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UDIENZA
AI VESCOVI DEL CANADA-ONTARIO (8 SETTEMBRE 2006) |
Ascolta il servizio trasmesso da Radio Vaticana
Radio Vaticana,
8 settembre 2006
IN
UN TEMPO CARATTERIZZATO DAL RELATIVISMO, LA DEMOCRAZIA SIA
SEMPRE FONDATA SULLA VERITA’: COSI’,
BENEDETTO XVI NEL DISCORSO AI VESCOVI DEL CANADA-ONTARIO,
RICEVUTI IN OCCASIONE DELLA VISITA AD LIMINA. L’INVITO
DEL PAPA AI POLITICI CATTOLICI AFFINCHE’ NON SCENDANO A
COMPROMESSI SUI PRINCIPI DELLA FEDE CRISTIANA
I
politici cattolici non scendano a compromessi sui principi
della fede cristiana: è l’avvertimento di Benedetto XVI
contenuto nel discorso ai presuli
del Canada-Ontario,
ricevuti stamani nel Palazzo Apostolico di Castel Gandolfo,
in occasione della visita
ad Limina.
Nel suo intervento, il Papa si è soffermato sul rapporto
tra fede e cultura in un tempo caratterizzato da un
marcato relativismo. Il Pontefice ha inoltre sottolineato
che la democrazia, per avere successo, deve fondarsi sulla
verità e sul rispetto della persona umana.
L’indirizzo di omaggio al Papa è stato rivolto da mons.
Richard W. Smith, vescovo di Pembroke e presidente della
Conferenza episcopale dell’Ontario.
Il servizio di Alessandro Gisotti:
**********
Gli
ostacoli al Regno di Cristo sono oggi drammaticamente
“evidenziati dalla separazione tra il Vangelo e la
cultura”, che determina “l’esclusione di Dio dalla
sfera pubblica”. E’ il forte richiamo di Benedetto XVI,
che nel discorso ai vescovi del Canada ha offerto una
profonda riflessione sul rapporto tra Chiesa e società,
fede e cultura:
CERTAIN
VALUES DETACHED…
“Certi valori – ha detto il Papa – staccati dalle
loro radici morali e dal loro pieno significato radicato
in Cristo, sono evoluti nei modi più inquietanti”. Il
Canada, ha rilevato, “nel nome della tolleranza ha
accettato la follia della ridefinizione” del concetto di
coniuge. D’altro canto, ha proseguito, “nel nome della
libertà di scelta”, i canadesi “assistono ogni giorno
alla distruzione di bambini non nati”. “Quando il
piano divino del Creatore è ignorato – ha constatato
con amarezza – si perde la verità della natura
umana”. Quindi, si è soffermato su quelle “false
dicotomie” che sono presenti “anche all’interno
della comunità cristiana”. Il Papa ha fatto
riferimento, in particolare, ai danni che i leader
politici cristiani provocano quando “sacrificano
l’unità della fede e sanzionano la disintegrazione
della ragione e dei principi di natura etica” per
rincorrere “effimere mode sociali” o “false
richieste emerse dai sondaggi”. Parole, queste,
corredate da una viva esortazione:
DEMOCRACY
SUCCEDS ONLY TO….
“La democrazia – ha sottolineato Benedetto XVI – ha
successo soltanto se si basa sulla verità e su una
corretta comprensione della persona umana”. Ancora, ha
detto il Pontefice, “l’impegno cattolico nella vita
politica non può scendere a compromessi su questi
principi”, altrimenti, la verità cristiana “verrebbe
ridotta al silenzio” e si affermerebbe “l’autonomia
dalla morale”. Ha così incoraggiato i presuli del
Canada-Ontario a mostrare ai leader politici che la fede
cristiana “lungi dall’essere un ostacolo al dialogo è,
invece, un ponte che collega ragione e cultura”.
D’altro canto, ha messo l’accento sul rischio che si
corre nel disperdere l’identità del messaggio
cristiano:
WE
MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ANY REDUCTION…
“Dobbiamo
riconoscere – ha avvertito il Papa – che ogni
riduzione” del “Regno di Dio” a “indefinito Regno
di valori” indebolisce “l’identità cristiana e
sminuisce il contributo della Chiesa alla rigenerazione
della società”. Quando “il credere è rimpiazzato dal
fare”, è stato il suo monito, è allora “urgente
ritornare” allo spirito dei primi discepoli di Cristo.
Parlando poi delle scuole cattoliche canadesi, ha poi
rivolto il pensiero all’importanza
dell’evangelizzazione della cultura. E ciò, ha
affermato, è ancor più vero oggi in una società “dove
è presente in modo marcato il relativismo che non
riconoscendo niente come definitivo considera i propri
desideri come l’ultimo criterio” di giudizio. Per
questo, ha concluso il Papa, soprattutto pensando ai
giovani, è urgente proporre un “apostolato dell’amore
intellettuale” che nell’essenziale unità della
conoscenza “guidi i giovani verso la sublime
soddisfazione di esercitare la loro libertà in relazione
con la verità”.
**********
VISITA
"AD LIMINA APOSTOLORUM" DEI PRESULI DELLA
CONFERENZA EPISCOPALE DEL CANADA-ONTARIO
Your
Eminence,
Dear
Brother Bishops,
1. "God
is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God
abides in him" (1Jn 4:16). With fraternal
affection I cordially welcome you, the Bishops of Ontario,
and I thank Bishop Smith for the kind sentiments expressed
on your behalf. I warmly reciprocate them and assure you,
and those entrusted to your pastoral care, of my prayers
and solicitude. Your visit ad Limina Apostolorum, and
to the successor of Peter, is an occasion to affirm
your commitment to make Christ increasingly more visible
within the Church and society, through joyful witness to
the Gospel that is Jesus Christ himself.
The
Evangelist John’s numerous exhortations to abide in the
love and truth of Christ evoke an appealing image of a
sure and safe dwelling place. God first loves us (1 Jn 4:10)
and we, drawn towards this gift, find a resting place
where we can "constantly drink anew from the original
source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart
flows the love of God" (Deus Caritas Est, 7).
Saint John was also compelled to urge his communities to
remain in that love. Already some had been weakened by the
disputes and distractions which eventually lead to
division.
2. Dear
Brothers, your own Diocesan communities are challenged to
resonate with the living statement of faith: "we know
and believe the love God has for us" (1 Jn
4:16). These words, which eloquently reveal faith as
personal adherence to God and concurrent assent to the
whole truth that God reveals (cf. Dominus Iesus, 7),
can be credibly proclaimed only in the wake of an
encounter with Christ. Drawn by his love the believer
entrusts his entire self to God and so becomes one with
the Lord (cf. 1 Cor 6:17). In the Eucharist this
union is strengthened and renewed by entering into the
very dynamic of Christ’s self-giving so as to share in
the divine life: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood abides in me and I in him" (Jn 6:56; cf.
Deus Caritas Est, 13).
L’avertissement
de saint Jean demeure cependant toujours actuel. Dans les
sociétés de plus en plus sécularisées, vous en faites
vous-mêmes l’expérience, l’amour qui jaillit du cœur
de Dieu en direction de l’humanité peut passer inaperçu
ou même être repoussé. En imaginant que se soustraire
à cette relation constitue, d’une manière ou d’une
autre, une solution pour sa propre libération, l’homme
devient en fait étranger à lui-même, parce qu’
"en réalité, le mystère de l’homme ne s’éclaire
vraiment que dans le mystère du Verbe incarné" (Gaudium
et spes, n. 22). Par le peu d’intérêt qu’ils
portent à l’amour qui révèle la plénitude de la vérité
de l’homme, de nombreux hommes et femmes continuent de
s’éloigner de la demeure de Dieu pour vivre dans le désert
de l’isolement individuel, de la fracture sociale et de
la perte d’identité culturelle.
3. Within
this perspective, one sees that the fundamental task of
the evangelization of culture is the challenge to make God
visible in the human face of Jesus. In helping individuals
to recognize and experience the love of Christ, you will
awaken in them the desire to dwell in the house of the
Lord, embracing the life of the Church. This is our
mission. It expresses our ecclesial nature and ensures
that every initiative of evangelization concurrently
strengthens Christian identity. In this regard, we must
acknowledge that any reduction of the core message of
Jesus, that is, the ‘Kingdom of God’, to indefinite
talk of ‘kingdom values’ weakens Christian identity
and debilitates the Church’s contribution to the
regeneration of society. When believing is replaced by
‘doing’ and witness by talk of ‘issues’, there is
an urgent need to recapture the profound joy and awe of
the first disciples whose hearts, in the Lord’s presence,
"burned within them" impelling them to "tell
their story" (cf. Lk 24:32; 35).
Today,
the impediments to the spread of Christ’s Kingdom are
experienced most dramatically in the split between the
Gospel and culture, with the exclusion of God from the
public sphere. Canada has a well-earned reputation for a
generous and practical commitment to justice and peace,
and there is an enticing sense of vibrancy and opportunity
in your multicultural cities. At the same time, however,
certain values detached from their moral roots and full
significance found in Christ have evolved in the most
disturbing of ways. In the name of ‘tolerance’ your
country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of
spouse, and in the name of ‘freedom of choice’ it is
confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children.
When the Creator’s divine plan is ignored the truth of
human nature is lost.
False
dichotomies are not unknown within the Christian community
itself. They are particularly damaging when Christian
civic leaders sacrifice the unity of faith and sanction
the disintegration of reason and the principles of natural
ethics, by yielding to ephemeral social trends and the
spurious demands of opinion polls. Democracy succeeds only
to the extent that it is based on truth and a correct
understanding of the human person. Catholic involvement in
political life cannot compromise on this principle;
otherwise Christian witness to the splendour of truth in
the public sphere would be silenced and an autonomy from
morality proclaimed (cf. Doctrinal Note The
Participation of Catholics in Political Life, 2-3; 6).
In your discussions with politicians and civic leaders I
encourage you to demonstrate that our Christian faith, far
from being an impediment to dialogue, is a bridge,
precisely because it brings together reason and culture.
4. Within
the context of the evangelization of culture, I wish to
mention the fine network of Catholic schools at the heart
of ecclesial life in your Province. Catechesis and
religious education is a taxing apostolate. I thank and
encourage those many lay men and women, together with
Religious, who strive to ensure that your young people
become daily more appreciative of the gift of faith which
they have received. More than ever this demands that
witness, nourished by prayer, be the all-encompassing
milieu of every Catholic school. Teachers, as witnesses,
account for the hope that nourishes their own lives (cf. 1
Pt 3:15) by living the truth they propose to their
pupils, always in reference to the one they have
encountered and whose dependable goodness they have
sampled with joy (cf. Address to Rome’s Ecclesial
Diocesan Convention, Living the Truth that God Loves
his People, 6 June 2005). And so with Saint Augustine
they say: "we who speak and you who listen
acknowledge ourselves as fellow disciples of a single
teacher" (St. Augustine, Sermons, 23:2).
A
particularly insidious obstacle to education today, which
your own reports attest, is the marked presence in society
of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as
definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self
with its desires. Within such a relativistic horizon an
eclipse of the sublime goals of life occurs with a
lowering of the standards of excellence, a timidity before
the category of the good, and a relentless but senseless
pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom.
Such detrimental trends point to the particular urgency of
the apostolate of ‘intellectual charity’ which upholds
the essential unity of knowledge, guides the young towards
the sublime satisfaction of exercising their freedom in
relation to truth, and articulates the relationship
between faith and all aspects of family and civic life.
Introduced to a love of truth, I am confident that young
Canadians will relish exploring the house of the Lord who
"enlightens every person who comes into the world (Jn
1:9) and satisfies every desire of humanity.
5. Dear
Brothers, with affection and fraternal gratitude I offer
these reflections to you and encourage you in your
proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Experience
his love and in this way cause the light of God to enter
into the world! (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 39).
Invoking upon you the intercession of Mary, Seat of Wisdom,
I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to you and the
priests, Religious, and lay faithful of your dioceses.
©
Copyright 2006 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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