Speeches 1963
Tuesday, 25 June 1963
We are very happy to greet you, Our beloved children from the United States of America, who have made this long journey to see your venerated Bishop Neumann raised to the honours of the altar. We understand your keen disappointment upon learning of the postponement of the ceremony of beatification, which would have given to the world yet another example of heroic virtue nurtured on American soil. It will not be long before Bishop Neumann is numbered among the Blessed.
However, your visit to Rome should be a rich and unforgettable experience. All around you there are numerous monuments, reminders of the glories of the Church and her faithful. Here one can sense in a special way the unity and the agelessness of the Church. And here, at the tomb of St. Peter, we traverse centuries to return to the times of the Apostles, Peter and Paul. The lessons that one learns here are precious, and are an encouragement to imitate the heroic men and women venerated in the many churches of this Holy City.
You are the first group of Americans that We have met since Our election to the Chair of Peter. We ask you therefore to take back to all the citizens of the United States these Our first greetings. We have visited your noble country and We have experienced personally your sincere and warm hospitality and generosity. The industry of your people and the rich blessings of natural resources have made yours a prosperous land. In your abundance you have not forgotten the less fortunate peoples, and to them and to the new emerging nations you have given valuable assistance. The Catholics of the United States have been outstanding for their devoted loyalty to the Successors of St. Peter; they have been singularly generous to the Church and its missionary activity. Your young men and women are giving of their talents in every part of the world.
We are mindful, too, of our non-Catholic brothers, and upon them and their loved ones We invoke rich heavenly grace. To you, Venerable Brothers and beloved children, to your families and friends, and through you, to Our brother Bishops, clergy, religious and all the faithful of the United States, We impart, in pledge of abundant heavenly blessings and assistance, Our special paternal Apostolic Benediction.
We are truly happy to receive and to greet Our Venerable Brother Godfrey Okoye, Bishop of Port Harcourt, together with this imposing group of pilgrims from Nigeria.
It seems to Us almost as if We were meeting old friends again, for you will remember the visit which We had the pleasure of making, during the summer of last year, to your great and most interesting country, on the invitation of Our Venerable Brother Sergio Pignedoli, Our Apostolic Delegate in West and Central Africa. We still bear in Our memory and in Our heart the places We then visited and the persons We then met. We still recall the courtesy with which We were received by the Civil Authorities, and the friendship which was immediately offered Us by the Bishops and the Missionaries of that land.
We have always before Our mind the vision of your churches, your hospitals and your schools; but first and foremost in Our recollection is the goodness, the piety, the affability of Our beloved Nigerian Catholics. We will never be able to forget, for example, the welcome given Us by Our Venerable Brother Archbishop Heerey of Onitsha and all his excellent people; that which We received at Enugus; and also in various other cities of Nigeria.
Hence We are happy to see here today an important group of representatives of the Nigerian people, and to offer you, and through you all the Catholics of your Nation, Our affectionate greetings.
Indeed, We would avail Ourself of this happy occasion to send the expression of Our most sincere good wishes to the Catholic Missions of Nigeria; and also to those of all Africa. With admiration and pleasure do We salute the awakening of Africa to civil maturity, and consequently to freedom, independence, and progress; and, while We recognize the merit of those who have helped the African peoples to undertake the ways of civilization, We nourish the hope that those peoples may, all of them, be able to enjoy ‘the rights proper to modern civil societies and thus, fraternally aided by those countries economically and culturally more developed, may all attain, in freedom and peace, that prosperity which corresponds to their common human dignity.
And We are confident that Our Catholic sons and daughters in Africa will prove to be the most loyal, the most industrious, and the most virtuous citizens of their respective ethnic communities.
Bring, then, these Our good wishes to your African brothers; tell them that the Catholic Church is proud and happy to number them among her children; tell them that the Pope esteems and loves them; tell them that We have high hopes for the future of Christian Africa; and bear to all the Catholics of Nigeria, to the Bishops, the priests, the missionaries, and the seminarians; to the Sisters, to the youth, to the children; and to Our beloved and Venerable Brother the Apostolic Delegate, Our paternal Apostolic Blessing.
Your Excellency,
With great joy do We welcome Your Excellency to the Vatican, recalling with true happiness Our first meeting almost twenty-five years ago, when, as a young man, you accompanied your parents to the coronation of Pope Pius XII, Our venerated Predecessor of happy memory. We remember too, with particular satisfaction, the many pleasant occasions on which We received your honourable father.
Your Excellency now comes once again, this time as the President of that noble nation, the United States of America. We have visited your beautiful land, and as We travelled from one great city to another, We were able to experience personally the many admirable qualities which have made yours a leading member of the family of nations. The warm and sincere hospitality which was extended to Us wherever We went has left upon Us a lasting impression. The many churches that dot the American countryside and the spires reaching high over the cities are indicative of the spiritual awareness and convictions of your people. We witnessed the industry, the imagination and the dedication which have transformed the vast riches of your natural resources into a very high standard of living for your citizens. Nevertheless,, in the midst of this hard-won abundance, your country has not forgotten the high ideals of its first beginnings, nor neglected the poorer nations, and especially those new emerging states which are striving to give their people the benefits of freedom under law. At no little cost, the United States has extended to all of them a very generous helping hand. This sympathetic understanding and generosity cannot but generate a lasting friendship built of mutual respect and bring additional blessings upon the citizens of your land.
These past few years have seen impressive developments in the exploration of space to which the United States has made notable contributions. May these undertakings .take on a meaning of homage rendered to God, Creator and Supreme Lawmaker. Because they augur so much for the benefit of mankind, may they be indicative of true and peaceful progress which would bring men together in a closer relationship of universal brotherhood.
This is what We hear often in the discourses of Your Excellency, how with candor your words recall the higher moral principles of truth, of justice and of liberty. We find a spontaneous harmony with that which Our Venerable Predecessor, Pope John XXIII said in His last Encyclical Letter, «Pacem in Terris», when He presented anew to the world the Church’s constant teaching on the dignity of the individual human person, a dignity which the Almighty Creator bestowed in creating man to His own image and likeness. We are ever mindful in Our prayers of the efforts to ensure to all your citizens the equal benefits of citizenship, which have as their foundation the equality of all men because of their dignity as persons and children of God.
The untiring striving to obtain world peace is to be commended highly, and We are confident that these labours will find a ready response in all men of good will. Universal peace in charity and justice can be achieved, and We feel that the efforts of the United States will bear fruit and help to secure for all peoples of this troubled world that peace which will enable them to prosper and to enjoy the blessings which God intends for them. To this end, following the example of Our Predecessors, We too are dedicating Our prayers, Our energies, and Our life.
We extend to you a heartfelt welcome, and through Your Excellency We wish to send Our greetings to Mrs. Kennedy, to your family and to all the citizens of your country, invoking upon them the abundant blessings of God.
*AAS 55 (1963), p.649-650.
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. I, p.35-37.
L' Osservatore Romano 3.7.1963, p.1.
Mister President,
As we greet you today with a heartfelt welcome, We recall with the happiest of memories Our own visit to Our beloved Ireland, and Our meeting there with Your Excellency. The vision of your Island of Saints and Scholars glows brightly in Our heart, illuminated above all by the unflinching fidelity of its people to this Apostolic See, in spite of dungeon, fire and sword.
Indeed, the high winds raised by these and other difficulties merely fanned into more brilliant flame the fire of Faith enkindled by Saint Patrick, giving rise to a most fervent spiritual and religious life in your own land, and a burning zeal for the conversion of souls, and the spreading of the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ to every corner of the earth.
So ardent is the faith of the Irish that they not only provide their own dear Island with sufficient vocations, but also give of their choicest and best to leave home and country, and to work as priests, as Brothers and Sisters, in the most difficult fields of apostolic endeavour. Innumerable are the missionaries who left your shores to bring the light and warmth of the Gospel to those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death; incalculable the harvest of souls they gathered in the white fields of the missions.
Our knowledge of your marvellous history, and Our personal experience of the warm, friendly, generous heart of the Irish, combine to strengthen Our paternal affection and special benevolence towards the Emerald Isle and its people. Through your good offices, Mister President, We send them a most loving blessing, and We pray that God and Mary love them, and ever prosper and protect the Irish nation. To Your Excellency and your family, to the Government and citizens of Ireland, We impart from Our heart Our particular affectionate Apostolic Benediction.
*AAS 55 (1963), p.650-651.
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. I, p.37-38.
L'Osservatore Romano 4.7.1963 p.1.
Wednesday, 10 July 1963
Mister Minister,
We are honoured by your visit, and We are happy to receive you, not only as the Foreign Minister of Korea, but also as a representative of a nation of the Far East, towards which We direct with particular interest Our esteem and Our good wishes.
We are most pleased to receive, together with Your Excellency, the Korean Ambassadors resident in Europe and in the Middle East, who have taken part in the Conference held for them in Rome in recent days.
To Your Excellency, and to the esteemed gentlemen who accompany you on this visit, We express Our deferential and cordial greetings.
We willingly avail Ourself of this happy circumstance to assure the entire Korean people of Our deep fellow-feeling. We are well aware of the antiquity and nobility of its traditions; We are informed of the natural goodness, the industry, the artistic talent of that fertile and populous land; from earliest childhood, We have heard the dramatic history of your Nation during the last century, and have followed with attention the events of recent years.
Among the various aspects of modern Korean life, We cannot overlook what concerns the Catholic religion, which experiences most praiseworthy favourable conditions of freedom in South Korea, and which manifests its ability to interpret, in original and sublime manner, the great spiritual riches of the Korean soul.
In this regard, We would remind Your Excellency that the Catholic religion nourishes profound respect for all the human values is encounters; indeed, it is proper to its inmost universal nature to encourage the development of virtue, of the good traditions specific to each people; and hence We can give assurance that the Catholic Church will always consider it an honour to promote, as far as lies in its power, the civil, moral and cultural prosperity of Korea; for, in this way, the Catholics of Korea strive to be its best citizens, ever loyal and faithful, ever working for its true happiness.
To the Korean Catholics, then, We send Our greetings, and to the entire noble Nation We express Our sincere good wishes for welfare and for peace. And may God, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, make these Our wishes efficacious, for His Excellency your President, for Your Excellency, for the gentlemen accompanying you, and for the whole Korean people.
*AAS 55 (1963), p.686.
Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. I, p. 67-68.
L'Osservatore Romano 11.7.1963, p.1.
The visit of so many members of the Catholic Young Men’s Society of Great Britain is for Us a motive of great satisfaction: because of their coming, because of their number, because of their qualification as Catholic Youth, and because of the magnificent activity for which their Society trains them and in which they exert themselves.
We wish to express Our gratitude for this act of filial devotion. We likewise thank Our brother His Grate Francis Joseph Grimshaw, Archbishop of Birmingham, who directed these dear visitors to Us, and We also thank the National Chaplain, Father Denis Hicking and the priests with him who assist these young people and the Directors who guide them.
Beloved children of Great Britain, We wish furthermore to assure all of you of Our. esteem and of Our good will for your association, for your activity and for your Nation. In return for the consolation which you have given Us, We extend Our wishes and promise Our prayers; and knowing the worthy dispositions of your hearts We desire to favour your good resolutions with some recommendations.
We are aware that your Society has promoted a special study of the recent Encyclical of Our Predecessor Pope John XXIII of happy memory, «Mater et Magistra». This is an excellent undertaking. The knowledge of the teachings of the Church is today very important and most useful, because they are a precious synthesis of the doctrine of Our Lord and of human experience. They offer the key to solutions for many problems of thought and action in this modern world. We exhort you, therefore, to continue this study and to extend it to other ecclesiastical documents, both pontifical and episcopal. The knowledge, particularly, of that which will issue from the Ecumenical Council will certainly be beneficial to your religious culture and to your conduct in today’s world.
Also We wish to praise and to encourage your spiritual activity; your prayers and your retreats are most laudable and most precious; for your souls, for all those who observe your example, and for all those great and generous intentions to which these religious actions are directed.
We intend thus to favour your meritorious proposals. You should remember that you belong to a great Nation, and therefore you have an obligation to show that Catholic youth, proud of its belonging, can live up to its natural virtues, its good traditions and its new demands, and for this reason they give to national life a moral and spiritual contribution of special value. We hope also that your example as excellent citizens and faithful Catholics will assist the grand cause of unity of Christians in the one Church of Christ.
These thoughts and these sentiments indicate how close We are to you with Our heart and with Our prayers, and how readily We bless all of you.
We are very happy to welcome you to Our summer residence. We feel that We already know you because not too long ago We had the good fortune of visiting the beautiful country of Nigeria.
We are confident that We understand the significance and the importance of Your Boy Scout movement for the natural, moral and spiritual development of the young. Your scout oath and your scout law, which We know very well, keep ever before your eyes the grave responsibilities which are yours.
You have just come from the International Scout Jamboree, and there you met other young boys from almost every nation of the world. It was a magnificent sight; the collaboration and cooperation of the scouts have given to the world yet another example of the harmony that could and should exist among nations. Tomorrow, you and others like you will be the leaders of your countries, and it is necessary that you prepare yourselves now for this task. You will need to develop the qualities of leadership upon which the Scout movement lays so much stress.
To be good citizens, you must first recognize your relationship to God Who is the Father of all mankind. We are all His children and therefore brothers of one another. Remembering this, you will always strive to do what is best for yourselves and for your neighbor, and in this way you shall be building the foundations for true peace If you recognize the natural dignity and goodness of others, you will respect their rights.
We hope that you will follow the guidance of your directors and always be exemplary scouts. We shall pray for you and for your families, and We invoke upon you and the Boy Scout movement an abundance of heavenly blessings.
December 1963
Dear newly ordained priests, parents and relatives,
Our heart overflows with joy as We look out upon you, newly anointed priests of God, and proud parents and relatives. We lovingly and with satisfaction welcome you, new stewards of the mysteries of God, to assist Us and Our Venerable Brothers in our magnificent ministry.
The great Apostle St. Paul called the ministers of the Gospel, servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. He wanted them to be trustworthy. And this is Our wish for you particulary since you have been ordained here in Rome.
As students of the North American College, you were privileged to witness the Second Vatican Council, where Bishops from every corner of the earth gave testimony to their loyalty to Peter, the «Rock» upon which Christ built His Church. These zealous stewards whom you will assist manifested great strength and fidelity to the Church. You, too, must be strong and faithful in your willingness to preach the Gospel of Christ, and.unless you are, you will not be able to teach this loyalty to those entrusted to your priestly care.
We are happy with you and We shall pray that you will always remain strong and loyal to the Eternal High Priest whose mission you continue.
And now We would like to address a few words to you, the wonderful parents who today have seen a dream fulfilled. We well know the sacrifices which you made for your sons; but these have been rewarded abundantly with the consolations of these days. We are grateful to you for the good example, kind encouragement and constant prayers which helped your sons to the Altar. Realize the precious treasure that is yours in having a son interceding for vou and for all at the Holy Altar of God. We congratulate you and We thank you for your generous offering to the Church.
That you, dear sons, will always be good, exemplary priests, and that you, beloved parents, will always share in the effective selfless work of your sons, We now lovingly and with paternal affection impart to all of you and your dear ones at home Our special Apostolic Benediction.
Beloved Sons and Daughters!
We are particularly happy to welcome the Slovak Pilgrimage, led to Us by Our beloved Brother, Andrew Gregory Grutka, Bishop of Gary in the United States of America, and composed, principally, of members of the «Slovak Catholic Federation of America», who have been joined by groups of Slovaks from Austria, Belgium, France and Italy, accompanied by their priests.
Beloved children, your visit is pleasing to Us for many reasons: first of all, because of your numbers and the variety of countries from which you have travelled, but bound, nevertheless, by a unity of common fatherland of origin and of the Catholic Faith. Your presence here brings to Our mind a people most dear. We are aware of their loyalty to Our religion and of the richness of their spiritual, moral and cultural traditions, as well as of their problems. You recall to Our attention a good people, hardworking, pious - for whom We nourish great esteem and affection, and for whom We ask the Lord’s protection and comfort.
In the second place, the motive for your trip to Rome touches Our heart: after a three-year spiritual preparation, you wish to conclude the celebration of the eleventh centenary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the land of your origin. What a wise proposal to enrich your though with a remembrance of such an important historical fact!
Above all, it is a characteristic of Catholic education to draw from history not only cultural material and reminders of past events, but also a living tradition, a spiritual coefficient of moral formation, a constant direction for a direct and coherent progress in the march of time, a guarantee of stability and endurance, which gives to a people its dignity, its right to life, its duty to act in harmony with other peoples. One of the defects of modern sociology, most frequent and most serious, is to underestimate tradition, that is, to presume that a firm and coherent society can be established without taking into account the historical foundation on which it naturally rests, and that the breaking away from the culture inherited from preceding generations can be more beneficial to the life of a people than the progressive development, faithful and wise, of its patrimony of thought and habits. And furthermore, if this patrimony is rich with those universal and immortal values which the Catholic faith instills in the conscience of a people, then to respect tradition means to guarantee the moral life of that people; it means to give them a consciousness of their existence, and to merit for them those divine helps which confer on the city of this world something of the splendor and perpetuity of the heavenly city.
And this seems to Us all the more true and all the more beautiful in your case, dear Slovak children, because your centuries-old traditions, worthily recalled and celebrated by you, are really religious traditions, Catholic traditions, and what is more, and this is marvelous and moving, they are bound to Rome, to this Catholic, eternal and universal Rome, center of unity and «common fatherland» of peoples, who draw from it and share with it the civilization of the faith and charity of Christ.
That your footsteps led you here, where your holy protectors (We can call them, in a certain sense, your holy Founders) came after evangelizing the land, which you justly call the land of your origin, is magnificent; it is a fact with historic and symbolic significance.
Here Cyril and Methodius, having left Constantinople four years before to evangelize Moravia, returned to give an account of their work, to defend it and to receive approbation of it. Here Pope Adrian II received them solemnly; here, he recognized the merits of the two brothers, inventors of the script which today we call Cyrillic after one of them; here, he approved as legitimate and prudent the use of the ancient Slavic language in the liturgy and in the first translation of the Sacred Books in the idiom of that day; here, the two missionaries were elevated to the Episcopate; here, they deposited, where they are still honored, the relics of St. Clement, alongside of which later the body of Cyril, who here completed his earthly life, was placed; and from here, Methodius left again for the land of the Slavs to undertake a new missionary journey, entailing new trials and new happy successes.
By coming to Rome as pilgrims to venerate their memory and their relics, you therefore unite history with the present life of your people; you recognize its authentic spirit, you reconfirm its continuity, and you prepare its future.
One fact shows that these are your sentiments and your purposes, and this increases in Us gratitude and joy for your visit. We in fact know that one particular ceremony will make your Roman pilgrimage memorable; We refer to the inauguration of the Institute dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius, an Institute which will house and educate the Slovak youth, who intend to consecrate their lives to the religious and moral service of their fellow Slovaks, and to test and strengthen their priestly vocations to that end.
We cannot but be happy about such a development. We know that this Institute, destined to become the hearth of the religious life of Slovaks in Rome, had already been canonically erected in the Diocese of Porto and Santa Rufina on January 8, 1961, of which Our beloved Predecessor of happy memory, Pope John XXIII, blessed the first stone on May 13, 1963. It is a worthy work and a grand one, for which We should be grateful to so many Slovak benefactors scattered throughout the world, among whom are numbered also those of modest means - all with generosity and sacrifice meriting Our praise and a divine reward. We want to be mindful specially of the Slovak people resident in the United States of America, who, under the auspices of the «Slovak Catholic Federation of America», have responded generously to the untiring efforts of the above-mentioned Bishop Grutka in order that this work could achieve its goal.
The official and effective support which Their Eminences, Cardinal Tisserant, Bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina, Cardinal Pizzardo, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of “Seminaries, Cardinal Confalonieri, Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation,. gave to the foundation of this Institute is well known to Us. To them goes the expression of Our heartfelt gratitude.
Dear Sons of the Slovak nation, to Our satisfaction and to Our praise, for reasons already explained, allow Us to add a word of paternal recommendation - perseverance. Continue to cultivate the memory, the cult, the imitation of your Saints, who from the distant Middle Ages even now light the paths along which the spirit of the Slovak people must pass in our time and in the future; solemnly confirm your Catholic faith on the Roman remains of their mission; in the Institute, which you have founded at the gates of Rome, concentrate your good ideals and your hopes; make it the contact point for your groups scattered through the world; send to it your sons whom the Lord might call to His service in the priestly ministry; and continue to maintain it with your offerings and your confidence.
From Our part, We will pray that your Saints Cyril and Methodius, who strengthen and sustain your loyalty, may hold your hearts united in fraternal spiritual bonds and that they may continue to protect your fatherland; and aided by their intercession, We will invoke the Sorrowful Mother whom the Slovaks lovingly consider their heavenly Patroness.
And, sure of your constant fealty to the Catholic Church and to the See of St. Peter, We will continue to have paternal concern for you and to comfort you with Our Apostolic Benediction, as We do now from Our heart.
Very Reverend Father Rector, Beloved Members of the Faculty,
Alumni and Students of Georgetown University.
Each year, the feast of the North American Martyrs gives reason for profound spiritual joy. The lives of those holy Jesuits, offered to God and crowned with martyrdom, were not spent in vain. For, wherever in your great continent they planted the infant Church, there is today, for all to see, the resultant golden harvest; and We thank God for it.
This year, beloved Sons, this feast brings another cause for joy, since it marks the beginning of the celebrations to commemorate the one hundred and seventy-fifth Anniversary of the founding of Georgetown University in Washington, D. C.
We felicitate you on this memorable occasion. The history of your University, the Alma Mater of Catholic Colleges in the United States of America, is a source of true satisfaction to Us.
The Constitution of the United States was adopted en 1789. Your University was founded the same year. So it is that the Church, ever interested in inculcating in the youth of a nation the religious and civil principles upon which society and national life are based, has been present in the noble work of education right from the beginnings of your republic.
Georgetown University has given to your beloved country graduates who have been trained in the traditions of Christian education, and who present themselves to society ready to assume the responsabilities entrusted to them. Indeed, your students have gone out and are even now throughout the United States occupying positions of trust, and discharging their duties of direction with commendable success. Leadership is a quality not unknown to them, and the solidity and fullness of the teaching they have had, equips them for the weighty service they are asked to render. That very same teaching, however, gauged, not just to a formal preparation for future work in the many fields of endeavour in which your graduates labor, but also to instilling in them the moral principles which contribute to sound personal virtue and holy family life. And, in truth, this is its greatest contribution, because the firm moral fibre of individuals and families in a society naturally leads to a virtuous moral condition of that society as a whole. Your alumni have given honor to God and have been a source of pride to your nation.
We express the fond desire that the future years will see ever greater results from Georgetown University and from the labors of the devoted faculty who serve it.
Lifting Our heart in gratitude to Almighty God for the manifold spiritual fruits and blessings already obtained, We cordially impart to you, Very Reverend Father Rector, to the faculty, alumni, students, to all your many benefactors and friends, and to all Our children in the United States of America, as a pledge of copious heavenly graces and favors, Our special paternal Apostolic Benediction.
Venerable Brothers and beloved children,
We are indeed happy to receive and to adress you again, after the solemn ceremonies during which Blessed John Neumann was raised to the glory of beatification. With particular joy do we greet Our Venerable Brothers, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, successor of the new Beatus, and the Archbishops and Bishops of those Sees within whose territories he exercised his ministry. We have Ourself visited several of your dioceses, Philadelphia and its beautiful Cathedral, Baltimore, your senior See, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, and We cherish happy memories of the natural and spiritual glories of your home States.
The beatification of Bishop Neumann during the celebration of the Second Vatican Council is a reminder that the first duty of a bishop, as of every Christian, is to sanctify himself, and thus to be an exemple to others: a city set on a mountain which cannot be hidden, a candle set on a candle-stick to give light to all who are in the house.
This holy Pastor was also a religious of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, and so We salute with pleasure the Redemptorist Fathers present here today, led by their Superior General.
Speeches 1963