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Papal Power and the End Times
Christ wants a universal church, Pope
says
Zenit.org
VATICAN CITY--Benedict XVI met with prelates from a bishops' conference
based in Belgrade and reminded them that Christ wanted his Church to be
open to everyone.
The Pope said that today during an audience with prelates from the
International Episcopal Conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The
bishops were in Rome for their five-yearly visit. The conference
includes Catholics of Latin and Byzantine rite from Macedonia,
Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.
The Holy Father said: "The various countries and the various social and
religious environments in which your faithful live bring no small number
of repercussions to their Christian life."
The Pontiff mentioned specifically questions such as "marriages between
people of different confessions or religions which require ...
particular spiritual attention and a more harmonious cooperation with
other Christian Churches, ... the religious education of the new
generations," and "the formation of sacred ministers and their spiritual
accompaniment in a multiconfessional environment."
He said: "It is important to help seminarians" and for priests "to
cultivate an intimate relationship with Jesus if they wish to accomplish
their mission to the full and not just see themselves as simple
'employees' of an ecclesiastical organization. The priest is at the
complete service of the Church, a living and spiritual organism that
draws her energy not from nationalistic, ethnic or political factors,
but from the action of Christ present in her ministers."
Catholicity
Benedict XVI recalled that Christ founded a universal Church: "Over the
course of the centuries, tradition maintained [the Church's]
universalistic character unaltered as she slowly spread and came into
contact with different languages, races, nationalities and cultures."
The Pope thus encouraged the bishops "to be an evangelical 'leavening'
that ferments society" and to seek to involve "all members of the People
of God, using all available tools of Christian formation, translated
into the various languages of the people."
"Today, a poorly understood modernity tends to give exaggerated emphasis
to the requirements of the individual, to the detriment of the duties
that all people have towards God and towards the community to which they
belong," he said.
It is important "to highlight a correct conception of civil and public
responsibility, because from such a vision arises the commitment to
respect the rights of each, and the real integration of one's own
culture with that of others," the Holy Father added.
Reconstruction
"Providence placed your peoples on a European continent that, over these
years, has been undergoing a process of reconstruction," Benedict XVI
said. "Your Churches also consider themselves as part of this historical
process, well knowing that they have their own specific contribution to
make.
"Unfortunately there is no lack of obstacles: the scarcity of means
because of the economic situation, and the paucity of Catholic forces.
Nor is it easy to forget the difficult heritage of 40 years of"
communism "that gave rise to forms of social behavior not conducive to
freedom and personal responsibility. At the same time, it is difficult
to resist the temptation of Western materialism."
"Do not lose heart!" the Pope urged the bishops.
He told the prelates that the Lord "has put you in close contact with
our Orthodox brethren. As limbs of the one Body, seek all possible forms
of collaboration in the service of the one Kingdom of God.
"Do not be unwilling to collaborate with other Christian confessions and
with all people of good will in order to promote everything that may
help propagate the values of the Gospel."
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