On the 6 Newly Recognized Saints

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 17, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square. The Holy Father had just finished celebrating a Mass in which six saints were canonized.

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At the end of this solemn celebration, I would like to renew my cordial greeting to all pilgrims who have come to honor the new saints.

I warmly greet the French-speaking pilgrims, among them the official delegation from Canada, and all the Canadians here for the canonization of Brother André Bessette. Taking up his message, I encourage you to follow his footsteps and freely welcome out of love the will of God in your lives. May you as well, like him, overflow with charity for your brothers and sisters who suffer affliction. May God bless you all, as well as your families. Enjoy your stay in Rome!

I warmly greet all the English-speaking pilgrims, especially those who have come in such great numbers for today’s canonization. May these new saints accompany you with their prayers and inspire you by the example of their holy lives. I greet especially the official Delegations from Canada and Australia who have travelled to Rome in honour of Saint André Bessette and Saint Mary MacKillop. May God bless and keep all of you, as well as your families and loved ones at home.

I warmly welcome the German-speaking pilgrims and visitors. Saints are the living image of the love of God. Thus, today we find joy in these new saints, Stanislaw Kazimierczyk Soltys, André Bessette, Cándida María de Jesús Cipitria y Barriola, Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Giulia Salzano and Battista Camilla Varano. They are for us models to follow and advocates for our lives as Christians. May the Lord bless you all.

I warmly greet the Spanish-language pilgrims who have participated in this morning’s solemn canonization ceremony, especially the lord cardinals and bishops, as well as the official delegation from Spain. I entrust the Daughters of Jesus to the intercession of St. Cándida, their founder. I also ask God that the new saints will be a model for the Christian people, particularly youth, so that there will be an ever greater number who welcome the call of the Lord and completely entrust their lives to proclaim the greatness of his love.

I warmly greet all the Poles who have come for the canonization. In a special way I offer my welcome to the representatives of the episcopate and to the president of the Polish Republic. I rejoice together with you over the glory of the sanctity of your fellow countryman Stanisław Kaźmierczyk. Let us learn from him the spirit of prayer, of contemplation and of sacrifice for our neighbor. May he sustain before God the Church in Poland, you who are present here, your loved ones and your homeland. I bless you from my heart.

I greet all the Italian pilgrims who celebrate St. Battista Camilla Varano and St. Giulia Salzano as well as the official delegation that is present for this happy circumstance. In particular my thought goes out to the spiritual daughters of the new saints and to the faithful who have come from the Marche and the Campania.

Thinking of Italy, I would like to recall that today in Reggio Calabria, the 46th annual Social Week of Italian Catholics, which addressed an “agenda of hope” for the country’s future, is concluding. I address a cordial greeting to the participants in the conference, who are connected to us by a video link at the moment, and I hope that the pursuit of the common good will always constitute the sure guiding principle for the efforts of Catholics involved in social and political matters.

Now let us turn in prayer to Mary Most Holy, who God placed at the center of the great assembly of saints. We entrust to her [and all the other saints] the entire Church, so that, enlightened by her example and sustained by their intercession, the faithful will go forward with an ever new spirit toward the homeland of heaven.