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.

Angelus

- 8 December 2012

- 9 December 2012

General Audiences

- 5 December 2012

Letters

- 6 December 2012 - Letter to His Eminence Spyridon, Metropolitan of Heliopolis, on the occasion of the death of H.B. Patriarch Ignace IV Hazim

Messages

- 1 Januaary 2013 - 46th World Day of Peace 2013, Blessed are the Peacemakers

Speeches

- 3 December 2012 - To participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

- 7 December 2012 - To the International Theological Commission on the occasion of its annual Plenary Assembly

- December 8, 2012 - Act of Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

- 9 December 2012 - To participants in the International Congress, Ecclesia in America, oraganized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America

Tweets

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278808536404852736

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278819486377840640

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278820239943274497

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278861784008499201

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278862015253061633

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278907093065535488

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278907314810023938

Angelus

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Angelus, 8 December 2012, Benedetto XVI

SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

BENEDICT XVI

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square

Saturday, 8 December 2012

[Video]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A happy feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary to you all! In this Year of Faith I would like to emphasize that Mary is Immaculate through a freely given gift of God's grace, which, however, found perfect willingness and cooperation in her. It is in this sense that she is "blessed" because "she believed" (Lk 1:45) and because she had steadfast faith in God. Mary represents that "remnant of Israel", that holy root which the Prophets proclaimed. The promises of the Old Covenant find a ready welcome in her. In Mary the Word of God is met with listening, acceptance and a response; he encounters that "yes" which enables him to take flesh and to come and dwell among us.

In Mary humanity and history are truly opened to God, they welcome his grace and are prepared to do his will. Mary is a genuine expression of Grace. She represents the new Israel, which the Scriptures of the Old Testament describe with the symbol of the bride. And St Paul takes up this language in his Letter to the Ephesians where he speaks of marriage and says "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (5:25-27). The Fathers of the Church developed this image and thus the Doctrine of the Immaculate Virgin first came into being with reference to the Church virgin-mother and, subsequently, to Mary. Thus Ephraim the Syrian writes poetically: "Just as [it was] because these bodies themselves have sinned and are themselves dying, that the earth, their mother was also accursed (cf. Gen 3:7-19), because of this body which is the incorruptible Church, her land was blessed from the outset. This land is the body of Mary, a temple in which a seed was sown" (Diatessaron 4, 15: sc 121, 102).

The light that shines from the figure of Mary also helps us to understand the true meaning of original sin. Indeed that relationship with God which sin truncates is fully alive and active in Mary. In her there is no opposition between God and her being: there is full communion, full understanding. There is a reciprocal "yes": God to her and her to God. Mary is free from sin because she belongs entirely to God, she empties herself totally for him. She is full of his Grace and of his Love.

To conclude, the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary expresses the certainty of faith that God's promises have been fulfilled and that his Covenant does not fail but has produced a holy root from which came forth the blessed Fruit of the whole universe, Jesus the Saviour. The Immaculate Virgin shows that Grace can give rise to a response, that God's fidelity can bring forth a true and good faith.

Dear friends, this afternoon, as is the custom, I shall be going to Piazza di Spagna to pay homage to Mary Immaculate. Let us follow the example of the Mother of God, so that in us too the Lord's grace may find an answer in genuine and fruitful faith.

After the Angelus:

Dear brothers and sisters, I would like first of all to assure my closeness to the peoples of the Philippines who have been hit in the past few days by a violent hurricane. I pray for the victims, for their families and for the many evacuees. May faith and brotherly love give strength in order to face this difficult trial.

I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at this Angelus prayer. Today, with joyful hearts, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through her powerful intercession, may the Lord grant us the grace to reject sin and persevere in the grace of Baptism. I wish you a happy feast day and invoke upon you and your families God's abundant blessings!

A happy feast day to you all. Many thanks!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Angelus, 9 December 2012, Benedict XVI

BENEDICT XVI

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square

Second Sunday of Advent, 9 December 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Season of Advent the liturgy highlights in a special way two figures who prepare for the coming of the Messiah: the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Today St Luke presents the latter to us and does so with characteristics that differ from those of the other Evangelists. "All four Gospels place the figure of John the Baptist at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and they reveal him as the one who prepared the way for Jesus. St Luke presents the connection between the two figures and their respective missions at an earlier stage.... Even in conception and birth, Jesus and John are linked together" (Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, p. 14).

This setting helps us to realize that John, as the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, both from priestly families, is not only the last of the prophets but also represents the entire priesthood of the Old Covenant and thus prepares people for the spiritual worship of the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus (cf. ibid., pp. 18-19). In addition, Luke discredits all the mythical interpretations that are often made of the Gospels, by putting the Baptist's life in its historical context and by writing: "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor... in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas" (Lk 3:1-2). The great event, the birth of Christ, which his contemporaries did not even notice, fits into this historical framework. For God the great figures of history serve as a frame for the lowly!

John the Baptist is described as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight" (Lk 3:4). The voice proclaims the word, but in this case the Word of God comes first, since the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness (cf. Lk 3:2). He therefore plays an important role but always in terms of Christ. St Augustine comments: "John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning (cf. Jn 1:1). John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever. Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart" (In ev. Johannis tractatus 293, 3: pl 38, 1328).

Today it is up to us to listen to that voice so as to make room for Jesus, the Word who saves us, and to welcome him into our hearts. Let us prepare ourselves in this Season of Advent to see, with the eyes of faith in the humble Grotto of Bethlehem, God's salvation (cf. Lk 3:6). In the consumer society in which we are tempted to seek joy in things, the Baptist teaches us to live in an essential manner, so that Christmas may be lived not only as an external feast, but as the feast of the Son of God who came to bring men and women peace, life and true joy.

Let us entrust our journey to encounter the Lord who comes, to the motherly intercession of Mary, the Virgin of Advent, in order to be ready to receive, in our heart and in our whole life, the Emmanuel, God-with-us.

After the Angelus:

I would now like to offer a word of greeting to all the English-speaking visitors present at this Angelus prayer. In today's Gospel John the Baptist reminds us of the need for repentance and purification as we prepare a way for the Lord and await in hope his coming in glory. May God abundantly bless you and your loved ones!

I wish everyone a happy Sunday, a good week. Have a happy Advent. A good Sunday to you all. Many thanks!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Messages

Message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace 2013 - Benedict XVI

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS

POPE BENEDICT XVI

FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE

WORLD DAY OF PEACE

1 JANUARY 2013

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

1. EACH NEW YEAR brings the expectation of a better world. In light of this, I ask God, the Father of humanity, to grant us concord and peace, so that the aspirations of all for a happy and prosperous life may be achieved.

Fifty years after the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which helped to strengthen the Church’s mission in the world, it is heartening to realize that Christians, as the People of God in fellowship with him and sojourning among mankind, are committed within history to sharing humanity’s joys and hopes, grief and anguish, [1] as they proclaim the salvation of Christ and promote peace for all.

In effect, our times, marked by globalization with its positive and negative aspects, as well as the continuation of violent conflicts and threats of war, demand a new, shared commitment in pursuit of the common good and the development of all men, and of the whole man.

It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism. In addition to the varied forms of terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism which distort the true nature of religion, which is called to foster fellowship and reconciliation among people.

All the same, the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankind’s innate vocation to peace. In every person the desire for peace is an essential aspiration which coincides in a certain way with the desire for a full, happy and successful human life. In other words, the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of God’s plan for mankind. Man is made for the peace which is God’s gift.

All of this led me to draw inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9).

Gospel beatitude

2. The beatitudes which Jesus proclaimed (cf. Mt 5:3-12 and Lk 6:20-23) are promises. In the biblical tradition, the beatitude is a literary genre which always involves some good news, a “gospel”, which culminates in a promise. Therefore, the beatitudes are not only moral exhortations whose observance foresees in due time – ordinarily in the next life – a reward or a situation of future happiness. Rather, the blessedness of which the beatitudes speak consists in the fulfilment of a promise made to all those who allow themselves to be guided by the requirements of truth, justice and love. In the eyes of the world, those who trust in God and his promises often appear naïve or far from reality. Yet Jesus tells them that not only in the next life, but already in this life, they will discover that they are children of God, and that God has always been, and ever will be, completely on their side. They will understand that they are not alone, because he is on the side of those committed to truth, justice and love. Jesus, the revelation of the Father’s love, does not hesitate to offer himself in self-sacrifice. Once we accept Jesus Christ, God and man, we have the joyful experience of an immense gift: the sharing of God’s own life, the life of grace, the pledge of a fully blessed existence. Jesus Christ, in particular, grants us true peace, which is born of the trusting encounter of man with God.

Jesus’ beatitude tells us that peace is both a messianic gift and the fruit of human effort. In effect, peace presupposes a humanism open to transcendence. It is the fruit of the reciprocal gift, of a mutual enrichment, thanks to the gift which has its source in God and enables us to live with others and for others. The ethics of peace is an ethics of fellowship and sharing. It is indispensable, then, that the various cultures in our day overcome forms of anthropology and ethics based on technical and practical suppositions which are merely subjectivistic and pragmatic, in virtue of which relationships of coexistence are inspired by criteria of power or profit, means become ends and vice versa, and culture and education are centred on instruments, technique and efficiency alone. The precondition for peace is the dismantling of the dictatorship of relativism and of the supposition of a completely autonomous morality which precludes acknowledgment of the ineluctable natural moral law inscribed by God upon the conscience of every man and woman. Peace is the building up of coexistence in rational and moral terms, based on a foundation whose measure is not created by man, but rather by God. As Psalm 29 puts it: “May the Lord give strength to his people; may the Lord bless his people with peace” (v. 11).

Peace: God’s gift and the fruit of human effort

3. Peace concerns the human person as a whole, and it involves complete commitment. It is peace with God through a life lived according to his will. It is interior peace with oneself, and exterior peace with our neighbours and all creation. Above all, as Blessed John XXIII wrote in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris, whose fiftieth anniversary will fall in a few months, it entails the building up of a coexistence based on truth, freedom, love and justice.[2] The denial of what makes up the true nature of human beings in its essential dimensions, its intrinsic capacity to know the true and the good and, ultimately, to know God himself, jeopardizes peacemaking. Without the truth about man inscribed by the Creator in the human heart, freedom and love become debased, and justice loses the ground of its exercise.

To become authentic peacemakers, it is fundamental to keep in mind our transcendent dimension and to enter into constant dialogue with God, the Father of mercy, whereby we implore the redemption achieved for us by his only-begotten Son. In this way mankind can overcome that progressive dimming and rejection of peace which is sin in all its forms: selfishness and violence, greed and the will to power and dominion, intolerance, hatred and unjust structures.

The attainment of peace depends above all on recognizing that we are, in God, one human family. This family is structured, as the Encyclical Pacem in Terris taught, by interpersonal relations and institutions supported and animated by a communitarian “we”, which entails an internal and external moral order in which, in accordance with truth and justice, reciprocal rights and mutual duties are sincerely recognized. Peace is an order enlivened and integrated by love, in such a way that we feel the needs of others as our own, share our goods with others and work throughout the world for greater communion in spiritual values. It is an order achieved in freedom, that is, in a way consistent with the dignity of persons who, by their very nature as rational beings, take responsibility for their own actions.[3]

Peace is not a dream or something utopian; it is possible. Our gaze needs to go deeper, beneath superficial appearances and phenomena, to discern a positive reality which exists in human hearts, since every man and woman has been created in the image of God and is called to grow and contribute to the building of a new world. God himself, through the incarnation of his Son and his work of redemption, has entered into history and has brought about a new creation and a new covenant between God and man (cf. Jer 31:31-34), thus enabling us to have a “new heart” and a “new spirit” (cf. Ez 36:26).

For this very reason the Church is convinced of the urgency of a new proclamation of Jesus Christ, the first and fundamental factor of the integral development of peoples and also of peace. Jesus is indeed our peace, our justice and our reconciliation (cf. Eph 2:14; 2 Cor 5:18). The peacemaker, according to Jesus’ beatitude, is the one who seeks the good of the other, the fullness of good in body and soul, today and tomorrow.

From this teaching one can infer that each person and every community, whether religious, civil, educational or cultural, is called to work for peace. Peace is principally the attainment of the common good in society at its different levels, primary and intermediary, national, international and global. Precisely for this reason it can be said that the paths which lead to the attainment of the common good are also the paths that must be followed in the pursuit of peace.

Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness

4. The path to the attainment of the common good and to peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions, personal, communitarian and transcendent. Life in its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.

Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence, support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenceless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat to the fundamental right to life.

There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union; such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.

These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity. The Church’s efforts to promote them are not therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation. Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, since this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace.

Consequently, another important way of helping to build peace is for legal systems and the administration of justice to recognize the right to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia.

One of the fundamental human rights, also with reference to international peace, is the right of individuals and communities to religious freedom. At this stage in history, it is becoming increasingly important to promote this right not only from the negative point of view, as freedom from – for example, obligations or limitations involving the freedom to choose one’s religion – but also from the positive point of view, in its various expressions, as freedom for – for example, bearing witness to one’s religion, making its teachings known, engaging in activities in the educational, benevolent and charitable fields which permit the practice of religious precepts, and existing and acting as social bodies structured in accordance with the proper doctrinal principles and institutional ends of each. Sadly, even in countries of long-standing Christian tradition, instances of religious intolerance are becoming more numerous, especially in relation to Christianity and those who simply wear identifying signs of their religion.

Peacemakers must also bear in mind that, in growing sectors of public opinion, the ideologies of radical liberalism and technocracy are spreading the conviction that economic growth should be pursued even to the detriment of the state’s social responsibilities and civil society’s networks of solidarity, together with social rights and duties. It should be remembered that these rights and duties are fundamental for the full realization of other rights and duties, starting with those which are civil and political.

One of the social rights and duties most under threat today is the right to work. The reason for this is that labour and the rightful recognition of workers’ juridical status are increasingly undervalued, since economic development is thought to depend principally on completely free markets. Labour is thus regarded as a variable dependent on economic and financial mechanisms. In this regard, I would reaffirm that human dignity and economic, social and political factors, demand that we continue “to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.”[4] If this ambitious goal is to be realized, one prior condition is a fresh outlook on work, based on ethical principles and spiritual values that reinforce the notion of work as a fundamental good for the individual, for the family and for society. Corresponding to this good are a duty and a right that demand courageous new policies of universal employment.

Building the good of peace through a new model of development and economics

5. In many quarters it is now recognized that a new model of development is needed, as well as a new approach to the economy. Both integral, sustainable development in solidarity and the common good require a correct scale of goods and values which can be structured with God as the ultimate point of reference. It is not enough to have many different means and choices at one’s disposal, however good these may be. Both the wide variety of goods fostering development and the presence of a wide range of choices must be employed against the horizon of a good life, an upright conduct that acknowledges the primacy of the spiritual and the call to work for the common good. Otherwise they lose their real value, and end up becoming new idols.

In order to emerge from the present financial and economic crisis – which has engendered ever greater inequalities – we need people, groups and institutions which will promote life by fostering human creativity, in order to draw from the crisis itself an opportunity for discernment and for a new economic model. The predominant model of recent decades called for seeking maximum profit and consumption, on the basis of an individualistic and selfish mindset, aimed at considering individuals solely in terms of their ability to meet the demands of competitiveness. Yet, from another standpoint, true and lasting success is attained through the gift of ourselves, our intellectual abilities and our entrepreneurial skills, since a “liveable” or truly human economic development requires the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity and the logic of gift.[5] Concretely, in economic activity, peacemakers are those who establish bonds of fairness and reciprocity with their colleagues, workers, clients and consumers. They engage in economic activity for the sake of the common good and they experience this commitment as something transcending their self-interest, for the benefit of present and future generations. Thus they work not only for themselves, but also to ensure for others a future and a dignified employment.

In the economic sector, states in particular need to articulate policies of industrial and agricultural development concerned with social progress and the growth everywhere of constitutional and democratic states. The creation of ethical structures for currency, financial and commercial markets is also fundamental and indispensable; these must be stabilized and better coordinated and controlled so as not to prove harmful to the very poor. With greater resolve than has hitherto been the case, the concern of peacemakers must also focus upon the food crisis, which is graver than the financial crisis. The issue of food security is once more central to the international political agenda, as a result of interrelated crises, including sudden shifts in the price of basic foodstuffs, irresponsible behaviour by some economic actors and insufficient control on the part of governments and the international community. To face this crisis, peacemakers are called to work together in a spirit of solidarity, from the local to the international level, with the aim of enabling farmers, especially in small rural holdings, to carry out their activity in a dignified and sustainable way from the social, environmental and economic points of view.

Education for a culture of peace: the role of the family and institutions

6. I wish to reaffirm forcefully that the various peacemakers are called to cultivate a passion for the common good of the family and for social justice, and a commitment to effective social education.

No one should ignore or underestimate the decisive role of the family, which is the basic cell of society from the demographic, ethical, pedagogical, economic and political standpoints. The family has a natural vocation to promote life: it accompanies individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual growth and enrichment through caring and sharing. The Christian family in particular serves as a seedbed for personal maturation according to the standards of divine love. The family is one of the indispensable social subjects for the achievement of a culture of peace. The rights of parents and their primary role in the education of their children in the area of morality and religion must be safeguarded. It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrow’s promoters of a culture of life and love, are born and nurtured.[6]

Religious communities are involved in a special way in this immense task of education for peace. The Church believes that she shares in this great responsibility as part of the new evangelization, which is centred on conversion to the truth and love of Christ and, consequently, the spiritual and moral rebirth of individuals and societies. Encountering Jesus Christ shapes peacemakers, committing them to fellowship and to overcoming injustice.

Cultural institutions, schools and universities have a special mission of peace. They are called to make a notable contribution not only to the formation of new generations of leaders, but also to the renewal of public institutions, both national and international. They can also contribute to a scientific reflection which will ground economic and financial activities on a solid anthropological and ethical basis. Today’s world, especially the world of politics, needs to be sustained by fresh thinking and a new cultural synthesis so as to overcome purely technical approaches and to harmonize the various political currents with a view to the common good. The latter, seen as an ensemble of positive interpersonal and institutional relationships at the service of the integral growth of individuals and groups, is at the basis of all true education for peace.

A pedagogy for peacemakers

7. In the end, we see clearly the need to propose and promote a pedagogy of peace. This calls for a rich interior life, clear and valid moral points of reference, and appropriate attitudes and lifestyles. Acts of peacemaking converge for the achievement of the common good; they create interest in peace and cultivate peace. Thoughts, words and gestures of peace create a mentality and a culture of peace, and a respectful, honest and cordial atmosphere. There is a need, then, to teach people to love one another, to cultivate peace and to live with good will rather than mere tolerance. A fundamental encouragement to this is “to say no to revenge, to recognize injustices, to accept apologies without looking for them, and finally, to forgive”,[7] in such a way that mistakes and offences can be acknowledged in truth, so as to move forward together towards reconciliation. This requires the growth of a pedagogy of pardon. Evil is in fact overcome by good, and justice is to be sought in imitating God the Father who loves all his children (cf. Mt 5:21-48). This is a slow process, for it presupposes a spiritual evolution, an education in lofty values, a new vision of human history. There is a need to renounce that false peace promised by the idols of this world along with the dangers which accompany it, that false peace which dulls consciences, which leads to self-absorption, to a withered existence lived in indifference. The pedagogy of peace, on the other hand, implies activity, compassion, solidarity, courage and perseverance.

Jesus embodied all these attitudes in his own life, even to the complete gift of himself, even to “losing his life” (cf. Mt 10:39; Lk 17:33; Jn 12:25). He promises his disciples that sooner or later they will make the extraordinary discovery to which I originally alluded, namely that God is in the world, the God of Jesus, fully on the side of man. Here I would recall the prayer asking God to make us instruments of his peace, to be able to bring his love wherever there is hatred, his mercy wherever there is hurt, and true faith wherever there is doubt. For our part, let us join Blessed John XXIII in asking God to enlighten all leaders so that, besides caring for the proper material welfare of their peoples, they may secure for them the precious gift of peace, break down the walls which divide them, strengthen the bonds of mutual love, grow in understanding, and pardon those who have done them wrong; in this way, by his power and inspiration all the peoples of the earth will experience fraternity, and the peace for which they long will ever flourish and reign among them.[8]

With this prayer I express my hope that all will be true peacemakers, so that the city of man may grow in fraternal harmony, prosperity and peace.

From the Vatican, 8 December 2012

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

[1] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 1.

[2] Cf. Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963): AAS 55 (1963), 265-266.

[3] Cf. ibid.: AAS 55 (1963), 266.

[4] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009), 32: AAS 101 (2009), 666-667.

[5] Cf. ibid, 34 and 36: AAS 101 (2009), 668-670 and 671-672.

[6] Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Message for the 1994 World Day of Peace (8 December 1993): AAS 86 (1994), 156-162.

[7] BENEDICT XVI, Address at the Meeting with Members of the Government, Institutions of the Republic, the Diplomatic Corps, Religious Leaders and Representatives of the World of Culture, Baabda-Lebanon (15 September 2012): L’Osservatore Romano, 16 September 2012, p. 7.

[8] Cf. Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963): AAS 55 (1963), 304.

Speeches

To participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Benedict XVI, 3 December 2012

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE

Consistory Hall

Monday, 3 December 2012

Dear Cardinals,

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am pleased to welcome you all on the occasion of your Plenary Assembly. I greet the Cardinal President, whom I thank for his kind words, and likewise Monsignor the Secretary, the Officials of the Dicastery and all of you, Members and Consultors, who have come together for this important moment of reflection and planning. Your Assembly is being celebrated during the Year of the Faith, after the Synod which was dedicated to the New Evangelization, and also — as was stated — on the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and — within a few months — that of the Encyclical Pacem in Terris of Blessed Pope John XXIII. It is a context which already in itself offers many incentives.

The Church’s social doctrine, as Blessed Pope John Paul II taught us, is an integral part of the Church’s evangelizing mission (cf. Encyclical Centesimus Annus, n. 54), and with all the more reason should be considered important for the new evangelization (cf. ibid., n. 5; Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, n. 15). By accepting Jesus Christ and his Gospel, not only in our personal life but also in our social relationships, we become messengers of a vision of man, of his dignity, of his freedom and of his capacity for relationships, which is marked by transcendence, in both the horizontal and vertical directions.

Just as Blessed John XXIII reminded us in Pacem in Terris (cf. n. 9), the foundation and meaning of human rights and duties depend on an integral anthropology, which derives from Revelation and from the exercise of natural reason. In fact rights and duties are not based solely on the social awareness of peoples; they depend primarily on the natural moral law, which is inscribed by God in the conscience of every person, and thus — in the final analysis — on the truth regarding man and society.

Although the defence of rights has made great progress in our time, today’s culture — characterized among other things by a utilitarian individualism and technocratic economics — tends not to value the person, who, albeit immersed in an infinite network of relations and communications, is conceived of as a “fluid” being with no permanent substance. Paradoxically, man today often seems to be an isolated being because he is indifferent to the constitutive relationship of his being, which is the root of all his other relationships: his relationship with God. The human being today is considered mainly in a biological perspective, or as “human capital”, “a resource”, part of a productive and financial mechanism that towers over him.

Even though on the one hand the dignity of the person continues to be proclaimed, on the other, new ideologies — such as the hedonistic and selfish one of sexual and reproductive rights, or a deregulated financial capitalism that abuses politics and takes the real economy apart — contribute to forming a view of the employee and of his or her work as “minor” goods. These ideologies also contribute to undermining the natural foundations of society and especially of the family.

In fact human beings — transcendent in their make up in comparison with other beings and with earthly goods — enjoy real primacy which makes them responsible both for themselves and for creation. Work, for Christianity, is a good fundamental to man, with a view to his personalization and socialization and to the formation of a family, as well as to the contribution it makes to the common good and to peace. Precisely on this account, the objective of access to work for all is always a priority, even during periods of economic recession (cf.  Caritas in Veritate, n. 32).

Both a new humanism and a renewed cultural commitment and planning can come from a new evangelization of social life. This helps to dethrone the modern idols, to replace individualism, materialistic consumerism and technocracy with a fraternal culture, giving freely from a loving solidarity. Jesus Christ summed up and completed the precepts in a new commandment: “as I have loved you, that you also you love one another” (Jn 13:34); here lies the secret to all social life that is truly human and peaceful, as well as to the renewal of politics and the national and world institutions. Blessed Pope John XXIII undertook the construction of a global community, with a corresponding authority — literally motivated by love — and precisely by love for the common good of the human family. Thus we read in Pacem in Terris: “there is an intrinsic connection between... the inner significance of the common good on the one hand, and the nature and function of public authority on the other.... Public authority, as the means of promoting the common good in civil society, is a postulate of the moral order. But the moral order likewise requires that this authority be effective in attaining its end” (n. 136).

It is not, of course, the Church’s duty to suggest — from a juridical and political viewpoint — the practical configuration of such an international arrangement, but she offers to those who are responsible for it those principles for reflection, criteria for judgement, and practical guidelines that can guarantee the anthropological and ethical frame around the common good (cf. Encyclical  Caritas in Veritate, n. 67). In reflection, in any case, we must bear in mind that we must not imagine a superpower, concentrated in the hands of a few, that would dominate all peoples, taking advantage of the weakest; rather, any such authority must first of all be understood as a moral force with the potential to influence in accordance with reason (cf. 27), that is, as a participatory authority, limited in competence and by law.

I thank the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace because, together with other pontifical institutions, it has set itself to delve more deeply into the directives I offered in  Caritas in Veritate. And it has done this either by reflecting on a reform of the international financial and monetary system or through the Plenary Session of the past few days and the international Seminar on Pacem in Terris that will be held next year.

May the Virgin Mary, the One who with faith and love welcomed the Saviour within her in order to give him to the world, guide us as we proclaim and bear witness to the Church’s social doctrine to make the new evangelization more effective. With this wish, I very gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing to each one of you. Many thanks.

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To the International Theological Commission on the occasion of its Annual Plenary Assembly, Benedict XVI, 7 December 2012

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,

Distinguished Professors and Dear Collaborators,

I welcome you with great joy at the end of the work of your Annual Plenary Assembly. I warmly greet your new President, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, whom I thank for the words he addressed to me on behalf of all, and likewise your new General Secretary, Fr Serge Thomas Bonino.

Your Plenary Session has taken place in the context of the Year of Faith and I am really glad that the International Theological Commission has wished to express its adherence to this ecclesial event through a pilgrimage to the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major, to entrust to the Virgin Mary, Praesidium fidei, the work of your Commission and to pray for all those who, in medio Ecclesiae, are dedicated to bringing the understanding of the faith to fruition for the benefit and spiritual joy of all believers. Thank you for this extraordinary gesture. I express my appreciation of the Message you have written on the occasion of the Year of Faith. It highlights effectively the specific way in which theologians, faithfully serving the truth of the faith, can participate in the evangelizing outreach of the Church.

This Message takes up the themes you have developed more broadly in the document “Theology Today. Perspectives, Principles and Criteria”, published at the beginning of this year. Noting the vitality and variety of theology subsequent to the Second Vatican Council, this document seeks to present, so to speak, the genetic code of Catholic theology, namely, the principles that define its identity and consequently guarantee its unity in the diversity of its achievements. To this end the text clarifies the criteria for an authentically Catholic theology which is therefore capable of contributing to the Church’s mission, to the proclamation of the Gospel to all people. In a cultural context in which some are tempted either to deprive theology of an academic status because of its intrinsic connection with the faith, or to disregard theology’s believing and confessional dimension at the risk of confusing it with and reducing it to religious science, your document appropriately recalls that theology is inseparably both confessional and rational, and that its presence in the university institution guarantees, or should guarantee, a broad and integral vision of human reason itself.

Among the criteria of Catholic theology the document mentions the attention that theologians should pay to the sensus fidelium. It is most useful that your Commission has also focused on this topic which is of special importance for reflection on the faith and for the life of the Church. In reaffirming the specific and irreplaceable role that the Magisterium must play, the Second Vatican Council likewise stressed that the People of God, in its entirety, participate in the prophetic office of Christ, thereby fulfilling the inspired wish expressed by Moses: “would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” (Num 11:29).

The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium teaches in this regard: “the whole body of the faithful who have an anointing that comes from the holy one (cf. 1 Jn 2:20,27), cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people, when, ‘from the bishops to the last of the faithful’ they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals” (n. 12).

In the believer this gift, the sensus fidei constitutes a sort of supernatural instinct which has a vital co- naturality with the object of faith itself. We note that the simple faithful carry with them this certainty, this firm sense of faith. The sensus fidei is a criterion for discerning whether or not a truth belongs to the living deposit of the Apostolic Tradition. It also has a propositional value for the Holy Spirit never ceases to speak to the Churches and to guide them towards the whole truth. Today, however, it is particularly important to explain the criteria that make it possible to distinguish the authentic sensus fidelium from its counterfeit. It is certainly not a kind of public ecclesial opinion and invoking it in order to contest the teachings of the Magisterium would be unthinkable, since the sensus fidei cannot be authentically developed in believers, except to the extent in which they fully participate in the life of the Church, and this demands responsible adherence to the Magisterium, to the deposit of faith.

Today, this same supernatural sense of faith in believers also gives rise to vigorous reactions against the prejudice which holds that religions — and in particular the monotheistic religions — are intrinsically vehicles of violence, especially because they claim the existence of a universal truth. Some consider that the “polytheism of values” alone would guarantee tolerance and civil peace and would be in conformity with the spirit of a pluralistic democratic society. In this direction, your study on the theme, “God the Trinity, Unity of Human Beings. Christianity and Monotheism”, is particularly timely.

On the one hand, it is essential to remember that faith in the one God, Creator of heaven and earth, encounters the rational needs for metaphysical reflection, which is not weakened but reinforced and deepened by the Revelation of the mystery of God-Trinity. On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize the form that the definitive Revelation of the mystery of the one God assumes in the life and death of Jesus Christ, who goes to the Cross like a “lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Is 53:7). The Lord testifies to a radical rejection of every form of hatred and violence in favour of the absolute primacy of agape. Hence, if in history there have been or are forms of violence perpetrated in God’s name, they must not be attributed to monotheism but rather to historical causes, and, principally, to the errors of men and women. Rather, it is forgetfulness of God itself that immerses human societies in a form of relativism which inevitably gives rise to violence. When the possibility for all to refer to an objective truth is denied, dialogue becomes impossible and violence, declared openly or hidden, becomes the rule of human relationships. Without openness to the transcendent, which enables us to find answers to the questions about the meaning of life and about the way in which to live in a moral way — without this openness human beings become incapable of acting justly and of committing themselves to peace.

While the rupture of the relationship of men and women with God brings with it a deep imbalance in relations among people themselves, reconciliation with God, brought about by the Cross of Christ, “our peace” (Eph 2:14) is the fundamental source of unity and brotherhood. Your reflection on the third theme, that of the social doctrine of the Church, in the doctrine of the faith as a whole, also fits into this perspective. It confirms that social doctrine is not an extrinsic addition, but without overlooking the contribution of a social philosophy, it draws its basic principles from the fount of faith itself. This doctrine seeks to make effective, in the vast diversity of social situations, the new Commandment that the Lord Jesus has bequeathed to us: “that you love one another; even as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34).

Let us pray to the Immaculate Virgin, a model for those who listen to and meditate on the word of God, that she may obtain for you the grace to always joyfully serve the understanding of the faith, for the benefit of the whole Church. Renewing the expression of my deep gratitude for your service to the Church, I assure you of my constant closeness in prayer and to you all I impart my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.

Act of Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2012, Benedict XVI

ACT OF VENERATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

ON THE OCCASION OF THE FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saturday, 8 December 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is always a special joy to meet here in Piazza di Spagna, on the Feast of Mary Immaculate. Gathering together — Romans, pilgrims and visitors — at the foot of the statue of our spiritual Mother makes us feel united in the faith. I am pleased to emphasize in the Year of Faith that the entire Church is living. I greet you with deep affection and I would like to share a few simple thoughts with you, suggested by the Gospel for this Solemnity: the Gospel of the Annunciation.

First of all, we are always struck by and made to reflect on the fact that this moment crucial to humanity’s destiny, the moment in which God was made man, is shrouded in deep silence. The encounter between the divine messenger and the Immaculate Virgin takes place completely unnoticed; nobody knows and nobody talks about it. It is an event which, were it to happen in our time, would leave no trace in the newspapers and magazines, because it is a mystery that happens in silence. What is truly great often goes unnoticed and peaceful silence proves more fruitful than the frenetic restlessness characteristic of our cities, but which — by comparison — people were already experiencing in important cities such as Jerusalem at that time; the pressure that makes us unable to stop, to be calm, to listen to the silence in which the Lord enables us to hear his discreet voice.

Mary, on the day she received the announcement of the Angel, was in deep recollection and at the same time open to listening to God. In her there was no obstacle, no screen, nothing that separated her from God. This is the meaning of her being without original sin: her relation with God was free from even the slightest flaw; there is no separation, there is not a shadow of selfishness, but perfect harmony; her small human heart is perfectly “centred” in the great heart of God. So it is, dear brothers and sisters, that coming here to this monument to Mary in the heart of Rome reminds us primarily that God’s voice is not recognized in noise and bustle; his plan for our personal and social life is not perceived by remaining on the surface but rather by descending to a deeper level, where the active power is not economic or political but moral and spiritual. There Mary invites us to come down and to put ourselves in tune with God’s action.

There is something else, something even more important which Mary Immaculate tells us when we come here, and it is that the world’s salvation is not the work of human beings — of science, of technology, of an ideology — but it comes from Grace. What does this word mean? Grace means Love in its purity and beauty, it is God himself as he revealed himself in salvation history, recounted in the Bible and in its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Mary is called “full of grace” (Lk 1:28) and with her specific identity she reminds us of God’s primacy in our life and in the history of the world, she reminds us that the power of God’s love is stronger than evil, that it can fill the void that selfishness creates in the history of individuals, families, nations and the world.

These forms of emptiness can become hells where human life is drawn downwards and towards nothingness, losing its meaning and its light. The world suggests filling this emptiness with false remedies — drugs are emblematic — that in reality only broaden the abyss. Only love can prevent this fall, but not just any kind of love: a love that contains the purity of Grace — of God who transforms and renews — and can thus fill the intoxicated lungs with fresh oxygen, clean air, new energy for life. Mary tells us that however low man may fall it is never too low for God, who descended even into hell; however far astray our heart may have gone, God is always “greater than our hearts” (1 Jn 3:20). The gentle breath of Grace can dispel the darkest cloud and can make life beautiful and rich in meaning even in the most inhuman situations.

And from this derives the third thing that Mary Immaculate tells us. She speaks of joy, that authentic joy which spreads in hearts freed from sin. Sin brings with it a negative sadness that leads to withdrawal into self. Grace brings true joy that does not depend on possessions but is rooted in the innermost self, in the depths of the person, and nothing and no one can remove it. Christianity is essentially an “evangelo”, “Good News”, whereas some think of it as an obstacle to joy because they see it as a collection of prohibitions and rules.

Christianity is actually the proclamation of the victory of Grace over sin, of life over death. And if it entails self-denial and discipline of the mind, of the heart and of behaviour, it is precisely because in the human being there is a poisonous root of selfishness which does evil to oneself and to others. It is thus necessary to learn to say “no” to the voice of selfishness and “yes” to that of genuine love. Mary’s joy is complete, for in her heart there is not a shadow of sin. This joy coincides with the presence of Jesus in her life: Jesus conceived and carried in her womb, then as a child entrusted to her motherly care, as an adolescent, a young man and an adult; Jesus seen leaving home, followed at a distance with faith even to the Cross and to the Resurrection; Jesus is Mary’s joy and is the joy of the Church, of us all.

In this Season of Advent Mary Immaculate teaches us to listen to the voice of God who speaks in silence; to welcome his Grace that sets us free from sin and from all selfishness in order thereby to taste true joy. Mary, full of grace, pray for us!

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To participants in the International Congress, Ecclesia in America, organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Benedict XVI, 9 December 2012

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS

"ECCLESIA IN AMERICA" ORGANIZED BY

THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA

AND THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

Vatican Basilica

Sunday, 9 December 2012

Dear Cardinals,

Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,

Distinguished Knights of Columbus,

I am very grateful for the words of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and I rejoice that, together with the Knights of Columbus, he has wished to promote an international Congress in order to examine thoroughly the consideration and perspective of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America by Blessed John Paul II, and that he has gathered the contributions from the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America. I cordially greet the Cardinals, Bishops, priests and consecrated people, as well as the many lay people who have come to participate in this important initiative. Your faces bring to my mind and heart the pulse of the American Continent, which is ever present in the Pope’s prayers, and whose devotion the Holy See have been able to experience with such pleasure, not only during my pastoral visits to some of your countries, but also each time that I encounter here the pastors and faithful of those beloved lands.

My Venerable Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, had the clear-sighted intuition to increase the cooperative relations among the particular Churches of all America — North, Central, and South — and at the same time to stir up greater solidarity among its nations. Today these aims deserve to be reviewed so that the redemptive message of Christ may be put into practice with greater enthusiasm and may produce abundant fruits of holiness and ecclesial renewal.

The theme which guided the reflections of that Synodal Assembly can also serve as inspiration for the work of those days: “Encounter with the Living Jesus Christ, the Way to Conversion, Communion, and Solidarity in America”. In fact, the love of the Lord Jesus and the power of his grace must take root — more intensely at every moment — in the hearts of persons, families, and Christian communities in your nations, so that within them you may go forth with dynamism towards the paths of concord and just progress. On this account, it is a gift of Providence that your Congress was held shortly after the Year of Faith began and during the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the new evangelization, thus your meditations will greatly contribute to the arduous and needed work of making the Gospel of Christ resound with clarity and boldness.

The above-mentioned Apostolic Exhortation already delineated the challenges and difficulties that even now are still beset by unusual and complex features. Actually, secularism and different religious groups are expanding on all sides, giving rise to numerous problems. Education and the promotion of a culture of life is of fundamental urgency in the face of the diffusion of a mentality which offends the dignity of the person and neither favours nor protects the institution of marriage and of family life. How could we not be preoccupied by the sorrowful situations regarding the emigration, extirpation or violence, especially that caused by organized crime, drug-trafficking, corruption or the trade in armaments? And what can one say regarding harmful inconsistencies and "exchanges", provoked by poverty, by questionable economic, political, and social means?

All these important questions require careful study. Yet in addition to their technical evaluation, the Catholic Church is convinced that the light for an adequate solution can only come from encounter with the living Christ, which gives rise to attitudes and ways of acting based on love and truth. This is the decisive force which will transform the American continent.

Dear friends, the love of Christ impels us to devote ourselves without reserve to proclaiming his Name throughout America, bringing it freely and enthusiastically to the hearts of all its inhabitants. There is no more rewarding or beneficial work than this. There is no greater service that we can provide to our brothers and sisters. They are thirsting for God. For this reason, we ought to take up this commitment with conviction and joyful dedication, encouraging priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and pastoral agents to purify and strengthen their interior lives ever more fully through a sincere relationship with the Lord and a worthy and frequent reception of the sacraments. This will be encouraged by suitable catechesis and a correct and ongoing doctrinal formation marked by complete fidelity to the word of God and the Church’s Magisterium and aimed at offering a response to the deepest questions and aspirations of the human heart. The witness of your faith will thus be more eloquent and incisive, and you will grow in unity in the fulfilment of your apostolate. A renewed missionary spirit and zealous generosity in your commitment will be an irreplaceable contribution to what the universal Church expects and needs from the Church in America.

As a model of openness to God’s grace and of perfect concern for others, there shines forth on your continent the figure of Mary Most Holy, Star of the New Evangelization, invoked throughout America under the glorious title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As I commend this Congress to her maternal and loving protection, I impart to you, the organizers and participants, my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of abundant divine graces

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General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 5 December 2012

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul VI Audience Hall

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Year of Faith. God reveals his "benevolent purpose"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the beginning of his Letter to the Christians of Ephesus (cf. 1:3-14), the Apostle Paul raised a prayer of blessing to God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which leads us to experience the Season of Advent, in the context of the Year of Faith. The theme of this hymn of praise is God’s plan for man, described in terms full of joy, wonder and thanksgiving, according to his “benevolent purpose” (cf. v. 9), of mercy and love.

Why does the Apostle raise this blessing to God from the depths of his heart? It is because he sees God’s action in the perspective of salvation which culminated in the Incarnation, death and Resurrection of Jesus, and contemplates how the heavenly Father chose us even before the world’s creation, to be his adoptive sons, in his Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 8:14f. Gal 4:4f). We had always existed in God’s mind in a great plan that God cherished within him and decided to implement and to reveal in “the fullness of time” (cf. Eph 1:10). St Paul makes us understand, therefore, how the whole of creation and, in particular, men and women, are not the result of chance but are part of a benevolent purpose of the eternal reason of God who brings the world into being with the creative and redemptive power of his word. This first affirmation reminds us that our vocation is not merely to exist in the world, to be inserted into a history, nor is it solely to be creatures of God. It is something more: it is being chosen by God, even before the world’s creation, in the Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore in him we have existed, so to speak, for ever. God contemplates us in Christ, as his adoptive sons. God’s “purpose” which the Apostle also describes as a plan “of love” (Eph 1:5) is described as “the mystery” of his divine will (v. 9), hidden and now revealed in the Person of Christ and in his work. The divine initiative comes before every human response: it is a freely given gift of his love that envelops and transforms us.

But what is the ultimate purpose of this mysterious design? What is the essence of God’s will? It is, St Paul tells us, “to unite all things in him [Christ], the Head” (v. 10). In these words we find one of the central formulas of the New Testament that makes us understand the plan of God, his design of love for the whole of humanity, a formula which, in the second century, St Irenaeus of Lyons established as the core of his Christology: to “recapitulate” the whole of reality in Christ. Perhaps some of you may remember the formula used by Pope St Pius X for the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “Instaurare omnia in Christo”, a formula that refers to the Pauline expression and was also the motto of this holy Pope. However the Apostle speaks more precisely of the recapitulation of the universe in Christ. This means that in the great plan of creation and of history, Christ stands as the focus of the entire journey of the world, as the structural support of all things, and attracts to himself the entire reality in order to overcome dispersion and limitation and lead all things to the fullness desired by God (cf. Eph 1:23).

This “benevolent purpose” was not, so to speak, left in the silence of God, in his heavenly heights. Rather, God made it known by entering into a relationship with human beings to whom he did not reveal just something, but indeed himself. He did not merely communicate an array of truths, but communicated himself to us, even to the point of becoming one of us, of taking flesh. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council says in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum: “It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself [not only something of himself but himself] and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature” (n. 2). God does not only say something, but communicates himself, draws us into his divine nature so that we may be integrated into it or divinized. God reveals his great plan of love by entering into a relationship with man, by coming so close to him that he makes himself man. The Council continues: “the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15), and moves among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own company” (ibid.). With their own intelligence and abilities alone human beings would not have been able to achieve this most enlightening revelation of God’s love; it is God who has opened his heaven and lowered himself in order to guide men and women in his ineffable love.

St Paul writes further to the Christians of Corinth: “‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’, God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:9-10). And St John Chrysostom, in a famous passage commenting on the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians, with these words asks that the faithful enjoy the full beauty of this “loving plan” of God revealed in Christ: “What do you lack yet? You are made immortal, you are made free, you are made a son, you are made righteous, you are made a brother, you are made a fellow-heir, you reign with Christ, you are glorified with Christ; all things are freely given you”, and, as it is written, “will he not also give us all things with him?’ (Rom 8:32). Your First-fruits (cf. 1 Cor 15:20, 23) is adored by Angels.... What do you lack yet?” (pg 62,11).

This communion in Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit, offered by God to all men and women with the light of Revelation, is not something that is superimposed on our humanity; it is the fulfilment of our deepest aspirations, of that longing for the infinite and for fullness, which dwells in the depths of the human being and opens him or her to a happiness that is not fleeting or limited but eternal. Referring to God who reveals himself and speaks to us through the Scriptures to lead us to him, St Bonaventure of Bagnoregio says: “Holy Scripture... its words are words of eternal life, and it is written not just so that we should believe, but specially so that we should possess eternal life in which we may see, and love, and have all our desires fulfilled” (Breviloquium, Prologue; Opera Omnia V, 201f.). Lastly, Blessed Pope John Paul II recalled that “Revelation has set within history a point of reference which cannot be ignored if the mystery of human life is to be known. Yet this knowledge refers back constantly to the mystery of God which the human mind cannot exhaust but can only receive and embrace in faith” (Encyclical Fides et Ratio, n. 14).

Therefore, in this perspective, what is the act of faith? It is man’s answer to God’s Revelation that is made known and expresses his plan of love; to use an Augustinian expression it is letting oneself be grasped by the Truth that is God, a Truth that is Love. St Paul stresses that since God has revealed his mystery we owe him “the obedience of faith” (Rom 16:26; cf. 1:5; 2 Cor 10:5-6), by which attitude “man freely commits his entire self to God, making ‘the full submission of his intellect and will to God who reveals’, and willingly assenting to the Revelation given by him” (Dogmatic Constitution, Dei Verbum, n. 5). All this leads to a fundamental change in the way of relating to reality as a whole; everything appears in a new light so it is a true “conversion”, faith is a “change of mentality”. This is because God revealed himself in Christ and made his plan of love known, he takes hold of us, he draws us to him, he becomes the meaning that sustains life, the rock on which to find stability. In the Old Testament we find a concentrated saying on faith which God entrusted to the Prophet Isaiah so that he might communicate it to Ahaz, King of Judah. God says, “If you will not believe” — that is, if you are not faithful to God — “surely you shall not be established” (Is 7:9b). Thus there is a connection between being and understanding which clearly expresses that faith is welcoming in life God’s view of reality, it is letting God guide us with his words and sacraments in understanding what we should do, what journey we should make, how we should live. Yet at the same time it is, precisely, understanding according to God and seeing with his eyes that makes life sure, that enables us to “stand” rather than fall.

Dear friends, Advent, the liturgical Season that we have just begun and that prepares us for Holy Christmas, sets us before the luminous mystery of the coming of the Son of God, the great “benevolent purpose” with which he wishes to draw us to him, to enable us to live in full communion of joy and peace with him. Advent invites us once again, in the midst of so many difficulties, to renew the certainty that God is present: he entered the world, making himself man, a man like us, to fulfil his plan of love. And God asks that we too become a sign of his action in the world. Through our faith, our hope and our charity, he wants to enter the world ever anew and wants ever anew to make his light shine out in our dark night.

To special groups:

I offer a cordial welcome to the pilgrimage group from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. My greeting also goes to the Anglican visitors from Ardingly College. I thank the choir for their praise of God in song. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims, including the groups from Australia and the United States of America, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.

Lastly I greet the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. The Season of Advent that has just begun is lit up in these days by the radiant example of the Immaculate Virgin. May she encourage you, dear young people on your journey of adherence to Christ. For you, dear sick people, may Mary be your support for a renewed experience of adherence to Christ. And for you, dear newlyweds, may she be your guide in building your family.

APPEAL

Disturbing news is continuing to arrive of the grave humanitarian crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which has been the scene of armed conflicts and violence for months. A large part of the population lacks basic food and thousands of inhabitants have been obliged to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere. I therefore renew my appeal for dialogue and for reconciliation and ask the international community to do its utmost to meet the people’s needs

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Letters

"Letter to H.E. Spyridon, Metropolitan of Heliopolis, on the occasion of the death of H.B. Patriarch Ignace IV Hazim, Benedict XVI, 6 December 2012

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO H.E. SPYRIDON, METROPOLITAN OF HELIOPOLIS,

ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH

OF H.B. PATRIARCH IGNACE IV HAZIM

Your Eminence, I have just learned with sadness that the Lord has called H.B. Ignace IV Hazim, Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, to him. I offer to you, to the Holy Synod and to all members of the Church my deepest condolences and I assure you of my union in prayer with those who are mourning their father and pastor.

In the course of his long life of service to the Gospel, the late Patriarch offered a luminous witness of faith and charity, working with dedication to spiritually uplift the flock which he had been entrusted to him and for the great cause of reconciliation of peace among men.

I give thanks to the Lord for the positive and effective contribution that Patriarch Ignace made to the rapprochement of our two Churches. May his memory also invite us to continue on the path of dialogue and of the search for full communion in Christ!

I assure you of my prayers for the suffering faithful of your Church and for peace in the region, and reaffirming all my participation, I beg you, Your Eminence, to accept the expression of my sincerest wishes in Christ.

From the Vatican, 6 December 2012

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Tweets

Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

Any suggestions on how to be more prayerful when we are so busy with the demands of work, families and the world?

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

Offer everything you do to the Lord, ask his help in all the circumstances of daily life and remember that he is always beside you

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

Table of Contents

Introduction

Index of Source Links

Angelus

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Angelus, 8 December 2012, Benedetto XVI

Angelus, 9 December 2012, Benedict XVI

Messages

Message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace 2013 - Benedict XVI

Speeches

To participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Benedict XVI, 3 December 2012

To the International Theological Commission on the occasion of its Annual Plenary Assembly, Benedict XVI, 7 December 2012

Act of Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2012, Benedict XVI

To participants in the International Congress, Ecclesia in America, organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Benedict XVI, 9 December 2012

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 5 December 2012

Letters

"Letter to H.E. Spyridon, Metropolitan of Heliopolis, on the occasion of the death of H.B. Patriarch Ignace IV Hazim, Benedict XVI, 6 December 2012