Every year the Pope makes two addresses where we get an insight into the priorities and concerns of the Holy See. The first is generally before Christmas when the members of the Roman Curia gather with the Pope (as it is formally put) "to exchange Christmas greetings". During the meeting, the Pope generally makes an address looking at the internal year in review - A State of the Church (ad intra) address if you like. Then following New Year, the Pope meets with the accredited ambassadors to the Holy See and again there is an address, this time a State of the World (ad extra) viewpoint.
Rocco over at Whispers in the Loggia has the full texts (which are also available from the Vatican website) - State of the Church and State of the World.
2011 - A Review of the Church's Year - "The Crisis of the Church Is The Crisis of Faith"
Some highlights from the speech to the Roman Curia:
"As this year draws to a close, Europe is undergoing an economic and financial
crisis, which is ultimately based on the ethical crisis looming over the Old
Continent. Even if such values as solidarity, commitment to one’s neighbour and
responsibility towards the poor and suffering are largely uncontroversial, still
the motivation is often lacking for individuals and large sectors of society to
practise renunciation and make sacrifices.
The key theme of this year, and of the years ahead, is this: how do we
proclaim the Gospel today? How can faith as a living force become a reality
today?
........what is reform of the Church? How does it take place? What are its paths and its
goals?...There are
endless debates over what must be done in order to reverse the trend. There is
no doubt that a variety of things need to be done. But action alone fails to
resolve the matter. The essence of the crisis of the Church in Europe is the
crisis of faith. If we find no answer to this, if faith does not take on new
life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ,
then all other reforms will remain ineffective.
On this point, the
encounter with Africa’s joyful passion for faith brought great encouragement.
None of the faith fatigue that is so prevalent here, none of the oft-encountered
sense of having had enough of Christianity was detectable there. Amid all the
problems, sufferings and trials that Africa clearly experiences, one could still
sense the people’s joy in being Christian, buoyed up by inner happiness at
knowing Christ and belonging to his Church. From this joy comes also the
strength to serve Christ in hard-pressed situations of human suffering, the
strength to put oneself at his disposal, without looking round for one’s own
advantage......
..................the wonderful experience of World Youth Day in Madrid. This was new
evangelization put into practice. Again and again at World Youth Days, a new,
more youthful form of Christianity can be seen, something I would describe under
five headings.
1. Firstly, there is a new experience of catholicity, of
the Church’s universality. This is what struck the young people and all the
participants quite directly: we come from every continent, but although we have
never met one another, we know one another. We speak different languages, we
have different ways of life and different cultural backgrounds, yet we are
immediately united as one great family. Outward separation and difference is
relativized. We are all moved by the one Lord Jesus Christ, in whom true
humanity and at the same time the face of God himself is revealed to us. We pray
in the same way. The same inner encounter with Jesus Christ has stamped us deep
within with the same structure of intellect, will and heart. And finally, our
common liturgy speaks to our hearts and unites us in a vast family. In this
setting, to say that all humanity are brothers and sisters is not merely an
idea: it becomes a real shared experience, generating joy. And so we have also
understood quite concretely: despite all trials and times of darkness, it is a
wonderful thing to belong to the worldwide Church, to the Catholic Church, that
the Lord has given to us.
2. From this derives a new way of living our
humanity, our Christianity. For me, one of the most important experiences of
those days was the meeting with the World Youth Day volunteers: about 20,000
young people, all of whom devoted weeks or months of their lives to working on
the technical, organizational and material preparations for World Youth Day, and
thus made it possible for the whole event to run smoothly. Those who give their
time always give a part of their lives. At the end of the day, these young
people were visibly and tangibly filled with a great sense of happiness: the
time that they gave up had meaning; in giving of their time and labour, they had
found time, they had found life. And here something fundamental became clear to
me: these young people had given a part of their lives in faith, not because it
was asked of them, not in order to attain Heaven, nor in order to escape the
danger of Hell. They did not do it in order to find fulfilment. They were not
looking round for themselves.......These young people did good, even at a cost, even if it
demanded sacrifice, simply because it is a wonderful thing to do good, to be
there for others. All it needs is the courage to make the leap.............
3.
A third element, that has an increasingly natural and central place in World
Youth Days and in the spirituality that arises from them, is adoration. I still
look back to that unforgettable moment during my visit to the United Kingdom,
when tens of thousands of predominantly young people in Hyde Park responded in
eloquent silence to the Lord’s sacramental presence, in adoration. The same
thing happened again on a smaller scale in Zagreb and then again in Madrid,
after the thunderstorm which almost ruined the whole night vigil through the
failure of the microphones. God is indeed ever-present. But again, the physical
presence of the risen Christ is something different, something new. The risen
Lord enters into our midst. And then we can do no other than say, with Saint
Thomas: my Lord and my God! Adoration is primarily an act of faith – the act of
faith as such. God is not just some possible or impossible hypothesis concerning
the origin of all things. He is present. And if he is present, then I bow down
before him. Then my intellect and will and heart open up towards him and from
him. In the risen Christ, the incarnate God is present, who suffered for us
because he loves us. We enter this certainty of God’s tangible love for us with
love in our own hearts. This is adoration, and this then determines my life.
Only thus can I celebrate the Eucharist correctly and receive the body of the
Lord rightly.
4. A further important element of the World Youth Days is
the sacrament of Confession, which is increasingly coming to be seen as an
integral part of the experience. Here we recognize that we need forgiveness over
and over again, and that forgiveness brings responsibility. Openness to love is
present in man, implanted in him by the Creator, together with the capacity to
respond to God in faith. But also present, in consequence of man’s sinful
history (Church teaching speaks of original sin) is the tendency that is opposed
to love – the tendency towards selfishness, towards becoming closed in on
oneself, in fact towards evil. Again and again my soul is tarnished by this
downward gravitational pull that is present within me. Therefore we need the
humility that constantly asks God for forgiveness, that seeks purification and
awakens in us the counterforce, the positive force of the Creator, to draw us
upwards.
5. Finally, I would like to speak of one last feature, not to be
overlooked, of the spirituality of World Youth Days, namely joy. Where does it
come from? How is it to be explained? Certainly, there are many factors at work
here. But in my view, the crucial one is this certainty, based on faith: I am
wanted; I have a task in history; I am accepted, I am loved. Josef Pieper, in
his book on love, has shown that man can only accept himself if he is accepted
by another. He needs the other’s presence, saying to him, with more than words:
it is good that you exist. Only from the You can the I come into itself. Only if
it is accepted, can it accept itself. Those who are unloved cannot even love
themselves. This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other
human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile. Ultimately we need a sense of
being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced
of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a
human being. If ever man’s sense of being accepted and loved by God is lost,
then there is no longer any answer to the question whether to be a human being
is good at all. Doubt concerning human existence becomes more and more
insurmountable. Where doubt over God becomes prevalent, then doubt over humanity
follows inevitably. We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it
in the joylessness, in the inner sadness, that can be read on so many human
faces today. Only faith gives me the conviction: it is good that I exist. It is
good to be a human being, even in hard times. Faith makes one happy from deep
within. That is one of the wonderful experiences of World Youth Days.......
2011 - A Review of World Affairs - "We Must Not Lose Heart"
Over at NCR, John Allen has an interesting take on this address to the diplomats accredited to the Holy See - Benedict XVI's new friends: Greenpeace and the Socialists.
Some highlights from the speech:
Today’s meeting traditionally takes place at the end of the Christmas season,
during which the Church celebrates the coming of the Saviour. He comes in the
dark of night and so his presence is immediately a source of light and joy (cf.
Lk 2:9-10). Truly the world is gloomy wherever it is not brightened by
God’s light! Truly the world is dark wherever men and women no longer
acknowledge their bond with the Creator and thereby endanger their relation to
other creatures and to creation itself. The present moment is sadly marked by a
profound disquiet and the various crises – economic, political and social – are
a dramatic expression of this.
Here I cannot fail to address before all else the grave and disturbing
developments of the global economic and financial crisis. The crisis has not
only affected families and businesses in the more economically advanced
countries where it originated, creating a situation in which many people,
especially the young, have felt disoriented and frustrated in their aspirations
for a serene future, but it has also had a profound impact on the life of
developing countries. We must not lose heart, but instead resolutely rediscover
our way through new forms of commitment. The crisis can and must be an incentive
to reflect on human existence and on the importance of its ethical dimension,
even before we consider the mechanisms governing economic life: not only in an
effort to stem private losses or to shore up national economies, but to give
ourselves new rules which ensure that all can lead a dignified life and develop
their abilities for the benefit of the community as a whole.
I would like next to point out that the effects of the present moment of
uncertainty are felt particularly by the young. Their disquiet has given rise in
recent months to agitation which has affected various regions, at times
severely.............Blessed John Paul II stated that "the path of peace is at the same time the
path of the young", inasmuch as young people embody "the youth of
the nations and societies, the youth of every family and of all
humanity". Young people thus impel us to take seriously their demand
for truth, justice and peace. For this reason, I chose them as the subject of my
annual World Day of Peace Message, entitled Educating Young People in Justice
and Peace. Education is a crucial theme for every generation, for it
determines the healthy development of each person and the future of all society.
It thus represents a task of primary importance in this difficult and demanding
time. In addition to a clear goal, that of leading young people to a full
knowledge of reality and thus of truth, education needs settings........
it is clear that an effective educational programme also
calls for respect for religious freedom. This freedom has individual,
collective and institutional dimensions. We are speaking of the first of human
rights, for it expresses the most fundamental reality of the person.......... Religion cannot be employed as a
pretext for setting aside the rules of justice and of law for the sake of the
intended "good".
The birth of the Prince of Peace teaches us that life does not end in a void,
that its destiny is not decay but eternal life. Christ came so that we might
have life and have it in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). "Only when the future
is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as
well".5 Inspired by the certainty of faith, the Holy See continues to
offer its proper contribution to the international community in accordance with
the twofold desire clearly enunciated by the Second Vatican Council, whose
fiftieth anniversary takes place this year: to proclaim the lofty grandeur of
our human calling and the presence within us of a divine seed, and to offer
humanity sincere cooperation in building a sense of universal fraternity
corresponding to this calling"
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