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Vatican City,
24th January 2005 (CNA)
- This morning, the Pope received the first
group of Spanish prelates who have just completed
their "ad limina" visit.
In his address, the Pope highlighted that
Spain "is a country of profound Christian roots.
He told them that, “The Church in your
nation has a glorious history of generosity and
sacrifice, of robust spirituality and altruism,
and has offered the universal Church numerous sons
and daughters outstanding for their practice of
heroic virtues or for their witness as martyrs.”
I myself have had the joy of canonizing and
beatifying numerous sons and daughters of Spain.
... The living Christian roots of Spain, as I
highlighted in my last pastoral visit in May 2003,
cannot be pulled up, rather they must continue to
nourish the harmonious development of
society."
John Paul II noted that in their
five-yearly reports the bishops had highlighted
their concern for the vitality of the Church as
well as the challenges and difficulties they have
to face.
Over the last few years, he said, "many
things have changed in the social, economic and
religious field, at times giving rise to religious
indifference and a kind of moral relativism; these
influence Christian practice and consequently
affect social structures themselves."
Referring to the social sphere, the Holy
Father noted that "a lay-inspired mentality is
also spreading, an ideology that leads - with a
greater or lesser degree of awareness - to the
restriction of religious liberty, even promoting
scorn or ignorance of religious matters,
relegating faith to the private sphere and
opposing its public expression.”
This does not form part of the most noble
Spanish tradition, because the mark left by the
Catholic faith in the life and culture of the
Spanish is too deep for them to fall prey to the
temptation to silence it."
Furthermore, he went on, "young people have
the right, from the very beginning of the
formative process, to be educated in the faith.”
The integral education of the youngest
cannot ignore religious education, even in
schools, when the parents ask for it, with an
academic evaluation in keeping with its
importance. For their part, the public authorities
have the duty to guarantee this right to parents
and to ensure the actual conditions for its
effective practice, as laid down in the 1979
Partial Accords between Spain and the Holy See,
which are currently in force."
The Pope went on to talk about the
religious situation, in which, according to the
bishops' reports, there is "serious concern for
the vitality of the Church in Spain, while at the
same time various challenges and difficulties
arise.”
Attentive to the problems and the
expectations of the faithful faced with this new
situation,” the Pope told them, “you as pastors
feel called to remain united in order to make the
presence of the Lord more palpable among men and
women, using the pastoral initiatives most
appropriate to the new realities."
After underlining the need for the
Sacraments "in the development of Christian life"
and the importance of pastors celebrating them
"with dignity and decorum," John Paul II called
for "pastoral activity that promotes a more
assiduous participation of the faithful in the
Sunday Eucharist, which must be experienced not
just as a precept, but rather as a requirement
profoundly inscribed in each Christian's
life."
Referring to the bishops' concern for
priests and seminarians, the Pope affirmed that
priests "are in the front line of evangelization,"
that they have special need of "your care and
pastoral closeness," and that "they must recall
that, in the first instance, they are men of God
and, for that reason, cannot disregard their
spiritual life and permanent formation.”
“... Among the many activities that fill
the day of each priest, the most important is the
celebration of the Eucharist."
The Pope said that "one living hope is the
increase of priestly vocations" and that "no fear
must be felt in proposing this to young people,
then accompanying them at a human and spiritual
level in order for them to discern their
vocational option."
"The Catholic faithful - who are called to
seek the Kingdom of God by concerning themselves
with worldly reality, ordering it according to
divine will - are called to be valiant witnesses
of their faith in the various fields of public
life. ... The young, future of the Church and of
society, must be the special object of your
pastoral concerns."
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