The Church, added Benedict XVI, "is missionary by nature, and since the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit has never stopped driving it along the streets of the world through to the far ends of the earth and to the end of time". This reality, commented the Pope, "that we can see in every age is already foreshadowed in the Books of the Acts, which describe the passage of the Gospel from the Jews to the heathen, from Jerusalem to Rome. Rome means the world of the heathen, and likewise all the peoples other than God’s ancient people". Actually, "the Acts end with the arrival of the Gospel in Rome. So we can say highlighted the Pontiff that Rome is the real name of Catholicity and missionary spirit, it expresses faithfulness to the origins, to the Church of all times, to a Church that speaks all languages and embraces all cultures". The first Pentecost, recalled the Holy Father, "occurred when the Most Holy Mary was amidst the disciples in the Cenacle of Jerusalem and prayed": so, he concluded, "we still rely on her motherly intercession, so that the Holy Spirit may abundantly descend on the Church of our time, fill the hearts of all faithful and kindle in them, in us, the fire of its love".
