The August 11-12 issue of L'Osservatore Romano
features the Holy Father's message calling for
a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Georgia
The issue contaisn the full text of the Holy Father's Angelus messages, as well as his extemporaneous remarks at the ceremony at which he was conferred honorary citizenship by the city of Bressanone, translated below:
REMARKS OF THE HOLY FATHER
AT CONFERMENT OF HONORARY CITIZENSHIP
He began in German -
Excellency, Mr. Regional President, Mr. Mayor,
Members of the City Council, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends!
The honor given me by the city of Brixen through the conferment of honorary citizenship is a great joy for me, which I accept with heartfelt thanks and which will accompany me for the rest of my life.
Thus, I am no longer just at home in Brixen 'in my heart' but also legally, and now belong to its citizenry. So even when I will not be able to come here in person, I would always be legally here.
That I am often here in my heart, I do not really need to tell you. My most heartfelt thanks! Also to the choir who have confirmed and transformed to reality the beautiful words they sang.
When, in the past, I would come from the north, travelling on the Brenner highway towards Brixen, it was always a moving moment for me to come into the valley when the towers of Brixen first become visible - this city, surrounded by vineyards and orchards, nestled between the mountains, full of history and beauty.
Then I would know: this is a good place to be! Then I would know that I had chosen the right place, and that from here I could return to my tasks with new strength.
In Brixen, as has been pointed out, I have written a great part of my books, but here I have also relaxed, I have found friends, and above all, I have acquired memories to carry with me.
And this is a beautiful thing - that I can wander through Brixen in the landscape of memories, and therefore when I am back in Rome, I can always walk through Brixen in my memories and be here again to relax and to be restored.
Above all, Brixen has become important to me - as you, Mr. Mayor has so beautifully and profoundly presented it - as a place of encounter, of the encounter of cultures. In three languages - Italian, German and Ladino - different cultures meet here, and such an encounter of cultures, which we need so much today, has a history in Brixen.
We know that it is not always easy but it is always fruitful and rewarding, that it helps us all and makes us richer, more open and more human.
He switches to Italian:
Bressanone is for me a place of encounters: en encounter of cultures; an encounter between healthy secularity and a joyous Catholic faith; between a great history and the present as well as the future. We see that this history, which is rvery much present and tangible here, is not an obstacle to formation, to dynamisn, to the vitality of the present and the future; on the contrary, it inspires and dynamizes.
It is also an encounter between Christian roots and the spirit of modernity, which only together can construct a society truly worthy of the name, of a truly human society.
He concludes in German:
For me, Brixen is in this sense a European model, a truly European city, with Christian roots and a Christian identity, which do not imprison us. On the contrary, they make us open to others, they enable us to have communion in encounter, and give us the standards and the values to live by.
My hearfelt thanks goes to all of you, and I wish you all God's blessing. May the Lord continue to protect this beautiful city and help her to build a great, beautiful and human future. Many thanks!
The site of the city of Bressanone has some more pictures of the event:
And this was the front page today (8/11) of ALTO ADIGE, which gave prominent play to the Pope's message on peace.
A couple more photos out of sequence:
At the Angelus on 8/10.
Either from after the 8/10 Angelus, or after the meeting with the clergy on 8/6.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/08/2008 04:41]