ANGELUS OF 6/15/08, BRINDISI
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's remarks before the noonday Angelus at Brindisi port on Sunday, June 15.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Before concluding this celebration, I express my acknowledgment to all those who prepared it with such care, animating it with music and song. I thank all those who organized my trip and are contributing so that everything may proceed in the best way. I refer to the various local authorities, the forces of order, volunteers, and you, dear inhabitants of Brindisi.
I invite everyone now, as I do every Sunday, to join me in praying the Angelus.
The place where we find ourselves - the port - is laden with pregnant symbolic significance. Every port speaks of welcome, of refuge, of security; it represents the hoped-for goal after navigation, perhaps long and difficult. But it also means departures, projects and aspirations, for the future.
In particular, the port of Brindisi has a front-line role in communications towards the Mediterranean world and the Middle East, and because of this, it also hosts a base of the United Nations which carries out an important function on the humanitarian level.
From this very evocative place, not far from a place named 'good morning' (Calimera) in Greek, I wish therefore to renew the Christian message of cooperation and peace among all peoples, especially among those who face the Mediterranean sea, ancient cradle of civilization, and those of the Near and Middle East.
And I am pleased to do so with the words that I used two months ago in New York, addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations: "The action of the international community and its institutions, provided they respect the principles that underlie the international order, should never be interpreted as an undesired imposition and a limitation on sovereignty. On the contrary, it is indifference or non-intervention that bring real damage. What is needed is a more profound search for ways to forestall and control conflicts, exploring every possible diplomatic way and paying attention to the faintest signs of dialog or desire for reconciliation" (L'Osservatore Romano, 4/20/08, O. 8).
From this piece of Europe that juts out into the Mediterranean, between East and West, we turn once again to Mary, the Mother who shows us the way - Odegitria - giving us Jesus, the Way of peace. We invoke her ideally with all the titles with which she is venerated in teh shrines of Puglia, and in particular here, from this ancient port, we pray to her as the 'port of salvation' for every man and for all mankind.
May her maternal protection always defend your city and region, Italy, Europe and the whole world from the tempests that threaten the faith and true values, and may she allow the young generations to set forth without fear to face the journey of life with Christian hope. Mary, port of salvation, pray for us!