Speeches 2003 - Thursday, 18 December 2003


TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF A DELEGATION OF JURISTS

OF THE "COMMITTEE FOR PROMOTING STUDIES

IN HONOUR OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II"

Friday, 19 December 2003



Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I am very pleased to welcome you today for the presentation of a copy of the volume containing reflections and comments by distinguished proponents of rights on topics of great interest. I thank you because on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of my Pontificate, you wanted to complete this initiative in which 420 jurists from various parts of the world, including illustrious scholars of the Hebrew and Muslim religions, have participated. I join you all in the firm belief that in order to protect the human person and his dignity as well as to work toward the common good of and the harmony among peoples, the only path to take is to enforce the "strength" of the ius, in the dutiful respect of every person regardless of the culture, language and religion to which he or she belongs.

2. This is what I also wanted to emphasize in the Message for the upcoming World Day of Peace, calling to mind at the same time the importance and urgency to teach peace. I truly hope that this work of yours will contribute to highlighting better the fundamental duty of the protection of human rights, the merits but also the limits of globalization, and the value of European integration and of peace.

I thank you once again for your accurate study and as I express fervent best wishes for the upcoming Christmas celebrations and for the New Year, I cordially bless you, your families and your loved ones.




TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS

OF ITALIAN CATHOLIC ACTION


Friday, 19 December 2003




Dear boys and girls of Italian Catholic Action,

This year too you have come to see me for Christmas; thank you for your enjoyable visit. I greet each of you with affection, together with the national President and the Assistant General of your Association. You that are gathered here represent all of your Youth Catholic Action friends, to whom I extend my most heartfelt greeting.

In a few days Christmas will be here, this great celebration that reminds us of the birth of Christ. Two thousand years ago he came into the world to save humanity and continues to come to visit us. May Our Lady, who gave birth to him at Bethlehem, help you to welcome him generously. Christ brings the gift of peace. I ask that you, dear boys and girls, make yourselves messengers of his peace in your families and among your friends.

Returning home, bring my Christmas greetings to your loved ones as well and do not forget to pray for the Pope.

From my heart I bless you!




TO THE CARDINALS, PAPAL HOUSEHOLD

AND ROMAN CURIA

Monday, 22 December 2003



Your Eminences,
Distinguished Members of the Roman Curia and Prelature,

1. As Christmas draws near, the invitation of the liturgy becomes ever more pressing: Descendit de caelis Salvator mundi. Gaudeamus!

It is an invitation to spiritual joy, of which the Liturgy explains the reason: "The Saviour came down from Heaven".The Messiah expected and invoked by the Prophets was born in Bethlehem, in a poor grotto: the Son of God became one of us. Mary continues to offer him to the people of every age and every culture: indeed, he was born for the salvation of all.

These are my sentiments at this customary end-of-the-year event to which we look forward. The Cardinal Dean has expressed fervent good wishes to me on your behalf for the imminent festivities against the background of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the Pontificate. I thank him and greet him, as I also greet you, Your Eminences, Bishops and Prelates, embracing in a single act of gratitude and affection the officials and collaborators of the Roman Curia, of the Vicariate of Rome and of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

I am spiritually close to you and grateful for the work you do at the service of the Chair of Peter, each one in accordance with his own talents and responsibilities. May Jesus who is born fill you with his gifts of grace and goodness, and reward you for your daily work, often done in silence and concealment. Please express my sentiments to the priests, Religious and lay people who work with you.

2. I remember the first meeting with the Members of the Roman Curia, which took place on 22 December - just like today - in 1978. Twenty-five years ago!

I would like to tell you straight away, dear brothers, that during these years I have been able to admire with gratitude the intelligence and dedication with which you carry out your service to the Successor of Peter. "Vos estis corona mea (you are my crown)", I said to you at that time with St Paul (cf. Phil Ph 4,1). I gladly repeat it today: "You have become in a very special way my "kinsmen', in accordance with that transcendent and very real communion... which is called and is ecclesial life" (L'Osservatore Romano English edition [ORE], 8 January 1979, p. 6).

How could I have carried out the tasks entrusted to me without your faithful collaboration? I remember with deep gratitude all those who have succeeded one another in past years in their respective offices. I pray every day for those whom the Lord has already called to himself, asking him for the reward they deserve.

3. We all work for one goal: to proclaim the Gospel of Christ for the world's salvation. It is a mission that we want to fulfil with a spirit of faith, willing, if need be, to sacrifice ourselves to the "passio sanguinis" (the out pouring of blood) of which St Augustine speaks. Indeed, as the Bishop of Hippo observes, we are at the service of a flock that is not bought with gold or silver, but with Christ's blood (cf. Sermo 296, 4: Discorsi V, Città Nuova, p. 326).

May we never lack fidelity to the One who has bound us closely to his priesthood! May he alone always be the centre of our life: Christ! With the passing of the years this knowledge grows deeper and deeper within me: Jesus asks us to be his witnesses, concerned solely with his glory and the good of souls.

I wanted to point this out in the Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia as well as in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations Ecclesia in Europa and Pastores Gregis, promulgated in the course of 2003. I aimed at this when I recently published the Apostolic Letter Spiritus et Sponsa on the 40th anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Chirograph for the centenary of the Motu Proprio Tra le Sollecitudini on Sacred Music.

And was it not the love for Christ that prompted the College of Cardinals to meet in October - together with the Presidents of the Bishops' Conferences and the Patriarchs - for a broad and deep reflection on the needs of evangelization today?

Love for Christ also guided the Apostolic Visits that I made this year to Spain, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Slovakia. Lastly, the knowledge of Christ's desire for the unity of believers - "ut unum sint" (Jn 17,22) - was an incentive to build up ecumenical relations with the representatives of the venerable Orthodox Churches, with the Primate of the Anglican Communion and with Leaders of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, especially those working in Europe.

4. Europe! I cannot but observe that this year the European Continent has been through and is continuing to live a crucial phase in its history, while it is extending its boundaries to other peoples and nations. It is important that Europe, enriched down the ages by the treasure of the Christian faith, should strengthen its origins and revive its roots. The most important contribution that Christians are called to make to building the new Europe is first and foremost fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel.

Europe first needs saints and witnesses. The beatification and canonization ceremonies celebrated in the course of the year have made it possible to hold up as outstanding models to imitate several of Europe's sons and daughters. It will suffice to remember Mother Teresa of Calcutta, an icon of the Good Samaritan, who became a messenger of love and peace for everyone, believers and non-believers alike.


5. To be witnesses of peace, educate for peace! This is another particularly urgent commitment for our time, when risks and threats to the serene coexistence of humanity can still be seen gathering on the horizon. The solemn commemoration of the Encyclical Pacem in Terris of Bl. John XXIII in the 40th year after its promulgation revived in us the optimism imbued with Christian hope of that great Pontiff in times that were just as difficult as ours. Peace is still possible today too, and if peace is possible, it is a duty. This is what I wanted to repeat in the Message for the next World Day of Peace.

May the Child of Bethlehem, whom we are preparing to receive in the mystery of Christmas, bring the precious gift of his peace to the world. May Mary obtain this for us, Our Lady to whose Shrine in Pompei I went on pilgrimage last October as the solemn culmination of the Year of the Rosary.

With these sentiments I offer my best wishes to you all for the forthcoming Christmas festivities and for the New Year, and I cordially bless you all. Happy Christmas!


MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II

TO CARDINAL ANGELO SCOLA, PATRIARCH OF VENICE,

FOR THE CENTENARY OF THE ELECTION OF ST PIUS X

TO THE CHAIR OF PETER ON THE OCCASION OF THE FOUNDATION

OF THE ST PIUS X INSTITUTE OF CANON LAW




To my Venerable Brother
Cardinal Angelo Scola
Patriarch of Venice

This year is the centenary of the election as Pope of my venerable Predecessor St Pius X. Among the important initiatives with which this Patriarchate has wished to honour the memory of the Holy Pontiff, Patriarch of Venice from 1893 to 1903, is the creation of the St Pius X Institute of Canon Law - recently established by the Congregation for Catholic Education and aggregated to the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross - which intends to resume the tradition of canon law studies supervised by Patriarch Sarto.

The new Institute belongs to the Studium Generale Marcianum, an initiative with which the Church in Venice desires to deepen and encourage the educational and cultural dimension that is intrinsic to the work of evangelization. During my visit to the Diocese of Venice in 1985, I had the opportunity to recall that "a full harmony exists between this city, rich in culture, and an institution like the university which, in an eminent way through research, considers critically the reality of nature and the historical experience of man in order to enrich its patrimony of values, or to produce new culture, and to transmit this patrimony" (Address to the University Community of Cá Foscari, 17 June 1985; L'Osservatore Romano English edition [ORE], 5 August, p. 11). The Christian community could not fail to respond to this appeal. Through the Studium Generale Marcianum the faithful will be able to make their contribution to scientific research, in teaching and study at the various educational levels, in open and constructive dialogue with all the social and cultural spokespersons. In this way the Church in Venice wishes to respond to the unique civil, cultural and artistic vocation which Providence has entrusted to her in the course of her glorious history.

I hope that today, when the new Europe is endeavouring to give itself an identity, the work of the Studium Generale Marcianum will be able to reaffirm and demonstrate to one and all that the purpose of every culture is man: "Culture is that through which man, as man, becomes more man..." (Address to UNESCO, 2 June 1980, n. 7; ORE, 23 June, p. 9). May faith continue to irrigate the fields of the world to give growth to a civilization worthy of the human being!

From the Vatican, 8 December 2003

JOHN PAUL II








Speeches 2003 - Thursday, 18 December 2003