At 12:20pm today in the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with those participating in a Pilgrimage sponsored by the Diocese of Brescia, who have come to Rome to commemorate the Year of Fatih and to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the election of Pope Paul VI.
Dear brothers and sisters from the Diocese of Brescia, good morning!
I wish to thank you for this opportunity to spend some time with you and to remember the Venerable Servant of God Paul VI. I greet all of you with affection, beginning with your Bishop, His Excellency, Luciano Monari, to whom I am grateful for his kind words. I greet the seminarians, the religious sisters and priests and all of the lay faithful. This is your pilgrimage for the Year of Faith, and it is good that you wished to make this journey to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the election of your great compatriot Paul VI.
There are so many things that I would like to say and to remember about his great Pontificate. Thinking of him, I must limit myself to three fundamental aspects to which he bore witness and taught, yielding to his passionate words which illustrated them so well: the love of Christ, love for the Church and love for mankind. These three words are fundamental attitudes, but they were also very important for Paul VI.
1. Paul VI was able to bear witness to his faith in Jesus Christ, particularly during difficult years. His invocation still resounds, as vibrantly as ever: You are necessary, O Christ! Yes, Jesus is more necessary in the lives of men and women today than he has ever been, necessary for the world today because in the desserts of secular cities He speaks to us of God, and reveals his face. The total love of Christ was evident in the life of Giovanni Battista Montini, and in his choice of the Papal name, which he explained with these words: He is the Apostle 'who loved Christ so supremely that in the highest degree, he desired and attempted to bring the Gospel of Christ to all the nations, who for the love of Christ offered his life (Homily, June 30, 1963). And this same totality of his dedication, he pointed out during the opening address of the Second Session of the Vatican Council, in Saint Paul outside the Walls, focusing on the Basilica's mosaic in which Pope Honorius III appears in tiny proportion at the foot of the great figure of Christ. It was the same for that Assembly of the Council: at the feet of Christ, in order to be servants of his Gospel (cf. Address, September 29, 1963).
A profound love for Christ, not to possess Him, but to announce Him. Let us not forget his impassioned words spoken in Manila: Christ, yest, I feel the necessity to announce Him, I cannot touch him! ... He is the revelation of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the foundation of everything; He is the Master of humanity, the Redeemer; ... He is the centre of history and of the world; He is the One who is known and loved; He is the companion and friend of our life; He is the man of suffering and of hope; the One who is to come and who must be our guide and, we hope, the eternal fullness of our existence, our happiness (Homily, November 27, 1970). These impassioned words are great words, but I want to tell you something: this speech, given in Manila and also the one given in Nazareth have provided much spiritual strength for me, have helped me so much in life. And I return to this speech, again and again, because it's good for me to hear this word from Paul VI today. And we: do we possess this same love for Christ? Is He the centre of our lives? Do we bear witness to him through our everyday actions?
2. The second point: love for the Church, an impassioned love, a life-long love, joyous and pain-filled, expressed in his first encyclical Ecclesiam suam. Paul VI was fully aware of the work of the Church after Vatican II, the lights, the hopes, the tensions. He loved the Church and gave of himself without reserve for the Church. In his Thought about death, he wrote: I want to hug her, greet her, love her in every being that composes her, in every Bishop and Priest who assists and guides her, in every soul which lives in her and illustrates her. And in his Last Will and Testament he spoke of you with these words: Receive along with my blessed greeting, my supreme act of love! (Teachings XVI, 1973, 592). This is the heart of a true Pastor, of an authentic Christian, of a man who knows how to love! Paul VI had a very clear vision of the Church as a Mother who carrys Christ to others, and who leads others to Christ.
In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi - for me, the greatest pastoral document ever written - we find this request: after the Council and thanks to the Council, which was a time given her by God, at this turning-point of history, does the Church or does she not find herself better equipped to proclaim the Gospel and to put it into people's hearts with conviction, freedom of spirit and effectiveness? (EN, 4). And it continued: Is she firmly established in the midst of the world and yet free and independent enough to call for the world's attention? Does she testify to solidarity with people and at the same time to the divine Absolute? Is she more ardent in contemplation and adoration and more zealous in missionary, charitable and liberating action? Is she ever more committed to the effort to search for the restoration of the complete unity of Christians, a unity that makes more effective the common witness, "so that the world may believe"? These are questions which the Church today must also ask of ourselves; we are all responsible for the answers that could be given to these questions and we must ask ourselves: are we truly the Church, united in Christ, capable of going out into the world and announcing the good news to all, even and especially in what I call the 'existential outskirts', or are we closed in on ourselves, in our own groupings, in our little cliques? Or do we love the whole Church, the Mother Church, the Church which sends us out on mission and which makes us go outside of our own comfort zones?
3. And the third element: love for mankind. This too is tied to Christ: it is God's passion that motivates us to encounter mankind, to respect him, to recognize him, to serve him. In the final Session of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI gave a speech that is still speaking every time we read it. In particular, when he spoke of the Council's concern for contemporary mankind. He said: Profane secular humanism has eventually appeared in its terrible stature and has, in a certain sense, defied the Council. The religion of God who became Man has encountered the religion of man who has become God. What's happened? a fight? a battle? a condemnation? It could be, but this is not what is in store for us. The old story of the Samaritan was a paradigm for the spirituality of the Council. A feeling of immense sympathy has entirely pervaded it. The discovery of human needs ... Give credit at least for this, you modern humanists, who have renounced the transendence of supreme things, and chosen to recognize a new humanism: even we, we more than all others, we are a culture of man (Homily, December 7, 1965).
And a more global glance at the work of the Council permits us to observe: All this doctrinal wealth is focused in one direction: the service of man. Man, we say, in all his conditions, in all his infirmities, in all his needs. The Church is almost declared the servant of humanity (ibid, 57). And this also gives light today, in this world where man is negated, where we prefer to go into the streets of gnosticism, to the streets of pelagianism, or of meatlessness - a God who has not been made flesh -, or of no God - Promethean man who can go on. We in this time can say the same as Paul VI said: the Church is the servant of man, the Church believes in Christ who came in the flesh and therefore serves man, loves man, believes in man. This is the inspiration of the great Paul VI.
Dear friends, it is good for us to be here in the name of the Venerable Servant of God, Paul VI! His witness ignites within us the flame of love for Christ, of love for the Church, of momentum to proclaim the Gospel to mankind today, with mercy, with patience, with courage, with joy. I wish to thank you once again. I confide you all to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and I willingly bless you, along with all those who you love, especially the children and the sick.
Address of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to pilgrims from the Diocese of Brescia
Dear brothers and sisters from the Diocese of Brescia, good morning!
I wish to thank you for this opportunity to spend some time with you and to remember the Venerable Servant of God Paul VI. I greet all of you with affection, beginning with your Bishop, His Excellency, Luciano Monari, to whom I am grateful for his kind words. I greet the seminarians, the religious sisters and priests and all of the lay faithful. This is your pilgrimage for the Year of Faith, and it is good that you wished to make this journey to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the election of your great compatriot Paul VI.
There are so many things that I would like to say and to remember about his great Pontificate. Thinking of him, I must limit myself to three fundamental aspects to which he bore witness and taught, yielding to his passionate words which illustrated them so well: the love of Christ, love for the Church and love for mankind. These three words are fundamental attitudes, but they were also very important for Paul VI.
1. Paul VI was able to bear witness to his faith in Jesus Christ, particularly during difficult years. His invocation still resounds, as vibrantly as ever: You are necessary, O Christ! Yes, Jesus is more necessary in the lives of men and women today than he has ever been, necessary for the world today because in the desserts of secular cities He speaks to us of God, and reveals his face. The total love of Christ was evident in the life of Giovanni Battista Montini, and in his choice of the Papal name, which he explained with these words: He is the Apostle 'who loved Christ so supremely that in the highest degree, he desired and attempted to bring the Gospel of Christ to all the nations, who for the love of Christ offered his life (Homily, June 30, 1963). And this same totality of his dedication, he pointed out during the opening address of the Second Session of the Vatican Council, in Saint Paul outside the Walls, focusing on the Basilica's mosaic in which Pope Honorius III appears in tiny proportion at the foot of the great figure of Christ. It was the same for that Assembly of the Council: at the feet of Christ, in order to be servants of his Gospel (cf. Address, September 29, 1963).
A profound love for Christ, not to possess Him, but to announce Him. Let us not forget his impassioned words spoken in Manila: Christ, yest, I feel the necessity to announce Him, I cannot touch him! ... He is the revelation of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the foundation of everything; He is the Master of humanity, the Redeemer; ... He is the centre of history and of the world; He is the One who is known and loved; He is the companion and friend of our life; He is the man of suffering and of hope; the One who is to come and who must be our guide and, we hope, the eternal fullness of our existence, our happiness (Homily, November 27, 1970). These impassioned words are great words, but I want to tell you something: this speech, given in Manila and also the one given in Nazareth have provided much spiritual strength for me, have helped me so much in life. And I return to this speech, again and again, because it's good for me to hear this word from Paul VI today. And we: do we possess this same love for Christ? Is He the centre of our lives? Do we bear witness to him through our everyday actions?
2. The second point: love for the Church, an impassioned love, a life-long love, joyous and pain-filled, expressed in his first encyclical Ecclesiam suam. Paul VI was fully aware of the work of the Church after Vatican II, the lights, the hopes, the tensions. He loved the Church and gave of himself without reserve for the Church. In his Thought about death, he wrote: I want to hug her, greet her, love her in every being that composes her, in every Bishop and Priest who assists and guides her, in every soul which lives in her and illustrates her. And in his Last Will and Testament he spoke of you with these words: Receive along with my blessed greeting, my supreme act of love! (Teachings XVI, 1973, 592). This is the heart of a true Pastor, of an authentic Christian, of a man who knows how to love! Paul VI had a very clear vision of the Church as a Mother who carrys Christ to others, and who leads others to Christ.
In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi - for me, the greatest pastoral document ever written - we find this request: after the Council and thanks to the Council, which was a time given her by God, at this turning-point of history, does the Church or does she not find herself better equipped to proclaim the Gospel and to put it into people's hearts with conviction, freedom of spirit and effectiveness? (EN, 4). And it continued: Is she firmly established in the midst of the world and yet free and independent enough to call for the world's attention? Does she testify to solidarity with people and at the same time to the divine Absolute? Is she more ardent in contemplation and adoration and more zealous in missionary, charitable and liberating action? Is she ever more committed to the effort to search for the restoration of the complete unity of Christians, a unity that makes more effective the common witness, "so that the world may believe"? These are questions which the Church today must also ask of ourselves; we are all responsible for the answers that could be given to these questions and we must ask ourselves: are we truly the Church, united in Christ, capable of going out into the world and announcing the good news to all, even and especially in what I call the 'existential outskirts', or are we closed in on ourselves, in our own groupings, in our little cliques? Or do we love the whole Church, the Mother Church, the Church which sends us out on mission and which makes us go outside of our own comfort zones?
3. And the third element: love for mankind. This too is tied to Christ: it is God's passion that motivates us to encounter mankind, to respect him, to recognize him, to serve him. In the final Session of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI gave a speech that is still speaking every time we read it. In particular, when he spoke of the Council's concern for contemporary mankind. He said: Profane secular humanism has eventually appeared in its terrible stature and has, in a certain sense, defied the Council. The religion of God who became Man has encountered the religion of man who has become God. What's happened? a fight? a battle? a condemnation? It could be, but this is not what is in store for us. The old story of the Samaritan was a paradigm for the spirituality of the Council. A feeling of immense sympathy has entirely pervaded it. The discovery of human needs ... Give credit at least for this, you modern humanists, who have renounced the transendence of supreme things, and chosen to recognize a new humanism: even we, we more than all others, we are a culture of man (Homily, December 7, 1965).
And a more global glance at the work of the Council permits us to observe: All this doctrinal wealth is focused in one direction: the service of man. Man, we say, in all his conditions, in all his infirmities, in all his needs. The Church is almost declared the servant of humanity (ibid, 57). And this also gives light today, in this world where man is negated, where we prefer to go into the streets of gnosticism, to the streets of pelagianism, or of meatlessness - a God who has not been made flesh -, or of no God - Promethean man who can go on. We in this time can say the same as Paul VI said: the Church is the servant of man, the Church believes in Christ who came in the flesh and therefore serves man, loves man, believes in man. This is the inspiration of the great Paul VI.
Dear friends, it is good for us to be here in the name of the Venerable Servant of God, Paul VI! His witness ignites within us the flame of love for Christ, of love for the Church, of momentum to proclaim the Gospel to mankind today, with mercy, with patience, with courage, with joy. I wish to thank you once again. I confide you all to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and I willingly bless you, along with all those who you love, especially the children and the sick.
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