That the riches of the created world may be preserved, valued, and made available as God’s precious gift to all.

4. Without entering into the merit of specific technical solutions, the Church is nonetheless concerned, as an “expert in humanity”, to call attention to the relationship between the Creator, human beings and the created order. In 1990 John Paul II had spoken of an “ecological crisis” and, in highlighting its primarily ethical character, pointed to the “urgent moral need for a new solidarity”.[7] His appeal is all the more pressing today, in the face of signs of a growing crisis which it would be irresponsible not to take seriously. Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions? Can we disregard the growing phenomenon of “environmental refugees”, people who are forced by the degradation of their natural habitat to forsake it – and often their possessions as well – in order to face the dangers and uncertainties of forced displacement? Can we remain impassive in the face of actual and potential conflicts involving access to natural resources? All these are issues with a profound impact on the exercise of human rights, such as the right to life, food, health and development.

5. It should be evident that the ecological crisis cannot be viewed in isolation from other related questions, since it is closely linked to the notion of development itself and our understanding of man in his relationship to others and to the rest of creation. Prudence would thus dictate a profound, long-term review of our model of development, one which would take into consideration the meaning of the economy and its goals with an eye to correcting its malfunctions and misapplications. The ecological health of the planet calls for this, but it is also demanded by the cultural and moral crisis of humanity whose symptoms have for some time been evident in every part of the world.[8] Humanity needs a profound cultural renewal; it needs to rediscover those values which can serve as the solid basis for building a brighter future for all. Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are travelling together. Specifically, they call for a lifestyle marked by sobriety and solidarity, with new rules and forms of engagement, one which focuses confidently and courageously on strategies that actually work, while decisively rejecting those that have failed. Only in this way can the current crisis become an opportunity for discernment and new strategic planning.

[…]

7. Sad to say, it is all too evident that large numbers of people in different countries and areas of our planet are experiencing increased hardship because of the negligence or refusal of many others to exercise responsible stewardship over the environment. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council reminded us that “God has destined the earth and everything it contains for all peoples and nations”.[14] The goods of creation belong to humanity as a whole. Yet the current pace of environmental exploitation is seriously endangering the supply of certain natural resources not only for the present generation, but above all for generations yet to come.[15] It is not hard to see that environmental degradation is often due to the lack of far-sighted official policies or to the pursuit of myopic economic interests, which then, tragically, become a serious threat to creation. To combat this phenomenon, economic activity needs to consider the fact that “every economic decision has a moral consequence” [16] and thus show increased respect for the environment. When making use of natural resources, we should be concerned for their protection and consider the cost entailed – environmentally and socially – as an essential part of the overall expenses incurred. The international community and national governments are responsible for sending the right signals in order to combat effectively the misuse of the environment. To protect the environment, and to safeguard natural resources and the climate, there is a need to act in accordance with clearly-defined rules, also from the juridical and economic standpoint, while at the same time taking into due account the solidarity we owe to those living in the poorer areas of our world and to future generations.

[…]

11. It is becoming more and more evident that the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our life-style and the prevailing models of consumption and production, which are often unsustainable from a social, environmental and even economic point of view. We can no longer do without a real change of outlook which will result in new life-styles, “in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings and investments”.[26] Education for peace must increasingly begin with far-reaching decisions on the part of individuals, families, communities and states. We are all responsible for the protection and care of the environment. This responsibility knows no boundaries. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity it is important for everyone to be committed at his or her proper level, working to overcome the prevalence of particular interests. A special role in raising awareness and in formation belongs to the different groups present in civil society and to the non-governmental organizations which work with determination and generosity for the spread of ecological responsibility, responsibility which should be ever more deeply anchored in respect for “human ecology”. The media also have a responsibility in this regard to offer positive and inspiring models. In a word, concern for the environment calls for a broad global vision of the world; a responsible common effort to move beyond approaches based on selfish nationalistic interests towards a vision constantly open to the needs of all peoples. We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening around us, for the deterioration of any one part of the planet affects us all. Relationships between individuals, social groups and states, like those between human beings and the environment, must be marked by respect and “charity in truth”. In this broader context one can only encourage the efforts of the international community to ensure progressive disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons, whose presence alone threatens the life of the planet and the ongoing integral development of the present generation and of generations yet to come.

[…]

14. If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation. The quest for peace by people of good will surely would become easier if all acknowledge the indivisible relationship between God, human beings and the whole of creation. In the light of divine Revelation and in fidelity to the Church’s Tradition, Christians have their own contribution to make. They contemplate the cosmos and its marvels in light of the creative work of the Father and the redemptive work of Christ, who by his death and resurrection has reconciled with God “all things, whether on earth or in heaven” (Col 1:20). Christ, crucified and risen, has bestowed his Spirit of holiness upon mankind, to guide the course of history in anticipation of that day when, with the glorious return of the Saviour, there will be “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pet 3:13), in which justice and peace will dwell for ever. Protecting the natural environment in order to build a world of peace is thus a duty incumbent upon each and all. It is an urgent challenge, one to be faced with renewed and concerted commitment; it is also a providential opportunity to hand down to coming generations the prospect of a better future for all. May this be clear to world leaders and to those at every level who are concerned for the future of humanity: the protection of creation and peacemaking are profoundly linked! For this reason, I invite all believers to raise a fervent prayer to God, the all-powerful Creator and the Father of mercies, so that all men and women may take to heart the urgent appeal: If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.

There have always been natural disasters which have caused damage and devastation to the human population. The difference between the present situation and previous times is that we are beginning to be aware that many of the climatic ills that affect us have human causes. The power of human beings over nature is today, for the first time in history, a threat to their own survival. This conviction, which is clear to scientists, has gained ground among political leaders, even though there are some who deny the validity of the conclusions which attribute global warming and climate change to human causes. Care for creation, Pope Benedict says in his New Year message for 2010, ‘has become essential today for the peaceful coexistence of humanity’ (1). But there is still a long way to go, as was shown by the breakdown of the ecological summit in Copenhagen in December 2009, where the economic interests of powerful nations took first place, preventing the achievement of more important agreements. The meeting was a disappointment for the world, and will be paid for at a high price, to the detriment of the whole human race.

The Pope’s intention for prayer this month calls on our responsibility to safeguard creation for future generations. He tells us that there is need for ‘a profound revision of the development model, with a vision for the future, reflecting still more on the meaning of the economy and its purpose, to correct its dysfunctions and distortions’ (5), at the same time urging a change of mentality and a revision of our lifestyle. (cf.11)

Today the discourse on social justice must include the theme of ecology; the theme of ecology can no longer leave aside the promotion of justice. Each has a bearing on the other, as the Church’s social doctrine teaches. We have seen very clearly that the nations which consume most, and thereby pollute most, are not those who suffer most from the damage caused to creation. As always it is the poorest, those who have the least resources to defend themselves from climate change, who pay the consequences, at the highest prices. Just as an example: in the regions of the world affected by cyclones, last year there were four times more storms and typhoons than was usual a few years ago. Another example is the dumping of toxic waste, prohibited in the legislation of rich countries, which is done secretly in poor countries where corruption makes it easy to break their own law. The same thing happens with large-scale illegal deforestation in poor countries. The tragic outpouring of oil in the Gulf of Mexico some months ago has made clear the fragility of our defence against disasters of this kind.

The subject of ecology cannot be avoided on the political, cultural and artistic agenda… as also on the religious and ecclesial agenda. It is present in the struggle by Christians for a more just world, in ecumenical dialogue, or in our formation programmes, and so on. The numerous and ever more frequent pronouncements of Pope and bishops on the subject are proof of this.

World movements have arisen to make us more aware of pollution and over-exploitation of creation, for example ‘Planet Hour’, which consists in turning the light off for one hour from 20:30. On March 27, 2010, 121 countries took part. It is not a bad idea for us to take up these initiatives. Let us pray this month with the Holy Father to unite our spiritual force with so many people who struggle to defend the beauty of our creation for the use of everyone, particularly those who will come after us.

That Christians may attain full unity, witnessing to all the universal fatherhood of God

The choice of the theme of this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity the invitation, that is, to a common witness of the Risen Christ in accordance with the mandate he entrusted to his disciples is linked to the memory of the 100th anniversary of the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, in Scotland, widely considered a crucial event in the birth of the modern ecumenical movement. In the summer of 1910, in the Scottish capital, over 1,000 missionaries from diverse branches of Protestantism and Anglicanism, who were joined by one Orthodox guest, met to reflect together on the necessity of achieving unity in order to be credible in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is precisely this desire to proclaim Christ to others and to carry his message of reconciliation throughout the world that makes one realize the contradiction posed by division among Christians. Indeed, how can non-believers accept the Gospel proclamation if Christians even if they all call on the same Christ are divided among themselves? Moreover, as we know, the same Teacher, at the end of the Last Supper, had prayed to the Father for his disciples: "That they may all be one... so that the world may believe" (Jn 17: 21). The communion and unity of Christ's disciples is therefore a particularly important condition to enhance the credibility and efficacy of their witness.

Now a century after the Edinburgh event, the intuition of those courageous precursors is still very timely. In a world marked by religious indifference, and even by a growing aversion to the Christian faith, it is necessary to discover a new, intense method of evangelization, not only among the peoples who have never known the Gospel but also among those where Christianity has spread and is part of their history. Unfortunately, the issues that separate us from each other are many, and we hope that they can be resolved through prayer and dialogue. There is, however, a core of the Christian message that we can all proclaim together: the fatherhood of God, the victory of Christ over sin and death with his Cross and Resurrection, and faith in the transforming action of the Spirit. While we journey toward full communion, we are called to offer a common witness in the face of the ever increasingly complex challenges of our time, such as secularization and indifference, relativism and hedonism, the delicate ethical issues concerning the beginning and end of life, the limits of science and technology, the dialogue with other religious traditions. There are also other areas in which we must from now on give a common witness: the safeguard of Creation, the promotion of the common good and of peace, the defense of the centrality of the human person, the commitment to overcome the shortcomings of our time, such as hunger, poverty, illiteracy, and the unequal distribution of goods.

The commitment to unity among Christians is not the work of a few only, nor is it an incidental undertaking for the life of the Church. Each one of us is called to make his or her contribution towards the completion of those steps that lead to full communion among the disciples of Christ, without ever forgetting that this unity is above all a gift from God to be constantly invoked. In fact, the force that supports both unity and the mission flows from the fruitful encounter with the Risen One, just as was the case for St Paul on the road to Damascus, and for the Eleven and the other disciples gathered at Jerusalem. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, grant that her Son's desire may be fulfilled as soon as possible: "That they may all be one... so that the world may believe" (Jn 17: 21).

• See Jn 17:21: ‘that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.’ The unity of Christians from different cultures is a sign of the one God’s fatherhood of all nations, and is a necessary grace in these times in which divisions, intolerance, religious struggles are increasing.

• Division among us, among Christians, is a counter-witness. Visit the international website of Taizé, an ecumenical community founded in France by Brother Roger, which continues to be a prophetic witness to unity among Christians and spiritual renewal: http://www.taize.fr/en

• Often there is religious unity in the locality, on a small scale, among neighbours, while declarations of unity at the official, hierarchical level are difficult and infrequent. Among these last the most recent are

- The agreement with the Orthodox Church in 1997 on the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.

- The Joint Declaration with the Lutherans in 1999 on the doctrine of Justification.

- A common document on the meaning of Sunday was presented on 2 March at Ratisbon, Germany, by the joint commission of the German episcopate and the Orthodox Church in Germany. (Called The Church’s year in the tradition of East and West – Sunday, feast day of Christian origins.)

• The culture, environment or climate of unity starts off from each one of us and ought to go on to touch our neighbourhood, friendship and community groups. If we, each one of the millions of AP members, unite ourselves this month around this petition, in the strength of our daily prayer and offering, we can contribute to the growth of unity by specific common action, by respect for those who think differently, and by a different way of life.

- In face of an increasingly secularised world, indifferent, if not hostile to God….

- In face of the growth of fanaticism and intolerance on the part of groups which call themselves very religious…

- In face of the serious challenges of inhuman poverty and grave injustices in the world…

…..The lack of unity among Christ’s followers in their different denominations becomes more and more absurd.

That all may respect the family and recognize it for its unmatched contribution to the advancement of society.

The family is an indispensable foundation for society and for peoples, just as it is an irreplaceable good for children, whose coming into the world as the fruit of love, of the total and generous gift of their parents, deserve to be born. As Jesus demonstrated by honouring the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, the family occupies a fundamental role in a person's upbringing. It is a true school of humanity and perennial values. No one has given life to himself.

From others we received life, which develops and matures with the truths and values that we learn in our relationship and communion with others. In this regard, the family founded on the indissoluble matrimony of a man and a woman is the expression of the relational, filial and communal dimensions. It is the setting in which men and women can be born with dignity, and can grow and develop in an integral manner (cf. Homily at Holy Mass for the Fifth World Meeting of Families, Valencia, 9 July 2006).

However, this educational task is complicated by a deceptive concept of freedom, in which caprice and the subjective impulses of the individual are exalted to the point of leaving each person locked within the prison of his own self. The true freedom of the human being derives from his creation in the image and likeness of God. For this reason freedom must be exercised responsibly, always opting for the authentic good so that it may become love, a gift of self. For this reason, more than theories, the intimacy and love that are characteristic of the family community are needed. It is at home that people truly learn to live, to value life and health, freedom and peace, justice and truth, work, harmony and respect.

Today more than ever the witness and public commitment of all the baptized is necessary to reaffirm the dignity and the unique, irreplaceable value of the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman open to life, and also of human life in all of its stages.

Legal and administrative measures must be promoted that support families with their inalienable rights, necessary if they are to continue to carry out their extraordinary mission. The witnesses given at yesterday's celebration show that today too the family can stand firm in the love of God and renew humanity in the new millennium.

If the family, as fundamental unit of society, is damaged or weakened, the whole of society is damaged and weakened. Respect for the central role of the family as institution, in its contribution to the whole of human society, is the intention for prayer which the Holy Father commends to us this month.

Today, particularly in western culture, a crisis is observable in the identity of the family. What can we call ‘family’? Besides the ‘traditional model’ there are single-parent families (living with father only or mother only); those which are the fruit of new unions: living with my mother and her second husband, or with brothers/sisters who are children of my mother’s husband, and other children of my mother and her new husband….. and so on. I might live with my mother, while some of my brothers and sisters live with my original father. Today there can even be homosexual parents. The low birth rate in so many western countries is another indicator of lack of confidence in life, in society and in the family.

If there is a crisis in the family it is because there is also a crisis in parenting. What is the role of father and mother? What kind of relationships and what kind of education should be given to children? How do we define a family today? For us, it is based upon the relationship between one man and one woman, but today there are those who propose other models.

A family without stability in its affective relationships is not capable of giving an upbringing based on Gospel values, nor can it help society. From families with values come political, social and religious leaders with values. The family is the place where we learn to live unconditional love, image of the love of God. In fact very often the family turns into the place where we meet suffering, and where harm is done to people we love. There is need to practise forgiveness, dialogue based on love, acceptance and unconditional understanding, to bring healing and wholeness. This difficult challenge makes the family an exceptional place of learning and preparation for life.

In the Church there are many initiatives at local level to support families, in parishes, movements and schools: pre-sacramental catechesis, especially before marriage; Marriage Encounter; parenting courses; family outings; suggestions for family prayer, and so on. At the same time it is the task of civil government, whatever its religious views, to support the family as institution through suitable legislation and effective measures. Unfortunately today we see many examples to the contrary, especially in Europe. Laws on abortion, divorce, contraception, homosexual marriages, and others, are an attack on the family, are a form of serious blindness, and will bring harmful consequences for coming generations.

Let us not cease to pray intensively this month, in union with the Holy Father, on this delicate and fundamental question. Let us ask ourselves what we are doing, and what more we could do, to support the family. Let us call on the inspiration of the Holy Family of Nazareth, in which we have a simple, hardworking, united model of the family… where God feels at home.

That Christian communities may witness to the presence of Christ in serving those who suffer from disease in those mission territories where the fight against disease is most urgent.

I have been looking forward to spending this time with you, and I am happy to be able to greet you, dear brothers and sisters who bear the burden of sickness and suffering. You are not alone in your pain, for Christ himself is close to all who suffer. He reveals to the sick and infirm their place in the heart of God and in society. The Evangelist Mark gives us the example of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law: “Immediately they told him of her”, it is written, Jesus “came and took her by the hand and lifted her up” (Mk 1:30-31). In this Gospel passage, we see Jesus spending a day with the sick in order to bring them relief. He thereby shows us, through specific actions, his fraternal tenderness and benevolence towards all the broken-hearted, all whose bodies are wounded.

This Centre is named after Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger, a son of Canada who came among you to bring relief to bodies and souls. As I stand here today, I am mindful of all the people in hospitals, in specialized health centres or clinics, who suffer from a disability, mental or physical. I also think of those whose flesh bears the scars of wars and violence. I remember too all the sick and, especially here in Africa, the victims of such diseases as Aids, malaria and tuberculosis. I know how actively engaged the Catholic Church in your country is in the fight against these terrible afflictions, and I encourage you to pursue this urgent task with great determination. To those of you who endure the trials of sickness and suffering, and to all your families, I wish to bring a word of comfort from the Lord, to renew my support, and to invite you to turn towards Christ and towards Mary, whom he has given to us as our mother. She knew suffering, and she followed her Son along the path to Calvary, preserving in her heart that love which Jesus came to bring to all people.

Faced with suffering, sickness and death, it is tempting to cry out in pain, as Job did, whose name means “suffering” (cf. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, I,1,15). Even Jesus cried out, shortly before his death (cf. Mk 15:37; Heb 5:7). As our condition deteriorates, our anguish increases; some are tempted to doubt whether God is present in their lives. Job, however, was conscious of God’s presence; his was not a cry of rebellion, but, from the depths of his sorrow, he allowed his trust to grow (cf. Job 19; 42:2-6). His friends, like each of us when faced with the suffering of a loved one, tried to console him, but they used hollow and empty words.

In the presence of such torment, we feel powerless and we cannot find the right words. Before a brother or sister plunged into the mystery of the Cross, a respectful and compassionate silence, a prayerful presence, a gesture of tenderness and comfort, a kind look, a smile, often achieve more than many words. This was the experience of a small group of men and women, including the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John, who followed Jesus in the depths of his suffering at the time of his Passion and his death on the Cross. Among them, the Gospel tells us, was an African, Simon of Cyrene. He was given the task of helping Jesus to carry his Cross on the way to Golgotha. This man, albeit through no choice of his own, came to the aid of the Man of Sorrows when he had been abandoned by all his followers and handed over to blind violence. History tells us, then, that an African, a son of your continent, took part, at the price of his own suffering, in the infinite suffering of the one who ransomed all men, including his executioners. Simon of Cyrene could not have known that it was his Saviour who stood there before him. He was “drafted in” to assist him (cf. Mk 15:21); he was constrained, forced to do so. It is hard to accept to carry someone else’s cross. Only after the resurrection could he have understood what he had done. Brothers and sisters, it is the same for each of us: in the depths of our anguish, of our own rebellion, Christ offers us his loving presence even if we find it hard to understand that he is at our side. Only the Lord’s final victory will reveal for us the definitive meaning of our trials.

• The vulnerability and need for affection of sick people in the hospital gives us a special opportunity to show them the kind face of the Father and the motherly love of the Church. Perhaps we should learn from our Protestant brothers and sisters, who do this hospital ministry intensively.

• In Africa there is no other institution that does as much for the sick and abandoned as the Catholic Church, in countless works and institutions in every country. Let us pray this month that in Africa and all over the world Christians may live this service as fruit of their union with the merciful Heart of Jesus. May Christians act with awareness that by means of them Christ himself comes close to those who suffer, and in this way he can be received and recognised by the sick. This intention for prayer reminds us of the special relationship that Jesus had with the sick and suffering, which is to be found at the heart of the Gospel.

• Pain and suffering are also a visitation from God, says the Chilean saint, Alberto Hurtado, sj. The experience of sickness, lived in faith, enables us to discover in a new way the mercy of God, one with us in our pain, close to us to give us consolation.

• It is worth noticing that in the countries known as ‘first world’, which are also mission-countries, since there are many people who do not know Jesus Christ, there are a great number of people who suffer from mental illnesses, tiredness and depression which are difficult to cure. The Holy Father calls us to witness to the close presence of Christ to them, also.

That the nations of Latin America may walk in fidelity to the Gospel and progress in justice and peace.

4. “So that in him they may have life”

The peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean have the right to a full life, proper to the children of God, under conditions that are more human: free from the threat of hunger and from every form of violence. For these peoples, their Bishops must promote a culture of life which can permit, in the words of my predecessor Paul VI, “the passage from misery towards the possession of necessities … the acquisition of culture … cooperation for the common good … the acknowledgement by man of supreme values, and of God, their source and their finality” (Populorum Progressio, 21).

In this context I am pleased to recall the Encyclical Populorum Progressio, the fortieth anniversary of which we celebrate this year. This Papal document emphasizes that authentic development must be integral, that is, directed to the promotion of the whole person and of all people (cf. no. 14), and it invites all to overcome grave social inequalities and the enormous differences in access to goods. These peoples are yearning, above all, for the fullness of life that Christ brought us: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). With this divine life, human existence is likewise developed to the full, in its personal, family, social and cultural dimensions.

[...]

Social and Political problems

Having arrived at this point, we can ask ourselves a question: how can the Church contribute to the solution of urgent social and political problems, and respond to the great challenge of poverty and destitution? The problems of Latin America and the Caribbean, like those of today’s world, are multifaceted and complex, and they cannot be dealt with through generic programmes. Undoubtedly, the fundamental question about the way that the Church, illuminated by faith in Christ, should react to these challenges, is one that concerns us all. In this context, we inevitably speak of the problem of structures, especially those which create injustice. In truth, just structures are a condition without which a just order in society is not possible. But how do they arise? How do they function? Both capitalism and Marxism promised to point out the path for the creation of just structures, and they declared that these, once established, would function by themselves; they declared that not only would they have no need of any prior individual morality, but that they would promote a communal morality. And this ideological promise has been proved false. The facts have clearly demonstrated it. The Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful oppression of souls. And we can also see the same thing happening in the West, where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.

Just structures are, as I have said, an indispensable condition for a just society, but they neither arise nor function without a moral consensus in society on fundamental values, and on the need to live these values with the necessary sacrifices, even if this goes against personal interest.

Where God is absent—God with the human face of Jesus Christ—these values fail to show themselves with their full force, nor does a consensus arise concerning them. I do not mean that non-believers cannot live a lofty and exemplary morality; I am only saying that a society in which God is absent will not find the necessary consensus on moral values or the strength to live according to the model of these values, even when they are in conflict with private interests.

On the other hand, just structures must be sought and elaborated in the light of fundamental values, with the full engagement of political, economic and social reasoning. They are a question of recta ratio and they do not arise from ideologies nor from their premises. Certainly there exists a great wealth of political experience and expertise on social and economic problems that can highlight the fundamental elements of a just state and the paths that must be avoided. But in different cultural and political situations, amid constant developments in technology and changes in the historical reality of the world, adequate answers must be sought in a rational manner, and a consensus must be created—with the necessary commitments—on the structures that must be established.

1492 was the year when the first conquerors and missionaries from Spain and Portugal arrived on the American continent. A new society, fruit of the meeting of two worlds and two cultures, began to come into being. There were good and bad decisions. There were good examples of evangelising efforts, but also innumerable abuses and injustices against the indigenous and mixed-race population, some reported incidents of genocide, as well as, in a short time, the indescribable horror of African slavery. The new society which had been founded was far from being consistent with the gospel which had arrived with the conquerors.

Different historical circumstances brought it about that between 1810 and 1811 independence movements separated the countries of Latin America from the European crown. A new historical period was opening for these regions. The independence that they won did not mean that the great social injustices or the great problems of poverty of the majority would be solved. The task of a more just society, more faithful to the gospel, was unresolved after these dates and remains unresolved today. All through these 500 years many people have proclaimed Jesus Christ. There has been quite a number of martyrs and prophets, killed or persecuted for the cause of gospel justice. Many have striven to bring society forward to conditions of greater equality and well-being for all, raising their voices to denounce abuses and outrages. In the most recent times, in the dark period of repression by military dictatorships in the last century, many were persecuted, tortured and killed. Prominent among them is Monsignor Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, assassinated in a cowardly way in 1980.

This intention for prayer from the Holy Father arrived while these countries, this year and last year, were celebrating their 200 years of independence. The Pope’s voice is added to so many who long for a society in the so-called ‘Catholic continent’ where all may have life in Christ, and life in abundance. The persistence of grave injustices and poverty, corruption and populism, discrimination and class-distinctions, the secularisation and consumerism that belong to the globalized world, and so on, are an attack on the fullness of life of God’s sons and daughters. Following the Master, the Church wants to take on the mission of working in the service of God’s Kingdom, ‘that the countries of Latin America may go forward in fidelity to the Gospel and make progress in social justice and peace.’

That the Holy Spirit may give light and strength to those in many regions of the world who are persecuted and discriminated against because of the Gospel.

4. Called to evangelize even through martyrdom

On this day dedicated to the missions, I recall in prayer those who have consecrated their lives exclusively to the work of evangelization. I mention especially the local Churches and the men and women missionaries who bear witness to and spread the Kingdom of God in situations of persecution, subjected to forms of oppression ranging from social discrimination to prison, torture and death. Even today, not a few are put to death for the sake of his "Name". The words of my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, continue to speak powerfully to us: "The Jubilee remembrance has presented us with a surprising vista, showing us that our own time is particularly prolific in witnesses, who in different ways were able to live the Gospel in the midst of hostility and persecution, often to the point of the supreme test of shedding their blood" (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 41).

Participation in the mission of Christ is also granted to those who preach the Gospel, for whom is reserved the same destiny as their Master. "Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too" (Jn 15:20). The Church walks the same path and suffers the same destiny as Christ, since she acts not on the basis of any human logic or relying on her own strength, but instead she follows the way of the Cross, becoming, in filial obedience to the Father, a witness and a travelling companion for all humanity.

I remind Churches of ancient foundation and those that are more recent that the Lord has sent them to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and he has called them to spread Christ, the Light of the nations, to the far corners of the earth. They must make the Missio ad gentes a pastoral priority.

Wherever there is an “us” which welcomes God’s love, there the light of Christ shines forth, even in the most difficult situations. The Church, like the Virgin Mary, offers the world Jesus, the Son, whom she herself has received as a gift, the One who came to set mankind free from the slavery of sin. Like Mary, the Church does not fear, for that Child is her strength. But she does not keep him for herself: she offers him to all those who seek him with a sincere heart, to the earth’s lowly and afflicted, to the victims of violence, and to all who yearn for peace. Today too, on behalf of a human family profoundly affected by a grave financial crisis, yet even more by a moral crisis, and by the painful wounds of wars and conflicts, the Church, in faithful solidarity with mankind, repeats with the shepherds: “Let us go to Bethlehem” (Lk 2:15), for there we shall find our hope.

The “us” of the Church is alive in the place where Jesus was born, in the Holy Land, inviting its people to abandon every logic of violence and vengeance, and to engage with renewed vigour and generosity in the process which leads to peaceful coexistence. The “us” of the Church is present in the other countries of the Middle East. How can we forget the troubled situation in Iraq and the “little flock” of Christians which lives in the region? At times it is subject to violence and injustice, but it remains determined to make its own contribution to the building of a society opposed to the logic of conflict and the rejection of one’s neighbour. The “us” of the Church is active in Sri Lanka, in the Korean peninsula and in the Philippines, as well as in the other countries of Asia, as a leaven of reconciliation and peace. On the continent of Africa she does not cease to lift her voice to God, imploring an end to every injustice in the Democratic Republic of Congo; she invites the citizens of Guinea and Niger to respect for the rights of every person and to dialogue; she begs those of Madagascar to overcome their internal divisions and to be mutually accepting; and she reminds all men and women that they are called to hope, despite the tragedies, trials and difficulties which still afflict them. In Europe and North America, the “us” of the Church urges people to leave behind the selfish and technicist mentality, to advance the common good and to show respect for the persons who are most defenceless, starting with the unborn. In Honduras she is assisting in process of rebuilding institutions; throughout Latin America, the “us” of the Church is a source of identity, a fullness of truth and of charity which no ideology can replace, a summons to respect for the inalienable rights of each person and his or her integral development, a proclamation of justice and fraternity, a source of unity.

In fidelity to the mandate of her Founder, the Church shows solidarity with the victims of natural disasters and poverty, even within opulent societies. In the face of the exodus of all those who migrate from their homelands and are driven away by hunger, intolerance or environmental degradation, the Church is a presence calling others to an attitude of acceptance and welcome. In a word, the Church everywhere proclaims the Gospel of Christ, despite persecutions, discriminations, attacks and at times hostile indifference. These, in fact, enable her to share the lot of her Master and Lord.

• The twentieth century was the century with the most martyrs for the faith in the Church’s history, with demonstrations of anti-Christian violence on all continents, violence which in many places has still not ceased.

• According to the French organisation Aid to the Church in Need there are 200 million Christians in the world who cannot live their faith freely. Visit their webpage: http://www.aed-france.org/

• What would the map of persecution of Christians in the world today look like? How many countries would there be on the list? India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Belarus, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and almost all the Arab countries. There are also many regions in the Latin American and African countries where those who serve and defend the poor in the name of their faith are persecuted and killed. .. Not to mention many European countries, like Spain or France, where at the moment those who want to live their faith meet more and more difficulties, even hostility.

• The persecution of minority groups of any kind, Christian or not (like for example the persecution of certain tribal groups in Myanmar), or discrimination against people because of their religious affiliation, reveals a humanity incapable of dialogue, which is destroying itself, which does not know how to respect opinions and beliefs different from its own.

• The Master has already said this, and we ought not to be surprised: ‘if they have hated me they will hate you as well.’ If our life is too peaceful and nothing disturbs us, if they do not persecute us, if no one feels questioned by our Christian life, perhaps we ought to ask ourselves about the quality of our faith.

• Let us remember Tertullian’s phrase ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’ Persecution is a sign that we are following the Gospel and sharing in the mystery of the cross, which is the source of hope in the future.

• History shows that when there are difficulties and persecutions vocations abound, but when life is easy and comfortable they are scarce.

We copy for you what Chris Chatteris, from South Africa, commented on the 2010 May Missionary Intention, similar to this year’s: That Christians persecuted for the sake of the Gospel may persevere, sustained by the Holy Spirit, in faithfully witnessing to the love of God for the entire human race.

That through its compelling preaching of the Gospel, the Church may give young people new reasons for life and hope.

We are all aware of the need for hope, not just any kind of hope, but a firm and reliable hope, as I wanted to emphasize in the Encyclical Spe Salvi. Youth is a special time of hope because it looks to the future with a whole range of expectations. When we are young we cherish ideals, dreams and plans. Youth is the time when decisive choices concerning the rest of our lives come to fruition. Perhaps this is why it is the time of life when fundamental questions assert themselves strongly: Why am I here on earth? What is the meaning of life? What will my life be like? And again: How can I attain happiness? Why is there suffering, illness and death? What lies beyond death? These are questions that become insistent when we are faced with obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable: difficulties with studies, unemployment, family arguments, crises in friendships or in building good loving relationships, illness or disability, lack of adequate resources as a result of the present widespread economic and social crisis. We then ask ourselves: where can I obtain and how can I keep alive the flame of hope burning in my heart?

In search of “the great hope”

Experience shows that personal qualities and material goods are not enough to guarantee the hope which the human spirit is constantly seeking. As I wrote in the Encyclical Spe Salvi, politics, science, technology, economics and all other material resources are not of themselves sufficient to provide the great hope to which we all aspire. This hope “can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain” (no. 31). This is why one of the main consequences of ignoring God is the evident loss of direction that marks our societies, resulting in loneliness and violence, discontent and loss of confidence that can often lead to despair. The word of God issues a warning that is loud and clear: “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes” (Jer 17:5-6).

The crisis of hope is more likely to affect the younger generations. In socio-cultural environments with few certainties, values or firm points of reference, they find themselves facing difficulties that seem beyond their strength. My dear young friends, I have in mind so many of your contemporaries who have been wounded by life. They often suffer from personal immaturity caused by dysfunctional family situations, by permissive and libertarian elements in their education, and by difficult and traumatic experience. For some – unfortunately a significant number – the almost unavoidable way out involves an alienating escape into dangerous and violent behaviour, dependence on drugs and alcohol, and many other such traps for the unwary. Yet, even for those who find themselves in difficult situations, having been led astray by bad role models, the desire for true love and authentic happiness is not extinguished. But how can we speak of this hope to those young people? We know that it is in God alone that a human person finds true fulfilment. The main task for us all is that of a new evangelization aimed at helping younger generations to rediscover the true face of God, who is Love. To you young people, who are in search of a firm hope, I address the very words that Saint Paul wrote to the persecuted Christians in Rome at that time: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13). During this Jubilee Year dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles on the occasion of the two thousandth anniversary of his birth, let us learn from him how to become credible witnesses of Christian hope.

[...]

The great hope is in Christ

For Paul, hope is not simply an ideal or sentiment, but a living person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Profoundly imbued with this certainty, he could write to Timothy: “We have set our hope on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10). The “living God” is the Risen Christ present in our world. He is the true hope: the Christ who lives with us and in us and who calls us to share in his eternal life. If we are not alone, if he is with us, even more, if he is our present and our future, why be afraid? A Christian’s hope is therefore to desire “the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817).

I would like to conclude this message by addressing myself, in particular, to young Catholic believers: to encourage them to bring the witness of their faith to the digital world. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives. In the early life of the Church, the great Apostles and their disciples brought the Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that the truth of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately. It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this "digital continent". Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the "Good News" of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people. Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and his blessing.

Offering the good news of the Gospel to the new generation, in a credible and meaningful way, is a permanent and always fascinating challenge for the Church. There is no doubt that we live in a time of confusion and deep crisis, also inside the Church. Intolerance and uncertainty, injustice, wars, violence, poverty and hunger are increasing in the world The dominant western culture is characterised by secularism and materialism, which appears not to need God. But at the same time, perhaps for that very reason, we are protagonists of a time of intense spiritual search on the part of many of our contemporaries. There is a rebirth of spirituality and of desire for God. The progress of science and the abundance of material things have not been able to answer the question about the meaning of life and the most burning needs of the human heart. Today many religious proposals come onto the market to offer responses to the existential emptiness of those who do not want a world without God. So we are at a moment in history which creates an opportunity, a favourable occasion, for the Church and for the Apostleship of Prayer. We want to make use of our rich spiritual tradition, the Fathers of the Church, the Desert Fathers, the mystics of all periods, to give an answer to our contemporaries. There is a need for God, and we have found the hidden treasure. We want and we ought to proclaim it, first from our own witness, telling others what we have discovered. I close by quoting Pope John Paul II, regarding this issue: “People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in experience than in teaching, and in life and in action than in theories. The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission: Christ, whose mission we continue, is the ‘witness’ par excellence and the model of all Christian witness.” (Redemptoris Missio 42)

That by proclamation of the Gospel and the witness of their lives, missionaries may bring Christ to those who do not yet know him.

"The nations will walk in its light" (Rev 21:24). The goal of the Church's mission is to illumine all peoples with the light of the Gospel as they journey through history towards God, so that in Him they may reach their full potential and fulfilment. We should have a longing and a passion to illumine all peoples with the light of Christ that shines on the face of the Church, so that all may be gathered into the one human family, under God's loving fatherhood.

It is in this perspective that the disciples of Christ spread throughout the world work, struggle and groan under the burden of suffering, offering their very lives. I strongly reiterate what was so frequently affirmed by my venerable Predecessors: the Church works not to extend her power or assert her dominion, but to lead all people to Christ, the salvation of the world. We seek only to place ourselves at the service of all humanity, especially the suffering and the excluded, because we believe that "the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the people of today... is a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 1), which "has experienced marvellous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself" (Redemptoris Missio, 2).

[...]

2. The Pilgrim Church

The universal Church, which knows neither borders nor frontiers, is aware of her responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to entire peoples (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 53). It is the duty of the Church, called to be a seed of hope, to continue Christ's service in the world. The measure of her mission and service is not material or even spiritual needs limited to the sphere of temporal existence, but instead, it is transcendent salvation, fulfilled in the Kingdom of God (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 27). This Kingdom, although ultimately eschatological and not of this world (cfr Jn 18:36), is also in this world and within its history a force for justice and peace, for true freedom and respect for the dignity of every human person. The Church wishes to transform the world through the proclamation of the Gospel of love, "that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working … and in this way … cause the light of God to enter into the world" (Deus Caritas Est, 39). With this message I renew my invitation to all the members and institutions of the Church to participate in this mission and this service.

3. Missio ad gentes

The mission of the Church, therefore, is to call all peoples to the salvation accomplished by God through his incarnate Son. It is therefore necessary to renew our commitment to proclaiming the Gospel which is a leaven of freedom and progress, brotherhood, unity and peace (cf. Ad Gentes, 8). I would "confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14), a duty and a mission which the widespread and profound changes in present-day society render ever more urgent. At stake is the eternal salvation of persons, the goal and the fulfilment of human history and the universe. Animated and inspired by the Apostle of the nations, we must realize that God has many people in all the cities visited by the apostles of today (cfr Acts 18:10). In fact "the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him" (Acts 2:39).

The whole Church must be committed to the missio ad gentes, until the salvific sovereignty of Christ is fully accomplished: "At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are in subjection to him" (Heb 2:8).

[...]

5. Conclusion

Missionary zeal has always been a sign of the vitality of our Churches (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 2). Nevertheless it must be reaffirmed that evangelization is primarily the work of the Spirit; before being action, it is witness and irradiation of the light of Christ (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 26) on the part of the local Church, which sends men and women beyond her frontiers as missionaries. I therefore ask all Catholics to pray to the Holy Spirit for an increase in the Church's passion for her mission to spread the Kingdom of God and to support missionaries and Christian communities involved in mission, in the front line, often in situations of hostility and persecution.

At the same time I ask everyone, as a credible sign of communion among the Churches, to offer financial assistance, especially in these times of crisis affecting all humanity, to enable the young local Churches to illuminate the nations with the Gospel of charity.

May we be guided in our missionary activity by the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of New Evangelization, who brought Christ into the world to be the light of the nations and to carry salvation "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 13:47).

• Today ‘mission countries’ are not defined geographically, or in contradistinction to ‘Christian countries’, as was thought in a previous age. The whole world is mission territory, given that today we see the need for a first or a new evangelisation everywhere. And it seems that a second evangelisation is more difficult than the first. Detaching from neo-paganism is more difficult than evangelising for the first time people who have not yet received Christ’s message.

• The West is beginning to loose the foundation, God Creator of heaven and earth. How can we help our contemporaries to know Jesus Christ, the revelation of God, when God doesn’t exist for them? By proclamation of the Gospel and the testimony of life? Yes, but the proclamation of the Gospel must touch the fundamentals of life, the coordinates of existence which we meet in the Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises: Creation, relationship with others, the image of God, interior freedom in face of enslavements, and so on. We want to evangelise the personal anthropology of each one, offering them a new way of living.

• Proclamation of the Gospel and the testimony of life go together. Luke in his Gospel presents the Risen Christ saying that his passion and resurrection and conversion for the forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations (the ‘kerygma’); and that the disciples will be witnesses to all these things. In the Acts of the Apostles also, Luke tells them that they will be witnesses even to the ends of the earth. It is clear that the disciples are those called to be witnesses to his message, to the Good News of salvation and to his Person, making Jesus transparent in their lives.

That those working in communication media may respect the truth, solidarity, and dignity of all people.

The desire for connectedness and the instinct for communication that are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as modern manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to reach beyond themselves and to seek communion with others. In reality, when we open ourselves to others, we are fulfilling our deepest need and becoming more fully human. Loving is, in fact, what we are designed for by our Creator. Naturally, I am not talking about fleeting, shallow relationships, I am talking about the real love that is at the very heart of Jesus’ moral teaching: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" and "You must love your neighbour as yourself" (cf. Mk 12:30-31). In this light, reflecting on the significance of the new technologies, it is important to focus not just on their undoubted capacity to foster contact between people, but on the quality of the content that is put into circulation using these means. I would encourage all people of good will who are active in the emerging environment of digital communication to commit themselves to promoting a culture of respect, dialogue and friendship.

Those who are active in the production and dissemination of new media content, therefore, should strive to respect the dignity and worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable.

The new technologies have also opened the way for dialogue between people from different countries, cultures and religions. The new digital arena, the so-called cyberspace, allows them to encounter and to know each other’s traditions and values. Such encounters, if they are to be fruitful, require honest and appropriate forms of expression together with attentive and respectful listening. The dialogue must be rooted in a genuine and mutual searching for truth if it is to realize its potential to promote growth in understanding and tolerance. Life is not just a succession of events or experiences: it is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this - in truth, in goodness, and in beauty - that we find happiness and joy. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by those who see us merely as consumers in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.

The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements of human culture. It is in and through our friendships that we grow and develop as humans. For this reason, true friendship has always been seen as one of the greatest goods any human person can experience. We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialize the concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development.

Friendship is a great human good, but it would be emptied of its ultimate value if it were to be understood as an end in itself. Friends should support and encourage each other in developing their gifts and talents and in putting them at the service of the human community. In this context, it is gratifying to note the emergence of new digital networks that seek to promote human solidarity, peace and justice, human rights and respect for human life and the good of creation. These networks can facilitate forms of co-operation between people from different geographical and cultural contexts that enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of shared responsibility for the good of all. We must, therefore, strive to ensure that the digital world, where such networks can be established, is a world that is truly open to all. It would be a tragedy for the future of humanity if the new instruments of communication, which permit the sharing of knowledge and information in a more rapid and effective manner, were not made accessible to those who are already economically and socially marginalized, or if it should contribute only to increasing the gap separating the poor from the new networks that are developing at the service of human socialization and information.

The communications media are powerful and influential weapons in today’s society. Appropriate use of them can do much good in promoting genuine values and in defending human rights. Inappropriate use is made of them when the media are servile to particular interests, whether economic, political or even religious, if these are biased. In this case, the media do not fulfil their mission of service to the truth and to the common good. There is resort to sensationalism instead of balanced reporting, the image of women and of sexuality is manipulated in advertising, to increase sales, truth is distorted to support particular ideologies through lies, information is censored to keep people in ignorance or to promote radical positions. Some of these things are done in liberal societies dominated by the thirst for profit. Others happen more in undemocratic societies which restrict freedom of opinion, which control and combat implacably all communications media which are not controlled by government power. All through history there is a repeated tendency for dictators or dictatorial regimes to censor, sometimes violently, anything which seems to them to be thinking different from their own. Fear and repression take the place of dialogue and freedom.

There are many examples of good journalism, helping to shed light on violent and abusive situations, which would otherwise have been kept in obscurity and impunity. Campaigns in solidarity with groups or regions of the world which are oppressed or struck by catastrophes have helped to alleviate many people’s suffering. We praise and encourage journalism committed to truth and justice, not corrupted by powerful interests.

The Pope asks us to pray this month for the workers in the massive communications media. Let us pray that, Christian or not or non-Christian, they may play their part in building a more just world, with respect for ‘truth, solidarity and the dignity of each person.’ The fact that the Holy Father has chosen this intention for prayer, in union with the 44th World Day of Social Communications, which is celebrated this month, is a sign of the importance he gives to this subject, and indicates his concern at seeing so many examples of inappropriate management of these media. Let us pray that journalism and the communications media may count on many honest and courageous reporters, at the service of the common good. It would be helpful for schools of journalism to give them a suitable ethical formation in human and spiritual values. Let us pray that we ourselves may know how to communicate with each other simply and truthfully, as Jesus did.

That the Lord may help the Church in China persevere in fidelity to the Gospel and grow in unity.

"'Duc in altum' (Lk 5:4). These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever' (Heb 13:8)" [7]. In China too the Church is called to be a witness of Christ, to look forward with hope, and – in proclaiming the Gospel – to measure up to the new challenges that the Chinese People must face.

The word of God helps us, once again, to discover the mysterious and profound meaning of the Church's path in the world. In fact "the subject of one of the most important visions of the Book of Revelation is [the] Lamb in the act of opening a scroll, previously closed with seven seals that no one had been able to break open. John is even shown in tears, for he finds no one worthy of opening the scroll or reading it (cf. Rev 5:4). History remains indecipherable, incomprehensible. No one can read it. Perhaps John's weeping before the mystery of a history so obscure expresses the Asian Churches' dismay at God's silence in the face of the persecutions to which they were exposed at the time. It is a dismay that can clearly mirror our consternation in the face of the serious difficulties, misunderstandings and hostility that the Church also suffers today in various parts of the world. These are trials that the Church does not of course deserve, just as Jesus himself did not deserve his torture. However, they reveal both the wickedness of man, when he abandons himself to the promptings of evil, and also the superior ordering of events on God's part" [8].

Today, as in the past, to proclaim the Gospel means to preach and bear witness to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, the new Man, conqueror of sin and death. He enables human beings to enter into a new dimension, where mercy and love shown even to enemies can bear witness to the victory of the Cross over all weakness and human wretchedness. In your country too, the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen will be possible to the extent that, with fidelity to the Gospel, in communion with the Successor of the Apostle Peter and with the universal Church, you are able to put into practice the signs of love and unity ("even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another ... even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" – Jn 13:34-35; 17:21).

• In a more open political scene than in the past, in the greater part of China evangelisation and the growth of the Church no longer depend on the permission or restrictions of civil authority, but on our own resources and ability to maintain missionaries and witnesses to the Gospel for a people that is well-disposed and in need of God.

• Although it is true that there is still a deep and painful division in the Chinese Church, today 80% of the Catholic bishops have been approved both by the Vatican and by the Chinese government. The official Catholic Church, the Patriotic Church, tolerated by the Chinese state, now has few restrictions on pastoral activity. Today in practice there is no need to be ‘clandestine’ to live the Catholic faith in China. The generous work of priests, lay people, and especially many women religious at the service of the poorest, is abundant and fruitful. Division is produced as a result of this new openness, since it is not easy for those who over many years have endured persecution, suffering and even the deaths of loved ones in order to be faithful to their Church and to the Pope, to incorporate themselves so quickly into the official Church. They maintain that that these changes are motivated above all by political and human reasons, decided by those who are far from the faith, and they are right to some extent. But it is also a fact that the majority of younger Catholics belong to what in their dioceses is the only Catholic Church, within the Patriotic Association, where Jesus Christ is proclaimed and where they grow in faith.

• Today in Chinese society there is proving to be an awakening of interest in religion and a growing search for God. It is said that even members of the government are to be found among the numerous disillusioned and unsatisfied Chinese who are coming to knock on the Church door in search of a different message. Nobody believes any longer in the supposed ideals of a social system which wanted to suppress God and which offers no answers on the deep meaning of life. The corruption which is general and the decline of an authoritarian model have produced unease and a need for new paradigms and new answers. The new material wealth for millions of Chinese, fruit of the rapid and surprising economic growth of the country, has also given no answer to spiritual needs. Conversions to Catholicism are multiplying in many parts of the country. Today China is experiencing a favourable climate for evangelisation, a propitious moment which we do not want to waste.

• Let us pray with the Pope that the Spirit may enlighten both sections of the Church in China, that they may imitate God’s generosity and come to a mutual forgiveness and acceptance which will help them to build a future looking towards God and to the good of the country.

That priests, united to the Heart of Christ, may always be true witnesses to the caring and merciful love of God.

We are celebrating the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in the liturgy we peer, as it were, into the heart of Jesus opened in death by the spear of the Roman soldier. Jesus’ heart was indeed opened for us and before us – and thus God’s own heart was opened. The liturgy interprets for us the language of Jesus’ heart, which tells us above all that God is the shepherd of mankind, and so it reveals to us Jesus’ priesthood, which is rooted deep within his heart; so too it shows us the perennial foundation and the effective criterion of all priestly ministry, which must always be anchored in the heart of Jesus and lived out from that starting-point. Today I would like to meditate especially on those texts with which the Church in prayer responds to the word of God presented in the readings. In those chants, word (Wort) and response (Antwort) interpenetrate. On the one hand, the chants are themselves drawn from the word of God, yet on the other, they are already our human response to that word, a response in which the word itself is communicated and enters into our lives. The most important of those texts in today’s liturgy is Psalm 23(22) – “The Lord is my shepherd” – in which Israel at prayer received God’s self-revelation as shepherd, and made this the guide of its own life. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”: this first verse expresses joy and gratitude for the fact that God is present to and concerned for us. The reading from the Book of Ezechiel begins with the same theme: “I myself will look after and tend my sheep” (Ez 34:11). God personally looks after me, after us, after all mankind. I am not abandoned, adrift in the universe and in a society which leaves me ever more lost and bewildered. God looks after me. He is not a distant God, for whom my life is worthless. The world’s religions, as far as we can see, have always known that in the end there is only one God. But this God was distant. Evidently he had abandoned the world to other powers and forces, to other divinities. It was with these that one had to deal. The one God was good, yet aloof. He was not dangerous, nor was he very helpful. Consequently one didn’t need to worry about him. He did not lord it over us. Oddly, this kind of thinking re-emerged during the Enlightenment. There was still a recognition that the world presupposes a Creator. Yet this God, after making the world, had evidently withdrawn from it. The world itself had a certain set of laws by which it ran, and God did not, could not, intervene in them. God was only a remote cause. Many perhaps did not even want God to look after them. They did not want God to get in the way. But wherever God’s loving concern is perceived as getting in the way, human beings go awry. It is fine and consoling to know that there is someone who loves me and looks after me. But it is far more important that there is a God who knows me, loves me and is concerned about me. “I know my own and my own know me” (Jn 10:14), the Church says before the Gospel with the Lord’s words. God knows me, he is concerned about me. This thought should make us truly joyful. Let us allow it to penetrate the depths of our being. Then let us also realize what it means: God wants us, as priests, in one tiny moment of history, to share his concern about people. As priests, we want to be persons who share his concern for men and women, who take care of them and provide them with a concrete experience of God’s concern. Whatever the field of activity entrusted to him, the priest, with the Lord, ought to be able to say: “I know my sheep and mine know me”. “To know”, in the idiom of sacred Scripture, never refers to merely exterior knowledge, like the knowledge of someone’s telephone number. “Knowing” means being inwardly close to another person. It means loving him or her. We should strive to “know” men and women as God does and for God’s sake; we should strive to walk with them along the path of God's friendship.

"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”, the saintly Curé of Ars would often say.[2] This touching expression makes us reflect, first of all, with heartfelt gratitude on the immense gift which priests represent, not only for the Church, but also for humanity itself. I think of all those priests who quietly present Christ’s words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their apostolic labours, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity? And how can I not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as “friends of Christ”, whom he has called by name, chosen and sent?

I still treasure the memory of the first parish priest at whose side I exercised my ministry as a young priest: he left me an example of unreserved devotion to his pastoral duties, even to meeting his own death in the act of bringing viaticum to a gravely ill person. I also recall the countless confreres whom I have met and continue to meet, not least in my pastoral visits to different countries: men generously dedicated to the daily exercise of their priestly ministry. Yet the expression of Saint John Mary also makes us think of Christ’s pierced Heart and the crown of thorns which surrounds it. I also think, therefore, of the countless situations of suffering endured by many priests, either because they themselves share in the manifold human experience of pain or because they encounter misunderstanding from the very persons to whom they minister. How can we not also think of all those priests who are offended in their dignity, obstructed in their mission and persecuted, even at times to offering the supreme testimony of their own blood?

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We priests should feel that the following words, which he put on the lips of Christ, are meant for each of us personally: “I will charge my ministers to proclaim to sinners that I am ever ready to welcome them, that my mercy is infinite”.[24] From Saint John Mary Vianney we can learn to put our unfailing trust in the sacrament of Penance, to set it once more at the centre of our pastoral concerns, and to take up the “dialogue of salvation” which it entails. The Curé of Ars dealt with different penitents in different ways. Those who came to his confessional drawn by a deep and humble longing for God’s forgiveness found in him the encouragement to plunge into the “flood of divine mercy” which sweeps everything away by its vehemence. If someone was troubled by the thought of his own frailty and inconstancy, and fearful of sinning again, the Curé would unveil the mystery of God’s love in these beautiful and touching words: “The good Lord knows everything. Even before you confess, he already knows that you will sin again, yet he still forgives you. How great is the love of our God: he even forces himself to forget the future, so that he can grant us his forgiveness!”.[25] But to those who made a lukewarm and rather indifferent confession of sin, he clearly demonstrated by his own tears of pain how “abominable” this attitude was: “I weep because you don’t weep”,[26] he would say. “If only the Lord were not so good! But he is so good! One would have to be a brute to treat so good a Father this way!”.[27] He awakened repentance in the hearts of the lukewarm by forcing them to see God’s own pain at their sins reflected in the face of the priest who was their confessor. To those who, on the other hand, came to him already desirous of and suited to a deeper spiritual life, he flung open the abyss of God’s love, explaining the untold beauty of living in union with him and dwelling in his presence: “Everything in God’s sight, everything with God, everything to please God… How beautiful it is!”.[28] And he taught them to pray: “My God, grant me the grace to love you as much as I possibly can”.[29]

The Pope’s intention this month invites us to pray lovingly for priests and for their service to God’s people. Let us ask first of all that they may be united with Christ’s Heart. It cannot be otherwise, given that their ministry springs from the Heart of the One Priest, Jesus Christ, mediator of the New Covenant It is in his Heart that Christ has surpassed the old, external, ritual priesthood, and has changed it for an existential priesthood, interior and grounded in love. His Heart itself is the centre and source of the new Covenant. His priesthood is active for ever in heaven, where he never ceases to intercede for us with the Father.

The priestly Heart of Jesus is also the centre and foundation of the common priesthood of all the faithful which we receive at baptism. Because Jesus is priest in his Heart, all Christians can be priests with him and in him, offering their lives to the Father for their brothers and sisters, uniting their own hearts to his Heart. This is the interior, existential priesthood which the baptised are called to exercise on behalf of others. Thus they become apostles through prayer, offering on the interior altar of the heart the daily tasks lived for God: the work, prayers, joys and sufferings of each day.

The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. We see that in the second part of the Pope’s intention for prayer we are to ask that priests may ‘always be true witnesses to God’s solicitous and merciful love.’ Ordained ministers celebrate the sacraments to nourish the Church’s life. They are shepherds of the people, especially of the poorest. They accompany persons, families, communities, those who are called to reflect Christ’s Heart. In the western Church they are those who follow the path of consecrated celibacy, imitating more closely Jesus who lived celibacy, to be signs of his love for all (in the Eastern Catholic Churches it is normal to find married priests).

Pope Benedict XVI, in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in 2008, speaks of the priest’s role in the community:

Among those totally dedicated to the service of the Gospel, are priests, called to preach the word of God, administer the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, committed to helping the lowly, the sick, the suffering, the poor, and those who experience hardship in areas of the world where there are, at times, many who still have not had a real encounter with Jesus Christ.

The Pope invites us to pray for priests because they are weak human beings, like everyone else, capable of feeling disheartened, sad and lonely. They need the support of our prayers. They also need to feel supported and loved by their communities. So, together with our prayer, we can also promote specific actions designed to consolidate, in parishes, schools and movements, an atmosphere of appreciation and valuing of their priests, not of criticism or antagonism. We want to teach our children and the members of our Christian communities to be close to their priests, to work with them, to offer them closeness and specific support. Creating a climate of affection and respect for the priestly ministry in the Christian community and in families will also have an effect on the priestly vocations that we need, pray for and hope for. (More will be said on this last point in the commentary that follows, in the Missionary Intention for this same month of June, on missionary vocations.)

That the Holy Spirit may bring forth from our communities many missionaries who are ready to be fully consecrated to spreading the Kingdom of God.

1. For the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, to be celebrated on 13 April 2008, I have chosen the theme: Vocations at the service of the Church on mission. The Risen Jesus gave to the Apostles this command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19), assuring them: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28: 20). The Church is missionary in herself and in each one of her members. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, every Christian is called to bear witness and to announce the Gospel, but this missionary dimension is associated in a special and intimate way with the priestly vocation. In the covenant with Israel, God entrusted to certain men, called by him and sent to the people in his name, a mission as prophets and priests. He did so, for example, with Moses: “Come, - God told him - I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people … out of Egypt …when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you will serve God upon this mountain” (Ex 3: 10 and 12). The same happened with the prophets.

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3. Precisely because they have been sent by the Lord, the Twelve are called “Apostles”, destined to walk the roads of the world announcing the Gospel as witnesses to the death and resurrection of Christ. Saint Paul, writing to the Christians of Corinth, says: “We – the Apostles – preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1: 23). The Book of the Acts of the Apostles also assigns a very important role in this task of evangelization to other disciples whose missionary vocation arises from providential, sometimes painful, circumstances such as expulsion from their own lands for being followers of Jesus (cf. 8,1-4). The Holy Spirit transforms this trial into an occasion of grace, using it so that the name of the Lord can be preached to other peoples, stretching in this way the horizons of the Christian community. These are men and women who, as Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles, “have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ” (15: 26). First among them is undoubtedly Paul of Tarsus, called by the Lord himself, hence a true Apostle. The story of Paul, the greatest missionary of all times, brings out in many ways the link between vocation and mission. Accused by his opponents of not being authorized for the apostolate, he makes repeated appeals precisely to the call which he received directly from the Lord (cf. Rom 1: 1; Gal 1: 11-12 and 15-17).

4. In the beginning, and thereafter, what “impels” the Apostles (cf. 2 Cor 5: 14) is always “the love of Christ”. Innumerable missionaries, throughout the centuries, as faithful servants of the Church, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, have followed in the footsteps of the first disciples. The Second Vatican Council notes: “Although every disciple of Christ, as far in him lies, has the duty of spreading the faith, Christ the Lord always calls whomever he will from among the number of his disciples, to be with him and to be sent by him to preach to the nations [cf. Mk 3: 13-15]” (Decree Ad Gentes, 23). In fact, the love of Christ must be communicated to the brothers by example and words, with all one’s life. My venerable predecessor John Paul II wrote: “The special vocation of missionaries ‘for life’ retains all its validity: it is the model of the Church's missionary commitment, which always stands in need of radical and total self-giving, of new and bold endeavours”. (Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, 66)

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6. There have always been in the Church many men and women who, prompted by the action of the Holy Spirit, choose to live the Gospel in a radical way, professing the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. This multitude of men and women religious, belonging to innumerable Institutes of contemplative and active life, still plays “the main role in the evangelisation of the world” (Ad Gentes, 40). With their continual and community prayer, contemplatives intercede without ceasing for all humanity. Religious of the active life, with their many charitable activities, bring to all a living witness of the love and mercy of God. The Servant of God Paul VI concerning these apostles of our times said: “Thanks to their consecration they are eminently willing and free to leave everything and to go and proclaim the Gospel even to the ends of the earth. They are enterprising and their apostolate is often marked by an originality, by a genius that demands admiration. They are generous: often they are found at the outposts of the mission, and they take the greatest of risks for their health and their very lives. Truly the Church owes them much” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 69).

• Let us ask, in this intention for prayer, that the Holy Spirit may cause missionary vocations to spring up. But this does not mean a petition that the Holy Spirit may act only in other people, those who will be called to a religious vocation, and not in ourselves as well. He wants to touch our hearts also, and to involve us personally in this petition. It is up to each one of us to make real what we are praying for. It means taking on an active and effective role in promoting vocations. The whole Christian community, not only priests and religious, are responsible for promoting and working for the vocations that we need. We should create in our surroundings what is known as ‘a vocational culture’, that is, an atmosphere in parish and Church that accepts and appreciates religious vocation, that prepares a soil favourable to the growth of vocations.

• In the first place, we can work to create a vocational culture through prayer: may intercession for vocations be heard often in our liturgies. But there are other specific actions that help. We can set up prayer-groups specifically for this intention in parishes and schools, with the mission of keeping the issue present and reminding the rest of the community of it. These groups might ask for the lists of seminarians or religious from the diocese and assign prayer ‘godmothers’ or ‘godfathers’ to each one: members of the community who make themselves responsible for praying specifically for this or that young person. In that way the community will hear the names of its future priests and religious mentioned aloud, and everyone will pray for them. One of the weekly masses in the parish might be set aside as a ‘Mass for vocations’, for example Thursdays, to intensify this prayer for the young seminarians or religious. It will be very helpful for the prayer-sponsors to make personal contact with their ‘god-children’, whom they might get to know at least by letter or telephone.

• The said ‘vocational culture’ enables an atmosphere of appreciation and value for the priest’s role, as has already been said above in the commentary on the general intention of this month of June, for priests. If young people see that in their environment there is appreciation for what a consecrated person is and does, they will be more willing to consider the same option for themselves.

• The specific point for this month is to pray for missionary vocations, that is, people ready to spend their lives on the frontiers of the faith, proclaiming Jesus Christ in difficult areas. We have said before that today we can find these mission territories also in western countries that have been traditionally Catholic. Many of these countries, once rich in vocations, have become pagan, and today the mission lies within their borders.

• Let us ask also in this prayer that the missionary vocation may be consolidated in all Christians, including lay people. Today it is more often that we see lay people who offer their services for a fixed period in a region or country not their own. It is a specific kind of missionary service, different from other kinds of voluntary work, done by lay people adequately prepared, who fulfil a contract made with the diocese or institution which receives them.