Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The memory of days spent in Aparecida, for the Fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops and the invitation to join in the “Continental Mission” (an initiative from Aparecida) with enthusiasm, were the main topics of the address given by the Holy Father Benedict XVI to superiors, religious, and students of the Pius Pontifical Latin American College, received in an audience on February 19, on the school's 150th anniversary of foundation.
“Nov. 27, 1858, marked the beginning of the fruitful course of this college as a valuable center of formation, first of seminarians and, for just over three decades, of deacons and priests,” the Pope said at the beginning of his address. “Today, more than 4,000 students feel themselves members of this great family...You, dear students of the Latin American Pius College, are heirs of this rich human and spiritual patrimony, which must be perpetuated and enriched with a serious cultivation of the various ecclesiastical disciplines and by the joyful living of the universality of the Church...You yourselves are the fruit of that wonderful sowing of Christ's redeeming message in the course of history. In fact, you come from different countries, in which, more than 500 years ago, some courageous missionaries made Jesus our Savior known. Thus, through baptism, those peoples were opened to the life of grace that made them children of God by adoption and received, in addition, the Holy Spirit, which fertilized their cultures, purifying them and developing the seeds that the Incarnate Word had put in them, thus orienting them on the paths of the Gospel.”
Benedict XVI then reflected on the privileged opportunity given to the students of the College, to forge their hearts as authentic apostles, “in which your whole being and endeavor is firmly anchored in the Lord,” the possibility of “to share your human and priestly experience fraternally and gives you a favorable occasion to be open permanently to knowledge of other cultures and ecclesial expressions.” All this will help them “be genuine disciples of Jesus Christ and intrepid missionaries of his Word, with longsighted and greatness of soul.” The Pope then exhorted the students to take advantage of their time in Rome: “Constancy in study and rigorous research, in addition to making you inquire into the mysteries of the faith and the truth about man in the light of the Gospel and of the Tradition of the Church, will foster a spiritual life in you rooted in the Word of God and always nourished by the incomparable wealth of the sacraments.”
After pointing out that “love and adherence to the Apostolic See is one of the most striking characteristics of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean,” Benedict recalled his days spent in Aparecida, where he went “to encourage the bishops in their reflection on something fundamental to enliven the faith of the pilgrim Church in those beloved lands: to lead all our faithful to be 'disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ, so that, in Him, our peoples have life.'” Thus, the Holy Father exhorted them to “associate yourselves with enthusiasm to that spirit, demonstrated in the dynamism with which all those dioceses have initiated, or are doing, the 'Continental Mission,' promoted in Aparecida, an initiative that will facilitate the start of catechetical and pastoral programs destined to the formation and development of evangelized and missionary Christian communities. Accompany these intentions with your fervent prayer, so that the faithful will know, dedicate themselves and increasingly imitate Jesus Christ, taking part frequently in the Sunday celebrations of each community and witnessing to Him, so that they become effective instruments of that 'New Evangelization,' to which the Servant of God John Paul II, my venerated predecessor, repeatedly convoked.” The Pope concluded his address by thanking all those present and entrusting them to Our Lady of Guadalupe. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/2/2009)
