Speechs 2008
Clementine Hall
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Your Excellency,
I am pleased to welcome you to the Vatican and to accept the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Fiji Islands to the Holy See. I would like to express my gratitude for the good wishes that you bring from President Ratu Josefa Iloilo and Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. Please convey my greetings to each of them and assure them of my continued prayers for all the people of the Fiji Islands.
The Holy See is always encouraged to see signs of progress towards greater peace and stability, and hopes very much that the steps being taken towards re-establishing a democratically elected form of government in Fiji, drawing on the talents and energies of all the inhabitants, will bear fruit. Indeed, one of the key principles of the Christian view of social and political organization is the virtue of solidarity, through which the different elements of society work together to achieve the common good of all, thereby producing what my predecessor Pope Paul VI so beautifully described as a “civilization of love” (Homily for the close of the Holy Year 1975). For this reason the Church values the democratic system, as one which gives a voice to all the different sectors of society and encourages shared responsibility. It remains the case, however, that “the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are” (Spe Salvi, 24): democracy on its own is not enough, unless it is guided and enlightened by values rooted in the truth about the human person (cf. Centesimus Annus CA 46).
It is here that the Holy See’s diplomatic relations with States can make an important contribution to the common good. While governments take responsibility forthe political ordering of the State, the Church unceasingly proclaims her vision of the God-given dignity and rights of the human person. It is on this basis that she urges political leaders to ensure that all their people can live in peace and freedom, without fear of discrimination or injustice of any kind. She urges civil authorities to guarantee the most fundamental of all rights, namely the right to life from the moment of conception until natural death. Following on from this is the right to live in a united family and a moral environment conducive to personal growth, the right to seek and know the truth through education, the right to work and to enjoy the fruits of one’s labour, the right to establish a family and rear children responsibly. The synthesis of all these rights is found in religious freedom, understood as “the right to live in the truth of one’s faith and in conformity with one’s transcendent dignity as a person” (Centesimus Annus CA 47).
The Catholic community in Fiji is eager to play its part in promoting the respect due to the human person, especially through commitment to education and charitable activity. Indeed, the proper formation of the young and the service of the needy is integral to the Church’s mission in the world, and both are key elements in her contribution to the common good of society. Owing to the presence of Christians from different traditions, as well as members of other religions, Fiji provides fertile ground for the development of ecumenical initiatives and inter-religious dialogue. The Catholic Church is pleased to contribute her expertise in these areas, and to cooperate with all men and women of good will so as to offer a common witness to the values that must underpin a “civilization of love”. In particular, it behoves those who worship God to champion the cause of the poor, the lowly and the defenceless, those who have always been recognized as especially close to him.
Mr Ambassador, as you know, the Pacific region faces many challenges at this time, not least the effects of climate change, especially on island populations, and the need to preserve natural resources. The beauty of God’s creation is especially evident to those who live in the South Pacific. It is my earnest hope that through regional and global cooperation, agreement can be reached on “a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances” (Message for the 2008 World Day of Peace, 7). In this way, future generations of Pacific islanders will still be able to enjoy the wonders of God’s creative genius and to live in true peace and harmony with nature.
Your Excellency, in offering my best wishes for the success of your mission, I would like to assure you that the various departments of the Roman Curia are ready to provide help and support in the fulfilment of your duties. Upon Your Excellency, your family and all the people of the Republic of the Fiji Islands, I cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings.
Clementine Hall
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Your Excellencies,
I receive you with joy this morning, for the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of your respective countries to the Holy See: Malawi, Sweden, Sierra Leone, Iceland, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Republic of Madagascar, Belize, Tunisia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of the Fiji Islands. I thank you for the courteous words that you have kindly addressed to me on behalf of your Heads of State. I would be grateful if you would reciprocate by conveying to them my cordial greetings and my respectful good wishes for themselves and for their lofty mission at the service of their countries and their peoples. I would also like to greet through you all the civil and religious authorities of your nations, as well as your compatriots.
My prayers and thoughts also go especially to the Catholic communities established in your countries where they are anxious to live the Gospel and to bear witness to it in a fraternal spirit of collaboration.
The diversity of the places you come from enables me to thank God for his love as Creator and for the multiplicity of his gifts that never cease to give rise to wonder in men. It is a lesson. Diversity is sometimes frightening, which is why people actually prefer the monotony of uniformity. Political and economic systems that had a religious matrix or that have declared themselves such have affected humanity too long and have sought to standardize it with demagogy and violence. They have reduced and, unfortunately, are still reducing the human being to an unworthy slavery at the service of a single ideology or an inhumane and pseudo-scientific economy. We all know that an ideal, singular political model to be realized absolutely does not exist and that political philosophy evolves in time and in its expression with the refinement of human intelligence and the lessons drawn from political and economic experience. Each people has its own genius as well as "its own demons". Each people advances through its own childbirth, at times painful, toward a future it hopes will be luminous. Thus my hope is that every people may cultivate its genius, which it will do its best to enrich for the good of all, and that it may cleanse itself from its "demons" which it also does its best to control, to the point of eliminating them by transforming them into positive values, creating harmony, prosperity and peace, in order to defend the greatness of human dignity!
In reflecting on the ambassador's beautiful mission, one of the essential aspects of the ambassador's activity spontaneously springs to my mind: the search for and the promotion of peace, which I have just recalled. It is fitting to mention here the Beatitude spoken by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Mt 5,9).
The ambassador can and must be a peacemaker. The builder of peace, which is in question here, is not only the person with a calm and reconciliatory temperament who desires to live in good understanding with all and, to avoid, if possible, conflicts but also the person who devotes himself entirely to the service of peace and is actively engaged in building it, sometimes even to the point of giving his life. History abounds with examples. Peace does not only imply the political or military state of not being at war; it refers globally to the overall conditions which permit harmony among all, and the personal development of each. Peace is desired by God who proposes it to human beings and offers it to them as a gift. This divine intervention in humanity is called the "covenant of peace" (Is 54,10). When Christ calls peacemakers "sons of God" he means that they participate and are consciously or unconsciously active in God's work and in his mission, and that they prepare the conditions necessary for welcoming peace from on high. Your mission, Your Excellencies, is lofty and noble. It demands all the energies that you will be able to call on to attain this exalted ideal that will honour yourselves, your governments and your respective countries.
You know, as I do, that authentic peace is only possible when justice reigns. Our world is thirsting for peace and justice. Moreover, the Holy See published on the eve of the Doha Conference that ended a few days ago a Note on the current financial crisis and its repercussions on society and on individuals. It presents several ethical aspects that must support relations between finance and development, both to encourage governments and economic actors to seek lasting solutions in solidarity for the common good and, more specifically, for those who are most exposed to the dramatic consequences of the crisis. Justice, to return to the topic, does not only have a social or even ethical value. It does not only refer to what is equitable or in conformity with the law. The Hebrew etymology of the term "justice" refers to something that has been "adjusted". God's justice is thus expressed through his justness. It puts everything in its right place, everything in order, so that the world may be in conformity with God's plan and with his order (cf. Is Is 11,3-5). The ambassador's noble task, therefore, consists in using his art so that all may be "adjusted" in order that the nation he serves may not only live in peace with other countries but also in accordance with the justice that is expressed by equity and solidarity in international relations, and so that citizens, enjoying social peace, may live their beliefs freely and serenely and thus join in the "justice" of God.
Madam and Mister Ambassadors, you are beginning your mission to the Holy See. I once again offer you my most cordial good wishes for the success of the most delicate role that you are called to carry out. I implore the Almighty to support you and to guide you, your dear ones, your collaborators and all your compatriots, so that you may contribute to the coming of a world that is more peaceful and more just. May God fill you with an abundance of his Blessings!
Consistory Hall
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Dearest Brothers and Sisters,
I am delighted to meet with you: staff, collaborators and advisers of the Vatican Television Centre, accompanied by your relatives, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the foundation of your Centre. I greet in particular Cardinal John P. Foley and the Director General, Fr Federico Lombardi, whom I thank for his address describing the situation of the Centre. I would also like to remember the late Dr Emilio Rossi, for several years President of the Centre and then President of its Administration Council, offering his witness of a generous and qualified service to the Church and to society. The Centre was desired by my Predecessor John Paul II in 1983. He realized that the Holy See in addition to the means of communication already at its disposal, should at this point also be equipped with its own television structure, so that the Pope's service to the universal Church and to humanity might also use this means whose effectiveness was proving ever more visible.
Videre Petrum, to see Peter: this has been the desire that has brought countless pilgrims to Rome. Today, this desire, at least in part, may be satisfied thanks to radio and television which have enabled a great number of people, first by voice and now also by means of images, to participate in the celebrations and events that occur in the Vatican or in other places to which the Pope goes to fulfil his ministry. Yours is thus first of all a precious service for communion in the Church. Collaboration with Catholic television stations has characterized your Centre since the outset. In Italy, Telepace and SAT2000 broadcast almost all your programmes and it is very encouraging to know that many Catholic television stations in various parts of the world are linked to you. In this way, an ever greater number of the faithful can follow, either on live or recorded broadcasts, what is happening in the heart of the Church.
However, your television broadcasts do not only reach the Catholic faithful. By making the images available to the most important world television agencies and the large national or commercial television broadcasting stations, you relay relevant news quickly on the life and teaching of the Church in today's world, at the service of the dignity of the human person, justice, dialogue and peace. The relationships of close collaboration that you have been committed to establish in the vast world of televised communications, in particular on the occasions of the Pope's international journeys, you have enlarged the field of your service, one can well say, even to the ends of the world, responding to the human and spiritual expectations of a countless number of our contemporaries.
In your service you are very often called to film and broadcast images of important and splendid liturgical celebrations that take place at the heart of Christendom. The liturgy is truly the culmination of the life of the Church, the time and place for a profound relationship with God. Following the liturgical event through the attentive eye of the television camera in order to make real spiritual participation possible for those who cannot be physically present is a lofty and demanding task. Moreover it requires of you a serious training and real spiritual harmony with what in a certain way you are mediating. Close collaboration with the Office of Liturgical Celebrations, which you have fostered for some time, will help you to develop increasingly in this precious spiritual service to viewers throughout the world.
The images you have taken in the course of the years and now jealously preserved make your archives a precious resource not only for the production of television programmes in the present and in the future, but we may well say for the history of the Holy See and the Church. Preserving the recordings of voices and images properly is a technically difficult and, from the financial point of view, expensive undertaking but it is one of your institutional tasks which I encourage you to face with confidence. In order that the Church may continue to be present with her message "in the great areopagus" of social communications" as John Paul II called it and not find herself foreign to the areas in which countless young people surf seeking answers and a meaning for their life, you must seek ways to spread voices and images of hope in new forms, through the internet that wraps our planet in an ever closer web.
Moreover you are not alone in facing your mission. Today people rightly speak of the "convergence" between the various media. The boundaries between them are fading and synergies are increasing. The instruments of social communications at the service of the Holy See are, of course, also evolving and they must be consciously and actively integrated. The collaboration between your Centre and Vatican Radio has always been very close and has become ever closer because, in your broadcasts, images and sound cannot be separated. However, today the Internet requires an ever increasing integration of written, audial and visual communication, and thus is a challenge to broaden and intensify the forms of collaboration between the media which are at the service of the Holy See. The positive relationship with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, with which I encourage you to develop initiatives and fruitful projects, will contribute to this.
So, take heart! May the modest size of your structure in comparison with the immensity of your tasks not cause you dismay. Many people, thanks to your work, can feel closer to the heart of the Church. May you be aware also of the gratitude of the Pope who knows that you are generously dedicated to a task that contributes to the outreach and effectiveness of his daily service. May you be accompanied by the Lord who comes, and whose salvation you seek to proclaim through your images. With this hope and with a special good wishes for a Happy Christmas which I extend to all your loved ones, I warmly bless you all.
Friday, 19 December 2008
Your Eminence,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to welcome all of you who are taking part in this meeting a few days before the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See (ULSA) by my venerable Predecessor John Paul II, with the Motu Proprio "Nel primo anniversario" of 1 January 1989. I greet Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, President of the ULSA; I thank him for his cordial words and take the opportunity to express to him my deep gratitude for his long service to the Holy See. I thank Bishop Franco Croci, Vice President, Dr Massimo Bufacchi, Director, and the members of the Executive Board, the Council and the Conciliation and Arbitration Board, together with all of your collaborators.
In the Motu Proprio for the institution of the ULSA, the Servant of God John Paul II as your President recalled expressed the hope that "the dignity of each collaborator will be effectively honoured; the economic and social rights of each member will be recognized, protected, harmonized and promoted; the respective duties will also be more faithfully fulfilled; a real sense of responsibility will be stimulated; an ever better service will be provided" (L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 5 June 1989, p. 12). In the subsequent Motu Proprio of 1994 entitled "La sollecitudine" and with which he approved the definitive Statutes of the Office John Paul II wrote: "I would now like to reaffirm the role attributed to the Labour Office of the Apostolic See, a body of this See which has a specific institutional identity and oversees the protection of the legitimate interests of the members of the working community of the Holy See to assure harmony and equalization in the plurality, diversity and specificity of offices, favouring a correct application of the principles of social justice, to guarantee the unity of this community and its growth in the interpersonal relations within it".
These are very clear guidelines which I am pleased to reaffirm, shedding light on the distinctive task that the Labour Office of the Apostolic See is called to carry out in the formation of the personnel in order to make the activity of the working community of the Holy See increasingly efficient and supportive. Another important service of your Office is to prevent any possible disagreement concerning the workers employed by the Apostolic See and to seek, if necessary, the prompt settlement of it by means of a sincere and objective dialogue, with recourse to the procedures foreseen for conciliation and arbitration. All this is for the purpose of consolidating the working community, executing the appropriate interventions for the complete fulfilment of the norms established for its protection and settling any possible administrative or socio-economic problems that may arise in the various bodies of the Holy See. In this very way, cooperating for the best possible organization of the working community of the Apostolic See, your Office succeeds in achieving the aims for which it was established.
On this occasion, I would like to emphasize that the work community constituted by those who are employed in the various offices and bodies of the Holy See forms a single "family", whose members are united, not only by the ties of their work but by their common role which is to help the successor of Peter in his ministry at the service of the universal Church. The professional activity they carry out thus constitutes a "vocation" to be fostered with care and an evangelical spirit, seeing within this a concrete path to holiness. This requires that love for Christ and for one's brothers and sisters, together with a shared sense of Church, motivate and enliven skill and dedication, professionalism, honest and correct commitment and attentive and mature responsibility, thereby making work itself, whatever it may be, a prayer. We could describe all this as an ongoing formative and spiritual task to which everyone may make their contribution: Cardinals, Bishops, priests, men and women religious and lay people. Indeed, if respect for the principles of justice and solidarity, well clarified in the social doctrine of the Church, is important, what is indispensable above all is the common effort supported by convinced adherence to Christ and sincere love for his Church.
Thus, very willingly, as I take the opportunity today to thank all who work in the various Dicasteries and Offices, I express the wish that in each and every one the search for what is right and the constant aspiration to holiness will never be lacking. At the same time, I hope that the Labour Office of the Apostolic See, to the extent that it is able, may contribute to achieving this aim. Furthermore, the approach of Holy Christmas naturally prompts me to think of the employment crisis that distresses the whole of humanity today. May those who are able to work be grateful to the Lord and open their hearts generously to those who instead have employment and financial difficulties. May the Child Jesus, who on the Holy Night of Bethlehem became man to share in our difficulties, look kindly upon those who are harshly tried by this world crisis and inspire sentiments of authentic solidarity in everyone. In my Message for the upcoming World Day of Peace I recall that "what the fight against poverty really needs are men and women who live in a profoundly fraternal way and are able to accompany individuals, families and communities on journeys of authentic human development" (n. 13).
I willingly express this hope, which I place in the hands of Our Lady and St Joseph, for your Office and for the employees of the Apostolic See, extending it to the whole of the working world, and as I wish everyone a holy and peaceful Christmas, I warmly bless you, together with your families and your loved ones. Happy Christmas!
Clementine Hall
Friday, 19 December 2008
Mr Ambassador,
I am pleased to receive you, Your Excellency, and to accredit you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Seychelles to the Holy See. I thank you for conveying to me the greetings of H.E. Mr James Alix Michel, President of the Republic. I would be grateful if you would kindly reciprocate my best wishes for his person and for all the people of Seychelles.
In calling your country to mind it is always a pleasure to speak of its beauty and to be able to list the numerous benefits it enjoys. To increase its potential, your country today is making a concerted effort to reduce its debt. In a world context that has become difficult, I want to acknowledge these efforts that deserve the support of international institutions in conformity with the serious commitment undertaken. It constitutes an important challenge in view of the future generations. In fact, it would be unfair for people today to shirk their responsibilities, causing the consequences of their decisions or lack of action to burden the generations to come after them. Thus it is not only a question of improving the economy but also and especially of confronting the challenge of social justice. Additionally, in setting the nation's accounts aright, it also offers a more secure framework for economic activity and thus provides better protection for the poorest and most vulnerable people.
This praiseworthy aim requires the cooperation of all, which is why a sense of solidarity is fundamental. Here we perceive how closely linked social harmony is not only to a fair and adapted legislative framework but also to the moral level of each citizen, since "solidarity is seen... under two complementary aspects: that of a social principle and that of a moral virtue" (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, n. 193). Solidarity is raised to the rank of a social virtue when it can rely simultaneously not only on structures of solidarity but also on the firm and persevering determination of each person to work for the common good, because we are all responsible for all.
The education of youth is assuredly the best way to inspire this enduring sense of solidarity. From this viewpoint, I am pleased once again to be able to highlight the efforts your country has been making for a long time to construct a good educational system. Whatever his or her qualification, I encourage each one to pursue this path and to sow generously for the future.
However, this concern for education would be in vain if the family institution were to be excessively weakened. Families are constantly in need of the encouragement and support of public entities. A profound harmony exists between the tasks of the family and the duties of the state. To foster a successful synergy between them is to work effectively for a future of prosperity and social peace.
For her part, the local Church spares no effort to accompany families, offering them the light of the Gospel which sheds light on the full grandeur and beauty of the "mystery" of the family and helping them to assume their educational responsibilities. With regard to those in difficulty, she concerns herself with helping to bring peace to relationships and to foster reconciliation in hearts.
I take this opportunity, Mr Ambassador, to greet warmly, through you, the Bishop of Seychelles and his collaborators, as well as all the Catholic faithful who live in your country. May they preserve their concern, in harmony with all the other citizens, to build a social life in which each person may find the path to fulfilment, his own and that of the community! Thus they will bear witness to the social fruitfulness of the Word of God.
At the time when you are inaugurating your noble mission of representation to the Holy See, I wish to renew the expression of my pleasure at the excellent relations the Republic of Seychelles and the Holy See enjoy, and I offer you, Mr Ambassador, my best wishes for the success of your mission. Rest assured that you will always find with my collaborators the welcome and understanding you may need.
Upon you, Your Excellency, your family and collaborators, as well as upon the entire people of the Islands of Seychelles and its leaders, I wholeheartedly invoke an abundance of divine Blessings.
Consistory Hall
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Dear Children of ACR,
I am very happy that this year too. With the nearing of holy Christmas you have come with your presence to cheer these solemn buildings, in which nonetheless there is always the joy of serving the Lord. I greet together with you, your teachers, the President of the Italian Catholic Action, the General Chaplain and your new National Chaplain, Fr Dino.
Many people say that children are capricious, that they are never happy with anything, that they consume toys, one after another, without being satisfied by them. You, on the other hand, say to Jesus: You are enough for me! Which means: you are our dearest friend who keeps us company when we play and when we go to school, when we are at home with our parents, our grandparents, our little brothers and sisters, and when we go out with our friends. You open our eyes so that we notice our sad companions and the many children in the world who are suffering hunger, illness and war. You are enough for us, Lord Jesus, you give us true joy, the joy that does not end like our games but is poured out into our souls and makes us good. You are enough, especially, when we pray to you because you always hear the prayers we say for the world to become more beautiful and a better place for everyone. You are enough for us, because you forgive us when we get into some mischief; you are enough for us because if we are lost you come to find us and carry us in your arms as you did with the lost sheep. You are enough for us, because you have a most beautiful Mother whom, before dying on the Cross, you wanted to make our Mother too.
Dear little friends, do you also want to help your companions to be like this with Jesus? A boy or girl of ACR is one who when going to Jesus likes to bring some friends because they want him to know them too; they do not only think of themselves but have large hearts, attentive to others. You have so many teachers who help you to live together, to pray and to grow in your knowledge of the Gospel. Catholic Action's true aim is to help you to become holy; for this reason it helps you to encounter Jesus and to love his Church and be concerned with the world's problems. Is it not perhaps true that you are involving yourselves with children and boys and girls who are less fortunate then you? Is it not perhaps true that with the "month of peace" you can also make many adults appreciate peace because you yourselves know how to live peacefully with one another?
Yes, dear boys and girls, you can pray the Lord to change the hearts of the weapons manufacturers, to bring the terrorists back to reason, to convert hearts that are always bent on war and help humanity to build a better future for all the world's children. I am sure that you will also pray for me, thus helping me in the difficult task the Lord has entrusted to me. As for me, I assure you of my affection and my prayers, while I now gladly bless you together with all your loved ones. A Happy Christmas to you, to your families and to all the boys and girls of Catholic Action!
Clementine Hall
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Your Eminence,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With true pleasure I welcome and greet each one of you who are members of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology. In the first place, I greet Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Grand Chancellor, and thank him for his courteous words interpreting your common sentiments. I greet the Rector, the teaching staff, the collaborators and the students. Today's pleasant meeting offers me the opportunity to express my keen appreciation of the precious and profitable cultural, literary and academic activity that your Institute carries out at the service of the Church, and more generally, of culture.
Indeed, I am aware of the considerable scientific importance in the traditional milieus of archaeology of the ordinary and specialized courses with which your Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology proposes to make known the palaeo-Christian monuments, especially those in Rome but also with ample references to the other regions of the Orbis christianus antiquus. The "Journal" and the scientific activity of the teachers and students, as well as the promotion of international congresses also aims, complying with your intentions, to respond to the expectations of all who have at heart the knowledge and study of the wealth of historical memorials of the Christian community. The principal aim of your Institute is precisely the study of the remains of ecclesial life down the centuries. You offer those who choose this discipline the opportunity to penetrate a complex reality, to be precise, that of the Church in the early centuries, in order "to understand" the past making it present to people today. For you, "understanding" the past is as it were identifying yourselves with the past that emerges through the typical contexts of Christian archaeology: iconography, architecture, epigraphy and topography. When it is a matter of describing the history of the Church, which is "a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race" (Lumen gentium LG 1), archaeologists, in their patient research, cannot dispense with penetrating supernatural realities too, without, however, renouncing the rigorous analysis of archaeological finds.
Indeed, as you well know, a complete vision of the reality of a Christian community, whether ancient or recent, is not possible unless one keeps in mind the fact that the Church is composed of both a human element and a divine element. Christ, her Lord, dwells within her and desires her as "the community of faith, hope and charity, as a visible organization through which he communicates truth and grace to all" (ibid., n. 8). In this theological pre-understanding, the basic criterion can only be to let oneself be conquered by the truth sought in its authentic sources, with a soul free from passion and prejudice, since Christian archaeology is a historical science and as such is based on the methodical study of the sources.
The spread of the culture of art and history through all sectors of society provides the people of our time with the means to trace their own roots and to draw from them the cultural and spiritual elements that help them build a society with a truly human dimension. Every person and every society needs a culture open to the anthropological, moral and spiritual dimensions of existence. I therefore fervently hope, thanks also to the work of your praiseworthy Institute, that the search for the Christian roots of our society may continue and indeed may intensify. Your Institute's experience proves that the study of archaeology, especially of the palaeo-Christian monuments, enables us to deepen our knowledge of the evangelical truth that has been handed down to us and offers the opportunity to follow the teachers and witnesses of the faith who have preceded us. Knowing the heritage of the Christian generations of the past enables those that follow to remain faithful to the depositum fidei of the first Christian community, and following along the same path, continue to make the unchangeable Gospel of Christ resonate in every time and place. For this reason, alongside even the important results achieved in the scientific context, your Institute is rightly concerned to offer a fruitful contribution to the knowledge and deepening of the Christian faith. Drawing close to the "remains of the People of God" is a concrete way of certify how the content of the same unchangeable faith has been received and expressed in Christian life in accordance with the changing historical, social and cultural conditions through the span of many centuries.
Dear brothers and sisters, continue to promote the preservation and acquisition of a deeper knowledge of the immense archaeological heritage of Rome and of the various regions of the ancient world, aware of the proper mission of your Institute, that is, to serve history and art by appreciating the numerous testimonies of Western civilization, culture and Catholic spirituality that the "Eternal City" possesses. It is a valuable patrimony created in the course of these two millennia, a priceless treasure of which you are stewards and from which it is necessary, as the Gospel writer does, to draw ceaselessly from the new and the old (cf. Mt Mt 13,52). Together with these hopes, in the imminence of Holy Christmas, I express fervent good wishes for you and for your loved ones, as I warmly bless you all.
Speechs 2008