VATICAN - The Pope addresses the Bishops of Honduras: “what is needed is vast and bold activity of evangelisation founded less on the effectiveness of material means and more on the power of the Word of God ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The Catholic community in Honduras has been blessed with the consecration of five new Bishops in a short period of time: may the Lord render this ad limina visit which you are making exactly 25 years since John Paul II made a pastoral visit to your land, strengthen the bond of communion among yourselves and with the Successor of Peter, filling you with new ardour for the mission entrusted to you by the Lord!” With these words the Holy Father Benedict XVI welcomed a group of Catholic Bishops of Honduras in a special audience on 26 June.
“The people of Honduras are profoundly religious and this is expressed among other things in many deeply rooted devotions and popular piety. Purified from anything foreign to the faith these elements can be a valid means of announcing the Gospel ” the Pope said in his address underlining also the challenge of spreading secularism and pseudo religious sects. He said that instead of causing anxiety difficulties should “encourage vast and bold activity of evangelisation based less on the effectiveness of material means and more on the power of the Word of God, welcomed with faith, lived with humility and announced with fidelity”.
In the work of announcing the Good News the Bishops rely on the help of priests, their primary co-workers. The Holy Father urged the Bishops to be attentive to the “ spiritual life as well as the material needs of priests”, to continue to watch over the formation of seminarians, guaranteeing “the best possible formators and adequate material means”. As part of their commitment to foster vocations the Pope urged the Bishops to “encourage personal and community prayer which, besides being a mandate of the Lord, is necessary for discovering and promoting a generous response to a personal calling ”.
The Pope congratulated the Bishops for the “magnificent work of evangelisation undertaken by religious communities” and “the increasingly important role of lay Catholics in parishes as catechists and delegates of the Word ”. He said the Bishops should “work tirelessly” to help the faithful be ever more aware of the call to share in the Church's saving mission. “The laity need to intensify their relationship with God and this demands sound formation in the faith, especially in the Social teaching of the Church. Then, as leaven in the dough, they will accomplish their mission to transform society and render it in harmony with the will of God ”.
The Pope highlighted another area in need of special pastoral care in Honduras the family and marriage, and he said: “it is right to acknowledge the important step made to include explicit recognition of marriage in your country's Constitution, although you realise that good legislation is not enough there must be cultural and catechetical work if the beauty and truth of matrimony, a life long covenant between man and woman, is to shine in society”.
The Pope did not fail to mention that many people in Honduras live a life of poverty in a situation of growing violence, emigration, destruction of the environment, corruption, little or poor instruction. “As ministers of the Good Shepherd with word and deed I know you work hard to help the needy - the Pope told the Bishops -. I encourage you to continue to show through your ministry the loving mercy of God, giving new impulse in your respective dioceses to services of charity especially for the sick, the elderly and prisoners ”.(S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 27/6/2008)