To the service of unity

“Thanks to the sound collaboration between the political community and the Church, made possible through an acknowledgement and respect for the independence and autonomy of each within their particular spheres, a service is rendered to mankind which aims at full personal and social development”. The statement was reiterated by the Pope in the address delivered in Lourdes to the French Bishops, expanding some of the themes of his address at the Elyseé Palace, which focused on “the Christian roots” and proper exercise of the “ laicitè“. The Holy See, confirmed Benedict XVI, “wishes to respect the uniqueness of the French situation”. From this perspective, “drawing attention to France’s Christians roots will permit each inhabitant of the country to come to a better understanding of his or her origin and destiny”. Thus in the words of the Pope, “within the current institutional framework and with the utmost respect for the laws that are in force it is necessary to find a new path, in order to interpret and live from day to day the fundamental values on which the Nation’s identity is built”. Indeed, at the Elyseé Palace the French President “has intimated that this is possible”, affirmed Benedict XVI referring indirectly to the concept of “positive secularity” conveyed by President Sarkozy. “The Church does not claim the prerogative of the State”, the Pope declared, rather, “she speaks freely, in her desire to build up a shared freedom”. Praying for religious vocation. “Priesthood is indispensable to the Church, for it is at the service of the laity”, the Pope affirmed upon meeting the French bishops in Lourdes. “Priests are a gift from God for the Church”, thus “priests cannot delegate their functions to the faithful”. Hence the need to “encourage priestly and religious vocations”, involving “all the families, all the parishes, all the Christian communities and all Church movements”. “In the School of the Curé d’Ars, patron of pastors throughout the world”, the Pontiff urged prelates “to be attentive to the human, intellectual and spiritual formation” of priests, “and have particular care for those who are in difficulties, sick or elderly”. “Everyone has a place in the Church”, the Pope declared with reference to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which grants the possibility “of using the missal of John XXIII and of Paul VI. In The Church, Benedict XVI pointed out, “every person, without exception, should be able to feel at home, and never rejected”. “Let us always strive to be the servants of unity”, was the Pope’s appeal, whereby “catechetical teaching” is its “supreme expression”. Catechesis, “is not first and foremost a question of method, but of content”. Helping the family. “Marriage and the family are today experiencing real turbulence” who experience “trials, sometimes very painful ones”. Thus, “families in difficulty must be supported, they must be helped understand the greatness of marriage, and encouraged not to relativize God’s will” and his “laws”. “The Church – the pope explained, focusing on the current family “crisis” and the “painful situation of those who are married and divorced” – firmly maintains the principle of the indissolubility of marriage, while surrounding with the greatest affection those men and women who, for a variety of reasons fail to respect it”. “Hence initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted” the Pope claimed, since for several decades laws in different countries have been relativizing the nature” of the family “as the primordial cell of society”. These “laws” are often seeking “more to adapt to the mores and demands of particular individuals or groups, than to promote the common good of society”. Not to mention that for some, “the stable union of man and woman, ordered to building earthly happiness through the birth of children given from God, is no longer, in the minds of certain people, the reference point for conjugal commitment”. On the contrary, “the family is the foundation on which the whole of society rests” and Christians know that the family is also the living cell of the Church”. The youth and inter-religious dialogue. “Even while living in a world which courts them and flattens their base instincts, and carrying, as they do, the heavy burdens handed down by history, the young retain a freshness of soul which has elicited my admiration”, the Pope affirmed recalled the WYD in Sydney. “Moral permissiveness does not make people happy”, he proclaimed, quoting the words pronounced by John Paul II in his first trip to France. The final part of the speech is centered on inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue whose finality “is to seek and develop a knowledge of the Truth”. “The building of bridges between the great ecclesial traditions, and dialogue with other religious traditions, demand a real striving for mutual understanding, because ignorance destroys more than it builds”, the Pope warned, exhorting to “avoid” dialogue initiatives “which lead to empasses“.