Here is the translation of the statment made by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, after Pope Benedict XVI's announcement that he would resign from the See of St. Peter.
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We listened to you with a sense of loss, almost in total disbelief. In your words we noticed the great affection that you have always had for the Holy Church of God, for this Church that you loved so much. Now allow me to tell you, in the name of this apostolic cenacle - the College of Cardinals - on behalf of these your dear colleagues, let me tell you that we are closer to you than ever, as we have been in these eight luminous years of your pontificate. On 19 April 2005, if I remember correctly, at the end of the Conclave I asked you, with trembling voice, "Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?", And you did not take long - albeit with trepidation - to respond by saying that you accepted, trusting in the Lord and in the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church. Like Mary, that day you gave your "yes" and thus began your luminous pontificate following in continuity, that continuity of which you have spoken to us so much in the history of the Church, in continuity with your 265 predecessors in the Chair of Peter, in the course of two thousand years of history, from the Apostle Peter, the humble fisherman of Galilee, up to the great popes of the last century, from St. Pius X to Blessed John Paul II. ... Holy Father, before February 28, as you said, the day you wish to put the word 'fine' over your pontifical service, performed with so much love, with humility, before February 28, we will have the opportunity to better express our feelings; as will many pastors and faithful throughout the world, as will so many people of good will along with the authorities of many countries. Then, in this month, too, we will have the joy of hearing your voice as shepherd on Ash Wednesday, then on Thursday, with the clergy of Rome, in the Angelus of these Sundays, at the Wednesday audiences; there will thus be many opportunities still to hear your fatherly voice ... Your mission, however, will continue: you have said that you will always be close to us with your testimony and your prayer. Of course, the stars in the sky shine forever and so there will always shine in our midst the star of your pontificate. We are close to you, Holy Father, and bless us.
Dear brothers and sisters! In today’s liturgy the Gospel according to Luke presents the account of the calling of the first disciples. This version is original with respect to the other 2 synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Mark (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20). The call, in fact, is preceded by Jesus’ teaching of the crowds and of a miraculous catch of fish, accomplished by the Lord’s will (Luke 5:1-6). While the crowd gathers on the shore of the Lake of Genesaret to listen to Jesus he sees Simon who is discouraged because he had not caught anything all night. First he asks Simon if he might get into the boat to preach to the people a little ways from the shore; then when he finishes preaching he commands him to set out into the lake with his companions and cast out the nets (5:5). Simon obeys and they catch a great quantity of fish. In this way the evangelist makes us see how the first disciples followed Jesus, entrusting themselves to him, basing themselves on his word, which is also accompanied by wondrous signs. Let us observe that before this sign, Simon speaks to Jesus calling him “Master” (5:5), while afterward he calls him “Lord” (5:7). It is the pedagogy of God’s call, which is not much concerned with the qualities of the elect but with their faith, like that of Simon, who says: “At your word I will cast out the nets” (5:5). The image of the catch of fish points to the mission of the Church. St. Augustine comments on this: “Twice the disciples fish at the Lord’s command: once before the passions and once after the resurrection. In both cases we find a figure of the whole Church: the Church as she is now and as she will be after the resurrection of the dead. Now she contains a multitude impossible to count, including the good and the bad together; after the resurrection she will only contain the good” (Sermon 248, 1). Peter’s experience, certainly singular, is also representative of the call of every apostle of the Gospel, who must never be discouraged in proclaiming Christ to all men, to the ends of the earth. But the text of today’s Gospel also brings us to reflect on the vocation to the priesthood and the consecrated. It is the work of God. Man is not the author of his own vocation, but he replies to the divine proposal; and human weakness must not trouble us if God calls. We must have confidence in his strength, which acts precisely in our poverty; we must more and more place our trust in the power of his mercy, which transforms and renews. Dear brothers and sisters, may this Word of God revive in us too and in our Christian communities the courage, the confidence and the zeal to proclaim and witness to the Gospel. Failures and difficulties must not lead to discouragement: we are expected to cast out the nets with faith, the Lord does the rest. Let us trust in the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles. Quite aware of her littleness, she responds to the Lord’s call with total trust: “Here I am.” With her maternal aid let us renew our openness to follow Jesus, Master and Lord.
Here is the translation of the message that the Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone sent yesterday, on behalf of the Holy Father, to the participants in the Conference organized on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty by the Embassies of France and the Federal Republic of Germany at the Holy See on the theme «Fifty years of Franco-German friendship at the service of Europe: the European Union, a model for other reconciliations»:
Here is the translation of the telegram of condolence for the death last night of His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Cheli, of the titular church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, sent by the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the Bishop of Asti, His Excellency Francesco Ravinale:
Former President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People Passes Away Yesterday
Vatican Secretary of State Addresses Conference Celebrating 50th Anniversary of Elysée Treaty
