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

- 13 January 2013

General Audiences

- 9 January 2013

Homilies

- 13 January 2013 - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Speeches

- 11 January 2013 - To the Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State

- 14 January 2013 - To members of the General Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican

- 17 January 2013 - To members of the Ecumenical Delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland on the Feast of St Henrik

Tweets

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/288964083825405952

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/290416655857770496

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/290417911355551744

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/291500064810098688

- https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/292954627085840384

Angelus

Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord - Angelus, 13 January 2013

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

BENEDICT XVI

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square

Sunday, 13 January 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

With this Sunday following the Epiphany the Christmas Season draws to a close: the time of light, the light of Christ who appears, like the new sun on the horizon of humanity, dispelling the shadows of evil and ignorance. We celebrate today the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus: that Child, Son of the Virgin, whom we contemplated in the mystery of his Birth. We behold him today as an adult immersing himself in the waters of the River Jordan and thereby sanctifying all water and the whole world, as the Eastern Tradition stresses. But why did Jesus, in whom there is no shadow of sin, go to be baptized by John? Why did he perform that gesture of penitence and conversion, beside all those people who in this way were trying to prepare for the coming of the Messiah? That gesture — which marks the start of Christ’s public life — comes in continuity with the Incarnation, the descent of God from the highest heaven into the abyss of hell. The meaning of this movement of divine lowering is expressed in a single word: love, the very name of God. The Apostle John writes: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him”, and he sent him “to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:9-10). That is why the first public act of Jesus was to receive baptism from John, who, seeing him approaching, said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

Luke the Evangelist recounts that while Jesus, having received baptism, “was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (3:21-22). This Jesus is the Son of God who is totally immersed in the will of the Father’s love. This Jesus is the One who will die on the cross and rise again through the power of the same Spirit who now descends upon him and consecrates him. This Jesus is the new man who wills to live as the son of God, that is, in love; the man who in the face of the evil of the world, by choosing the path of humility and responsibility he chooses not to save himself but to offer his own life for truth and justice. Being Christian means living like this, but this kind of life involves a rebirth: to be reborn from on high, from God, from Grace. This rebirth is the Baptism, which Christ gives to the Church in order to regenerate men and women to new life. An ancient text attributed to St Hippolytus states: “Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude, and is raised to filial status” Discourse on the Epiphany, 10: PG 10, 862).

Following tradition, this morning I had the joy of baptizing a large group of infants who were born in the past three or four months. At this moment, I would like to extend my prayers and my blessing to all newborn babes; but above all I would like to invite you all to remember your own Baptism, the spiritual rebirth that opened the way to eternal life to us. May every Christian, in this Year of Faith, rediscover the beauty of being reborn from on high, from the love of God, and live as a child of God.

After the Angelus:

Today we are celebrating the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. In the Message for this year I compared migration to a “pilgrimage of faith and hope”. Whoever leaves his land does so hoping for a better future, but also does so because he trusts in God who guides the footsteps of man, like Abraham. And in this way, migrants are bearers of faith and hope throughout the world. To each one of them I send my greeting, with a special prayer and blessing. I greet in particular the Catholic communities of migrants in Rome, and I entrust them to the protection of St Cabrini and of Blessed Scalabrini.

I greet all English-speaking visitors taking part in this Angelus prayer. Today, in the Baptism of the Lord, we contemplate our share in the divine life through the gift of the Holy Spirit in the waters of Baptism. May we be renewed in our own Baptism and strengthened in witness to the Gospel and its promises! Upon you and your families I invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace.

To all I wish a happy Sunday and a good week. Good Sunday to you all. Thank you!

© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 9 January 2013

He became a man

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this Christmas season let us reflect once again on the great mystery of God who came down from heaven to enter our flesh. In Jesus God was incarnate, he became a man like us and in this way opened for us the road to his heavenly Kingdom, to full communion with him.

In these days the term the “Incarnation” of God has rung out several times in our churches, expressing the reality we celebrate at Holy Christmas: the Son of God was made man, as we say in the Creed. But what does this word, so central to the Christian faith, mean? Incarnation derives from the Latin incarnatio. St Ignatius of Antioch — at the end of the first century — and, especially, St Irenaeus used this term in reflecting on the Prologue to the Gospel according to St John, in particular in the sentence “the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Here the word “flesh”, according to the Hebrew usage, indicates man in his whole self, the whole man, but in particular in the dimension of his transience and his temporality, his poverty and his contingency. This was in order to tell us that the salvation brought by God, who became man in Jesus of Nazareth, affects man in his material reality and in whatever situation he may be. God assumed the human condition to heal it from all that separates it from him, to enable us to call him, in his Only-Begotten Son, by the name of “Abba, Father”, and truly to be children of God.

St Irenaeus stated: “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God” (Adversus Haereses, 3, 19, 1: PG 7,939; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 460).

“The Word was made flesh” is one of those truths to which we have grown so accustomed that the greatness of the event it expresses barely makes an impression on us. Effectively, in this Christmastide in which these words often recur in the Liturgy, we at times pay more attention to the external aspects, to the “colours” of the celebration rather than to the heart of the great Christian newness that we are celebrating: something that utterly defeats the imagination, that God alone could bring about and into which we can only enter with faith.

The Logos, who is with God, is the Logos who is God, the Creator of the world (cf. Jn 1:1) through whom all things were created (cf. 1:3) and who has accompanied men and women through history with his light (cf. 1:4-5; 1:9), became one among many and made his dwelling among us, becoming one of us (cf. 2:14).

The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council said: “The Son of God... worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin” (Constitution Gaudium et Spes, n. 22). Thus it is important to recover our wonder at the mystery, to let ourselves be enveloped by the grandeur of this event: God, the true God, Creator of all, walked our roads as a man, entering human time to communicate his own life to us (cf. 1 Jn 1:1-4). And he did not do so with the splendour of a sovereign who dominates the world with his power, but with the humility of a child.

I would like to stress a second element. At holy Christmas we generally exchange a few gifts with the people closest to us. At times this may be a conventional gesture, but it usually expresses affection; it is a sign of love and esteem. In the Prayer over the Offerings at the Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Christmas the Church prays: “may the oblation of this day’s feast be pleasing to you, O Lord, we pray, that through this most holy exchange we may be found in the likeness of Christ in whom our nature is united to you. Who lives and reigns for ever”.

The idea of giving is therefore at the heart of the liturgy and makes us aware of the original gift of Christmas: on that Holy Night, in taking flesh God wanted to make a gift of himself to men and women, he gave himself for us; God made his Only Son a gift for us, he took on our humanity to give his divinity to us. This is the great gift. In our giving too it does not matter whether or not a gift is expensive; those who cannot manage to give a little of themselves always give too little. Indeed, at times we even seek to substitute money or material things for our hearts and the commitment to giving ourselves.

The mystery of the Incarnation shows that God did not do this: he did not give some thing but he gave himself in his Only-Begotten Son. We find here our model for the giving so that our relationships, especially those that are most important, may be guided by giving love freely.

I would like to offer a third thought: the event of the Incarnation, of God who became man, like us, shows us the daring realism of divine love. God’s action, in fact was not limited to words. On the contrary we might say that he was not content with speaking, but entered into our history, taking upon himself the effort and burden of human life. The Son of God truly became a man. He was born of the Virgin Mary in a specific time and place, in Bethlehem during the reign of the Emperor Augustus, under the Governor Quirinius (cf. Lk 2:1-2); he grew up in a family, he had friends, he formed a group of disciples, he instructed the Apostles to continue his mission and ended the course of his earthly life on the Cross. The way God acted gives us a strong incentive to question ourselves on the reality of our faith, which must not be limited to the sphere of sentiment, of the emotions; rather, it must enter into the practicality of our existence, that is, it must touch our everyday life and give it practical guidance. God did not stop at words, but showed us how to live, sharing in our own experience, except for sin.

The Catechism of St Pius X, which some of us studied as children answers with simple brevity the question “What must we do to live according to the will of God?”: “to live according to the will of God, we must believe the truths that he has revealed and obey his commandments with the help of his grace, which is obtained through the sacraments and through prayer”. Faith has a fundamental aspect that does not only involve our mind and heart but also our whole life.

I suggest one last element for you to think about. St John says that the Word, the Logos, was with God in the beginning and that everything was done through the Word and nothing that exists was done without him (cf. Jn 1:1-13). The Evangelist is clearly alluding to the Creation narrative in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, and reinterprets it in the light of Christ. This is a fundamental criterion in the Christian interpretation of the Bible: The Old and New Testaments should always be read together and, starting with the New, the deepest meaning of the Old Testament is also revealed. That same Word, who has always existed with God, who is God himself and through whom and for whom all things were created (cf. Col 1:16-17), became man: the eternal and infinite God immersed himself in human finiteness, in his creature, to bring back man and the whole of creation to himself.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “the first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendour of which surpasses that of the first creation” (n. 349). The Fathers of the Church compared Jesus to Adam, even to the point of calling him “the second Adam”, or the definitive Adam, the perfect image of God. With the Incarnation of the Son of God a new creation was brought about that gave the complete answer to the question “who is man?”. God’s plan for the human being was fully manifest in Jesus alone. He is the definitive man according to God’s will.

The Second Vatican Council reasserted this forcefully: “In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear.... Christ the new Adam... fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling”. (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, n. 22; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 359). In that Child, the Son of God contemplated at Christmas, we can recognize the true face not only of God but also of the human being; and only by opening ourselves to his grace and seeking to follow him every day do we fulfil God’s plan for us, for each one of us.

Dear friends, in this period let us meditate on the great and marvellous richness of the Mystery of the Incarnation, to permit the Lord to illuminate us and to change us, more and more, into an image of his Son made man for us.

To special groups:

I greet all the English-speaking visitors present, including the pilgrimage groups from Nigeria, Taiwan and Brazil. My cordial greeting goes to the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians from the United States. I also thank the choirs, including those from Saint Joseph University and from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for their praise of God in song. Upon all of you I invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace!

I address a special greeting to the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Next Sunday we shall be celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, a favourable opportunity for rethinking our own belonging to Christ in the faith of the Church. Dear young people, may you rediscover every day the grace that comes from the Sacrament you have received. May you, dear sick people, draw from Baptism the strength to stand up to moments of suffering and hardship. And may you, dear newlyweds, be able to express the commitments of Baptism in your journey of family life. May the Lord bless all of you.

Homilies

Mass in the Sistine Chapel and administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, 3 January 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The joy that flowed from the celebration of holy Christmas is fulfilled today in the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. A further reason for jubilation comes to us who are gathered here: indeed, in the sacrament of Baptism that I shall shortly administer to these newborn babies is expressed the living and active presence of the Holy Spirit who, enriching the Church with new children, vitalizes and develops her, and we cannot but rejoice in this. I would like to address a special greeting to you, dear parents and godparents who are witnessing to your faith today by asking for baptism for these children, so that they may be born to new life in Christ and become part of the community of believers.

The Gospel account of the baptism of Jesus which we heard in St Luke’s version shows the life of meekness and humility that the Son of God chose freely, complying with the Father’s plan to be obedient to his desire for love for man in all things, even to his sacrifice on the cross.

Having reached adulthood, Jesus began his public ministry by going to the River Jordan to receive from John a baptism of penance and conversion. What might seem paradoxical in our eyes actually happened. Did Jesus need penance and conversion? Of course not. Yet the One who is without sin put himself among sinners to have himself baptized, to make this act of penance. The Holy One of God joined those who recognized they were in need of forgiveness and asked God for the gift of conversion, that is, the grace to return to him with their whole heart, to belong totally to him. Jesus chose to join the ranks of sinners, to be in solidarity with them, expressing God’s closeness.

Jesus shows his solidarity with us, with our efforts to convert and to be rid of our selfishnesss, to break away from our sins in order to tell us that if we accept him in our life he can uplift us and lead us to the heights of God the Father. And Jesus’ solidarity is not, as it were, a mere exercise of mind and will. Jesus truly immersed himself in our human condition, lived it to the end, in all things save sin, and was able to understand our weakness and frailty. For this reason he was moved to compassion, he chose to “suffer with” men and women, to become a penitent with us. This is God’s work which Jesus wanted to carry out: the divine mission to heal those who are wounded and give medicine to the sick, to take upon himself the sin of the world.

What happened at the moment when Jesus had himself baptized by John? In the face of this act of humble love by the Son of God, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit showed himself in the form of a dove, while a voice from on high expressed the pleasure of the Father who acknowledged his Only- Begotten, his beloved Son. This was a real manifestation of the Blessed Trinity, that bears witness to the divinity of Jesus, of his being the promised Messiah, the One whom God sent to set his People free in order to save them (cf. Is 40:2).

In this way the prophecy of Isaiah that we heard in the first reading came true: the Lord God comes with might to destroy the work of sin and his arm rules in order to disarm the Evil One. However, let us bear in mind that this arm is the arm stretched out on the cross and that Christ’s power is the power of the One who suffered for us; this is the power of God, different from the power of the world; thus God comes with power to destroy sin.

Indeed Jesus acted as the Good Shepherd who tended his sheep and gathered his flock, so that none might stray (cf. Is 40:10-11), and layed down his life so that it might have life. It is through his redeeming death that man is liberated from the dominion of sin and reconciled with the Father; it is through his resurrection that man is saved from eternal death and enabled to triumph over the Evil One

Dear brothers and sisters, what happens in the baptism that I shall shortly be administering to your children? Exactly this: they will be deeply united with Jesus for ever, immersed in the mystery of his power, of his might, namely, in the mystery of his death which is a source of life so as to share in his resurrection, to be reborn to new life. This is the miracle that is repeated today, also for your children: in receiving baptism they are reborn as children of God who share in the filial relationship that Jesus has with the Father, in other words who can address God, calling him with full confidence and trust: “Abba, Father”. The heavens are also opened above your children and God says: these are my children, children in whom I am well pleased. Inserted into this relationship and liberated from original sin, they become living members of the one body that is the Church and are enabled to live their vocation to holiness in fullness, so as to be able to inherit eternal life, obtained for us by Jesus’ Resurrection.

Dear parents, in asking for Baptism for your children you express and witness to your faith, to the joy of being Christian and of belonging to the Church. It is the joy that comes from knowing you have received a great gift from God, faith itself, a gift which not one of us has been able to deserve but which was freely given to us and to which we responded with our “yes”. It is the joy of recognizing that we are children of God, of discovering that we have been entrusted to his hands, of feeling welcomed in a loving embrace in the same way that a mother holds and embraces her child. This joy, which guides every Christian’s journey, is based on a personal relationship with Jesus, a relationship that directs the whole of human existence.

Indeed it is he who is the meaning of our life, the One on whom it is worth keeping our eyes fixed so as to be illuminated by his Truth and to be able to live to the full. The journey of faith that begins for these infants today is therefore based on a certainty, on the experience that there is nothing greater than knowing Christ and communicating friendship with him to others; only in this friendship is the enormous potential of the human condition truly revealed and we can experience what is beautiful and sets us free (cf. Homily at Holy Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate, 24 April 2005). Whoever has had this experience is not prepared to give up his faith for anything in the world.

Dear godparents, it is your important duty to sustain and help the parents in their educational task, supporting them in the transmission of the truths of the faith and in their witness to the Gospel values and bringing up these children in an ever deeper friendship with the Lord. May you always be able to offer them your good example, through the practice of the Christian virtues. It is not easy to express what one believes in openly and without compromises. This is especially true in the context in which we live, in the face of a society that all too often considers those who live by faith in Jesus as out of fashion and out of time.

On the crest of this mentality, Christians too can risk seeing the relationship with Jesus as restrictive, something that humiliates one’s fulfilment; “God is constantly regarded as a limitation placed on our freedom, that must be set aside if man is ever to be completely himself” (The Infancy Narratives: Jesus of Nazareth)

But this is not how it is! This vision shows that it has not understood the relationship with God at all, for as we gradually proceed on our journey of faith, we realize that Jesus exercises on us the liberating action of God’s love which brings us out of our selfishness, our withdrawal into ourselves, to lead us to a full life in communion with God and open to others.

“‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, n. 1).

The water which will sign these children in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit will immerse them in that “fount” of life which is God himself and will make them his own true sons. And the seed of the theological virtues, faith, hope and charity, sown by God, seeds that are planted in their hearts today through the power of the Holy Spirit, must always be nourished by the word of God and by the sacraments so that these Christian virtues may grow and attain full maturity, until they make each one of them a true witness of the Lord.

As we invoke upon these little ones the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, let us entrust them to the protection of the Blessed Virgin; may she always preserve them with her motherly presence and accompany them at every moment of their lives. Amen.

© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Speeches

To the Gendarmerie and the Fire Brigade of Vatican City State, Benedict XVI, 11 January 2013

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE GENDARMERIE AND THE FIRE BRIGADE

OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE

Clementine Hall

Friday, 11 January 2013

Mr Commandant,

Dear Officials, Commissioners and Inspectors,

Dear Gendarmes and Firemen,

I am very pleased to welcome you today to the Apostolic Palace and to spend this moment with all of you who serve the Successor of Peter, offering your valuable service in Vatican City State, day and night. I greet you with deep cordiality, starting with Dr Domenico Giani, your Commandant whom I thank for his words expressing your sentiments, outlining the intentions that motivate your commitment.

I address my grateful thoughts to Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello and to Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, respectively President and Secretary General of the Governorate, who never let the Gendarme Corps or the Fire Brigade go without the necessary support. I warmly greet Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, my Secretary of State, and thank him for coming to this meeting. I address a word of appreciation also to Fr Gioele Schiavella and Fr Sergio Pellini, for their ministry on behalf of the spiritual development of the whole of the Gendarme Corps.

I offer a very affectionate greeting to each one of you, dear Gendarmes! This occasion gives me the opportunity to express to you my deep esteem, my warm encouragement and especially my profound gratitude for the generous service you carry out with discretion, competence, and efficiency and not without sacrifice. Almost every day I have the opportunity to meet some of you on duty at various posts and to note personally your professional cooperation to guarantee the surveillance of the Pope, as well as the necessary order and safety of those who live in the State or who are taking part in the celebrations and meetings held at the Vatican.

The various duties that the Gendarme Corps is required to carry out include that of offering a courteous and kind welcome to the pilgrims and visitors to the Vatican who come from Rome, from Italy and from every part of the world. The duty of vigilance and inspection, that you carry out diligently and painstakingly, is certainly both considerable and sensitive: at times it demands much patience, perseverance and the readiness to listen. It is a service particularly useful to the peacefulness and safety of the daily events and religious celebrations in Vatican City.

May you be able to see in every pilgrim or visitor the face of a brother or sister whom God sets on your path; so welcome these pilgrims with courtesy and help them, feeling that they belong to the great human family. As I wrote in my Message for the recent celebration of the World Day of Peace: “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’.... Peace is an order enlivened and integrated by love, in such a way that we feel the needs of others as our own” (n. 3).

Your service will be all the more effective for the Holy See and enriching to you the more it can be performed in a peaceful and harmonious context. In this regard may the Gendarmes who have guaranteed their service in the Corps and the senior officers always seek to promote a trusting relationship that can support and encourage all the members of the Vatican Gendarmerie, even in difficult periods.

Dear friends, Gendarmes and Firemen, may your special presence in the heart of Christendom, where crowds of the faithful gather ceaselessly to meet the Successor of Peter and to visit the tombs of the Apostles, always inspire in each one of you the resolution to intensify the spiritual dimension of your life, as well as your commitment to deepen your Christian faith, witnessing to it courageously in every milieu with a consistent lifestyle. To this end, the Year of Faith we are celebrating can be of help to you: it is a privileged opportunity to rediscover how much joy there is in believing and in communicating to others that the salvific and liberating encounter with God fulfils man’s deepest aspirations, his yearning for peace, brotherhood and love.

In the past few days the liturgy has invited us to contemplate Jesus who became man and came to dwell among us. He is the light that illuminates and gives meaning to our existence; he is the Redeemer who brings peace to the world. Let us contemplate the Virgin Most Holy while she holds him in her arms, as a tender caring mother, to give him to all men and women, and let us welcome him with trust and joy! Like Mary, let us too look attentively at the great things that God works every day of history and cherish them in our hearts. In this way let us learn to recognize in the routine of daily life the constant interventions of divine Providence which guides all things with wisdom and love.

Dear friends, I renew to you all my most sincere and affectionate thanks for your collaboration; may this generous and appreciated service be abundantly rewarded by the Lord. I address my prayers to him that he may help you carry out your profession ever faithful to those ideals that it calls for. The firmer the moral principles that inspire you, the more authoritative your interventions will be. Continue to act with this spirit always! May your heavenly patrons, St Michael the Archangel and St Barbara protect and sustain you in the proper aspirations you nourish. May my constant good wishes be a comfort and encouragement to you; and may my special Apostolic Blessing, which I wholeheartedly impart to you and to your families, go with you.

© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

To the Inspectorate of Public Security at the Vatican, Benedict XVI, 14 January 2013

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE INSPECTORATE OF PUBLIC SECURITY AT THE VATICAN

Clementine Hall

Monday, 14 January 2013

Distinguished Gentlemen,

Dear Officials and Officers,

I am very glad to repeat this meeting, now a tradition, for the exchange of New Year's greetings. I first extend my welcome and good wishes to Dr Enrico Avola, recently appointed Director General, whom I thank for the words he has just addressed to me, as well as to Prefect Salvatore Festa. With equal affection I greet the other members and collaborators of the Public Security Inspectorate at the Vatican.

I would like first of all to express my appreciation of the service you carry out with dedication and recognized professionalism in St Peter’s Square and in the vicinity of the Vatican for the necessary surveillance of public order. I am thinking in particular of your work during the events for the faithful and pilgrims who come from all over the world to meet the Successor of Peter and visit the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, as well as to pray at the graves of my Venerable Predecessors, especially that of Bl. John Paul II.

Your service is also required on the occasion of my Pastoral Visits in Rome and during my Apostolic Journeys in Italy. On this occasion I would like once again to express my esteem and to emphasize my heartfelt appreciation of the approach and spirit that animate your excellent and prompt service. While your style honours your identity as officials of the Italian State and members of the Church, it likewise attests to the good relations that exist between Italy and the Apostolic See.

I listened with interest to your Director’s words. On behalf of you all he has wished to convey the sentiments, ideals and resolutions that inspire your life and your conduct in your daily duties. I warmly hope that your efforts, often made with sacrifice and risk, may always be inspired by a firm Christian faith, which is undoubtedly the most precious treasure and spiritual value that your families entrusted to you and that you are called to pass on to your own children. The Year of Faith that the entire Church is living is also an opportunity for you to take up the Gospel message and let it penetrate your consciences and your daily lives more deeply, witnessing courageously to the love of God in every environment and in your work too. In my Message for the recent World Day of Peace, I stressed that “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” (n. 1).

May your presence, dear friends, be an ever more effective guarantee of the good order and serenity that are fundamental to building a calm and peaceful social life and, as well as being taught by the Gospel message, are a sign of authentic civilization. Together with these hopes, I would also like to offer your relatives my good wishes for the New Year. I commend them all to the maternal protection of the Virgin Most Holy, so that she may intercede with her divine Son to obtain for you prosperity, peace, harmony and the protection from all danger. May you also be accompanied by the Apostolic Blessing which I warmly impart to you all.

© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Address to members of an Ecumenical Delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland on the Feast of St Henrik, 17 January 2013

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE ECUMENICAL DELEGATION

OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF FINLAND

ON THE OCCASION OF THE FEAST OF SAINT HENRIK

Thursday, 17 January 2013

Your Eminence,

Your Excellencies,

Dear Friends,

Once again I am happy to welcome your Ecumenical Delegation on its annual visit to Rome for the feast of Saint Henrik, the patron saint of Finland. It is fitting that our meeting takes place on the eve of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, whose theme this year is drawn from the Book of the Prophet Micah: "What does God require of us?" (cf. Mic 6:6-8).

The Prophet makes clear, of course, what the Lord requires of us: it is "to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God" (v. 8). The Christmas season which we have just celebrated reminds us that it is God who from the beginning has walked with us, and who, in the fullness of time, took flesh in order to save us from our sins and to guide our steps in the way of holiness, justice and peace. Walking humbly in the presence of the Lord, in obedience to his saving word and with trust in his gracious plan, serves as an eloquent image not only of the life of faith, but also of our ecumenical journey on the path towards the full and visible unity of all Christians. On this path of discipleship, we are called to advance together along the narrow road of fidelity to God’s sovereign will in facing whatever difficulties or obstacles we may eventually encounter.

To advance in the ways of ecumenical communion thus demands that we become ever more united in prayer, ever more committed to the pursuit of holiness, and ever more engaged in the areas of theological research and cooperation in the service of a just and fraternal society. Along this way of spiritual ecumenism, we truly walk with God and with one another in justice and love (cf. Mic 6:8), for, as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification affirms: "We are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works" (No. 15).

Dear friends, it is my hope that your visit to Rome will help to strengthen ecumenical relations between all Christians in Finland. Let us thank God for all that has been achieved so far and let us pray that the Spirit of truth will guide Christ’s followers in your country towards ever greater love and unity as they strive to live in the light of the Gospel and to bring that light to the great moral issues facing our societies today. By walking together in humility along the path of justice, mercy and righteousness which the Lord has pointed out to us, Christians will not only dwell in the truth, but also be beacons of joy and hope to all those who are looking for a sure point of reference in our rapidly changing world. At the beginning of this New Year, I assure you of my closeness in prayer. Upon all of you I cordially invoke the wisdom, grace and peace of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Papal Tweets

Following Christ’s example, we have to learn to give ourselves completely. Anything else is not enough.

@pontifex, 9 January 2013

In this Year of Faith, may every Christian rediscover the beauty of being reborn in the love of God and living as his true children.

@pontifex, 13 January 2013

What happens in Baptism? We become united forever with Jesus, to be born again to a new life.

@pontifex, 13 January 2013

If we have love for our neighbor, we will find the face of Christ in the poor, the weak, the sick and the suffering.

@pontifex, 16 January 2013

What does the Lord ask of us as we work for Christian unity? To pray constantly, do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with Him.

@pontifex, 20 January 2013

Table of Contents

Introduction

Angelus

Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord - Angelus, 13 January 2013

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 9 January 2013

Homilies

Mass in the Sistine Chapel and administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, 3 January 2013

Speeches

To the Gendarmerie and the Fire Brigade of Vatican City State, Benedict XVI, 11 January 2013

To the Inspectorate of Public Security at the Vatican, Benedict XVI, 14 January 2013

Address to members of an Ecumenical Delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland on the Feast of St Henrik, 17 January 2013

Papal Tweets