This morning, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the community from the Pontifical Ethiopian College. The audience took place at the Vatican on the occasion of the centenary of the College's creation.
Dear brothers and sisters!
I am happy to welcome you today and together with you to be thankful for the hundred years of the Ethiopian College. I greet the Bishops who have come from Ethiopia and Eritrea, including the two Metropolitans, Cardinal Berhaneyesus and Monsignor Tesfamariam; the student community with the Superiors, in particular the Father Rector and the Vice-Rector; the religious, all of whom work so hard to take care of you, and the lay staff. I greet Cardinal Sandri and Archbishop Vasil' and I thank the Congregation for the Eastern Churches who support the life of the College. I also wish to offer my thanks to the benefactors, to whom I also express gratitude. I greet the Capuchin Friars with their Minister General; the representation of the Pontifical Oriental Institute; and the numerous Ethiopian and Eritrean priests and friars.
The Ethiopian presence within the Vatican walls, first that of the church and also the pilgrims' hospice, and for a hundred years, that of the College, brings us back to one word: welcome. Over the centuries, the children of peoples who are geographically distant from Rome, but so close to the faith of the Apostles in professing Jesus Christ the Saviour, have found a home and hospitality near the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
The words of the great monk Tesfa Zion, Peter the Ethiopian, who is buried in the church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini, where today and tomorrow you will celebrate the liturgy, are very beautiful: I myself am Ethiopian, a pilgrim from place to place ... But nowhere, except in Rome, have I found the peace of mind and body; peace of mind because there is true faith; the quiet of the body, because there I found the Successor of Peter who favours us in our needs. He enriched the Roman Curia with his wisdom and edited the New Testament print edition in the Ethiopian language.
You student priests, from Ethiopia and Eritrea, two Churches united by the same tradition, together you bring the richness of the history of your lands, with the ancient traditions, the coexistence between men and women belonging to the Jewish religion even today and the Islamic tradition too, together with the numerous brothers of the Tewahedo Orthodox Church. Here in Rome, I was able to meet the Patriarch His Holiness Mathias of Ethiopia, to whom I send my fraternal greeting.
Meeting you, I think of many of your brothers and sisters from Ethiopia and Eritrea whose lives are marked by poverty, and until a few months ago by the fratricidal war, for whose conclusion we thank the Lord and those who have committed themselves in the first person in both countries. I always pray that we will treasure the years of pain experienced on both sides, and that we will no longer fall into divisions between ethnic groups and between countries who share common roots. You priests, you can still be the architects of good relationships, builders of peace. May the faithful who will be entrusted to you to cultivate this gift of God medicate the internal and external wounds that you will encounter and try to help the paths of reconciliation for the future of the children and young people of your lands.
Many of them, it is sad to remember, have left their homeland - motivated by hope - at the cost of enormous efforts and not infrequently going through tragedies by land and sea. I thank you for the welcome that your faithful have been able to experience and for the commitment that some of you already live in following them pastorally in Europe and on other continents. Much can still be done, and better, both at home and abroad, taking advantage of these years of study while you are staying in Rome, to live in humble and generous service, always on the basis of union with the Lord, to whom we have given our whole existence.
I encourage you to maintain the precious ecclesial tradition, always united with the missionary impulse. I also hope that the Catholic Church in your nations will be guaranteed the freedom to serve the common good, both by allowing you students to complete your studies in Rome or elsewhere, and by protecting educational, health and welfare institutions, in the certainty that Pastors and the faithful together with all others, may wish to contribute to the good and prosperity of your nations.
As children of the Churches of Ethiopia and Eritrea, love the Holy Mother of God, Mary Most Holy. In fact, you call yourself Resta Maryam, fiefdom, property of Mary, and in the monthly liturgical recollection of the Kidana Mehrat, Pact of Mercy; you know you can entrust every prayer, every supplication to her intercession. In that memory, I ask you to always offer a prayer for me and for my intentions.
I thank you and I impart to you my Apostolic blessing: which I also extend to your families, your Eparchies, your people, everyone. Thank you!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to the community from the
Pontifical Ethiopian College
Dear brothers and sisters!
I am happy to welcome you today and together with you to be thankful for the hundred years of the Ethiopian College. I greet the Bishops who have come from Ethiopia and Eritrea, including the two Metropolitans, Cardinal Berhaneyesus and Monsignor Tesfamariam; the student community with the Superiors, in particular the Father Rector and the Vice-Rector; the religious, all of whom work so hard to take care of you, and the lay staff. I greet Cardinal Sandri and Archbishop Vasil' and I thank the Congregation for the Eastern Churches who support the life of the College. I also wish to offer my thanks to the benefactors, to whom I also express gratitude. I greet the Capuchin Friars with their Minister General; the representation of the Pontifical Oriental Institute; and the numerous Ethiopian and Eritrean priests and friars.
The Ethiopian presence within the Vatican walls, first that of the church and also the pilgrims' hospice, and for a hundred years, that of the College, brings us back to one word: welcome. Over the centuries, the children of peoples who are geographically distant from Rome, but so close to the faith of the Apostles in professing Jesus Christ the Saviour, have found a home and hospitality near the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
The words of the great monk Tesfa Zion, Peter the Ethiopian, who is buried in the church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini, where today and tomorrow you will celebrate the liturgy, are very beautiful: I myself am Ethiopian, a pilgrim from place to place ... But nowhere, except in Rome, have I found the peace of mind and body; peace of mind because there is true faith; the quiet of the body, because there I found the Successor of Peter who favours us in our needs. He enriched the Roman Curia with his wisdom and edited the New Testament print edition in the Ethiopian language.
You student priests, from Ethiopia and Eritrea, two Churches united by the same tradition, together you bring the richness of the history of your lands, with the ancient traditions, the coexistence between men and women belonging to the Jewish religion even today and the Islamic tradition too, together with the numerous brothers of the Tewahedo Orthodox Church. Here in Rome, I was able to meet the Patriarch His Holiness Mathias of Ethiopia, to whom I send my fraternal greeting.
Meeting you, I think of many of your brothers and sisters from Ethiopia and Eritrea whose lives are marked by poverty, and until a few months ago by the fratricidal war, for whose conclusion we thank the Lord and those who have committed themselves in the first person in both countries. I always pray that we will treasure the years of pain experienced on both sides, and that we will no longer fall into divisions between ethnic groups and between countries who share common roots. You priests, you can still be the architects of good relationships, builders of peace. May the faithful who will be entrusted to you to cultivate this gift of God medicate the internal and external wounds that you will encounter and try to help the paths of reconciliation for the future of the children and young people of your lands.
Many of them, it is sad to remember, have left their homeland - motivated by hope - at the cost of enormous efforts and not infrequently going through tragedies by land and sea. I thank you for the welcome that your faithful have been able to experience and for the commitment that some of you already live in following them pastorally in Europe and on other continents. Much can still be done, and better, both at home and abroad, taking advantage of these years of study while you are staying in Rome, to live in humble and generous service, always on the basis of union with the Lord, to whom we have given our whole existence.
I encourage you to maintain the precious ecclesial tradition, always united with the missionary impulse. I also hope that the Catholic Church in your nations will be guaranteed the freedom to serve the common good, both by allowing you students to complete your studies in Rome or elsewhere, and by protecting educational, health and welfare institutions, in the certainty that Pastors and the faithful together with all others, may wish to contribute to the good and prosperity of your nations.
As children of the Churches of Ethiopia and Eritrea, love the Holy Mother of God, Mary Most Holy. In fact, you call yourself Resta Maryam, fiefdom, property of Mary, and in the monthly liturgical recollection of the Kidana Mehrat, Pact of Mercy; you know you can entrust every prayer, every supplication to her intercession. In that memory, I ask you to always offer a prayer for me and for my intentions.
I thank you and I impart to you my Apostolic blessing: which I also extend to your families, your Eparchies, your people, everyone. Thank you!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
No comments:
Post a Comment