association of Santa Cecilia.

Dear friends, I am glad that 50 years after his death, you are commemorating the great maestro Lorenzo Perosi, who was the director of the Sistine Chapel Choirahd has left us musical works of the highest religious inspiration. I call on you to be authentic evangelizers through the beauty and harmony expressed in your musical art....

Finally, on the occasion of the Day for Cancer Research observed in Italy today, I wish to express my encouragement to all the associations and researchers engaged in combatting this disease.

I wish you all a good Sunday.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2006 2.12]

Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words at the Angelus today.



Dear brothers and sisters!

Together with you, I wish to thank the Lord once more for the apostolic voyage which I made to Turkey in recent days, in which I felt accompanied and sustained by the prayers of the entire Christian community.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you! On Wednesday, at the general audience, I will be able to speak more extensively of this unforgettable spiritual and pastoral experience, from which I hope that good fruits will be borne, for an ever more sincere cooperation among the disciples of Christ and for a profitable dialog with Muslim believers.

It is incumbent on me now to renew my thanks to all who organized the trip, and who contributed in various ways to its peaceful and fruitful occurrence.

I address special thoughts to the authorities in Turkey and to my friends the Turkish people who accorded me a welcome worthy of their traditional spirit of hospitality.

I would like, above all, to remember with affection the Catholic community who live on Turkish soil. I think of them as we enter Advent time this Sunday.

I was able to meet and celebrate Mass with these brothers and sisters of ours who find themselves in conditions that are often not easy. It is truly a small flock, varied, rich in enthusiasm and faith, who, we might say, constantly live - and in a powerful way - the experience of Advent sustained by hope.

During Advent, the liturgy often reiterates and assures us, almost as if to conquer our natural diffidence against the God-who-is-coming. He comes to be with us, in every situation; he comes to live among us, to live with us and in us; he comes to bridge the distances that divide and separate us; he comes to reconcile us with Him and among ourselves.

He comes into the history of mankind to knock at the door of every man and woman of goodwill, to bring to individuals, families and peoples the gift of brotherhood, concord and peace.

That is why Advent is par excellence a time of hope when believers in Christ are invited to stay in vigilant and diligent waiting, nourished by prayer and the factual works of love. May the coming Nativity of Christ fill the hearts of all Crhistians with joy, serenity and peace.

To live this period of Advent in the most authentic and fruitful way, the liturgy exhorts us to look at the Most Blessed Mary, and to walk with her ideally towards the cave of Bethlehem.

When God knocked on the door of her young life, she welcomed Him with faith and love. In a few days, we shall contemplate her in the luminous mystery of her Immaculate Conception.

After the Angelus, he said:

I salute affectionately the big ghroup of young people from the Focolare movement who have come from the nations of Europe and Latin America for a training encounter. Dear young people, learn from the Virgin Mary how to become authentic disciples of Jesus. May the Lord bless you all!

His greeting in English:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus. Today, the First Sunday of Advent, the Church begins a new liturgical year. The Gospel speaks of Christ, the Son of Man, and invites us to prepare our hearts to receive him. May Advent be a time of purification that leads to love, as we look with hope to the dawn of his coming. I wish you all a pleasant stay in Rome, and a blessed Sunday!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/12/2006 17.58]

The general audience today began inside St. Peter’s Basilica where the Holy Father addressed a gathering of pilgrims from Lazio, the region within which Rome is located, and other parts of Italy. Here is a translation of his words to them:

Dear brothers and sisters!

I am happy to welcome you in this Basilica and to address to each of you a heartfelt welcome. I greet above all the faithful from the Diocese of Lazio, who have gathered here with their Bishops on the occasion their visit ad limina apostolorum.
Dear friends, I encourage you to live your lives of faith ever more profoundly, keeping well in mind the orientations that emerged at the recent convention of the Italian Church in Verona. We are certain that courageous evangelizing action will awaken the hoped-for renewal of Catholic engagement iin society, even in Lazio.

The first task of evangelization is to show Jesus Christ as the Savior of every man. Never tire of entrusting yourselves to Him and of announcing Him through your own life, within your family and in every circle. This is what is expected of the Church today, what is expected of Christians.

Then, I greet you the faithful from the Deaconate of Busto Arsizio, and in thanking you for your visit, I wish that each of you may use this time of Advent as a propitious occasion to strengthen the faith and adhere to the Gospel.

My thoughts also go to you, the representatives of the Parish of the Immaculate in Terzigno, and I invite you – in the school of your celestial patroness, the Holy Virgin - to love God above everything, always willing and ready to do His will.

Finally, I greet you, the students of the Scuole Pie in Frascati, and I asure you of my prayers so that the Redeemer may instill true joy in your hearts and fill you with His gifts.

I bless everyone with affection.


The Pope then proceeded to the Aula Paulo VI where he gave the usual audience and spoke of his recent trip to Turkey.


DEar brothers and sisters!

As has been customary after every Apostolic voyage, I wish - in the course of this general audience - to review the various stages of the pilgrimage which I made to Turkey from Tuesday to Friday last week. A visit which, as you know, was not going to be easy for many reasons, but which God accompanied from the very beginning, and which was therefore happily carried out. Since I had asked you to help prepare and accompany that visit with your prayers, I ask you now to join me in giving thanks to the Lord for its course and its conclusion.

I entrust to Him the fruits that I hope may come from it, both in our relations with our Orthodox brothers as well as in the dialog with Muslims.

First of all, I feel I must renew the heartfelt expression of my appreciation to the President of the Republic of Turkey, to the Prime Minister and to all the other authorities who welcomed me with such courtesy and who assured the conditions necessary so that everything could proceed in the best way possible.

Next I give my fraternal thanks to the Bishops of the Catholic Church in Turkey, and all their co-workers, for everything they have done.

I address particular thanks to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who received me in his home; to the Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, to the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan Mor Filuksinos and all the other religious authorities.

Throughout the whole trip, I felt spiritually sustained by my venerated predecessors, the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II, who had both made trips to Turkey, but above all, by Blessed John XXIII, who was the Pontifical Representative in that noble land from 1935 to 1944, leaving there memories rich with love and devotion.

Going back to the vision of the Second Vatican Council (cfr Lumen Gentium, 14-16), I could say that even the apostolic voyages of the Pope contribute to fulfill the mission which extends out in concentric circles.”

In the innermost circle, the Successor of Peter confirms Catholics in their faith; in the intermediate circle, he meets other Christians; and in the outermost ring, he addresses himself to non-Christians and all of humanity.

The first day of my visit to Turkey took place in this third ‘ring’, the largest. I met with the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic and the President for Religious Affairs, addressing the latter with my first discourse. I paid homage at the mausoleun of the “Father of the Nation’ Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. And I had the chance to speak to the Diplomatic Corps at the Apostolic Nunciature of Ankara.

This intense series of encounters constituted an important part of the visit, especially considering that Turkey is a nation that is overwhelmingly Muslim but regulated by a Constitution that affirms the secularity of the State.

It is therefore an emblematic nation in terms of the great challenge being played out on a global level today: On the one hand, it is necessary to rediscover the reality of God and the public relevance of religious faith, and on the other, it is necessary to assure that the expression of such faith should be free, devoid of fundamentalist degeneration, and capable of firmly repudiating every form of violence.

Meanwhile, I had the propitious occasion to renew my sentiments of esteem for Muslims and Islamic civilization. At the same time, I was able to insist on the importance of Christians and Muslims committing themselves together for the human being, for life, for justice and peace, restating that the distinction between the civil sphere and the religious constitutes a value, but the State must assure the citizen and the religious communities effective freedom of worship.

In the area of inter-religious dialog, Divine Providence allowed me to carry out, almost at the end of my trip, an act which had not originally been planned, but which proved to be quite significant: the visit to the famed Blue Mosque of Istanbul.

Pausing for some moments of meditation in that place of prayer, I addressed myself to the only Lord of heaven and earth, the merciful Father of all humanity, that all believers may acknowledge themselves to be His creatures and give testimony of true brotherhood!

The second day brought me to Ephesus, and so, I found myself rapidly drawn into the innermost ‘circle’ of this trip, a direct contact with the Catholic community. Near Ephesus, in fact, in a pleasant locality called the Hill of the Nightingale, overlooking the Aegean Sea, is the Sanctuary of Mary’s House.

This is an ancient chapel that was built around a simple cottage which, according to a very ancient tradition, the Apostle John ordered built for the Virgin Mary, after he had broight her there with him to Ephesus. Jesus Himself had entrusted each one to the other when, before dying on the Cross, He said to Mary: “Woman, behold your son!” and to John, “Behold your Mother.” (Jn 19, 26-27).

Archaeological research has shown that the place has been the center of a Marian cult since time immemorial, dear even to Muslims, who habitually com here to venerate She whom they call Meryem Ena, or Mother Mary.

I celebrated Mass in the garden facing the Sanctuary for a group of faithful who had come from the nearby city of Izmir and other parts of Turkey, and even some from abroad. Near Mary’s House, we truly felt ‘at home’, and in that atmosphere of peace, we prayed for peace in the Holy Land and in the whole world. There, I also wanted to remember Don Andrea Santoro, priest of Rome, who bore witness to the Gospel in Turkey with his own blood.

The ‘intermediate circle,’ that of ecumenical relations, occupied the central part of this trip, on the occasion of the Feast of St. Andrew on November 30. This was the ideal context for consolidating brotherly relations between the Bishop of Rome, successor of Peter, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, a church founded, according to tradition, by St. Andrew, brother of Simon Peter.

Following the footsteps of Paul VI, who met with Patriarch Athenagoras, and of John Paul II, who was welcomed by Athenagoras’s successor Dimitrios I, I renewed with His Holiness Bartholomew I this act of great symbolic value, to confirm our reciprocal commitment to proceed on the road to reestablishing full communion between Catholics and Orthodox.

To ratify our firm intention, I signed along with Patriarch Bartholomew a Common Declaration as an ulterior stage in this common journey. It was particularly significant that this act took place at the end of the Solemn Liturgy of the Feast of St. Andrew, which I attended, and which ended with the double blessing imparted by the Bishop of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople, successors to Peter and Andrew, respectively.

In that way, we showed that at the bottom of every ecumenical effort, there is always prayer and a persevering invocation of the Holy Spirit.

Still in this circle, I had the joy of visiting the Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, His Beatitude Mesrob II, and to meet the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan. And in this context, it is a pleasure to recall the conversation that I had with the Grand Rabbi of Turkey.

My visit concluded, just before departing for Rome, with a return to the innermost circle, meeting the Catholic community that was present in all its components at the Latin Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul.

The Mass was attended by the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Armenian Patriarch, the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan and representatives of Protestant Churches. In short, all Christians – in the diversity of their traditions, rites and languages – were together in prayer. Comforted by the word of Christ, who promised to believers ‘rivers of lving water’ (Jn 7,38) and with the image of many members united in one body (cfr 1 Cor 12, 12-13), we lived the experience of a renewed Pentecost.

Dear brothers and sisters, I came back here to the Vatican with my soul filled with gratitude to God and with sentiments of sincere affection and esteem for the inhabitants of the beloved nation of Turkey, by whom I felt welcome and understood.

The sympathy and cordiality that they surrounded me with – nothwithstanding the inevitable difficulties that my visit caused to the normal course of their daily activities – remain with me as a vivid memory that impels me to pray.

May the almighty and merciful God help the Turkish people, those who govern them, and the representatives of the different religions, to construct together a future of peace, that Turkey may be a bridge of friendship and fraternal collaboration between East and West.

Let us pray moreover that, with the intercession of the Most Holy Mary, the Holy Spirit may make this recent apostolic voyage fruitful and inspire in the whole world the mission of the Church instituted by Christ to announce to the whole world the Gospel of truth, peace and love.
================================================================

Later, he said this in English:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today I invite you to join me in thanking God for the success of my recent Apostolic visit to Turkey.

On my first day I met civic representatives, and reminded them of the great need to rediscover God and the public relevance of faith, while ensuring that such faith is properly understood and lived authentically. In expressing my esteem for Islamic civilization, I urged Christians and Muslims to work together for peace, justice and life!

The following day I visited Ephesus and the sanctuary nearby where, according to an ancient tradition, the Apostle John constructed a house for the Virgin Mary. During Mass we prayed for peace in the Holy Land and the whole world.

The Feast of Saint Andrew was dedicated to consolidating fraternal relationships between the Bishop of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. In signing a Joint Declaration, we reaffirmed our commitment to follow the path to full communion between Catholics and Orthodox.

My visit was concluded in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, where Christians from various traditions, gathered in prayer, experienced a renewed Pentecost! Full of gratitude and affection for the people of Turkey, I invite you all to pray that this country may enjoy a peaceful future, as a bridge of friendship between the West and the East!

I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims here today, including the student groups from America, Australia and Denmark. May your Advent visit to Rome be a time of renewed hope and joy. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s abundant Blessings!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/01/2007 22.47]

Unlike last year, the Holy Father did not celebrate the Mass of the Immaculate Conception at St. Peter's Basilica, but he presided at the noontime Angelus conducted at St. Peter's Square on major religious holidays. Here is a translation of his words today:

Dear brothers and sisters!

Today we celebrate one of the most beautiful and popular feasts
of the Blessed Virgin: the Immaculate Conception.

Not only did Mary not commit any sin but she was also spared the common heredity of the human race, original sin. This was because of the mission for which God had destined her: to be the Mother of the Redeemer. All this is contained in the truth of the faith which we call the Immaculate Conception.

The Biblical basis for this dogma is found in the words that the Angel addressed to the girl in Nazareth: "Rejoice, you are full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1,28).

"Full of grace" - in the original Greek, kecharitomene -
it is the most beautiful name for Mary, a name which God Himself gave her, to show that ever and for always, she is the loved one, the elected one, the one chosen to welcome the most precious gift, Jesus, "the incarnated love of God" (Deus caritas est, 12).

We can ask why, among all women, did God choose Mary of Nazareth? The answer is hidden in the unfathomable mystery of divine will. But there is a reason that the Gospel places in evidence: her humility.

Dante Alighieri underscores this quite well in the last canto of Paradise The Divine Comedy): "Virgin Mother, daughter of Your Son, humble and more elevated than any other creature, the fixed word of eternal counsel" (Par XXXIII, 1-3).

The Virgin herself in the Magnificat, her hymn of praise, says this: "My soul doth magnify the Lord...because He has looked down on the humlility of His servant" (Lk 1, 46-48).

God was attracted by the humility of Mary, who found grace in His eyes (cfr Lk 1,30). And so she became the Mother of God, image and model of the Church, elected among all men to receive the blessing of God and diffuse it through the entire human family.

And this blessing was none other than Jesus Christ Himself. He is the fountain of grace, of which Mary was full from the first moment of her existence. She welcomed Jesus with faith, and gave Him to the world with love.

That too is our vocation and our mission, the vocation and mission of the Church: to welcome Christ into our lives and to give Him to the world "so that the world may be saved through Him" (Jn 3,17).

Dear brothers and sisters, today's feast of the Immaculate One lights up like a torch the time of Advent, a time of watchful and faithful waiting for the Lord. As we advance towards the Lord who is coming, we look at Mary who 'shines as a sign of sure hope and consolation for the people of God in pilgrimage" (Lumen gentium, 68).

With this awareness, I invite you all to join me when, this afternoon, I will renew at Piazza di Spagna the traditional homage to our gentle Mother of grace and for grace. Let us now address her with the prayer that recalls the annunciation by the Angel.


After the Angelus, he said this in Italian:

I am happy to greet the members of the Pontifical Academy of the Immaculate, led by its President, Cardinal Andrea Maria Deskur. I assure you of my prayers and extend my best wishes for the activities of the Academy and for the worthy services that it renders.

In this feast, traditionally dedicated also to Italian Catholic Action in a renewal of membership, I address a cordial greeting to the national Presidnet and to the educators of Catholic Action for Youth gathered in Rome for their annual convention, and I extend this greeting to all the diocesan and parochial institutions in Italy.

I encourage Catholic Action to continue dveloping its formative commitment, so that its members can grow in saintliness and in ecclesial communion, and may be credible witnesses of the Risen Christ, hope of humanity.

May the Immaculate Virgin bless Catholic Action and sustain it in its generous intentions to serve the Church and its evangelizing mission.

In English he said:

I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at this Angelus. Today the Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of our Lord’s Mother, Mary. She who was conceived without sin is a constant reminder of God’s covenant with his chosen people, a promise that is fulfilled in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

May Christians everywhere, following the example of Mary, allow the gift of grace to bear fruit in a life of holiness. I wish you a happy feast day and a pleasant stay in Rome.

Here is a translation of the words of the Holy Father at Angelus today:

Dear brorhers and sisters!

This morning I had the joy of dedicating a new parish church, named for Mary Star of Envangelization, in the Torrino Nord quarter of Rome. It is an event that, even for that quarter itself, takes on symbolic significance within the liturgical period of Advent, as we prepare to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord.

In these days, the liturgy reminds us constantly that "God is coming" to visit His people, to dwell amidst men and form with them a communion of love and life, that is, a family.

The Gospel of John expresses the Incarnation thus: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us" - literally, he writes "pitches His tent among us" (Jn 1,14).

Doesn't the construction of a Church in the midst of homes in the country or within a city district evoke this great gift and mystery?

The church as edifice is a concrete sign of the Church as community, formed by the living stones which are the faithful -
an image dear to the Apostles. St. Peter (1 Pt 2, 4-5) and St. Paul (Eph 2, 20-22) emphasize how the 'cornerstone' of this spiritual temple is Christ and that, close to Him and close to each other, even we are called to participate in the construction of the living temple.

Thus, just as it is God who takes the initiative to come and dwell among men, and it is always Him who is the principal mover of this plan, it is also true that He does not want to realize it without our active collaboration.

That is why to prepare ourselves for Christmas means to engage ourselves in constructing "God's dwelling with men." No one is excluded. Everyone can and should contribute so that this house of communion should be more spacious and beautiful.

At the end of time, it will be completed and will be the 'heavenly Jerusalem': "I saw then a new sky and a new land," we read in the Book of Apocalypse, 'I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descend from heaven, from God, ready like a bride adorned for her spouse - Here is God's dwelling with men" (Ap 21, 1-3).

Advent invites us to turn our eyes to the "heavenly Jerusalem" which is the ultimate goal of our earthly pilgrimage. At the same time, it exhorts us to commit ourselves to prayer, conversion and good works, to receive Jesus into our lives, to construct together with Him this spiritual edifice of which each of us - our families, our communities - are precious building stones.

Among all the stones that form the heavenly Jerusalem, surely the most splendid and prized - because of all, she is closest to Christ the cornerstone - is the Most Holy Mary. Through her intercession, let us pray that this Advent may be, for the whole Church, a time of spiritual edification which may hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God.

After the Angelus, he said this in Italian:

I am following with intense concern what is happening in the Middle East, where glimmers of hope for a solution to the crises that torment the region alternate with tensions and difficulties that make us fearful of new violence.

Lebanon merits special mention, on whose land, today as yesterday, "men who are different in cultures and religions are called on to live togther to build a nation of dialog and coexistence, and to contribute to the common good" (Post-
Synodal Declaration, A new hope for Lebanon, n. 119).

I therefore share, in the face of recent events, the strong fears expressed by the Patriarch, His Beatitude, Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, and of the Maronite Bishops, in the communique they made public last Wednesday.

Together with them, I ask the Lebanese and their responsible political leaders to have at heart only the good of the nation and harmony among its communities, deriving inspiration for their task from that unity which is the responsibility of all and of everone, and requires patient and persevering efforts, along with a trusting and permanent dialog (cfr ibid. n.20).

I also wish that the international community help identify urgent peaceful and equitable solutions necessary for Lebanon and the entire Middle East, and I invite everyone to prayer at this grave moment.

He then made this announcement:

On Thursday, December 14, I will be meeting university students of Rome at St. Peter's Basilica. Dear young people, I expect you to be there in great numbers so we may prepare for Christmas asking the Lord Jesus for the gift of intellectual charity for the entire university community.


In English he said:

I greet the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims here today. On this second Sunday of Advent, the Church puts before us the figure of John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness: "Prepare a way for the Lord".

During this Advent season, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Christ, let us prepare a place for him in our hearts. I invoke God’s abundant blessings upon all of you, and upon your families and loved ones at home.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/12/2006 3.00]

As last week, the general audience this week had two parts - the first inside St. Peter's Basilica, for the faithful of Calabria (southern Italy) who had come to Rome with their bishops, now on an ad-limina visit. The Pope addressed them, and then proceeded to the Aula Paolo VI for the regular catechesis and audience.

Dear brothers and sisters:

I thank you for your presence and I am happy to address to each of you my heartfelt welcome. I greet, most of all, the faithful of the diocese of Calabria who are assembled here with their Bishops on the occasion of their ad-limina visit.

Dear friends, the Church that lives in Calabria is represented here by its liveliest components - bishops, priests, consecrated persons and faithful laymen - who have a fundamental continuing role in Calabrian society. I refer above all to its evangelizing mission, which is even more urgent in our day, to face actual cultural, social and religious challenges.

Do not tire, meanwhile, of drawing from the Gospel the light and strength to promote an authentic moral, csocial and economic rebirth of your region. Be joyful witnesses for Christ and itireless builders of His Kingdom of justice and love.

Finally, I wish to express now my sincere thanks to Calabria for donating the Christmas tree - a very big and beautiful one - that was put up today in St. Peters' Square. I watched from my window.

I greet the numerous students, particularly those coming from the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Biscgelie.

In this time of Advent, may Mary accompany us towards the encounter with Jesus in the mystery of His Nativity. To her, whom we venerated yesterday as the Virgin of Guadalupe, Patroness of the American continent, I entrust you all, dear young people. May the suggestion she made at Cana to the servants, "Do what Jesus tells you" (Jn 2:5) urge you to open your hearts to the word of Christ that you may fructify your life with it. I bless all of you with affection.




For the regular catechesis, I posted the surprisingly prompt English translation by ZENIT erroneously in HOMILIES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES, and will leave it there. On this thread, I am posting my usual translation.


Dear Brothers and Sisters:

After speaking at length of the great Apostle Paul, today we will consider two of his closest co-workers, Timothy and Titus. Three letters traditionally attributed to Paul are addressed to them - two to Timothy and one to Titus.

"Timothy" is a Greek name which means "he who honors God." Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, mentions him six times, but Paul names him on 17 occasions in his letters (and he is mentioned once in the Letter to the Hebrews). We can deduce that he enjoyed great consideration with Paul although Luke does not tell us ery much about him.

The Apostle, in fact, entrusted him with important missions and saw him almost as an "alter ego," as in his great praise of him in the Letter to the Philippians. "I have no one with a soul like his (isopsychon), who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare" (2:20).

Timothy was born in Lystra (some 200 kilometers northwest of Tarsus) of a Jewish mother and a pagan father (cf. Acts 16:1). The fact that his mother had a mixed marriage and that she did not circumcise her son leads us to think Timothy grew up in a family that was not strictly observant, though it is said that he knew the Scriptures from childhood (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). His mother's name has been transmitted to us, Eunice, and that of his grandmother, Lois (cf. 2 Tim 1:5).

When Paul passed through Lystra at the start of his second missionary journey, he chose Timothy as his companion, because "he was well spoken by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium" (Acts 16:2), but he "circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places" (Acts 16:3).

Together with Paul and Silas, Timothy went across Asia Minor to Troas, from where he went to Macedonia. We are told that in Philippi, where Paul and Silas were accused of disturbing the public order and imprisoned for having opposed the exploitation of a slave girl as an oracle by some unscrupulous individuals (cf. Acts 16:16-40), Timothy was spared.

When Paul was later obliged to proceed to Athens, Timothy joined up with him in that city, and from there was sent to the young Church of Thessalonica to get information and to confirm that Church in the faith (cf. 1 Thes 3:1-2). He re-joined the Apostle in Corinth, giving him good news about the Thessalonians and working with him in the evangelization of that city (cf. 2 Cor 1:19).

We next find Timothy in Ephesus, during Paul's third missionary journey. It is probably from there that the Apostle wrote Philemon and the Philippians, both letters co-written with Timothy (cf. Phm 1; Phi1:1). From Ephesus, Paul sent him to Macedonia with a certain Erastus (cf. Acts 19:22) and later to Corinth, to bring a letter, in which he asked the Corinthians to give him a good welcome (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:17; 16:10-11).

We see him again as co-writer of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, and when, from Corinth, Paul wrote the Letter to the Romans, he sent them greetings from Timothy, as well as some others (cf. Rom 16:21). From Corinth, the disciple again traveled to Troas, on the Asian shore of the Aegean Sea, there to await the Apostle who was going back to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey (cf. Acts 20:4).

From that moment on, ancient sources do not tell us more except for the one reference in the Letter to the Hebrews, where we read: "I must let you know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, I shall see you together with him." (13,23).

In conclusion, we can say that the figure of Timothy stands out as a pastor of great importance. According to Eusebius's later "Ecclesiastical History," Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus (cf. 3:4). Some of his relics have been in Italy since 1239, in the Cathedral of Termoli, in Molise, having come from Constantinople.

As for the figure of Titus, whose name is of Latin origin, we know that he was Greek by birth, that is, pagan (cf. Gal 2:3). Paul took him along to Jerusalem for the so-called Apostolic Council, which solemnly accepted that the Gospel could be preached to pagans without requiring them to comply with Mosaic law.

In the Letter he addresses to him, the Apostle praises him, calling him "my true child in our common faith" (Titus 1:4). After Timothy left Corinth, Paul sent Titus there with the task of bringing that rebellious community to obedience. Titus restored the peace between the Church of Corinth and the Apostle, who wrote to the Corinthians: "God, who comforts the afflicted, comforted us by the arrival of Titus, who not only is back but has also brought the comfort that he had from you. In fact, he told us of your desires, your sorrows, and your affection...Therefore we are comforted. In addition, I rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by you all" (2 Cor 7:6-7,13).

At Corinth, Titus was again sent by Paul, who called him "my companion and collaborator" (2 Cor 8:23), to organize the completion of fund-raising for the Christians of Jerusalem (2 Cor 8:6).

Subsequent news found in the Pastoral Letters speak of him as bishop of Crete (cf. Titus 1:5), from whence, at Paul's invitation, he joined the Apostle in Nicopolis, in Epirus, (cf. Tit 3:12). Later he also went to Dalmatia (cf. 2 Tim 4:10). We do not have any more information on Titus's subsequent trips or how he died.

In conclusion, if we consider together the two figures of Timothy and Titus, we note some facts that are very significant.

The most important is that Paul used collaborators to carry out his missions. He remains the Apostle par excellence, founder and pastor of many Churches. Bu tit is clear that he did not do everything by hismelf, but he relied on trusted persons who shared his labors and his responsibilities.

Another observation has to do with the willing availability of these co-workers. The sources regarding Timothy and Titus highlight their readiness to assume various demands, ofren consisting of representing Paul even in situations that were far from easy. In other words, they teach us to serve the Gospel generously, knowing that this is also a service to the Church itself.

Finally, let us take up the suggestion that Paul makes to Titus in the letter addressed to him: "I want you to insist on these things, so that those who believe in God may exert themselves to be first in good works. This is something good for all men" (Ti 3:8).

Through our concrete commitment, we should and can discover the truth of these words, and precisely in this time of Advent, we can ourselves br rich in good works and thereby open the doors of the world to Christ, our Savior.

The Pope later said in English:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Continuing our catechesis on the Church's apostolic ministry, we now consider Saints Timothy and Titus, two close associates of Saint Paul in his missionary journeys.

Timothy, born of a Jewish mother and a pagan father, is frequently mentioned in the Apostle's Letters. Titus, a convert from paganism, was brought by Paul to the Council of Jerusalem, which sanctioned the preaching of the Gospel to the pagans while not imposing on them the precepts of the Mosaic Law.

Both were sent by Paul on important missions to the young Churches, often as his representatives in difficult situations. As we see from the New Testament epistles addressed to Timothy and Titus, Paul clearly counted on the help of these two collaborators in his ministry. Timothy and Titus were likewise prompt in accepting the responsibilities entrusted to them by the Apostle.

May the example of these apostolic men inspire us to serve the cause of the Gospel with generosity, and thus contribute to the building up of Christ's Church.

I offer a cordial welcome to the members of the ecumenical pilgrimage sponsored by the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the National Council of Churches in Korea. May your visit to Rome be a source of inspiration in your efforts to promote the unity of all Christ's followers.

Upon all the English-speaking visitors present at today's Audience, especially those from the Philippines, Australia and the United States of America, I cordially invoke God's blessings of joy and peace.

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If you get a chance to compare the ZENIT translation and mine, you will note that I tend to be less literal and try to be more idiomatic, and that I follow English syntax when I translate.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/01/2007 22.49]