(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI
held the final General Audience of his pontificate on Wednesday in St Peter's
Square. Below, please find Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy
Father's remarks.
*********************************
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities! Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my
pontificate.
Like the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes her
grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people. At this
moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church throughout the world,
and I thank God for the “news” that in these years of Petrine ministry I have
been able to receive regarding the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
charity that circulates in the body of the Church – charity that makes the
Church to live in love – and of the hope that opens for us the way towards the
fullness of life, and directs us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where
I recall every meeting, every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone
and every thing in prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the
Lord: in order that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom
and spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in a
manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good work (cf. Col
1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great trust [in God], because I know – all
of us know – that the Gospel’s word of truth is the strength of the Church: it
is her life. The Gospel purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the
community of believers hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives
in charity. This is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th, [2005], I agreed to
take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in this certainty, which has
always accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated several times,
the words that resounded in my heart were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a
great weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I
will throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has
guided me. He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These
years] have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter with the
Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us many days
of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant;
[then] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us,
as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to
sleep. Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the
barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her
sink. It is He, who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His
choosing, for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that
nothing can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I desired in order to strengthen our own
faith in God in a context that seems to push faith more and more toward the
margins of life. I would like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the
Lord. I would like that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of
God, and rest assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even
in times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who gave
His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to feel the
joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited daily in the
morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my heart. I thank You
for having created me, for having made me a Christian.” Yes, we are happy for
the gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no one can take from us!
Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian
life. God loves us, but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is
not alone in guiding St. Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility
– and I have not ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the
weight of the Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people,
who, with generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators, starting
with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over the years, the
Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well as all those who, in
various areas, give their service to the Holy See: the many faces which never
emerge, but remain in the background, in silence, in their daily commitment,
with a spirit of faith and humility. They have been for me a sure and reliable
support. A special thought [goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not
forget the Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated
persons and the entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters,
at Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the Bishop of
Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried each of you in my
prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope
expands to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the great
family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for good
communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving tokens of
concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone: now I experience
this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my very heart. The Pope
belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very close to him. It’s true that
I receive letters from the world's greatest figures - from the Heads of State,
religious leaders, representatives of the world of culture and so on. I also
receive many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their
heart and let me feel their affection, which is born of our being together in
Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write me as one might write,
for example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very affectionate
family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not an organization, not
an association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a
community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us
all. To experience the Church in this way and almost be able to touch with
one’s hands the power of His truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time
in which many speak of its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased, and I asked God with
insistence in prayer to enlighten me with His light to make me take the right
decision – not for my sake, but for the good of the Church. I have taken this
step in full awareness of its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep
peace of mind. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make
difficult, trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church
and not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The gravity of the
decision was precisely in the fact that from that moment on I was committed
always and forever by the Lord. Always – he, who assumes the Petrine ministry
no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and totally to everyone, to the
whole Church. His life is, so to speak, totally deprived of the private sphere.
I have felt, and I feel even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life
precisely when he offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love
the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and
that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because he no longer belongs
to himself, but he belongs to all and all are truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no returning to private life. My
decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not revoke this. I do
not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions,
conferences and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near
to the Crucified Lord. I no longer wield the power of the office for the
government of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak,
within St. Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which, active or
passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which
you have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the Church
on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and
to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and that I would live
forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the
Cardinals, who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of
Peter, that the Lord might accompany him with the light and the power of His
Spirit.
Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the
Church, that she might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community:
to her we entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His Church, maintains her always, and especially in
difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true
vision of the way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of
each of you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds us
with His love. Thank you!
- See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Benedict XVI held the final General Audience of his
pontificate on Wednesday in St Peter's Square. Below, please find
Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's remarks.
*********************************
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Benedict XVI held the final General Audience of his
pontificate on Wednesday in St Peter's Square. Below, please find
Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's remarks.
*********************************
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Benedict XVI held the final General Audience of his
pontificate on Wednesday in St Peter's Square. Below, please find
Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's remarks.
*********************************
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
Yes, we
are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no
one can take from us! Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer
and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us, but He also expects
that we love Him! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
Yes, we
are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no
one can take from us! Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer
and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us, but He also expects
that we love Him! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Benedict XVI held the final General Audience of his
pontificate on Wednesday in St Peter's Square. Below, please find
Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's remarks.
*********************************
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19
th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Benedict XVI held the final General Audience of his
pontificate on Wednesday in St Peter's Square. Below, please find
Vatican Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's remarks.
*********************************
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.
Like
the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my
heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes
her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people.
At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years
of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of
the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs
us towards the heavenly homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone
in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting,
every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good
work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great
trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word
of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel
purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers
hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This
is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th,
[2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in
this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I
have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart
were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on
my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the
nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me.
He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter
with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has
given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the
catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were
rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it
has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always
knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is
not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He,
who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing,
for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing
can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest
assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in
times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who
gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to
feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited
daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my
heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a
Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most
precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this
every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us,
but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is
not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not
ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with
generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators,
starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over
the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well
as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See:
the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers
in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the
entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at
Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried
each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my
greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands
to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this
point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving
tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone:
now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my
very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very
close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world's greatest
figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives
of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from
ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel
their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in
the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very
affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not
an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian
purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the
Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in
this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His
truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of
its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had
decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me
with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but
for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of
its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind.
Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult,
trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and
not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005.
The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that
moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he,
who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs
always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to
speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel
even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he
offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord
also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the
world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because
he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are
truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no
returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active
ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a
life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not
abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I
no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the
Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a
great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which,
active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each
and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the
Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to
the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and
that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and
above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a
task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany
him with the light and the power of His Spirit.
Let us invoke the
maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she
might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we
entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His
Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the
way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of
you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near,
that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds
us with His love. Thank you! - See more at:
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-final-general-audience-full-text#sthash.IDUQghla.dpuf
