THE CHURCH IN THE
WORLD
Pope says Church must be missionary or die
Robert Mickens
In Rome
POPE BENEDICT XVIhas expressed the hope
that his first papal visit to the traditionally Catholic bastion of Portugal will be “an incen- tive for renewed spiritual and apostolic ardour” across Europe, saying the Church must bolster its missionary efforts or face “sure death”. “In recent years the anthropological, cul-
tural, social and religious framework of humanity has changed,” he said on 14 May in Lisbon at the final Mass of the four-day visit. “Today the Church is called to face new challenges, and is ready to dialogue with dif- ferent cultures and religions, in the search for new ways of building, with all people of good will, the peaceful coexistence of peoples,” he added. The Pope said Catholic missionary activity was “much broader today” than going to far distant lands. He said that a mission to tra- ditionally Christian countries, whose people have begun turning away from the institu- tional Church, was also urgent. “We impose nothing, yet we propose ceaselessly,” he said. The central venue of Pope Benedict’s 11-14
May visit was the Marian Shrine of Fátima where he told Portugal’s bishops the present time demanded “a new missionary vigour on the part of Christians, who are called to form
a mature laity, identified with the Church and sensitive to the complex transformations tak- ing place in our world”. During the 13 May meeting the 83-year-old Pope lamented that “among politicians, intellectuals and com- munications professionals” there was a “disdain for the religious and contemplative dimensions of life”. He said that among them were also “some
believers who are ashamed of their beliefs and who even give a helping hand to this type of secularism”. The Pope said the Church needed a laity “with a vigorous Catholic out- look and in fidelity to the Magisterium”. He urged the bishops to find them in the “new ecclesial communities” and “movements”, which he said the Holy Spirit was using to create “a new springtime” for the Church. Earlier the same day Pope Benedict also told those involved in church-sponsored social activities that they needed to show their “solid identity” as Catholics and resist the “pressure exerted by the prevailing culture”. He thanked those that are “combating the socio-economic and cultural mechanisms that lead to abor- tion” and who are helping heal people who are “harmed by the tragedy”. He also implicitly condemned gay unions
(which Portugal’s president signed into law this week) and explicitly condemned abortion as “some of today’s most insidious and dan-
The Pope in front on a statue of Our Lady of Fátima waves to the crowd during a candlelight vigil at the Marian shrine of Fátima. Photo: CNS/
L’Osservatore Romano
gerous threats to the common good”. While in Fátima the Pope also held a large outdoor Mass and late-evening prayer vigil with more than 300,000 pilgrims. “I have come to Fátima to pray, in union with Mary and so many pilgrims, for our human family, afflicted as it is by various ills and sufferings,” he told them on the 13 May Feast of Our Lady of Fátima. “We would be mistaken to think that Fátima’s prophetic mission is complete,” he said of the Marian apparitions of 1917. While in Fátima, Pope Benedict called priests to greater fidelity to their vows and consecrated them to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He urged them to “support one another fraternally” and asked seminarians to “carefully examine” their intentions and motives for wanting to become priests. This was the fourteenth foreign journey of Benedict XVI’s pontificate and ninth in Europe. He is due to travel to Cyprus, Britain and Spain between now and November.
(See excerpts from the Pope’s addresses, page 12.)
Christianity is an alternative lifestyle in a secular world, says Schönborn
CARDINAL CHRISTOPH SCHÖNBORNhas
appealed to all Catholics to cooperate in deal- ing with the challenges facing the Church today, in the spirit of the Second Vatican
Council, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.
The “diaspora situation” in which Christians increasingly found themselves in an increas- ingly secular society faced with huge ecological, economic and social problems should be seen as a new chance to live an alternative lifestyle based on fundamental Christian values, the cardinal told a meeting with delegates from parish councils from across Austria at Mariazell from 12 to 15 May. Christians should become pastorally creative and dialogue with each other but also with the world, he said. “I invite you to learn resist- ance and to live in an alternative way, and at the same time keep up the dialogue with us [bishops] at eye level,” the cardinal said. One example of the Austrian bishops’ readi-
ness to learn had been the Service of Reconciliation for abuse victims at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, in Holy Week, Cardinal Schönborn said. The initiative for the service had come from the group We Are Church. In the exceedingly difficult current situation, it was imperative for Catholics to move closer together, learn from one another and comfort one another, he said. “Don’t think we bishops are living in a dream world. We are all in one boat and it does us good to dialogue honestly and openly with you … We will need this sol- idarity if, in accordance with the Second Vatican Council, we want to remain at eye level with the world. It is not without reason that the Council Declaration Gaudium et Spes begins with words which can still serve as a leitmotif today: ‘The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, espe- cially of those who are poor or afflicted, are [those] of the followers of Christ as well.’”
At a press conference in Vienna on 17 May, Cardinal Schönborn said that as a result of the meeting with the parish council delegates at Mariazell, a special bishops’ conference commission led by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Alois Kothgasser, would work on new sug- gestions for the pastoral care of remarried divorcees and announce the results at the ple- nary in November. National guidelines to prevent clerical sexual and physical abuse were being prepared by the bishops’ confer- ence for June, the cardinal recalled. A few days earlier, Bishop Paul Iby of Eisenstadt had spoken in favour of making priestly celibacy optional. Asked what he thought of Bishop Iby’s proposal, Cardinal Schönborn replied that although he did not necessarily share the bishop’s views, he was glad there was freedom of speech and opinion in the Church. “The concerns Bishop Iby expressed are all our concerns,” he said.
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