At the same time, conscious of its rich diversity, the Catholic
community in this country has come to appreciate ever more fully the
importance of each individual and group offering its own particular
gifts to the whole. The Church in the United States is now called to
look to the future, firmly grounded in the faith passed on by previous
generations, and ready to meet new challenges - challenges no less
demanding than those faced by your forebears - with the hope born of
God's love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5).
In the exercise of my ministry as the Successor of Peter, I have come
to America to confirm you, my brothers and sisters, in the faith of the
Apostles (cf. Lk 22:32). I have come to proclaim anew, as Peter
proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus Christ is Lord and
Messiah, risen from the dead, seated in glory at the right hand of the
Father, and established as judge of the living and the dead (cf. Acts
2:14ff.). I have come to repeat the Apostle's urgent call to conversion
and the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country. As we
have heard throughout this Easter season, the Church was born of the
Spirit's gift of repentance and faith in the risen Lord. In every age
she is impelled by the same Spirit to bring to men and women of every
race, language and people (cf. Rev 5:9) the good news of our
reconciliation with God in Christ.
The readings of today's
Mass invite us to consider the growth of the Church in America as one
chapter in the greater story of the Church's expansion following the
descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In those readings we see the
inseparable link between the risen Lord, the gift of the Spirit for the
forgiveness of sins, and the mystery of the Church. Christ established
his Church on the foundation of the Apostles (cf. Rev 21:14) as a
visible, structured community which is at the same time a spiritual
communion, a mystical body enlivened by the Spirit's manifold gifts,
and the sacrament of salvation for all humanity (cf. Lumen Gentium, 8).
In every time and place, the Church is called to grow in unity through
constant conversion to Christ, whose saving work is proclaimed by the
Successors of the Apostles and celebrated in the sacraments. This
unity, in turn, gives rise to an unceasing missionary outreach, as the
Spirit spurs believers to proclaim "the great works of God" and to
invite all people to enter the community of those saved by the blood of
Christ and granted new life in his Spirit.
I pray, then, that
this significant anniversary in the life of the Church in the United
States, and the presence of the Successor of Peter in your midst, will
be an occasion for all Catholics to reaffirm their unity in the
apostolic faith, to offer their contemporaries a convincing account of
the hope which inspires them (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and to be renewed in
missionary zeal for the extension of God's Kingdom.
The world
needs this witness! Who can deny that the present moment is a
crossroads, not only for the Church in America but also for society as
a whole? It is a time of great promise, as we see the human family in
many ways drawing closer together and becoming ever more
interdependent. Yet at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing
breakdown in the very foundations of society: signs of alienation,
anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries;
increased violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of
social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God. The
Church, too, sees signs of immense promise in her many strong parishes
and vital movements, in the enthusiasm for the faith shown by so many
young people, and also in the number of those who each year embrace the
Catholic faith, and in a greater interest in prayer and catechesis. At
the same time she senses, often painfully, the presence of division and
polarization in her midst, as well as the troubling realization that
many of the baptized, rather than acting as a spiritual leaven in the
world, are inclined to embrace attitudes contrary to the truth of the
Gospel.
"Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the
earth!" (cf. Ps 104:30). The words of today's Responsorial Psalm are a
prayer which rises up from the heart of the Church in every time and
place. They remind us that the Holy Spirit has been poured out as the
first fruits of a new creation, "new heavens and a new earth" (cf. 2
Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), in which God's peace will reign and the human
family will be reconciled in justice and love. We have heard Saint Paul
tell us that all creation is even now "groaning" in expectation of that
true freedom which is God's gift to his children (Rom 8:21-22), a
freedom which enables us to live in conformity to his will. Today let
us pray fervently that the Church in America will be renewed in that
same Spirit, and sustained in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel to
a world that longs for genuine freedom (cf. Jn 8:32), authentic
happiness, and the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations!
Here I wish to offer a special word of gratitude and encouragement to
all those who have taken up the challenge of the Second Vatican
Council, so often reiterated by Pope John Paul II, and committed their
lives to the new evangelization. I thank my brother Bishops, priests
and deacons, men and women religious, parents, teachers and catechists.
The fidelity and courage with which the Church in this country will
respond to the challenges raised by an increasingly secular and
materialistic culture will depend in large part upon your own fidelity
in handing on the treasure of our Catholic faith. Young people need to
be helped to discern the path that leads to true freedom: the path of a
sincere and generous imitation of Christ, the path of commitment to
justice and peace. Much progress has been made in developing solid
programs of catechesis, yet so much more remains to be done in forming
the hearts and minds of the young in knowledge and love of the Lord.
The challenges confronting us require a comprehensive and sound
instruction in the truths of the faith. But they also call for
cultivating a mindset, an intellectual "culture", which is genuinely
Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and
prepared to bring the richness of faith's vision to bear on the urgent
issues which affect the future of American society.
Dear
friends, my visit to the United States is meant to be a witness to
"Christ our Hope". Americans have always been a people of hope: your
ancestors came to this country with the expectation of finding new
freedom and opportunity, while the vastness of the unexplored
wilderness inspired in them the hope of being able to start completely
anew, building a new nation on new foundations. To be sure, this
promise was not experienced by all the inhabitants of this land; one
thinks of the injustices endured by the native American peoples and by
those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves. Yet hope, hope for
the future, is very much a part of the American character. And the
Christian virtue of hope - the hope poured into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, the hope which supernaturally purifies and corrects our
aspirations by focusing them on the Lord and his saving plan - that
hope has also marked, and continues to mark, the life of the Catholic
community in this country.
It is in the context of this hope
born of God's love and fidelity that I acknowledge the pain which the
Church in America has experienced as a result of the sexual abuse of
minors. No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by
such abuse. It is important that those who have suffered be given
loving pastoral attention. Nor can I adequately describe the damage
that has occurred within the community of the Church. Great efforts
have already been made to deal honestly and fairly with this tragic
situation, and to ensure that children - whom our Lord loves so deeply
(cf. Mk 10:14), and who are our greatest treasure - can grow up in a
safe environment. These efforts to protect children must continue.
Yesterday I spoke with your Bishops about this. Today I encourage each
of you to do what you can to foster healing and reconciliation, and to
assist those who have been hurt. Also, I ask you to love your priests,
and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do. And above all,
pray that the Holy Spirit will pour out his gifts upon the Church, the
gifts that lead to conversion, forgiveness and growth in holiness.
Saint Paul speaks, as we heard in the second reading, of a kind of
prayer which arises from the depths of our hearts in sighs too deep for
words, in "groanings" (Rom 8:26) inspired by the Spirit. This is a
prayer which yearns, in the midst of chastisement, for the fulfillment
of God's promises. It is a prayer of unfailing hope, but also one of
patient endurance and, often, accompanied by suffering for the truth.
Through this prayer, we share in the mystery of Christ's own weakness
and suffering, while trusting firmly in the victory of his Cross. With
this prayer, may the Church in America embrace ever more fully the way
of conversion and fidelity to the demands of the Gospel. And may all
Catholics experience the consolation of hope, and the Spirit's gifts of
joy and strength.
In today's Gospel, the risen Lord bestows
the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and grants them the
authority to forgive sins. Through the surpassing power of Christ's
grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the Church is constantly
reborn and each of us is given the hope of a new beginning. Let us
trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound,
to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How
much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly
in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in
which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of
pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every
Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America
depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in
holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.
"In hope we were saved!" (Rom 8:24)." As the Church in the United
States gives thanks for the blessings of the past two hundred years, I
invite you, your families, and every parish and religious community, to
trust in the power of grace to create a future of promise for God's
people in this country. I ask you, in the Lord Jesus, to set aside all
division and to work with joy to prepare a way for him, in fidelity to
his word and in constant conversion to his will. Above all, I urge you
to continue to be a leaven of evangelical hope in American society,
striving to bring the light and truth of the Gospel to the task of
building an ever more just and free world for generations yet to come.
Those who have hope must live different lives! (cf. Spe Salvi, 2). By
your prayers, by the witness of your faith, by the fruitfulness of your
charity, may you point the way towards that vast horizon of hope which
God is even now opening up to his Church, and indeed to all humanity:
the vision of a world reconciled and renewed in Christ Jesus, our
Savior. To him be all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
