Vatican Radio report - The Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI will come to an end with the Sede Vacante (“Vacant See”) beginning at 8pm Rome time (7pm GMT). On the last full day of his pontificate, Pope Benedict will hold a special farewell meeting with members of the College of Cardinals in the Clementine Hall. At 4.55 p.m. the Pope will bid farewell to the pontifical household, an depart the Apostolic Palace by car from the San Damaso Courtyard. From there, he will be driven to the Vatican heliport, where he will be seen off by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. At 5.15 p.m. he will be flown to Castel Gandolfo, about 30 km from Rome. The Holy Father will then briefly greet the faithful of the Diocese of Albano from the central balcony of the Apostolic Palace. This will be the last public appearance of Pope Benedict XVI while in office. At 8 p.m, the reign of the 265th Pope, the 264th successor of St. Peter, will come to an end, having lasted 7 years, 10 months, and 9 days.Pope Benedict’s on Thursday morning with his closest advisors, gathered in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall for a final greeting, just hours ahead of his retirement and the end of his pontificate at 8pm, Rome time.
S
For his last meeting in the Vatican, the outgoing pontiff greeted 144 cardinals individually, together with the presidents and officials of the different Vatican offices.
Below please find a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s words to the College of Cardinals Thursday morning:
Dear beloved brothers
I welcome you all with great joy and cordially greet each one of you. I thank Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who as always, has been able to convey the sentiments of the College, Cor ad cor loquitur. Thank you, Your Eminence, from my heart.
And referring to the disciples of Emmaus, I would like to say to you all that it has also been a joy for me to walk with you over the years in light of the presence of the Risen Lord. As I said yesterday, in front of thousands of people who filled St. Peter's Square, your closeness, your advice, have been a great help to me in my ministry. In these 8 years we have experienced in faith beautiful moments of radiant light in the Churches’ journey along with times when clouds have darkened the sky. We have tried to serve Christ and his Church with deep and total love which is the soul of our ministry. We have gifted hope that comes from Christ alone, and which alone can illuminate our path. Together we can thank the Lord who has helped us grow in communion, to pray to together, to help you to continue to grow in this deep unity so that the College of Cardinals is like an orchestra, where diversity, an expression of the universal Church, always contributes to a superior harmony of concord. I would like to leave you with a simple thought that is close to my heart, a thought on the Church, Her mystery, which is for all of us, we can say, the reason and the passion of our lives. I am helped by an expression of Romano Guardini’s, written in the year in which the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council approved the Constitution Lumen Gentium, his last with a personal dedication to me, so the words of this book are particularly dear to me .
Guardini says: "The Church is not an institution devised and built at table, but a living reality. She lives along the course of time by transforming Herself, like any living being, yet Her nature remains the same. At Her heart is Christ. "
This was our experience yesterday, I think, in the square. We could see that the Church is a living body, animated by the Holy Spirit, and truly lives by the power of God, She is in the world but not of the world. She is of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, as we saw yesterday. This is why another eloquent expression of Guardini’s is also true: "The Church is awakening in souls." The Church lives, grows and awakens in those souls which like the Virgin Mary accept and conceive the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. They offer to God their flesh and in their own poverty and humility become capable of giving birth to Christ in the world today. Through the Church the mystery of the Incarnation remains present forever. Christ continues to walk through all times in all places. Let us remain united, dear brothers, to this mystery, in prayer, especially in daily Eucharist, and thus serve the Church and all humanity. This is our joy that no one can take from us.
Prior to bidding farewell to each of you personally, I want to tell you that I will continue to be close to you in prayer, especially in the next few days, so that you may all be fully docile to the action of the Holy Spirit in the election of the new Pope. May the Lord show you what is willed by Him. And among you, among the College of Cardinals, there is also the future Pope, to whom, here to today, I already promise my unconditional reverence and obedience. For all this, with affection and gratitude, I cordially impart upon you my Apostolic Blessing.
Belwo please find a Vatican Radio translation of the farewell discourse by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals to Pope Benedict XVI.
Holiness,
With great trepidation the cardinals present in Rome gather around you today, once again to show their deep affection and express their heartfelt gratitude for your selfless witness of apostolic service, for the good of the Church of Christ and of all humanity.
Last Saturday, at the end of the Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican, you thanked your collaborators from the Roman Curia, with these moving words: My friends, I would like to thank all of you not only for this week but for the past eight years, during which you have carried with me, with great skill, affection, love and loyalty, the weight of the Petrine ministry.
Beloved and revered Successor of Peter, it is we who must thank you for the example you have given us in the past eight years of Pontificate. On 19 April 2005 you joined the long line of successors of the Apostle Peter, and today, 28 February 2013, you are about to leave us, as we wait for the helm of the Barque of Peter to pass into other hands. Thus the apostolic succession continues, which the Lord promised His Holy Church, until the voice of the Angel of the Apocalypse is heard proclaim on earth : "Tempus non erit amplius ... consummabitur mysterium Dei" (Ap 10, 6-7) "there is no longer time.: the mystery of God is finished." So ends the history of the Church, together with the history of the world, with the advent of a new heaven and a new earth.
Holy Father, with deep love we have tried to accompany you on your journey, reliving the experience of the disciples of Emmaus who, after walking with Jesus for a good stretch of road, said to one another: "Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way?" (Luke 24:32).
Yes, Holy Father, know that our hearts burned too as we walked with you in the past eight years. Today we want to once again express our gratitude.
Together we repat a typical expression of your dear native land "Vergelt's Gott" God reward you! (End)
| TELEGRAM ON THE DEATH OF CARDINAL HONORE Vatican City, 28 February 2013 (VIS) – The Holy Father has sent a telegram to Archbishop Bernard-Nicolas Aubertin, O. Cist., of Tours, France, on receiving news of the death today of Cardinal Jean Marcel Honore, archbishop emeritus of that archdiocese. The cardinal was 92 years old. The Pope asked the Lord to “welcome this pastor who has served the Church with devotion in Catholic education and catechesis into His peace and His true light.” The cardinal was also “a skilled and passionate crafter in editing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, who always had the desire to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world of today.” |
| BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR MARCH Vatican City, 28 February 2013 (VIS) – Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for March is: "That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God's work entrusted to human responsibility." His mission intention is: "That bishops, priests, and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth." |
| OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS Vatican City, 28 February 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father: - appointed Fr. Samuel Jofre as bishop of Villa Maria (area 28,000, population 386,000, Catholics 308,000, priests 69, religious 32), Argentina. The bishop-elect was born in Cordoba, Spain in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1983. Since ordination, he has served in several pastoral and judicial roles, most recently as judge on the inter-diocesanal tribunal of Cordoba and pastor of Santo Cristo Parish. He succeeds Bishop Jose Angel Roval, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Villa Maria the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit. - appointed Msgr. Joseph Dinh Duc Dao as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Xuan Loc (area 5,955, population 2,458,000, Catholics 873,440, priests 405, religious 2314), Vietnam. The bishop-elect was born in Thuc Hoa, Nam Dinh, Vietnam, in 1945 and was ordained a priest in 1971. Since ordination, he has served in several pastoral, academic, and administrative roles, most recently as consultor of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and rector of the Major Seminary of Xuan Loc. The Holy Father has assigned him the Titular See of Gadiaufala. |
Comments