by

His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal

Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy

THE CHURCH’S ADVISORY BODIES – THE PASTORAL MINISTRY OF SANCTUARIES

The Church as "the church of the living God" (1 Tim. 3,15) is, in Christ, the mystery of God’s redeeming love made manifest in time and in human history. This truth inspires the service of each Christian believer, of each son of the Church, who feels addressed by this common and urgent responsibility: "spreading the kingdom of Christ throughout the earth for the glory of God the Father, to enable all men to share in His saving redemption,(1) and that through them the whole world might enter into a relationship with Christ." (Decree Apostolicam actuositatem, no. 2/a).

No believer can be a passive subject within the Church! This persuasion allows us to suitably introduce the subject of the twenty-fifth international theological videoconference: "The Church’s advisory bodies and the Pastoral Ministry of Sanctuaries".

This subject has been the object of the recent Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Clergy, which, in harmony with the Holy Father’s vibrant and repeated appeals for fulfilling the priority duty of a new evangelisation, wished to reaffirm together with all its members, cum Petro e sub Petro, the will "to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served" (Pastoral Const. Gaudium et spes, no. 3).

"From the mystery of the Church – states the Inter-dicastery Instruction "Ecclesia de mysterio" dated August 15^th 1997- comes the call addressed to all members of the mystic Body that they may actively participate in the mission and edification of God’s People in organic communion, according to the different ministries and charismas" (see Premise).

In this sense, following the fertile path traced by the everlasting Teachings of the Church, and in particular, by the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Congregation intends to offer today, a new opportunity for studying in-depth the theological meditation on the specific sacramental foundation subject to current Canon Law on advisory bodies, diocesan and parish (see CIC canons 511; 536, 537).

The various papers presented by the Theologians will remind us that these bodies, the result of indications provided by the Second Vatican Council, are an important place for ecclesial communion and co-responsibility, where the efforts of all the members of the diocesan and parish community join forces: the efforts of lay faithful, religious people and priests.

The Church feels great joy in experiencing that the Spirit of God, while assisting Pastors in their Teaching and guiding responsibilities, animates all the members of the Christian community, and in particular lay people, called upon to enrich her with their aware, responsible and mature participation.

It is emphasised that these bodies are of an advisory nature and that they are situated and act within the framework of the Church’s sacramental and hierarchic constitution, a constitution of divine law and therefore not reformable. Within the Church the difference "in essence and not only in level" between ordained priesthood compared to baptismal priesthood (Lumen gentium no. 10) cannot and must not be dimmed.

On this subject, during the Audience conceded to the participants in the previously mentioned Plenary Assembly of this Congregation, the Holy Father reminded us that: "Pastors have the duty of training, supporting and sanctifying God’s People…Legitimate Pastors, in exercising their office, should never be considered simply as those implementing decisions deriving from majority opinions expressed in the ecclesial assembly. The Church’s structure cannot be perceived following political models that are only human. Her hierarchic constitution is based in Christ’s will, and as such is part of the depositum fidei, that must be preserved and passed on integrally throughout the centuries" (John Paul II, Speech made on January 10^th 2004, nos. 2,3). There is no spirit of communion if there is not loyalty to Christ and to the constitution of the Church, just as Christ whished it to be!

And it is precisely in this perspective of a christocentric ecclesiology of communion that there is also the subject of the pastoral ministry of Sanctuaries, privileged meeting places for the homo viator with the Word made Flesh, for the pilgrim yearning to contemplate Christ’s features: and this is made possible by His holy ministers. He is in fact He who in Sanctuaries, through the priestly ministry, lives and moves towards each living being "of every nationality, race, people and language" (Ap 7,9).

During the speeches that will follow, we will today be able to rediscover that Christ is present on the path of pilgrims through the catechesis and preaching of priests, and in particular through the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist, continuously implementing His universal call to conversion and sanctity of life, and offering all pilgrims the joyous experience of God the Father’s merciful love.

The pilgrim therefore becomes an icon of life, of the true redeeming Life: "We sing as travellers – exhorted Saint Augustine – Sing, but walk…What does walking mean? Travelling forward in goodness, progressing in sanctity…Sing and walk! Do not abandon the road, do not look back, and do not stop! Turn towards the Lord!" (see Sermo 256, 2.3). Rome and Jerusalem, two focal points for all the Sanctuaries in the world, holy places to which all the faithful, through the pastoral ministry of all the particular Churches and parishes, must be guided with ever increasing hope!

In thanking, as always, all those invited to speak, I wish to remind you that they will speak through a live link-up from ten countries in the five continents. Meditations will held from Rome, from the Head Offices of the Congregation for the Clergy, by Professor Jean Galot, Professor Bruno Forte, Professor Antonio Miralles and Professor Paolo Scarafoni.

There will also be papers from New York by Professor Michael Hull, from Manila by Professor José Vidamor Yu; from Taiwan by Profrssor Louis Aldrich; from Johannesburg by Professor Stuart Bate; from Bogotà by Professor Silvio Cajiao; from Regensburg by H.E. Professor Gerhard Ludwig Müller; from Sydney by H.E. Professor Julian Porteus; from Madrid Professor Alfonso Carrasco Rouco; and from Moscow Professor Igor Kowalewsky.