Speeches 1986 - Saturday 12 April 1986
2. The Catholic Church admires and encourages the work and commitment of men and women of science as explorers of man and of the universe. While the Church does not claim to have particular competence in the specifically scientific nature of your endeavours, she sincerely and openly welcomes the advancement of knowledge obtained through honest means. She is firmly convinced that the progress of science is a special form of service to humanity.
Indeed, I wish to make my own the words of the Second Vatican Council in order to assure you that "your paths are never foreign to ours. We (in the Church) are the friends of your vocation as searchers, companions in your fatigues, admirers of your successes, and, if necessary, consolers in your discouragement and your failures" .
In this sense the Church greatly appreciates your efforts to place at the disposal of the medical community a more complete understanding of the influence on human behaviour of the biochemical mechanisms which have been the object of your study and discussion during these days.
3. The specific point at which our paths cross is the realisation that the Church and the scientific/medical community, each in its own sphere, seek to serve the well-being of human beings, every one of whom is called to go beyond self to fulfilment in intimate communion with others, and ultimately with the Creator himself.
Science in general, and medical science in particular, is justified and becomes an instrument of progress, liberation and happiness only insofar as it serves man’s integral well-being. The magnificent conquests of the human spirit in discovering the secrets of nature and of created life, and in establishing the technical means to make practical use of this knowledge, must never become instruments of destruction and death, nor means for manipulating and enslaving other human beings.
This is a real concern of many men and women of our time, and fortunately the scientific community in general manifests an awareness of its grave responsibility in this regard.
4. Scientists are happy when, at the end of a rigorous methodological approach, they grasp the object of their research in its objective reality. They want the object of their study to speak its "truth" to them. They do not wish to impose a personal or ideologically based preconception upon reality. In this sense the progress of scientific knowledge has followed the path of discovery: the "truth" of nature and life is discovered and unveiled in its complexity, but at the same time in its profound logic and order.
In your field, which is so closely linked to the intimate well-being of individuals, you are confronted daily by the fact that the biochemical processes which you study have to be integrated into the wider "truth" of what it means to be a person, to be the subject of inalienable rights, to possess a dignity as a human being which can never be lost.
5. One of the major cultural tasks of our time is that of "integrating knowledge, in the sense of a synthesis, in which the impressive body of scientific knowledge may find its meaning within the framework of an integral vision of man and of the universe, that is of the ordo rerum, the order of things" .
Precisely in the construction of such a synthesis, science, philosophy and religion have much to say to one another. In this sense the Catholic Church wishes to be in constant dialogue with the advances of scientific knowledge and technology. Indeed, she is convinced that she has something essential to contribute to this dialogue in presenting the truth and wisdom which the eternal Father has revealed in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh: "the way, and the truth, and the life" .
In essence, my dear friends, my words are meant as an expression of encouragement to you in your endeavours and in your service to those who will benefit from your skill and dedication. They are meant to confirm the Church’s interest in you and her support for the healing processes which you seek to perfect. I gladly commend you and your work to the One of whom the Scriptures speak, saying that "he welcomed the multitudes and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing" .
May Almighty God bless you all!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Vatican today as members of the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange. I wish to congratulate you, for in being designated to this position you represent America’s most important business corporations and federal government agencies. You have a wealth of experience in both the private and public sectors of your nation’s life, and your mutual exchange provides a basis for more effective co-operation between business and the agencies of government.
I am happy that you have come to Rome in the course of this year’s International Seminar, which is enabling you to meet business executives throughout Europe. It is my hope that your talks will be fruitful and provide you with a better under standing of the economic and social issues of the day.
I would encourage you always to look beyond the immediate concerns of your own country, and to make the welfare of the people of all nations a primary concern. The true dignity of every human person should be the basic ethical principle governing economic activity, since the economy and production are for the good of the human person and not vice versa.
May God grant you wisdom in your decisions, prudence in your words and actions, and concern for the dignity and equality of every individual, so that you will always render true service to humanity.
Dear Friends,
I greet most cordially the participants in the International Congress on Cancer and Hormones. You have gathered at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart during these days for the purpose of deepening your understanding of endocrinology and malignancy. In this way, you hope to improve the therapeutic treatment which you are able to offer to your patients. I am pleased that you have wished to include this audience in the programme of your Congress for it offers me the opportunity to express my great esteem for you and your colleagues in the medical profession and to assure you of my encouragement and support in your efforts to care ever more effectively for those who suffer from cancer.
Your presence here today also speaks of your awareness of the important ethical and religious dimensions of medical research and practice. The medical profession exerts a great impact on the quality of life of the human family. Every advance which you make is aimed at promoting human well-being and thus has moral and humanitarian implications. In the course of your research and practice, it is inevitable that difficult ethical questions should arise, questions which do not lend themselves to quick and easy solutions. As you face these, I assure you of the Church’s desire to listen to you and learn from your medical expertise and experience, and, at the same time, to share with you her own rich heritage of ethical teaching. Such dialogue becomes increasingly important as scientific advancement brings about an ever larger number of specialised areas of research. It can ensure that such research will truly contribute to the welfare of the person as a whole and to the integral development of society.
May the Lord of life give you strength and courage in all your worthy endeavours, and may he bless you and your families with his joy and peace.
May 1986
Dear Friends from Australia,
You expressed a wish to visit the Vatican and to see the Pope, and I am happy that it has been possible to arrange this meeting with you, the representatives of Sacred Heart Regional Girls’ College in Melbourne.
Your visit to the tomb of Saint Peter is inspired by much more than the mere curiosity of the tourist. Your presence here has the deeper significance of manifesting your faith in Christ and in his Church.
I pray that when you return to Australia you will take back with you, not only precious memories of the places you have been to, but above all a deeper appreciation of the Christian heritage that is yours. I pray too that you will feel encouraged to bear concrete testimony in your daily lives to your belief in Jesus Christ.
You are rightly proud of your School’s record in supporting the Pontifical Mission Aid Societies. May you continue to serve the Church in this important way, extending your love to the brothers and sisters who benefit from your generous initiatives.
As you can imagine, I very much look forward to visiting Australia in November. I ask you to pray for the pastoral success of that part of my apostolic ministry as Successor of Saint Peter.
Through you I send warm greetings to your families, and to all the staff and students of Sacred Heart College. May Almighty God protect and bless you.
To my venerable Brothers
the Bishops of the United States of America
On the occasion of your meeting in Collegeville, Minnesota, I wish to assure you of my spiritual closeness to you and of my prayerful support for your pastoral initiative. You are assembling in a spirit of collegial responsibility to reflect on the vital subject of vocations for your local Churches.
Your reflections on vocations to the priesthood and religious life are being linked with reflections on the need for all the members of the Church to be conscious of their common calling to live the Gospel message and to build up the Body of Christ.
It is indeed fitting to emphasise over and over again the universal vocation to holiness of the whole People of God. It is truly opportune to proclaim with insistence the need for all the faithful to be aware of the precise responsibilities that derive from their Baptism and Confirmation. In this regard the Second Vatican Council says explicitly that the laity "are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord himself" .
A keen realisation of their Christian dignity is a great incentive to all the People of God to fulfil their sacred role in worship, Christian living, evangelization and human advancement. As pastors of the flock it is our responsibility to encourage all our brothers and sisters in the faith to live a life worthy of the calling which they have received . It is our task to assure them of their shared responsibility for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time to encourage them in their individual contributions to the Church and to the whole of society. These individual contributions are expressive of the rich variety characteristic of the Body of Christ.
One of the great tasks of all Catholics is to help foster those conditions in the community that will facilitate individual and social Christian living. Only if the faithful are responding to their personal Christian vocation will the community be sustained in its respect and love for Christian marriage and for the priesthood and religious life.
An integral part of Christian family life is the inculcation in its members of an appreciation of the priesthood and religious life in relation to the whole Body of the Church. Our common pastoral experience confirms the fact that there is a very special need in the Church today to promote vocations to the priesthood and to religious life. It also confirms the fact that generous and persevering efforts made in inviting young people to respond to these vocations have been rewarded. I know that in your deliberations you will discuss appropriate ways that this can be ever more effectively accomplished. The correlation of your varied pastoral experiences will undoubtedly assist you greatly in planning for the future.
On my part I would like to emphasise above all the general attitude towards vocations to be cultivated within ourselves and to be shared with the clergy and faithful. In this regard it is necessary to foster a profound trust in the power of the Paschal Mystery as the perennial source of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. In every age the Church not only reiterates her esteem for these vocations but she acknowledges their unique and irreplaceable character. She likewise expresses the profound conviction that the Lord who wills them for his Church is ever active in calling young people to fulfil his will.
The Church’s earnestness in promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life is explained by her desire to be faithful to God’s will to maintain both the hierarchical structure of his Church and the state of religious life. The Church extols and promotes the special consecration proper to both of these vocations even if a certain number of functions exercised by priests and religious are increasingly shared by the laity.
Dear Brothers: in union with the whole Church let us face the vocations challenge with that equanimity and realism which take into account the effectiveness of prayer, and which are never devoid of supernatural hope. Let us forcefully proclaim the power of the Risen Christ to continue to draw young people to himself in every age of the Church and therefore in our own. Let us look to the Paschal Mystery as the inexhaustible source of strength for young people to follow Christ with generosity and sacrifice, in chastity, poverty and obedience, and in perfect charity.
The Church cannot exempt herself from utilising every worthy means to attract vocations, including proper publicity and personal example; yet, she unhesitatingly proclaims that her strength comes only from the Lord. It is he alone who gives vocations and to overcome obstacles opposed to them.
In the assemblies of the faithful let us invoke the Lord’s promise to be with his Church until the end of time. We must encourage our people to express their hope in prayer. In acknowledging the Lord’s fidelity in providing for the needs of his Spouse, the Church, we offer a hymn of praise to the Lamb of God who was slain – to him who died but now lives for ever and ever.
We find in the precious blood of the crucified and risen Saviour the strength to sustain every vocation that God gives to his Church. "To him whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine – to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end. Amen" .
From the Vatican, May 14, 1986.
Thursday, 15 May 1986
Dear Brothers in Christ,
1. I am pleased to welcome you to the Vatican today. You have come to Rome to participate in the Institute for Continuing Theological Education of the North American College. I am sure that you are grateful for this opportunity of broadening your understanding of the Church’s teaching and of deepening your own love for Christ and the Gospel.
An experience such as this would undoubtedly prompt you to reflect in a very personal way on the mystery of the Church and on your own vocation to the priesthood. Each of you has already labored for a number of years in the Lord’s vineyard. You have known success and failure. You have witnessed both peaceful and turbulent times. You have had the privilege of seeing, at close range, the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people you serve. What a blessed vocation is ours as priests! Truly it is worth all the sacrifices and hardships that are part and parcel of the priesthood today and in every age.
2. As you know, this year marks the second centenary of the birth of Saint John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars. In my Holy Thursday Letter of this year, I have already shared with you some of my thoughts on this great Patron Saint of parish priests. And, in a few months, I plan to make a pilgrimage to the town where he so faithfully served the Church. As I meet with you today, I would like to encourage you to reflect prayerfully on your own priesthood in the light of his life and ministry.
All of his many and varied priestly activities centered on the Eucharist, catechesis and the Sacrament of Penance. These were the primary ways he proclaimed the Gospel of salvation and gave a shepherd’s care to the people entrusted to him.
We all remember how he would often hear confessions for ten hours or more a day, so popular was he as a confessor. Frequently in his preaching, he spoke of the joy that comes from conversion and the profound peace of being reconciled with God. He helped his people appreciate how the Sacrament of Penance offers to us sinners a very personal encounter with Christ, our merciful Lord. He knew, as we also have known, that, despite the sacrifice of time and effort entailed, administering this sacrament of mercy can be one of the most consoling and uplifting parts of our ministry.
3. The Second Vatican Council, when speaking of the priestly life and ministry, also gave special emphasis to the ministry of the word and the celebration of the Eucharist. We find a similar priority in the Curé of Ars. He put great effort into the preparation of his Sunday homilies and generously devoted himself to the task of catechesis. The Liturgy of the Eucharist was clearly the center of his life. Daily, too, he made time for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Early in the morning and late in the evening, he would be found there before the Tabernacle, in silent adoration and intimate communion with Christ.
Our path to holiness as priests can never be divorced from our pastoral ministry. We were ordained for the service of others, for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. During these months in Rome, you have been responding to Christ’s invitation: "Come away by yourselves... and rest a while" . May you now return to your home dioceses refreshed in body and spirit, eager to continue your ministry to the people entrusted to your care. My prayers accompany you as you go. May Christ, the Good Shepherd, bless you with his peace and joy.
Friday, 14 May 1986
Dear Friends,
1. I am pleased to meet you, the directors of the Italian Tennis Federation and the participants in the 43rd Italian International Tennis Championship. I gladly welcome you to the Vatican and I hope that your visit will serve as a moment of spiritual refreshment in the midst of the intense physical demands of the present Championship. I congratulate you on the excellence of your achievements in your sport, and I express the hope that you will always consider your ability as a gift to you from God himself.
It is always a pleasure for me to meet groups of athletes from different countries and continents. Taking part in sport and the healthy competitiveness which accompanies it embody precious values which can do much to uplift the individual, and indeed can contribute much to building a society based on mutual respect and trust, and authentic peace.
2. On various occasions I have spoken publicly about sport as a real instrument of reconciliation in the world. Your presence here, from many countries, is an eloquent symbol of the power of sport to unite. It brings people together. Competition between athletes is a universal language which immediately goes beyond the frontiers of nation, race or political persuasion. All of this on condition that the men and women who engage in sport, especially on the international level, foster its inherent positive values, without allowing it to degenerate through excessive concern for merely material advantages or through undue subordination to partisan ideologies.
Yours is a very competitive sport, and the high degree of physical fitness, self-control, discipline and sacrifice which it requires can make it a truly effective school of human and social maturity. As a group, you are among the most expert players of tennis. You are very frequently in the public eye.
You therefore have a responsibility, especially to young people and children who look to you for example, to set high standards of sportsmanship and personal excellence. The ideals of fair play, honesty, friendship, collaboration and mutual respect which are so much a part of sport are very important building-blocks of the new civilisation of peace to which the youth of the world ardently aspire. I would very much like to encourage you along that path.
3. I expect you are aware that the New Testament uses the example of the athlete to illustrate a very profound aspect of human existence. Saint Paul writes: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may attain it" . In a sense that is your every day experience in tennis!
But Saint Paul is referring to the challenge of giving ultimate meaning to life itself. This is the challenge which stands before each individual and before humanity as a whole. Today, when there is so much loss of hope and so much confusion as to the purpose and meaning of life, cannot the values enshrined in sport open new horizons of humanism and solidarity to vast sectors of the world’s young people? Is it not possible to think that leaders in various fields of sport will endeavour to give a living and convincing testimony of the beauty and worthiness of those values? Will you not put your talents and your leadership at the service of peace, of human dignity, of genuine freedom?
And in this way – to borrow another image from Saint Paul – you will give glory to God the Creator through your accomplishments, including your accomplishments on the sports field .
Dear friends, be assured of my prayers for your personal and spiritual well-being. I would ask you to take my greetings to your families and friends. And may Almighty God bless you and protect you always.
Monday, 19 May 1986
Dear Friends,
I am happy to have this occasion to meet you, the officers and men of Her Majesty’s Ship “CARDIFF”. I have been informed that you are returning from several months’ patrol in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. I hope therefore that this visit to Rome and to the Vatican, especially to the tomb of the Apostle Peter, will have a deeply personal and religious significance for each one of you, and will serve as a moment of spiritual refreshment.
The name of your ship reminds me of something I said to the thousands of young people I met at Cardiff during my visit to Great Britain almost exactly four yours ago. "It is in prayer that we come to know God: to detect his presence in our souls, to hear his voice speaking through our consciences, and to treasure his gift to us of personal responsibility for our lives and for our world" .
So I express the hope that throughout your lives you will remember, in good times and in bad, to seek the Lord’s comfort in prayer and to ask for the strength to respond fully to your personal and professional duties.
I would ask you to take my warmest good wishes to the other members of the Ship’s Company and to your families and friends at home. May God bless you always.
To my Brother Bishops
and to the beloved priests, religious
and faithful people of the Church in Uganda
As you celebrate the Centenary of the Holy Martyrs of Uganda, your illustrious ancestors in the faith, I wish to offer you my heartfelt greetings of peace and abiding joy. At this time I am spiritually close to all of you who are taking part in the celebrations commemorating the heroic sacrifice of those twenty-two Martyrs who shed their blood for the love of Christ. I am confident that the celebrations will serve to make the Martyrs better known and loved, while also providing a valuable opportunity for all of you to renew your Christian life in fidelity to your baptismal promises.
I am pleased to join you in giving praise and thanks to our heavenly Father for the many graces and blessings that he has bestowed on the Ugandan people during the past hundred years since the Martyrs’ deaths. In a special way I am grateful that the power of God’s word has taken root in your hearts and many have embraced the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.
It is in following Christ’s example to the very end that the Martyrs gave the greatest testimony of love. Both in the way they lived and in the way they died there is so much for which to praise and thank God. In their lives they manifested an unshakeable faith in Christ, a deep attachment to his holy Gospel, a self-sacrificing love for one another, and a spirit of joy and forgiveness. It was their continual response to the Lord’s love and grace that enabled them willingly to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. May the testimony of the Martyrs’ lives and their total oblation inspire you in your own generous response to Christ.
The witness to Christ once offered by the Holy Martyrs of Uganda constitutes a special challenge for you who are taking part in the Centenary celebrations. Through the Martyrs’ example of heroic faith, can we not see Christ calling you today to repentance, deeper faith and reconciliation? This threefold challenge is indeed appropriate for the present time, considering the difficult and often painful circumstances in which you find yourselves as a result of years of bloodshed and violence. The Martyrs themselves underwent many forms of extreme cruelty, hatred and revenge; however, by placing their hope in Christ they were able to forgive their persecutors and to remain steadfast in their profession of faith.
The heritage the Martyrs have left to you is the call to "believe in the Gospel" . This call is repeated in every age. Ultimately it involves bringing your life ever more into harmony with the Gospel. It entails the concrete daily effort of putting off the old man and putting on the new; of overcoming in yourself what is of the flesh in order that what is of the spirit may triumph. You must rise above the things here below and "keep your eyes fixed on Jesus..." . The call to repentance and faith therefore involves a personal conversion that passes from the heart to deeds, that brings about the transformation of your whole life.
The grace of conversion is a source of peace and a fountain of joy; for the interior transformation that it brings achieves reconciliation with God, with oneself and with others. It overcomes the rejection of God which is sin and enables one to experience the true freedom of the children of God. This is the joy and peace that the Holy Martyrs experienced as they remained faithful to Christ, whatever the cost.
I invite you, the members of the Church in Uganda, especially the young, to think about those twenty-two Martyrs, those strong and healthy young men. You, like them, are also strong for the struggle: not for the struggle of one against another in the name of some ideology or practice separated from the very of roots of the Gospel, but strong for the struggle against evil: against everything that offends God, against every injustice and exploitation, against every falsehood and deceit, against everything that insults and humiliates, against everything that profanes human dignity and human relationship, against every crime against the sacred gift of human life: against every sin. Before you lies the task of building a new Uganda, on the foundation of love, reconciliation and true justice. Take up your responsibilities, for upon you depends the future of your country. Place your hope in Christ. He will enable you to bear your responsibilities for shaping a better world, one free of violence, discrimination and injustice.
On this historic occasion in the life of the Church in Uganda I am praying that by following the witness of the Martyrs the mission of spreading the Gospel will be zealously shared by all of you. I entrust this celebration of the Centenary of the Holy Martyrs to the intercession of Mary, Queen of Martyrs. May she sustain you in the great task of making her Son ever better known and loved. As a pledge of strength and joy in our Lord Jesus Christ I impart my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 21 May 1986.
Dear Friends,
I am happy to meet this group of priests and seminarians from the Archdiocese of New York. I hope that your visit to Rome, especially to the tomb of Saint Peter, will be an occasion for a renewal of your faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The touchstone of that faith is your ability to repeat with ever greater conviction the words of Peter at Caesarea Philippi: "You are the Christ, the son of the living God" .
I wish also to invite you to live your vocation in fullness by constantly seeking to grow in your knowledge and love of the great mystery of the Church. Not any knowledge of the Church, the Bride of Christ, will do. Certainly not the mere knowledge based on partial and contingent sociological conceptions. But a profound spiritual and theological understanding of the mystery of salvation at work in the lives of the people through the Church’s ministry, " having the eyes of your hearts enlightened – as Saint Paul writes to the Ephesians – that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe" .
Not any love suffices. Certainly it is not enough to have merely superficial feeling of compassion and goodwill. What is needed is the love which is the fruit of the Spirit . God’s own love which has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which as been given to Us .
May your visit serve to sustain you in your dedication to God’s people. May it remind you of the universal nature of the Church and bring you ever closer to the Apostolic See of Peter, the centre of unity and ecclesial communion.
Be assured of my prayers to Mary, Mother of the Church, for all of you. May God bless you now and always.
Dear Friends,
It is a pleasure for me to welcome you today to the Vatican. I am likewise pleased to be informed of your activities and your goals, and of the spirit that unites you in the association FADICA (Foundation and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities).
You do well to look upon your heritage as closely related to principles long expressed in the traditions of the Church. Many of these principles were emphasised by the Second Vatican Council and are now a source of inspiration to you in your common initiatives. Among these are the principles of shared responsibility for the Gospel, the commitment of the laity, the ordering of all temporal activity to the glory of God, the promotion of the common good, the importance of service to the Church and of service in the Church to the world, and the need to bring the uplifting message of the Gospel into every sphere of human life.
It was fitting that this conciliar vision shared by a number of individuals should begin to give rise to a permanent organisation in 1975, during the Holy Year of Renewal and Reconciliation. Subsequently your association has enabled you to span a vast gamut of undertakings including fraternal assistance, charitable endeavors and various initiatives in favor of the poor and the needy. In your undertakings you have striven to share your views and experiences and to collaborate in a systematic and organised way to achieve your end.
The Church notes with great satisfaction your interest in her own activities, whether they be at the level of the parish, the diocese, the nation or the Church universal. The Holy See is very grateful for the concern of your association to make philanthropy more effective in assisting the Catholic Church to carry out her mission, and today I willingly give expression to this gratitude.
At the same time I would encourage you not only in your individual achievements – and I know that the list is long – but also to maintain that spirit of unity and collaboration which gives you added possibilities of generous service.
Speeches 1986 - Saturday 12 April 1986