ADDRESSES, DISCOURSES, MESSAGES

ADDRESS TO THE 2008 GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE ITALIAN BISHOPS CONFERENCE, 5/29/08


At noon on 5/29/08, the Holy Father met with the General Assembly of the Italian bishops conference (CEI) at the Vatican's Synod Hall. Before addressing them, the Pope visited the exhibit set up in the Atrium of the Aula Paolo VI to mark the 40th anniversary of Avvenire, the CEI newspaper. Here is a translation of the Holy Father's address:





Dear brother bishops of Italy,

This is the fourth time during which I have the joy of meeting you gathered for your General Assembly, to reflect with you on the mission of the Church in Italy and the life of this beloved nation.

I greet your president, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, and I thank him most sincere;y for the kind words that he addressed to me in your name. I greet all the vice presidents and the Secretary General. And I greet each of you with the affection that comes from knowing that we are all members of the one mystical Body of Christ and are participants together in the same mission.

I wish first of all to congratulate you for having placed at the center of your agenda a reflection on how to promote the encounter of young people with the Gospel, and concretely, on the fundamental questions of evangelization and education of the new generations.

In Italy as in many other countries, what we have called a true and proper 'educative emergency' has emerged quite forcefully. In fact, when a society lives within a culture marked by pervasive relativism which is often aggressive, then the basic certainties seem to be unimportant - the values and hopes that give sense to life. Both among parents and among teachers, the temptation becomes widespread to renounce one's own task, and even before that, not to understand anymore what their own role and mission is.

Therefore, the children, adolescents and young people - although they may be surrounded by many attentions and even perhaps excessively protected from the trials and difficulties of life - ultimately feel left alone to face the great questions that they inevitably harbor within, as well as the expectations and challenges which they feel looming over their future.

For us bishops, our priests, catechists and the entire Christian community, the educative emergency takes on a more precise face: transmitting the faith to the new generations.

Even here - and in a certain sense, especially in this respect - we should measure ourselves against the obstacles interposed by relativism, by a culture that places God within parentheses and which discourages any choice that is truly demanding, particularly the definitive choices, in favor of self-affirmation and immediate self-gratification in the different areas of life.

To face such difficulties, the Holy Spirit has already inspired in the Church many evangelical charisms and energies, which are particularly lively in Italian Catholicism. It is our task as bishops to welcome these new forces with joy, to support them, promote their maturation, guide and direct them so that they may always stay within the great riverbed of the faith and the church community.

Besides that, we should give a more outstanding profile to evangelization in the many forms and occasions of encounter that we have with the world of young people - in the parishes, oratories, and schools, particularly Catholic schools - and in many other places were they gather together.

Most important, above all, obviously, are personal relationships with them, especially in sacramental confession and in spiritual guidance. Each of these occasions is an opportunity for us to make our children and young people get to know the face of that God who is man's true friend.

The big meetings with them, such as what we experienced in Loreto last September, and that which we will have in Sydney this July, with the presence of many young people from Italy, are the communal, public and festive expression of that expectation, that love and that confidence in Christ and the Church that must be rooted in the spirit of the young.

These meetings are a time to harvest the fruit of our daily pastoral work. At the same time, they help us breathe fully the universality of the Church and the brotherhood that should unite all nations.

Even in the wider social context, the actual educative emergency itself increases the demand for an education which is truly that: therefore, concretely, it calls for educators who can be credible witnesses of that reality and those values on which it is possible to build both personal existence as well as plans for a life that is shared and lived in common with others.

This demand, that comes from the social body and which involves the children and young people no less than their parents and educators, constitutes in itself the premise and the start for a course of rediscovery and recovery which, in forms adapted to present times, place at the center once again the full and integral formation of the human being.

How can we not, in this context, say a word about those specific places of formation that schools are? In a democratic state, which prides itself on promoting free initiative in every field, it does not seem justified to exclude church institutions involved in education from adequate support.

It is, in fact, legitimate to ask whether the quality of teaching would not benefit from the stimulating competition among different formative centers inspired by multiple popular elements - each respecting a curriculum prescribed and valid for all, while concerned with interpreting the educative choices made by individual families. Everything indicates that such a competition would not fail to produce beneficial effects.

Dear brother bishops of Italy, it is not only in the most important field of education, but in its overall situation that Italy now needs to come out of a difficult period, in which social and economic dynamism appear to have weakened, confidence in the future diminished, and in its place, a growing sense of insecurity because of the poor conditions of so many families, with the resulting tendency for each one to be closed off in his own concerns.

It is precisely with an awareness of this context that we note with particular joy the signs of a new climate in the country that is more confident and constructive. It is linked to the emergence of more tranquil relations among political forces and institutions, by virtue of a more sincere perception of common responsibilities for the future of the nation.

What is comforting is that this perception seems to be widening into popular opinion, and to all social categories. The desire is widespread to carry on, to resolve together at least the most urgent and serious problems in order to pave the way for a new season of growth, not only economic but also civic and moral.

Obviously, this climate must be consolidated because it could well evaporate if it is not matched by any concrete result. But in itself it already represents a precious resource, which it is the task of everyone, according to his own role and responsibility, to preserve and to reinforce.

As bishops, we cannot fail to give our own specific contribution so that Italy may have a new season of progress and concord, fruit of the energies and impulses deriving from its great Christian history.

To this end, we must above all affirm and bear direct witness to our ecclesiastical community and to the entire Italian people that even if there are so many problems to face, the fundamental problem of man today remains the question of God.

No human or social problem can truly be solved if God does not return to the center of our life, Only by an encounter with the living God, source of that hope which changes us within and which does not disappoint (Rom 5,5) is it possible to find once again a strong and sure confidence in life and give consistency and vigor to our plans for good.

I wish to repeat to you, dear Italian bishops, what I said last April 16 to our brother bishops in the United States: "As announcers of the Gospel and leaders of the Catholic community, you are called upon to take part even in the exchange of ideas in the public arena, in order to help shape adequate cultural attitudes."

In the context of a healthy and well understood secularity, it is necessary to resist every tendency to consider religion, in particular Christianity, as a fact that is merely private: rather, the perspectives born from our faith can offer a fundamental contribution to clarifying and solving the major social and moral problems in Italy and Europe today.

Rightly, you are dedicating great attention to the family founded on matrimony, to promote a pastoral ministry that is up to the challenges it must face, to encourage the affirmation of a culture that is favorable and not hostile to the family and to human life, as much as you must ask public institutions to have a consistent and organic policy that acknowledges the central role that the family plays in society , particularly in the generation and education of children. Italy has a great and urgent need for such a policy.

Likewise strong and constant must be our commitment to the dignity adn protection of human life at every moment and in every condition, from conception to the embryonic stage to situations of sickness and suffering up to natural death.

Nor can we close our eyes and keep quiet in the face of the poverty, difficulties and social injustices that afflict a great part of mankind and require the generous commitment of everyone, a commitment that should extend to all needy persons even if they are unknown to us.

Of course, the willingness to come to their aid should be manifested in respect of the laws that are intended to assure the orderly course of social life within a state, as well as with regard to those who come into the state from other places.

It is not necessary for me to make this proposal more concrete: you, along with your dear priests, know full well the concrete and real situations out there because you live among your people.

It is therefore an extraordinary opportunity for the Church in Italy to be able to use the means of information which can convey its concerns and positions in the public debate in a manner that is certainly free and autonomous but in a spirit of sincere sharing.

I rejoice with you at the 40th anniversary of the founding of the newspaper Avvenire and I sincerely hope that it will continue to gain in readership.

I am also happy at the publication of a new Italian translation of the Bible, and for the copy that you presented me. It fits very well into our preparations for the coming Synod of Bishops which will reflect on "The Word of God int he life and mission of the Church".

Dearest brother bishops of Italy, I assure you of my nearness and constant remembrance in my prayers. I impart with great affection the apostolic blessing on each of you, your Churches and the entire Italian nation.