教宗在公開接見活動中回憶了近日在塞浦路斯完成的牧靈訪問

by pleung | Jun 10, 2010 | News

（梵蒂岡電臺訊）教宗本篤十六世昨天9日上午在聖伯多祿廣場主持了例行的周三公開接見活動，向信友們談到近日在塞浦路斯才完成的牧靈訪問。他稱這次訪問是個歷史性事件，完滿地達到目的。

繼 去年到聖地朝聖，兩個月前去了馬耳他後，近日又訪問塞浦路斯，這幾個地方都是開啓教會歷史的重鎮。教宗提到塞浦路斯占少數的天主教團體和其他基督信仰教會 給予他的熱烈歡迎。教宗說，在古老的帕福斯考古場所呈現的氣氛讓他幾乎感到那裏是基督信仰兩千年歷史的概括。教宗說，在這種氣氛中，亞美尼亞禮的信徒、路 德教會信徒、聖公會信徒之間以兄弟般的情誼更新了彼此爲促進大公對話所盡的只能向前、不能後退的義務。教宗更提到與塞浦路斯現實關係重大的東正教說：“這 個傳統上根深蒂固的義務幷不阻礙東正教團體與天主教團體在大公對話中做出的努力。雙方都受到推動，誠懇渴望在東西方教會間重建圓滿可見的共融。”

教 宗談到在尼科西亞與塞浦路斯總統和政府當局的會晤，他說，他在這項會晤中得以强調在公衆生活中推動道德真理。在與馬龍尼禮和拉丁禮天主教徒的會晤使他看到 他們的激情及在社會中備受贊賞的愛德角色。教宗提到馬龍尼禮教會的生活尤其令人感動，他談到在土耳其人控制的塞浦路斯北部生活的信友團體說：“原屬于塞浦 路斯四個村莊的一些馬龍尼禮天主教徒的存在，意義重大，那裏的基督信徒是受苦和處在盼望中的人。我願意向他們表達我以父親的心懷理解他們的渴望和困難。我 向拉丁禮和馬龍尼禮的所有信徒保證在祈禱中記得他們，鼓勵他們也經由基督信徒和非基督信徒間彼此信任的耐心工作爲福音作見證，在人民中間建設持久的和平與 和諧。”

教宗最後提到6月6日在尼科西亞舉行的隆重彌撒中把10月份將在梵蒂岡召開的中東主教特別會議的會議綱領交給即將與會的主教們。教宗說，中東地區在教會的心中占有特殊地位。教宗也談到爲土耳其主教團主席已故帕多維塞主教祈禱，說他的突然去世令我們悲痛和震驚。

教宗用各種語言問候信友們時，特別向波蘭信友們提到剛被列真福品的耶日·波比耶烏什科神父，邀請信友們將自己托付給這位新真福。

司鐸年結束3天活動正式展開

by pleung | Jun 10, 2010 | News

（梵蒂岡電臺訊）結束司鐸年的全球司鐸3天大聚會活動于昨天9日正式展開，有來自世界各地的1萬2千多位司鐸參加。司鐸年是教宗本篤十六世于去年2009 年3月16日宣布、幷從同年的6月19日開始舉行，爲紀念阿爾斯的本堂神父聖維雅內去世150年。第一天的活動，以德國科隆的總主教邁斯納樞機在羅馬城外聖保祿大殿帶領默想開始，接著是聖職部部長胡默斯樞機主持彌撒。由于前來參加這3天活動的司鐸非常多，因此一部分司鐸在聖保祿大殿參加，另一部分則在聖若望拉特朗大殿中參加，後者通過視頻會議聆聽了邁斯納樞機的默想。

邁斯納樞機所講的默想主題是：歸依與使命。他說，司鐸在告解亭中可以把目光投入許多人的心中。他又說，從歸依到從事傳教使命的路程，是以從告解亭的一邊到另一邊、從懺悔者的一邊到聽告解司鐸的那一邊這過程來完成。邁斯納樞機指出，教會和司鐸生活中的許多弊端，根源出自告解聖事的日益衰微。他解釋說：“罪是人們通過司鐸而認識基督的最大障礙，而寬恕則是超越這障礙的最大的愛。” 邁斯納樞機說，告解是重新開始相信，同時也開始發現直到那一刻，我們沒有深入地信賴天主，爲此，我們應該請求寬恕。

隨後，聖座聖職部部長胡默斯樞機在聖保祿大殿主持彌撒時，强調司鐸是耶穌的門徒，他們履行使命的對象以窮人爲優先，因爲窮人是天主所寵愛的，他們需要感覺到教會與他們在一起，不論在迫切需要的援助上，或是在推展一個以正義與和平爲基礎的社會上。胡默斯樞機提醒參禮的司鐸們說：“現今社會中，仍有上億的人被迫生活在極度貧窮和饑餓中，他們有權接受天主是父、天主毫無保留地愛他們的福音。”胡默斯樞機引用教宗本篤十六世“天主是愛”通諭中的話而强調，有好牧人形象的主教，必須特別勤奮地爲人們提供信德的慰藉，但也不要忽略物質的食糧。在談到司鐸的使命時，胡默斯樞機說：

“這是一個聖召，也是一個意義極其崇高、責任極其巨大的使命。我們應該爲此而不斷謙遜地俯伏在主的跟前，知道自己不配也無能，但對天主强有力的恩寵充滿信賴與喜樂，他以我們爲他的工具和執行人。”

胡默斯樞機最後指出，司鐸從天主的聖言、聖體聖事、祈禱獲得生活和實踐自己的使命的途徑。

在聖若望拉特朗大殿中也舉行了一台彌撒，由聖職部秘書長皮亞琴扎總主教宣讀了胡默斯樞機的講道。

Support Priests, especially in Moments of Difficulty

by pleung | May 11, 2010 | News

VATICAN CITY, 5 MAY 2010 (VIS) – In today’s general audience, which was celebrated in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope focused his remarks on the priest’s mission to sanctify humankind.

“Sanctifying a person means putting that person in contact with God”, said the Pope, noting how “an essential part of a priest’s grace is his gift, his task to establish such contact. This comes about through the announcement of the Word of God, … and particularly intensely in the Sacraments”.

“Over recent decades”, he went on, “various schools of thought have tried to make the aspect of announcement prevail in the priest’s mission and identity, separating it from sanctification. It has often been affirmed that there is a need to go beyond merely sacramental pastoral care”.

“Ordained ministers”, the Pope explained, “represent Christ, God’s envoy, they … continue His mission through the ‘Word’ and the ‘Sacrament’, which are the two main pillars of priestly service”. In this context he identified the need “to reflect whether, in certain cases, having undervalued the faithful exercise of ‘munus sanctificandi’ has not perhaps led to a weakening of faith in the salvific effectiveness of the Sacraments and, in the final analysis, in the real action of Christ and His Spirit, through the Church, in the world”.

“It is, therefore, important to promote appropriate catechesis in order to help the faithful understand the value of the Sacraments. But it is equally necessary, following the example of the saintly ‘Cure of Ars’, to be willing, generous and attentive in giving the faithful the treasures of grace that God has placed in our hands, treasures of which we are not masters but custodians and administrators. Especially in our own time – in which on the one hand, the faith seems to be weakening and, on the other, there is a profound need and widespread search for spirituality – it is necessary for each priest to remember that … missionary announcement and worship are never separate, and that he must promote a healthy sacramental pastoral care in order to form the People of God and help them to fully experience the liturgy … and the Sacraments as gratuitous gifts of God, free and effective aspects of His action of salvation”.

The Pope went on to highlight how “each priest knows he is a tool necessary for God’s salvific action, but nonetheless just a tool. This awareness must make him humble and generous in administering the Sacraments, respecting the canonical norms but also profoundly convinced that his mission is to ensure that mankind, united to Christ, can offer itself to God as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him”.

Addressing himself directly to priests the Holy Father encouraged them “to practice liturgy and worship with joy and love”. He also renewed his call “to return to the confessional, as a place in which to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but also as a place in which ‘to dwell’ more frequently, that the faithful may find mercy, counsel and comfort, feel themselves to be loved and understood by God, and experience the presence of Divine Mercy alongside the real presence in the Eucharist”.

“I would also like to invite each priest to celebrate and to live the Eucharist intensely”, said Benedict XVI. Priests “are called to be ministers of this great Mystery, in the Sacrament and in life”.

Likewise, “it is indispensable to strive after the moral perfection which must dwell in each authentically priestly heart”, because “there is an example of faith and a witness of sanctity that the People of God expect from their pastors”.

Pope Benedict concluded by calling on the faithful “to be aware of the great gift that priests represent for the Church and the world. Through their ministry the Lord continues to save mankind, to make Himself present, to sanctify. Give thanks to God and above all remain close to your priests with prayer and support, especially in moments of difficulty, that they may increasingly become pastors in keeping with God’s heart”.