Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the
Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!
Dear brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last
General Audience of my pontificate.
Like the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have
heard, I feel in my heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the
Church and makes her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in
His people. At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church
throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years of
Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of the Church –
charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the hope that opens for
us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs us towards the heavenly
homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where
I recall every meeting, every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone
and every thing in prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the
Lord: in order that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom
and spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in a
manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good work (cf. Col
1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a great trust [in God], because I know – all
of us know – that the Gospel’s word of truth is the strength of the Church: it
is her life. The Gospel purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the
community of believers hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives
in charity. This is my faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th, [2005], I agreed to take
on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in this certainty, which has always
accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated several times, the
words that resounded in my heart were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great
weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will
throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has
guided me. He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These
years] have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments
joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter with the
Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of
sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant; [then]
there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in
the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to
sleep. Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the
barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her
sink. It is He, who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His
choosing, for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that
nothing can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His
consolation, His light, His love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I desired in order to strengthen our own
faith in God in a context that seems to push faith more and more toward the
margins of life. I would like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the
Lord. I would like that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of
God, and rest assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even
in times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who gave
His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to feel the
joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited daily in the
morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my heart. I thank You
for having created me, for having made me a Christian.” Yes, we are happy for
the gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no one can take from us!
Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian
life. God loves us, but He also expects that we love Him!
At this time, however, it is not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is
not alone in guiding St. Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility
– and I have not ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the
weight of the Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people,
who, with generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been
close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your
counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators, starting
with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over the years, the
Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well as all those who, in
various areas, give their service to the Holy See: the many faces which never
emerge, but remain in the background, in silence, in their daily commitment,
with a spirit of faith and humility. They have been for me a sure and reliable
support. A special thought [goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not
forget the Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated
persons and the entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters,
at Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep
affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the Bishop of
Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried each of you in my
prayers, with the father's heart.
I wish my greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope
expands to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the great
family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for good
communication, whom I thank for their important service.
At this point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people
throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving tokens of
concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone: now I experience
this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my very heart. The Pope
belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very close to him. It’s true that
I receive letters from the world's greatest figures - from the Heads of State,
religious leaders, representatives of the world of culture and so on. I also
receive many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their
heart and let me feel their affection, which is born of our being together in
Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write me as one might write,
for example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as brothers
and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very affectionate family
ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not an organization, not an
association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a
community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us
all. To experience the Church in this way and almost be able to touch with
one’s hands the power of His truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time
in which many speak of its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased, and I asked God with
insistence in prayer to enlighten me with His light to make me take the right
decision – not for my sake, but for the good of the Church. I have taken this
step in full awareness of its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep
peace of mind. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make
difficult, trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church
and not one’s own.
Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The gravity of the
decision was precisely in the fact that from that moment on I was committed
always and forever by the Lord. Always – he, who assumes the Petrine ministry
no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and totally to everyone, to the
whole Church. His life is, so to speak, totally deprived of the private sphere.
I have felt, and I feel even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life
precisely when he offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love
the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the
Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and
that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because he no longer
belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no returning to private life. My
decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not revoke this. I do
not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences
and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the
Crucified Lord. I no longer wield the power of the office for the government of
the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St.
Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a great
example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which, active or
passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you
have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the Church on
her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and to
His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and that I would live
forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the
Cardinals, who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of
Peter, that the Lord might accompany him with the light and the power of His
Spirit.
Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the
Church, that she might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community:
to her we entrust ourselves, with deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides His Church, maintains her
always, and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of
faith, which is the only true vision of the way of the Church and the world. In
our heart, in the heart of each of you, let there be always the joyous
certainty that the Lord is near, that He does not abandon us, that He is near
to us and that He surrounds us with His love.
Thank you!