Speeches 1984


                                                           January 1984

ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO H.E. MR JOHN GEORGE McARTHUR

AMBASSADOR OF NEW ZEALAND TO THE HOLY SEE

Thursday, 12 January 1984



Mr Ambassador,

I am happy to welcome Your Excellency to the Vatican as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of New Zealand. In receiving this accreditation for the second time, you are aware, I am sure, of the high regard which the Holy See has for this service that you undertake. I am confident that your stay will contribute to a strengthening of the already existing bonds of friendship and collaboration.

I am grateful for your reference to the Catholic Church’s availability to assist in the search for solutions to the critical problems that confront our contemporary society. The themes of peace, human rights and development upon which you have reflected are constant preoccupations of the Church, touching as they do so immediately upon the ability of individuals to realize their potential as children of God and members of the human family.

As you have noted, the destiny of nations is so tightly interwoven that the social, political and economic events of one country soon affect, for good or ill, the well-being of other nations. The assistance that your Government provides to developing countries, to which you have just referred, is a positive sign of this mutual interdependence. Such aid reflects not only a sense of justice in striving to rectify an imbalance of natural or technical resources, but it also manifests a spirit of fraternity, a willingness to promote the welfare of others.

Programmes such as these, when rooted in respect and concern, provide a solid foundation for peace among nations. Yet, an atmosphere of concord and harmony can only be established when the rights of all individuals are upheld and defended. Unfortunately, the threat of war, domination or physical aggression casts a shadow over the future. The continual build-up of modern arms, especially nuclear weapons, and the increasing readiness to resort to violence, reduce the material resources available for human development and create a climate of distrust, suspicion and fear. And as I recently indicated in my Message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, the Church remains always ready to collaborate in promoting dialogue and cooperation among nations to reduce these tensions.

Your diplomatic activities, Mr Ambassador, are aimed at fostering man’s noble destiny as it is influenced by the relationships that exist between the political communities of the modern world. I pray that your mission will be successful and fruitful. Upon you and those whom you represent I invoke the blessings of peace and joy. May God be with you in your important work.





ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE

OF REPRESENTATIVES SELECT COMMITTEE

ON NARCOTICS ABUSE AND CONTROL

Thursday, 19 January 1984



Dear Friends,

It is my pleasure to welcome today the members of the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. As public officials you are charged with promoting and safeguarding the common good of your fellow citizens, and thus it is your task to protect the good of the whole of your society, while at the same time preserving the rights and liberties of the individuals who make up that society.

Hence it is by no means extraneous to your work as public servants to foster social conditions in which individuals may grow and develop in a way commensurate with their human dignity, unencumbered by threats to their authentic realization as persons. Among those factors which menace the individual and impede the growth of a healthy social climate is the problem which brings you together in this assembly: namely, the scourge of narcotics trafficking and drug abuse. Obviously this problem is not unique to the Unites States. The flow of narcotics has reached immense proportions, so that no nation is immune from its debilitating effects.

The Church’s interest and pastoral concern, both for the individuals whose lives are marked by devastating personal tragedies and for the societies which must come to grips with an increasingly dangerous phenomenon, is focused on the crucial role that the family must play in the solution to the problem.

Faced with a world and a society that runs the risk of becoming more and more depersonalized and therefore dehumanizing, with the negative results of many forms of escapism – a principal one being the abuses associated with drugs – the family possesses "formidable energies capable of taking the individual out of his anonymity, keeping him conscious of his personal dignity, enriching him with deep humanity and actively placing him, in his uniqueness and unrepeatibility, within the fabric of society" (IOANNIS PAULI PP.II, Familiaris Consortio FC 43).

The family stands at the very foundation of society, and through its role of service to life is vitally linked to society’s advancement. It provides the primary forum for the fostering of authentic and mature communion between persons, and is the place of origin and the most effective means for humanizing and personalizing society. With the conviction therefore that the good of the family is an indispensable value for the civic community, the Church encourages the public authorities to do everything possible to ensure that families have all the help that they need in order to fulfill their responsibilities.

I would invite you this morning to favour unhesitatingly all initiatives which aim at strengthening the family in American society (Ibid.). As you try to make your fellow citizens more and more conscious of the dangers of drug abuse; as you promote legislation, on the national and international level, which seeks to draw up a comprehensive plan of deterrence against trafficking in narcotics, may you ever strive to meet the needs of the family, for it is a key element in establishing stable, loving relationships and in offering to every person the support needed for a fulfilling life.

May Almighty God bless you in your efforts.



ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO H.E. MR MAURICE OSCAR ST JOHN

AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

TO THE HOLY SEE

Friday, 4 January 1984



Mr Ambassador,

As you present the Letters accrediting you as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Vatican and to thank you for the good wishes you have conveyed from His Excellency the President and from the Prime Minister. I ask that you kindly extend my warmest greetings to them and assure them of my prayers for all the people of your nation.

You come as the first Ambassador of your country to the Holy See. For this reason today is a particularly happy one for us, for it marks the beginning of closer collaboration while it is a sign of the good relations which we already enjoy. You have made reference, Your Excellency, to the defence of human rights and to the promotion of justice, peace and fraternal collaboration. Common efforts taken to achieve these goals are indeed of great importance for peoples of every nation and for the international community as a whole. In this, diplomatic relations between countries have a special role to play, the role of fostering dialogue and of seeking to forge ever stronger bonds of understanding and trust.

I am pleased that you have referred to the significant contribution which the Church in Trinidad and Tobago has made to the educational, social and cultural development of the nation. The Church always seeks to cooperate with men and women of good will in whatever contributes to integral human development and the betterment of society. Such cooperation is facilitated by countries such as yours, which provide in their Constitutions for freedom of conscience and of religious belief and observance. And I would assure you that the Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago wishes to continue to collaborate in these worthy endeavours while, at the same time, she pursues her primary mission of proclaming the saving message of Jesus Christ.

Mr Ambassador, as you assume your diplomatic functions, I promise you the full cooperation of the Holy See for the successful accomplishment of your mission. I ask Almighty God to grant you health and happiness in your work and to bless all the people of your country with prosperity and enduring peace.

ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE INDEPENDENT COMMISSION

ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

Saturday, 21 January 1984



Dear Friends,

1. It is a pleasure for me to welcome today the members of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues, under the Chairmanship of Mr Willy Brandt, and the Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues, chaired by Mr Olof Palme. These two Commissions have brought together experts and leaders from around the world, with an impressive experience in various fields, in order to study some of the major problems of contemporary civilization.

Your two Commissions have examined questions which contain many of the important challenges that humanity must face at the end of this millennium. Your coming together here in Rome provides me with an opportunity to emphasize again the necessary links that exist between the two sets of problems which each Commission has addressed, and between the solutions both to the North-South questions and to the problems existing in the East-West context.

On several occasions, especially in my Message for this year’s World Day of Peace, and in my address to the Diplomatic Corps, I have called the attention of world leaders and people of every walk of life to the interconnection of these two great concerns.

2. Any endeavour to contribute to the establishing of a more just and fraternal international order must take into account the reality of the present world. Today, the challenges and the problems which affect people everywhere transcend national and even regional boundaries. No longer can leaders of nations shape their policies solely with regard to their own national interests. Decisions made for the good of a country or region in the economic, social and political sphere necessarily affect other peoples, nations and regions. If today "the social question has become worldwide" (Pauli VI, Populorum Progressio PP 3), then the concrete programmes of nations and regions must spring from a conscious awareness of that fact and seek to measure, from the beginning, the impact these projects will have on the peoples and nations directly and indirectly affected. There is no question that the means and the skills are available; it is the task of leaders today to utilize them and to show to their people how this global outlook is ultimately the best guarantee for themselves and for the other peoples of the world.

There are very complex technical, scientific, social and political factors that must be addressed, each with its own proper importance, if the current world situation is to be improved. We would be deluding ourselves to think that some simple universal formula could be applied that would rectify the situation and restore a world order of justice, fraternity and peace. The answers to problems have to be worked out carefully and put into operation patiently. They have to be tested and checked to ensure that they respond to needs and are truly adequate solutions. Such work demands the best from a vast array of experts working together for the common good. It means correcting the systems where needed or even building new structures where they are called for.

3. However, there is yet a deeper aspect that cannot be ignored. For there are inner exigencies in each of these initiatives that must be attended to, and to which I would like to draw your attention today. This is what I Meant when I said in this year’s Peace Day Message: "Humanity’s helplessness to resolve the existing tensions reveals that the obstacles, and likewise the hopes, come from something deeper than the systems themselves" (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Nuntius ob diem I mensis Ianuarii anni MCMLXXXIV, paci inter nationes fovendae dicatum,1, die 8 dec. 1983 : Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI, 2 (1983) 1280). No system is capable of satisfying all the yearnings of the human heart. Every system is subject to growth or decline because it is subject to the aspirations of the human beings which control it. For this reason, it is paramount that everyone recognize that the structures we seek to correct or create must be capable of advancing the freedom and dignity of the individuals and the peoples involved.

This means that man can never be reduced to an object, or to a single dimensional reality as "homo oeconomicus" or "homo faber". It likewise means that man must be kept at the centre of every project so that the structures we build or reform will permit the greatest amount of freedom and dignity for every person affected by the institution. Implicit in this is the vision of man as transcendent and transcending, as developing himself through a growth that brings him outside himself, of realizing his own potential through participating with his brothers and sisters in community, and ultimately through the achievement of his relationship to God who is the Father of us all and the ultimate source of each person’s life and dignity.

If the leaders and shapers of our societies at the end of this millennium keep before their eyes this image of every man in his full potential, then groups like yours will have a greater possibility of contributing to a just sharing of the earth’s resources in a community of nations that have learned to live in harmony and peace. For this noble goal, I commend your efforts and offer the assurance of my prayers for their success.

ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN

OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY


Wednesday, 25 January 1984




Dear Friends,

I extend a cordial welcome to the Vatican to all of you today: the Officers and Men of the United States Navy stationed aboard the USS Kennedy. I have been informed of your service in the Middle East – a service performed in relation to the excruciating suffering that Lebanon is undergoing.

I know that what you have experienced as part of a Mission of Peace will have lasting effects in your own lives. You have been close to the evil of hatred and its worst expression, which is war. At the same time you have shared the dream of countless ordinary and upright people for peace and reconciliation, and for that harmony and brotherhood which transcend all diversity and differences.

Your own presence was intended to help create conditions to favour peace. Responding to an invitation of the Lebanese Government, you and Peace Force members from other countries endeavoured to offer the collaboration of peace to a war-torn zone.

And I am sure that your own desire to see peace and fraternal cooperation flourish will be confirmed here in Rome. For here you are witnesses, together with fellow pilgrims from all over the world, to the constructive power inherent in the unity of the one human family: the power to live together, to work together and together to look upwards to the God and Father of us all. Dear friends, may the fatherhood of God enable you to understand ever better the brotherhood of man and the harmony and love which must characterize all human relationships. And may God’s love touch the hearts of all of you today.



ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO H.E. MR SAYED YOUSIF MUKHTAR YOUSIF

AMBASSADOR OF THE SUDAN TO THE HOLY SEE

Saturday, 28 January 1984



Mr Ambassador,

It gives me much pleasure to welcome Your Excellency to the Vatican today as I receive the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Republic of The Sudan. I wish to reciprocate the good wishes that you have brought from His Excellency President Nimeiri and I ask that you convey to him and to the people of your nation the assurance of my affection and esteem for them.

I appreciate the reference you have made in your address to the "common heritage of freedom of religion" and the "attachment to the great values of dialogue, tolerance and respect of human dignity" that have bound the Sudanese people to their homeland. The measure by which a nation is judged in human history depends to a high degree on its ability to nurture and sustain these values in the lives of its citizens.

Amidst the diversity of religious belief that characterizes a large country such as your own, there exists a continuing challenge to promote the common good in positive and fruitful ways, while at the same time protecting and defending the rights and duties of every individual. This can be a demanding task, but it remains one of the noblest endeavours for which one can labour.

It is my deep hope that, whatever ethnic, religious or cultural differences may exist, the Government and people of The Sudan will always exercise careful vigilance in safeguarding the dignity and rights of every person. Everyone is a child of God. Everyone must be afforded the freedom to worship God, privately or publicly, according to the deep and personal convictions of the heart. And everyone must be free to express those convictions without fear of recrimination.

You have alluded to the serious economic and social troubles which confront the world community today. Yet I believe that it is precisely in difficult times that the living testimony of a single nation to the values of dialogue, tolerance and respect for human dignity can inspire others to follow its example. I pray that The Sudan will ever bear such witness before the whole human family.

I express once again my greetings and good wishes for Your Excellency and for the people of your country. I assure you that the important mission assigned to you will receive the interest and cooperation of the Holy See. May God bless you in this undertaking.



Fébruary 1984

ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

TO H. E. MR ABDUL WADOOD Y. M. AL-JADDOUA

AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ TO THE HOLY SEE

Friday, 3 February 1984



Mr Ambassador,

I am pleased to welcome you here today to accept the Letters of Credence accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Iraq to the Holy See. I am grateful for the greetings which you have conveyed from His Excellency President Saddam Hussain, and I would ask you to assure him of my ardent prayers for your country.

In my message for the World Day of Peace on 1 January, I drew attention to the fact that "the contemporary world is, as it were, imprisoned in a web of tensions". At times, these tensions become so great that they explode in unrelenting wars, which are a source of unspeakable destruction and suffering for all involved. I also pointed out that sometimes in these events "the protagonists experience great difficulty, not to say helplessness, in halting this process, in finding ways to reduce these tensions by means of concrete steps towards de-escalation..." (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Nuntius ob diem I mensis Ianuarii anni MCMLXXXIV paci inter nationes fovendae diocatum, 1, die 8 dec. 1983: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI, 2 (1983) 1279).

It is my earnest hope and prayer, Mr Ambassador, that conditions will prevail in the near future which will permit a return to peace and tranquility in your region; that a path will be found leading beyond the causes of tensions to a new understanding and to fresh possibilities of peace.

As I also indicated in the World Day of Peace Message, we "must refuse to give in to fatalism and discouragement" (Ivi, Conclusio: loc. cit., p. 1288). May Almighty God lead the parties in conflict to a just peace.

Mr Ambassador, I give you the assurance of my constant prayer for all the citizens of your country. Among them there are also the members of the Catholic community, belonging as they do to various rites which have a long and venerable history, and which pride themselves on their national identity. They too are anxious to contribute fully, on an equal footing with all other citizens, to the progress and development of their country in a spirit of love and service sustained by their religious faith.

Finally, I also invoke divine blessings upon Your Excellency, that you may experience happiness and fulfilment in your diplomatic mission as representative of Iraq to the Holy See.




TO THE BISHOPS OF THE PACIFIC AREA

ON THEIR «AD LIMINA» VISIT


Monday, 13 February 1984




Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

1. As bishops we are gathered together today in Christ Jesus to pay homage to the wonderful works of God that have been accomplished in the history of your peoples. Ours is a celebration of the present moment, which recalls the past and looks to the future with immense hope, while we firmly trust that "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion" (Fhil 1, 6).

The power that we experience in the celebration of our sacramental collegiality is the power of Jesus Christ, "the chief Shepherd" (1 Petr 5, 4) of the Church, who through his Holy Spirit has directed the course of your local Churches, and brought you to this day. Yes, the person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son of the eternal Father and the Son of Mary, is the explanation of your history and of the ecclesial reality that exists all throughout the vast expanses of Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia. To understand your history it is necessary to understand the power of the name of Jesus, the efficacy of his precious blood and the action of his Holy Spirit. The reality of the local Churches which you represent can be perceived only when the meaning of Christ’s sacrificial and saving love is grasped.

2. As we commemorate what has taken place through faith since the implantation of the Church among you, we see the realization of Christ’s prophetic words: "He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do" (Jn 14,12). With the past achievements - these "greater works" - before our eyes, I wish publicly today, in the name of Christ and his Church, to express a debt of gratitude for the zeal with which the Gospel has been preached and lived and communicated in your midst. It is a debt of gratitude to the first missionaries who, in the spirit of Saint Peter Chanel, lived and died with one intention: "That the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph" (2Th 3,1). We are for ever grateful both to the individuals who gave their lives for the Gospel and to the religious Institutes that faithfully honoured their sacred corporate commitment to evangelization. And this gratitude extends today to all who collaborate with you, the Bishops, in continuing a work begun in the power of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. My thoughts turn to the successors of the heroic pioneers and to all the priests, deacons, brothers and sisters, catechists, prayer leaders and those especially committed to the word of God.

3. The contributions of the past have been enormous: the Church has been implanted and humanity has been advanced through the most authentic of human services. The Gospel has been brought to bear on the noble cultures of your peoples, and it continues to offer its original contribution to society, uplifting lives and directing to a higher destiny everything that is precious in them, such as human love, marriage and the family. This inculturation of the Gospel, despite imperfections and limitations, means that Christ has in fact become, in his members, Micronesian, Polynesian and Melanesian. Christ is alive in all those living by his grace; he is alive in all the communities founded on his Gospel and dispersed throughout your immense ocean.

The history of your people and their evangelization speaks clearly about the living Jesus and his mission. Everything finds meaning in Jesus, who says: "I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God . . . because that is what I was sent to do" (Lc 4,43). In the evangelization of your people, the Church exercised her own essential mission and found her own deepest identity. And because of the results of evangelization, the Church - both local and universal - feels the need to praise God for what has been done and, in the words of Saint Peter, to "declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Petr 2, 9). What in effect took place was the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ and the initial establishment of the Kingdom of God. This involved an explicit proclamation of the name, the teaching, the life, the promise and the mystery of Christ (cf. Pauli VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi EN 22). And with this there came the transforming of human hearts, together with the liberating and purifying encounter of cultures with the Gospel of Christ. At every juncture of your history there were also visible those profound links between evangelization and human advancement as willed by Christ and exemplified in his own ministry. And taking into account the unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man’s concrete life, evangelization likewise meant speaking about "the rights and duties of every human being, about family life . . ., about life in society, about international life, peace, justice and development . . ." (cf. Ibid. 29). And for all of this in your history we praise God and express our joy today: "The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many isles be glad" (Ps 97,1).

4. The same power of Jesus and of his Holy Spirit that worked marvels of grace in your past sustains you today in everything you do to bring the Gospel into the daily lives of your people. Your efforts, your perseverance despite difficulties and all your pastoral initiatives are performed in union with Jesus Christ. It is he who stirs up vocations, so important for the very life of your ecclesial communities. It is he who wills your pastoral solicitude for promoting vocations and assists you in your care for the seminarians, especially in the important regional Major Seminary at Suva. The grace of Christ supports you and those who work with you in all your important apostolates, such as maintaining Catholic schools, providing religious teaching and catechetical instruction, building communities of faith, preparing the young people for their future, and assisting the laity to assume ever more effectively their rightful role in evangelization. And Christ’s special grace will never be lacking to your brother priests in their ministry of generous service and in their lives of consecrated celibacy.

Your own Episcopal Conference reflects in a remarkable way the unity of Christ’s Church. In the diversity that you represent you reflect the composition of the Church herself, taken from "every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (Ap 5,9). As Bishops you are called to promote this Catholic unity in all its dimensions of truth and love. Your own local Churches in their openness towards the universal Church and in their communion with her honour and praise the Lord Jesus who died "to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11,52). At the same time you and your people are called to pray and work ardently for that perfect unity of all Christians, in faith and charity, which is the will of God and the object of Christ’s prayer, and which, therefore, is possible in God’s good time.

Your local Churches, which grow and struggle and hope in the living God, are a sign of the vitality of the universal Church which subsists in them. An expression of this vitality is the mystery of reconciliation that is sacramentally renewed among your faithful. Having received the reconciliation effected by Christ’s blood, your local Churches are called to live this reconciliation to the full in the concrete circumstances of daily life. Reconciliation is the Christian response to the alienation that may occur between individuals, in families or in other groups. It is likewise the Christian response to the larger social and political tensions that may disturb peaceful relations in society. Together with reconciliation comes the will to work together for the common good. Every application of reconciliation has special relevance in this Jubilee Year of the Redemption. Every act of reconciliation pays homage to the blood of Jesus.

5. Pour ce qui est de l’avenir de vos Eglises particulières, nous sommes pleinement fondés à faire confiance à la puissance de Jésus-Christ, qui est “le même hier, aujourd’hui et pour l’éternité” (Hebr 13, 8). Le trésor de l’évangélisation n’est pas seulement le grand héritage du passé, mais il vous engage pour l’avenir. La semence de la parole de Dieu a déjà produit une moisson abondante dans la vie des chrétiens. Et pourtant l’action de l’évangélisation doit être consolidée, nourrie et développée. Les communautés chrétiennes doivent être amenées à rejoindre la pleine maturité dans le Christ à travers la prière, la participation aux sacrements et la vie de charité. Il faut encore que les cultures soient imprégnées plus profondément par les richesses inépuisables de la révélation de Dieu concernant la création et la Rédemption. L’Eglise a un devoir capital de pourvoir aux besoins de ceux qui ont reçu la foi et qui ont été en contact durant des générations avec la foi, mais qui éprouvent la nécessité d’un appui pour cette foi au milieu des obstacles que rencontre leur vie chrétienne et étant donné le sécularisme qui est si répandu dans le monde moderne.

Par conséquent l’Eglise doit prendre à nouveau conscience de continuer l’évangélisation! L’Eglise a besoin de poursuivre une action organique et continue pour soutenir la foi des croyants. Cette action n’est autre qu’une catéchèse remplie de la vitalité de l’Evangile et exprimée dans un langage adapté aux gens dans les circonstances particulières de leur vie.

Je prie pour que l’avenir de vos Eglises particulières soit profondément marqué par des initiatives catéchétiques qui poursuivent avec zèle “le double objectif de faire mûrir la foi initiale et d’éduquer le vrai disciple du Christ par le moyen d’une connaissance plus approfondie et plus systématique de la personne et du message de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ” (Ioannis Pauli II , Catechesi Tradendae CTR 19). Pour vos communautés ecclésiales, l’objet de tout programme catéchétique est de communiquer le mystère du Christ toujours plus profondément et de mettre les personnes en contact, en communion et en intimité avec Jésus-Christ, et, par lui, avec lui et en lui, de faire participer toujours davantage à la vie de la Trinité sainte (Ivi, 5).

Comme Evêques, vous êtes les catéchistes par excellence, chargés, en union avec le Pape, de la responsabilité première de la catéchèse dans vos diocèses et d’une façon générale dans l’Eglise. Une part de votre service et de votre responsabilité de pasteurs est d’amener les fidèles à se rendre compte de leur propre responsabilité dans la participation à la tâche exaltante de communiquer le Christ et de faire que sa parole soit toujours plus profondément agissante dans la vie des autres. J’ai essayé de souligner cet aspect important dans ma première encyclique en disant: “Il faut viser toujours davantage à ce que les différentes formes de la catéchèse . . . manifestent la participation universelle de tout le peuple de Dieu à la fonction prophétique du Christ lui-même” (Ioannis Pauli PP. II , Redemptor Hominis RH 19). Ils sont dignes d’être cités spécialement et encouragés, les catéchistes zélés qui consacrent leur vie à la mission catéchétique de l’Eglise. Leurs noms sont inscrits dans le Livre de la Vie et le Seigneur lui-même sera leur récompense.

Chers Frères dans le Christ, le passé, le présent et l’avenir de vos diocèses sont liés au mystère du Christ qui est vivant et agissant dans son Corps, l’Eglise. Que sa présence et sa vie soient communiquées toujours davantage, tel est bien l’objet de toute votre sollicitude et de toutes vos activités! Mais comme toute évangélisation et toute maturation de la foi à travers la catéchèse sont directement liées à l’action de l’Esprit Saint, c’est à lui que nous nous adressons avec une particulière dévotion en ce moment de votre histoire. C’est vraiment un moment spécial pour l’Eglise à Tahiti qui célèbre cette année le 150e anniversaire du début de son évangélisation. Mais c’est aussi pour vous tous une invitation à vous consacrer de nouveau à la cause de l’Evangile. Et ce dévouement à l’Evangile doit nécessairement inclure une ouverture à l’amour et à la prière envers l’Esprit Saint qui est la source de toute sainteté et de toute vie dans le Christ. Paul VI nous le rappelait si bien: “Les techniques d’évangélisation sont bonnes, mais les plus perfectionnées ne sauraient remplacer l’action discrète de l’Esprit” (Pauli VI , Evangelii nuntiandi EN 75).

Je prie Marie, qui à travers l’activité de l’Esprit Saint, a conçu le Verbe de Dieu, d’intercéder pour vos populations, afin que, dans l’ouverture au même Esprit, elles parviennent à la plénitude de la vie chrétienne. Puisse l’Esprit Saint promis à l’Eglise continuer pour les générations présentes et futures à porter témoignage à Jésus et à former Jésus dans votre cher peuple!



Speeches 1984