Conclusion
by
His Eminence Cardinal
Darío Castrillón Hoyos
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
"Rise up, let us go on our way!" (Mt 26, 46). Christ’s invitation in Gethsemane, a prayer I mentioned in the opening speech for the videoconference, is always relevant. The Pope, at the start of the third millennium, in his Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte, has shown the Universal Church how to rise up and where to go. The "duc in altum" contains the Pope’s exhortation, addressed to each Christian, to rise with a greater sanctity of life and go towards all men to quench their thirst for God.
Exactly 25 years ago, on October 29th 1978, John Paul II travelled as a pilgrim to the Marian sanctuary at Mentorella, in Latium. His Episcopal motto, Totus Tuus, still echoes in our hearts and his invocation of the time joins his current one: "I renew to you, through the hands of the Beloved Mother, Mary,
the gift of myself, of the present and of the future:
May all be done according to your will" (John Paul II, Homely on October 16th 2003, no. 4). His Marian yes spoken then, his yes to the gift and the burden of Peter’s ministry, is today becoming increasingly visible and its meaning increasingly profound: it is a yes to carrying the Cross all the way, to complete in his body what is lacking in Christ’s suffering (Col 1,24).
The Pope, under the burden of the diakonía of love for the Church, shows us, today with increased urgency, the same Cross of Christ as a support and as the standard of victory against the culture of death. His 25 years of pontificate seem to "cry out to us": the Cross is the Wood of life, a positive sign that unites the heavens with the earth and human beings with one another, a sign of the immense dignity of the human person returned to a primitive likeness to God, the symbol of respect for each human life, redeemed to eternal life with the death on this Cross of the Man-God.
Acting as an echo for all this, it is with great joy that I announce the subject of the next theological videoconference, "Marriage and the family", bearing in mind the Pope’s fundamental words: "The future of the world depends on the family", contained in his post-Synod Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio.
On May 13th 1981, the Pope intended to inform the faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square about two important initiatives: the creation of the Pontifical Council for Marriage and for Families and the foundation, at the Lateran, of the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and on the Family. We know what happened that day and we know we are the heirs of the work done by such a great Pastor, by the "good shepherd who offers his life for his sheep" (John 10,11).
The next international session will be held on next November 28th, at 12 A.M. Rome time.
I would like to once again address my heartfelt thanks to the eminent prelates, theologians and professors who have spoken today.
From the Holy See, October 29th 2003