The Weekly Benedict

Introduction

The Weekly Benedict is a compilation of documents, speeches, and other texts brought into an ebook format.

The Weekly Benedict was inspired by Catholic Apologist Jimmy Akin who came up with the idea to create a weekly link page to the words of the Holy Father.

All texts are © Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Considering the increasing prevalence of electronic book readers and their ease in reading textual documents this provides an ideal format in making available the wonderful and insightful words of Pope Benedict XVI. This ebook compilation is provided as a public service with no associated fees.

Jeff Miller The Curt Jester blog

Catholic Apologist Jimmy Akin's blog can be found at JimmyAkin.org

While this ebook publication take it's cue from Jimmy Akin's weekly post with links, it is done without association and any copyright problems or formatting mistakes are entirely my own.

Index of Source Links

List of direct document links on Vatican.va used.

Regina Cæli

22 April 2012

Homilies

16 April 2012 - Holy Mass on the occasion of the Holy Father's 85th Birthday

Speeches

16 April 2012 - Meeting with the Bavarian Delegation on the occasion of the Holy Father's 85th Birthday

20 April 2012 - Concert offered by the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig

21 April 2012 - Address to the members of the Papal Foundation on the occasion of their annual pilgrimage to Rome

Messages

6 April 2012 - Message to the Bishop of Trier for the Start of the Pilgrimage of the Holy Garment, Celebrating the 5th Centenary of its Public Exposition

18 April 2012 - Message for the VII World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Tourism [Cancún, 23-27 April 2012]

18 April 2012 - To the President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the occasion of the annual Plenary Assembly

General Audiences

25 April 2012

Regina Caeli

Regina Caeli 22 April 2012, Benedict XVI

BENEDICT XVI

REGINA CÆLI

Sunday, 22 April 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, the Third Sunday of Easter, in the Gospel according to Luke we meet the Risen Jesus who presents himself to the disciples (cf. Lk 24:36) who, startled and incredulous, think they are seeing a ghost (cf. Lk 24:37). Romano Guardini wrote: “the Lord has changed. He does not live as he lived previously. His existence cannot be understood. And yet it is corporeal, it encompasses... the whole of the life he lived, the destiny he passed through, his Passion and his death. Everything is reality. It may have changed but it is still tangible reality” (Il Signore. Meditazioni sulla persona e la vita di N.S. Gesù Cristo, Milan 1949, 433). As the Resurrection did not erase the signs of the Crucifixion, Jesus showed the Apostles his hands and his feet. And to convince them, he even asked for something to eat, thus the disciples “gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them” (Lk 24:42-43). St Gregory the Great comments that “the fish grilled on the flame means nothing other than the Passion of Jesus, Mediator between God and men. Indeed, he deigned to conceal himself in the waters of the human race, he accepted to be caught in the net of our death and was placed on the fire, symbolizing the pain he suffered at the moment of the Passion” (Hom. in Evang. XXIV, 5: CCL l 141, Turnhout 1999, 201).

It was by means of these very realistic signs that the disciples overcame their initial doubt and opened themselves to the gift of faith; and this faith enabled them to understand what was written on Christ “in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (Lk 24:44). Indeed we read that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.... You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:45-48).

The Saviour assures us of his real presence among us through the Word and through the Eucharist. Therefore just as the disciples of Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread (cf. Lk 24:35), so we too encounter the Lord in the Eucharistic celebration. In this regard St Thomas Aquinas explains that “it is absolutely necessary to confess according to the Catholic faith that the entire Christ is in this sacrament... since the Godhead never set aside the assumed body” (Summa Theologiae III, q. 76, a. 1).

Dear friends, it is usual in the Easter season for the Church to administer First Communion to children. I therefore urge parish priests, parents and catechists to prepare well for this feast of faith with great fervour, but also with moderation. “This day continues to be memorable as the moment when... they first came to understand the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 19). May the Mother of God help us to listen attentively to the Word of the Lord and to take part worthily in the Banquet of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to become witnesses of the new humanity.

After the Regina Caeli:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am glad to recall the Beatification of María Inés Teresa of the Blessed Sacrament yesterday in Mexico. She was the Foundress of the Poor Clare Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us give thanks to God for this exemplary daughter of Mexico, which I recently had the joy of visiting and which I always carry in my heart.

The Day of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart is being celebrated today in Italy. This year the theme of the Day is “The Future of the Country in Young People’s Hearts”. It is important that youth be formed in values, as well as in scientific and technical knowledge. It was for this reason that Fr Gemelli founded the Catholic University, which I hope will always keep in step with the times but also remain ever faithful to its origins.

I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present for this Easter prayer to Our Lady. In today’s Gospel, the Risen Lord opens the minds of the disciples to the meaning of his suffering and death, and sends them out to preach repentance. With courage and joy, may we too be authentic witnesses to Christ. God bless all of you!

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week. Thank you.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Homilies

Holy Mass on the occasion of the Holy Father's 85th Birthday, Homily of Benedict XVI, 16 April 2012

HOLY MASS ON THE OCCASION OF THE HOLY FATHER'S 85TH BIRTHDAY

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Pauline Chapel

Monday, 16 April 2012

Your Eminences,

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On the day of my birth and of my Baptism, 16 April, the Church’s liturgy has set three signposts which show me where the road leads and help me to find it. In the first place, it is the Memorial of St Bernadette Soubirous, the seer of Lourdes; then there is one of the most unusual Saints in the Church’s history, Benedict Joseph Labre; and then, above all, this day is immersed in the Paschal Mystery, in the Mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection. In the year of my birth this was expressed in a special way: it was Holy Saturday, the day of the silence of God, of his apparent absence, of God’s death, but also the day on which the Resurrection was proclaimed.

We all know and love Bernadette Soubirous, the simple girl from the south, from the Pyrenees. Bernadette grew up in the France of the 18th-century Enlightenment in a poverty which it is hard to imagine.

The prison that had been evacuated because it was too insanitary, became — after some hesitation — the family home in which she spent her childhood. There was no access to education, only some catechism in preparation for First Communion. Yet this simple girl, who retained a pure and honest heart, had a heart that saw, that was able to see the Mother of the Lord and the Lord’s beauty and goodness was reflected in her. Mary was able to appear to this girl and through her to speak to the people of the time and beyond it.

Bernadette could see with her pure and genuine heart. And Mary pointed out the spring to her: she was able to discover the spring of pure and uncontaminated living water; water that is life, water that gives purity and health. And down the centuries this living water has become a sign from Mary, a sign that shows where the sources of life are found, where we can purify ourselves, where we can find what is uncontaminated. This sign is all the more important in our time, in which we see the world so anxious and in which the need for water, pure water, becomes pressing. From Mary, the Mother of the Lord, from her pure heart, pure and genuine life-giving water also wells: water which in this century — and in centuries to come — purifies and heals us.

I think we can consider this water as an image of truth that comes to us in faith: not simulated but rather uncontaminated truth. Indeed to be able to live, to be able to be pure, we need to have within us a longing for pure life, for undistorted truth, for what is not contaminated by corruption, a longing to be unblemished. So on this day, this little Saint has always been a sign for me, who has shown me where the living water we need comes from — the water that purifies us and gives life — and a sign of how we ought to be: with all our knowledge and all our skills, although they are necessary, we must not lose our simple hearts, the simple gaze of the heart that can perceive the essential, and we must always pray the Lord to preserve in us the humility that enables the heart to remain clairvoyant — to see what is simple and essential, the beauty and goodness of God — and in this way to find the spring from which flows the purifying life-giving water.

Then there is Benedict Joseph Labre, the pious mendicant pilgrim of the 18th century who, after failing several times, at last found his vocation to go on pilgrimage as a beggar, without anything, without any support and keeping for himself nothing he received except what he absolutely needed. He was a pilgrim travelling across Europe to all the European shrines, from Spain to Poland and from Germany to Sicily: a truly European Saint! We can also say: a rather unusual Saint who begging, wandered from one shrine to another and wanted to do nothing other than to pray and thereby bear witness to what counts in this life: God. Of course, his is not an example to emulate, but a signpost, a finger pointing to the essential. He shows us that God alone suffices; that beyond anything in this world, beyond our needs and capacities, what matters, what is essential is to know God. He is enough on his own. And this “only God”, he shows us in a dramatic way. At the same time, this truly European life that, from shrine to shrine, embraces the entire continent of Europe makes it clear that whoever opens to God does not estrange himself from the world and from men, but rather finds brothers, because God causes all borders to fall, God alone eliminates the borders because, thanks to him, we all are brothers and sisters, we belong to one another. He makes it clear that the oneness of God means, at the same time, brotherhood and reconciliation among men, the demolition of frontiers that unites us and heals us. In this way he is a Saint of peace, just as he was a Saint without demands, who died deprived of all but blessed with everything.

And then, finally, we come to the Paschal Mystery. The same day on which I was born, thanks to my parent’s concern, I was also reborn through water and the Holy Spirit, as we have just heard in the Gospel. First, there is the gift of life that my parents gave me in very difficult times, and for which I thank them. But it cannot be taken for granted that human life in itself is a gift. Can it really be a beautiful gift? Do we know what will befall man in the dark days ahead — or in the brighter days that could come? Can we foresee to what troubles, what terrible events he might be exposed? Is it right to simply give life like this? Is it responsible or too uncertain? It is a problematic gift, if it is left to itself. Biological life is in itself a gift, but it is surrounded by a great question. It becomes a true gift only if, along with it, we are given a promise that is stronger than any evil that could threaten us, if it is immersed in a power that ensures that it is good to be human, that there will be good for this person no matter what the future brings. Thus, with birth is associated rebirth, the certitude that, truly, it is good to be alive, because the promise is stronger than evil. This is the meaning of rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit: to be immersed in the promise that only God can make — it is good that you exist, and you can be certain of that whatever comes. With this assurance I was able to live, reborn by water and the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus asks the Lord: “How can an old man possibly be reborn?”. Now, rebirth is given to us in Baptism, but we must continually grow in it, we must always let ourselves be immersed by God in his promise, in order to be truly reborn in the great, new family of God which is stronger than every weakness and than any negative power that threatens us. Therefore, this is a day of great thanksgiving.

The day I was baptized, as I said, was Holy Saturday. Then it was still customary to anticipate the Easter Vigil in the morning, which would still be followed by the darkness of Holy Saturday, without the Alleluia. It seems to me that this singular paradox, this singular anticipation of light in a day of darkness, could almost be an image of the history of our times. On the one hand, there is still the silence of God and his absence, but in the Resurrection of Christ there is already the anticipation of the “yes” of God, and on the basis of this anticipation we live and, through the silence of God, we hear him speak, and through the darkness of his absence we glimpse his light. The anticipation of the Resurrection in the middle of an evolving history is the power that points out the way to us and helps us to go forward.

Let us thank the good Lord for he has given us this light and let us pray to him so that it might endure forever. And on this day I have special cause to thank him and all those who have ever anew made me perceive the presence of the Lord, who have accompanied me so that I might never lose the light.

I am now facing the last chapter of my life and I do not know what awaits me. I know, however, that the light of God exists, that he is Risen, that his light is stronger than any darkness, that the goodness of God is stronger than any evil in this world. And this helps me to go forward with certainty. May this help us to go forward, and at this moment I wholeheartedly thank all those who have continually helped me to perceive the “yes” of God through their faith.

Finally, Cardinal Dean, a warm thank you for your words of brotherly friendship, for all the collaboration during all these years. And a special thank you to all the collaborators over the 30 years in which I have been in Rome, who have helped me to carry the weight of my responsibilities. Thank you. Amen.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Messages

Message to the Bishop of Trier for the Start of the Pilgrimage of the Holy Garment, Celebrating the 5th Centenary of its Public Exposition, Benedict XVI, 6 April 2012

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE BISHOP OF TRIER (FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY)

FOR THE START OF THE PILGRIMAGE TO THE "HOLY GARMENT," CELEBRATING THE 5TH CENTENARY OF ITS PUBLIC EXPOSITION (CATHEDRAL OF TRIER, 13 APRIL 2012)

To my Venerable Brother

Stephan Ackermann

Bishop of Trier

The exposition of the Holy Garment is taking place in these days in the great Cathedral of Trier, exactly five hundred years after its first public exposition at the initiative of Archbishop Richard von Greiffenklau, complying with the wishes of the Emperor Maximillian I, with the opening of the high altar. On this special occasion, I too am a pilgrim, in thought, to the ancient and venerable episcopal city of Trier, in a certain sense to join the ranks of the faithful who will take part in the pilgrimage to the Holy Garment in the coming weeks. I would like to assure you, Your Excellency, my Brother Bishops in the episcopal ministry present here, the priests and deacons, the men and women religious and all those who have come to the Cathedral of Trier for the beginning of the pilgrimage of the fraternal closeness of the Successor of Peter.

Since the first exposition in the 1512, the Holy Garment has attracted the faithful because this relic makes present one of the most dramatic moments of Jesus’ earthly life, his death on the Cross. In this context the division of the garments of the Crucified One by the soldiers may appear to be merely a secondary episode, to which the Synoptic Gospels allude only in passing. The Evangelist John, however, dwells on this event with a certain solemnity. It is the only mention to the garment which “was without seam, woven from top to bottom” (19:23). He explains the event to us and helps us, thanks to the relic, to look with faith to he Mystery of Salvation.

The garment, as John tells us, was seamless. The soldiers who, according to Roman custom, shared out the poor things of the Crucified One among themselves as booty, since they did not want to tear the tunic. They cast lots for it and thus it remained whole. The Fathers of the Church see in this passage the unity of the Church, founded as one indivisible community on the love of Christ. The Holy Garment intends to make all of this visible. The Saviour’s love reunites what is divided. The Church is one in many. Christ does not abolish the plurality of men, but unites them in being Christians for and with others so that they themselves may becomes intercessors, in various ways, for others toward God.

Christ’s garment is “woven from top to bottom” (Jn 19:23). This too is an image of the Church that does not live of herself but by God. Like a unique and indivisible community, she is the work of God, not the product of human beings and their skills. At the same time, the Holy Garment must be, as it were, a warning for the Church so that she remains faithful to her origins and become aware that her unity, her consensus, her effectiveness, her witness can be essentially created only from above, can be given only by God. Only when Peter acknowledged: “You are the Christ” (Mt 16: 16), did he receive the power to bind and absolve, therefore, the service favouring the unity of the Church.

Finally the Holy Garment is not a toga, an elegant robe which expresses a role in society. It is a modest garment which serves to cover and protect he who wears it, maintaining his privacy. This garment is an undivided gift of the Crucified One to the Church, which he sanctified with his Blood. Thus the Holy Garment recalls the dignity proper to the Church. But how often do we see how fragile are the vessels (cf. 2 Cor 4:7) the treasure that the Lord entrusted to us in his Church? And how, due to our selfishness, our weaknesses and mistakes, the integrity of the Body of Christ is wounded? There is a need for constant openness to conversion and humility, in order to follow the Lord with love and truth. At the same time, the particular dignity and integrity of the Church cannot be exposed and subjected to the public’s noisy, summary judgement.

The Jubilee Pilgrimage has as its motto an invocation to the Lord: “Restore unity to what is divided”. We do not want to remain in isolation. We desire to call upon the Lord to guide us on the common journey of faith and to make its content active in us again. And so, growing together as Christians in faith, prayer and witness, in the midst of the trials of our time, we can recognize the munificence and goodness of the Lord. For this reason, to you and to all those who are taking part in the pilgrimage to the Holy Garment in Trier in these weeks of celebration, I impart my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, Good Friday, 6 April 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Message for the VII World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Tourism [CANCÚN, 23-27 April 2012]

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

FOR THE VII WORLD CONGRESS

ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF TOURISM

[CANCÚN, 23-27 APRIL 2012]

To my Venerable Brothers

His Eminence Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò,

President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of

Migrants and Itinerant People,

and the Most Reverend Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas,

Prelate-Bishop of Cancún-Chetumal

On the occasion of the VII World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Tourism which will take place in Cancún (Mexico) from 23 to 27 April, I am pleased to send you my cordial greeting which I extend to my Brother Bishops and to all those taking part in this important meeting. As you begin these days of reflection on the pastoral attention which the Church dedicates to the area of tourism, I wish to convey my spiritual closeness to the participants and my respectful greetings to the civil authorities and to the representatives of the international organizations that are also present at this event.

Tourism is certainly a phenomenon characteristic of our times, due both to the important dimensions that it has already achieved and in view of its potential for future growth. Like other human realities, it is called to be enlightened and transformed by the Word of God. For this reason, moved by pastoral solicitude and in view of the important influence tourism has on the human person, the Church has accompanied it from its first beginnings, encouraging its potential while at the same time pointing out, and striving to correct, its risks and deviations.

Tourism, together with vacations and free time, is a privileged occasion for physical and spiritual renewal; it facilitates the coming together of people from different cultural backgrounds and offers the opportunity of drawing close to nature and hence opening the way to listening and contemplation, tolerance and peace, dialogue and harmony in the midst of diversity.

Travelling reflects our being as homo viator; at the same time it evokes that other deeper and more meaningful journey that we are called to follow and which leads to our encounter with God. Travelling, which offers us the possibility of admiring the beauty of peoples, cultures and nature, can lead to God and be the occasion of an experience of faith, “for from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator” (Wis 13:5). On the other hand tourism, like every human reality, is not exempt from dangers or negative dimensions. We refer to evils that must be dealt with urgently since they trample upon the rights of millions of men and women, especially among the poor, minors and handicapped. Sexual tourism is one of the most abject of these deviations that devastate morally, psychologically and physically the life of so many persons and families, and sometimes whole communities. The trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation or organ harvesting as well as the exploitation of minors, abandoned into the hands of individuals without scruples and undergoing abuse and torture, sadly happen often in the context of tourism. This should bring all who are engaged for pastoral reasons or who work in the field of tourism, and the whole international community, to increase their vigilance and to foresee and oppose such aberrations.

In the Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, I chose to situate the reality of international tourism in the context of integral human development. “We need, therefore, to develop a different type of tourism that has the ability to promote genuine mutual understanding, without taking away from the element of rest and healthy recreation” (no. 61). May your Congress, meeting precisely under the banner A tourism that makes a difference, contribute to the development of a pastoral approach that will lead steadily to that “different type of tourism”.

I would like to highlight three areas which should receive full attention from the pastoral care of tourism. Firstly, we need shed light on this reality using the social teaching of the Church and promote a culture of ethical and responsible tourism, in such a way that it will respect the dignity of persons and of peoples, be open to all, be just, sustainable and ecological. The enjoyment of free time and regular vacations are an opportunity as well as a right. The Church, within its own sphere of competence, is committed to continue offering its cooperation, so that this right will become a reality for all people, especially for less fortunate communities.

Secondly, our pastoral action should never loose sight of the via pulchritudinis, “the way of beauty”. Many of the manifestations of the historical and cultural religious patrimony are “authentic ways to God, Supreme Beauty; indeed they help us to grow in our relationship with him, in prayer. These are works that arise from faith and express faith” (General Audience, 31 August 2011). It is important to welcome tourists and offer them well-organized visits, with due respect for sacred places and the liturgical action, for which many of these works came into being and which continues to be their main purpose.

Thirdly, pastoral activity in the area of tourism should care for Christians as they enjoy their vacations and free time in such a way that these will contribute to their human and spiritual growth. Truly this is “an appropriate moment to let the body relax and to nourish the spirit with more time for prayer and meditation, in order to grow in personal relationship with Christ and become ever more conformed to his teachings” (Angelus, 15 July 2007).

The new evangelization, to which all are called, requires us to keep in mind and to make good use of the many occasions that tourism offers us to put forward Christ as the supreme response to modern man’s fundamental questions.

I therefore encourage you to ensure that pastoral activity in the field of tourism is integrated, as it ought in all justice, as part of the organic, ordinary pastoral activity of the Church. In this way, by the coordination of projects and efforts, we will respond in greater fidelity to the Lord’s missionary mandate.

With these sentiments, I entrust the fruits of this Congress to the powerful intercession of the Mary Most Holy under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe and, as a pledge of abundant divine favours, I cordially impart to all present the requested Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, April 18th 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

To the President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the occasion of the annual Plenary Assembly

"The Word of God is not confined to what is written"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of a message Benedict XVI addressed to the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

* * *

To the Venerable Brother

Cardinal William Levada

President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission

I am pleased to send you, Venerable Brother, to Cardinal Prosper Grech. O.S.A., to the Secretary and to all the Members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission my cordial greeting on the occasion of the annual Plenary Assembly which is being held to address the important topic “Inspiration and Truth of the Bible.”

As we know, such a topic is essential for a correct hermeneutic of the biblical message. Precisely inspiration, as action of God, makes it possible to express the Word of God in human words. Consequently, the topic of inspiration is decisive for the appropriate approach to the Sacred Scriptures. In fact, an interpretation of the sacred texts that neglects or forgets their inspiration does not take into account their most important and precious characteristic, that is, their provenance from God. Moreover, in my Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, I recalled that “The Synod Fathers also stressed the link between the theme of inspiration and that of the truth of the Scriptures. A deeper study of the process of inspiration will doubtless lead to a greater understanding of the truth contained in the sacred books.” (n. 19).

Because of the charism of inspiration, the books of Sacred Scripture have a direct and concrete force of appeal. However, the Word of God is not confined to what is written. If, in fact, the act of Revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle, the revealed Word has continued to be proclaimed and interpreted by the living Tradition of the Church. For this reason the Word of God fixed in the sacred texts is not an inert deposit inside the Church but becomes the supreme rule of her faith and power of life. The Tradition that draws its origin from the Apostles progresses with the assistance of the Holy Spirit and grows with the reflection and study of believers, with personal experience of the spiritual life and the preaching of Bishops (cf. Dei Verbum, 8, 21).

In studying the topic “Inspiration and Truth of the Bible,” the Pontifical Biblical Commission is called to offer its specific and qualified contribution to this necessary further reflection. In fact, it is essential and fundamental for the life and mission of the Church that the sacred texts are interpreted in keeping with their nature: Inspiration and Truth are constitutive characteristics of this nature. That is why your endeavor will be of real usefulness for the life and mission of the Church.

With good wishes to each one of you for the fruitful development of your works, I would like, finally, to express my heartfelt appreciation for the activity carried out by the Biblical Commission , committed to promoting knowledge, study and reception of the Word of God in the world. With such sentiments I entrust each one of you to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, who with the whole Church we invoke as Sedes Sapientiae, and I impart from my heart to you, Venerable Brother, and to all the members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, April 18, 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

* NOTE: Link to English translation on this speech on the Vatican's website produces an error.

Speeches

Meeting with the Bavarian Delegation on the occasion of the Holy Father's 85th Birthday, 16 April 2012

THE HOLY FATHER'S 85TH BIRTHDAY

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE BAVARIAN DELEGATION

Clementine Hall

Monday, 16 April 2012

Dear Mr Minister President,

Your Eminence,

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

Dear Friends,

I will dispense with addressing each one of you by your name and title — it would take far too long. However I assure you that I have read the guest list twice, the list of those who have come. I read it with my heart and in doing so I greeted each one of you individually within myself: no one present here is anonymous. I have seen each one of you in my mind’s eye and I am glad to greet you here now. I have had a talk with each one of you — welcome to you all!

What can be said on such an occasion? My feelings go beyond words and so, as a way of thanking you, I must say what on the contrary has not been said. Yet I would like to thank you really warmly for your words, Mr Minister President, you have enabled the heart of Bavaria — a Christian, a Catholic heart — to speak, and have thereby moved me and at the same time mentioned all the important aspects of my life. I am equally grateful to you, Your Eminence, for your affectionate words as Pastor of the diocese to which I belong as a priest, in which I grew up and to which, I still belong in spirit, remembering at the same time the Christian aspect, our faith in its full grandeur and beauty.

Dear Mr Minister President, you have gathered here a sort of mirror image of both the interior and exterior geography of my life; of the exterior geography, which is nonetheless also always interior, and which began in Marktl am Inn, passing through Tittmoning to Aschau and then to Hufschlag and Traunstein, to Pentling and hence to Regensburg.... In all these stages that are present here, there is always a little piece of my life, a part in which I lived and struggled and which contributed to making me what I am as I am now in your presence and as, one day, I must present myself to the Lord. Then, there are all the areas of Bavarian life: the living Church of our land is here — and for this I thank the Bavarian bishops. There is also, thanks be to God, the ecumenical dimension with the Bishop of the Evangelical Church of Munich.... This reminds me of the great friendship that bound me to Bishop Hansemann, whose memory I treasure, and it bears witness to me of how one progresses. Likewise, I remember the Jewish community with Dr Lamm and Dr Snopkowski: with them too cordial friendships were born which brought me inwardly close to the Jewish portion of our people, and to the Jewish People as such who are present within me in memories. Then there are the media which convey to the world what we are doing and saying... at times we have to make a few adjustments but what would we be without their service? And then, dear Mr Minister President, you have presented Bavaria as alive in the children, in whom we recognize that Bavaria continues to be faithful to itself because it is faithful to itself, remains youthful and continues to advance. In addition, there is the music I have been able to listen to, which reminds me of my father, who used to play on the zither, “Gott grüße Dich”: the sounds of my childhood have returned but they are also the sounds of the present and of the future — “Gott grüße Dich”....

A full heart would need many words, while I am limiting myself because what I would have to say would be too much. In the end, however, everything is summed up in the one word with which I would like to conclude: “Vergelt’s Gott!” — may God reward you.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Concert offered by the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Benedict XVI, 20 April 2012

CONCERT OFFERED BY THE  GEWANDHAUS ORCHESTRA OF LEIPZIG

ON THE OCCASION OF THE HOLY FATHER'S 85TH BIRTHDAY

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Paul VI Hall

Friday, 20 April 2012

Mr Minister President,

Distinguished Guests from the Free State of Saxony and the City of Leipzig,

Your Eminences,

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

With this splendid performance of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Symphony n. 2, the “Lobgesang”, you have offered me and everyone present a precious gift on my birthday. In fact this symphony is a great hymn of praise to God, a prayer with which we have praised and thanked the Lord for his gifts. First of all, however, I would like to thank those who made this experience possible. In the first place, the Gewandhausorchester, which in itself has no need of introduction: it is one of the oldest orchestras in the world with a tradition of excellent performances and indisputable fame. I extend my cordial thanks to the splendid choirs and soloists and, in particular to Maestro Riccardo Chailly for his vibrant interpretation. I extend my gratitude to the Minister President and to the Representatives of the Free State of Saxony, to the Mayor and to the Delegation of the City of Leipzig, to the Ecclesiastical Authorities, as well as to the Directors of the Gewandhaus and to all those who have come from Germany.

Mendelssohn, the “Lobgesang” Symphony, Gewandhaus: three elements that are not linked only this evening but have been linked from the outset. Indeed the great symphony for choir, soloists and orchestra which we have heard was composed by Mendelssohn to celebrate the fourth centenary of the invention of the press and was actually performed on 24 June 1840 for the first time in the Thomaskirchein Leipzig, Johan Sebastian Bach’s church by the Gewandhaus Orchestra; on the podium was Mendelssohn himself, who was the conductor of this ancient and prestigious orchestra for years.

This composition consists of three movements for orchestra alone, without a solution of continuity, and then of a sort of cantata with soloists and choir. In a letter to his friend Karl Klingemann, Mendelssohn himself explained that in this Symphony “first the instruments sing praise in their congenial manner, then the choir and the individual voices”. Music as praise of God, the supreme Beauty, is the basis of Mendelssohn’s approach to composition, not only of his liturgical or sacred music but of the whole of his opus. For him, as Julius Schubring says, sacred music as such was not higher up the ladder than other music; every form of music was to serve and honour God in its own way. And the motto that Mendelssohn wrote on the score of the “Lobgesang” says: “I want to see all the arts, particularly music, at the service of the One who has given and created them”. Our author’s ethical and religious world was not separate from his concept of art, indeed it was an integral part of it: Kunst un Leben sind nich sweierlei”, art and life are not two separate things but one, he wrote.

Profound unity of life — whose unifying element is     faith — characterized Mendelssohn’s entire existence and guided his decisions. In his letters we perceive this pervasive theme. He said to his friend Schirmer on 9 January 1841, referring to the family: “Of course, worries and serious days are at times not lacking... and yet one can only pray God fervently to preserve the health and happiness he has given us”. And on 17 January 1843 in Klingemann, he wrote: “I cannot but thank God on my knees every day for every good he gives me”. His was therefore a solid and convinced faith, deeply nourished by Sacred Scripture, as, among other pieces, his two Oratorios, Paulus and Elias, demonstrate, as well as the symphony we have heard which is full of biblical references, especially from the Psalms and from St Paul. I find it difficult to evoke some of the intense moments we have experienced this evening; I would only like to mention the marvellous duet of the sopranos and choir on the words “Ich harrete des Herrn, und er neigte sich zu mir un hörte mein Fleh’n”, from Psalm 40: “I have hoped in the Lord and he bent down to me and heard my cry”; it is the hymn of those who place all their hope in God and are certain that they will not be disappointed.

I once again thank the Orchestra and Choir of the Gewandhaus, the Choir of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), the soloists and the director, as well as the Authorities of the Free State of Saxony and of the City of Leipzig for the performance of this “luminous work” (Robert Schumann), which has enabled us all to praise God, and I have been able to thank God once again in a special way for the years of my life and ministry.

I would like to conclude with the words that Robert Schumann wrote in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, after attending the first performance of the symphony we have heard and which are intended to be an invitation on which to reflect: “Let us, as the text splendidly set to music by the Maestro says, increasingly ‘abandon the works of darkness and take up the weapons of light’”.

My thanks and good evening to you all!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Address to the members of the Papal Foundation on the occasion of their annual pilgrimage to Rome

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PAPAL FOUNDATION

Clementine Hall

Saturday, 21 April 2012

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to greet the members of the Papal Foundation on the occasion of your annual pilgrimage to Rome. May your visit to the tombs of the apostles and martyrs strengthen your love for the crucified and risen Lord and your commitment to the service of his Church. I am happy to have this occasion to thank you personally for your support of a wide variety of apostolates close to the heart of the Successor of Peter.

In coming months I will have the honor of canonizing two new Saints from North America. Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope are striking examples of sanctity and heroic charity, but they also remind us of the historic role played by women in the building up of the Church in America. By their example and intercession, may all of you be confirmed in the pursuit of holiness and in your efforts to contribute to the growth of God’s Kingdom in the hearts of people today. Through the work of the Papal Foundation, you help to further the Church’s mission of evangelization, promote the education and integral development of our brothers and sisters in poorer countries, and advance the missionary endeavors of so many dioceses and religious congregations throughout the world.

In these days I ask your continued prayers for the needs of the universal Church and in particular for the freedom of Christians to proclaim the Gospel and bring its light to the urgent moral issues of our time. With great affection I commend you and your families to the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Lord.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 25 April 2012

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Saint Peter's Square

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our catechesis on Christian prayer, we now consider the decision of the early Church to set aside seven men to provide for the practical demands of charity (cf. Acts 6:1-4). This decision, made after prayer and discernment, provided for the needs of the poor while freeing the Apostles to devote themselves primarily to the word of God. It is significant that the Apostles acknowledge the importance of both prayer and works of charity, yet clearly give priority to prayer and the proclamation of the Gospel. In every age the saints have stressed the deep vital unity between contemplation and activity. Prayer, nourished by faith and enlightened by God’s word, enables us to see things in a new way and to respond to new situations with the wisdom and insight bestowed by the Holy Spirit. In our own daily lives and decisions, may we always draw fresh spiritual breath from the two lungs of prayer and the word of God; in this way, we will respond to every challenge and situation with wisdom, understanding and fidelity to God’s will.

* * *

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Finland, Sweden, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States of America. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke the joy and peace of the Risen Lord.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Table of Contents

Introduction

Index of Source Links

Regina Caeli

Regina Caeli 22 April 2012, Benedict XVI

Homilies

Holy Mass on the occasion of the Holy Father's 85th Birthday, Homily of Benedict XVI, 16 April 2012

Messages

Message to the Bishop of Trier for the Start of the Pilgrimage of the Holy Garment, Celebrating the 5th Centenary of its Public Exposition, Benedict XVI, 6 April 2012

To the President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the occasion of the annual Plenary Assembly

Speeches

Meeting with the Bavarian Delegation on the occasion of the Holy Father's 85th Birthday, 16 April 2012

Concert offered by the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Benedict XVI, 20 April 2012

Address to the members of the Papal Foundation on the occasion of their annual pilgrimage to Rome

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 25 April 2012