VATICAN CITY, March 20, 2013, thanks to Zenit.org
Here is the translation of the
address given today by Pope Francis, when he received in audience the fraternal
delegates of churches, ecclesial communities and international ecumenical
bodies, representatives of the Jewish people and of non-Christian religions,
gathered in Rome for the celebration of the official start of his ministry as
Bishop of Rome.
The Holy Father delivered his address after His Holiness
Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, greeted him.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
First of all I thank my Brother Andrew [Bartholomew I] very much
for what he said. Thank you very much! Thank you!
It is a cause for particular joy to meet today with you, delegates
of the Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches and ecclesial
communities of the West. Thank you for having wanted to take part in the
celebration that has marked the beginning of my Ministry as Bishop of Rome and
successor of Peter.
Yesterday morning, during Holy Mass, through your persons I recognized
as spiritually present the communities that you represent. In this
manifestation of faith, I seemed to experience in an even more urgent way the
prayer for unity among believers in Christ and together to see somehow
foreshadowed that full realization, which depends on the plan of God and on our
loyal collaboration.
I begin my Apostolic Ministry in this year which my venerable
predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, with truly inspired insight, proclaimed the
Year of Faith for the Catholic Church. With this initiative, which I want to
continue and hope is a stimulus for the faith journey of all, he wished to mark
the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, proposing
a sort of pilgrimage towards that which is most essential for every Christian:
the personal and transforming relationship with Jesus Christ, Son of God, who
died and rose for our salvation. The heart of the Council’s message resides
precisely in the desire to announce this perennially valid treasure of faith to
the men of our time.
Together with you I cannot forget how much that Council has meant
for the road of ecumenism. I would like to recall the words of Blessed John
XXIII, the 50th anniversary of whose death we will soon commemorate, which he
pronounced in his memorable inauguration speech: “the Catholic Church
considers it her duty to actively seek to fulfill the great mystery of that
unity which Jesus Christ with most ardent prayers beseeched the Heavenly Father
in the imminence of his sacrifice; It enjoys delightful peace, knowing itself
to be intimately United with Christ in those prayers» (AAS 54 [1962], 793).
This is Pope John.
Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all feel
intimately united to the prayer of our Savior in the Last Supper, to his invocation:
ut unum sint. Let us ask the merciful Father to live in fullness that faith
that we received as a gift on the day of our baptism, and to be able to bear
free, courageous and joyful testimony to it. This will be our best service to
the cause of unity among Christians, a service of hope to a world still marked
by divisions, by contrast and rivalry. The more we are faithful to His will, in
our thoughts, words and deeds, the more we will actually and substantially walk
towards unity.
For my part, I wish to assure you, in the wake of my predecessors,
of my determination to continue on the path of ecumenical dialogue and I would
like to thank in advance the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,
for the help that it will continue to offer, in my name, for this noble cause.
I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to bring my cordial greeting and the
assurance of my remembrance in the Lord Jesus to the churches and Christian
communities here represented, and request of you the charity of a special prayer
for my person, to be a pastor according to the heart of Christ.
And now I turn to you distinguished representatives of the Jewish
people, to which we are joined in a very special spiritual bond, since, as the
Second Vatican Council affirms, the Church of Christ acknowledges that “the
beginnings of her faith and her election are already, according to the divine
mystery of salvation, in the Patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets” (Declar.
Nostra aetate, 4). Thank you for your presence and I am confident that, with
the help of the Almighty, we will be able to continue profitably that fraternal
dialogue that the Council advocated (cf. ibid.) and that has actually been
accomplished, bringing many fruits, especially in recent decades.
I then greet and cordially thank you all, dear friends belonging
to other religious traditions; first of all the Muslims, who worship the one
God, living and merciful, and call upon Him in prayer, and all of you. I really
appreciate your presence: in it I see a tangible sign of the will to grow in
mutual esteem and cooperation for the common good of humanity.
The Catholic Church is aware of the importance of promoting
friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions
– I wish to repeat this: promoting friendship and respect between men and women
of different religious traditions – it also attests the valuable work that the
Pontifical Council for interreligious dialogue performs. It is equally aware of
the responsibility that we all have towards this world of ours, towards all of
Creation, that we should love and protect. And we can do much for the sake of
the poorest, those who are weak and who suffer, to promote justice, to promote
reconciliation and to build peace. But, above all, we need to keep alive in the
world the thirst for the absolute, not allowing to prevail a one-dimensional
vision of the human person, according to which man is reduced to what he
produces and consumes: this is this one of the most dangerous pitfalls for our
time.
We know how much violence has been produced in recent history by
the attempt to eliminate God and the divine from the horizon of humanity, and
we experience the value of witnessing in our societies to the original opening
to transcendence that is inherent in the human heart. In this, we feel close
even to all those men and women who, whilst not recognising themselves
belonging to any religious tradition, feel themselves nevertheless to be in
search of truth, goodness and beauty, this truth, goodness and beauty of God,
and who are our precious allies in efforts to defend the dignity of man, in
building a peaceful coexistence among peoples and in guarding Creation
carefully.
Dear friends, thank you again for your presence. To everyone I
extend my cordial and fraternal greeting.
[Translation by Peter Waymel]