Pope John Paul II
Press
Release on the Holy Father's visit to the World Ultreya, July 29, 2000
The
Holy Father's remarks to the World Ultreya
The
Holy Father's Remarks during his Angelus Message of July 30, 2000
"Cursillos"
Celebrate Jubilee with Pope
Holy Father Calls for
Remaking of Christian Fabric of Society
VATICAN CITY, JULY 30 (ZENIT.org).- Dances,
songs, and flags from all over the world were part of the setting for
John Paul II's meeting yesterday with 20,000 members of the "Cursillos
de Cristiandad," an apostolic movement present in some 60
countries, and numbering some 5 million adherents.
Fifty-one years after the foundation of this
movement in Palma de Mallorca, the directors decided to hold the
movement's third world meeting or "Ultreya," as it is commonly
known, in the Vatican.
John Paul II was determined to meet the
members of this movement; he briefly interrupted his stay in Castel
Gandolfo, and arrived at the Vatican's small heliport shortly before 7
p.m. After crossing the Arch of the Bells, he drove into St. Peter's
Square, greeting all those present. He received a floral tribute from
children in the atrium and was greeted by Frances Ruppert, the Cursillos'
world president.
The Pope then encouraged the gathered crowd
to be witnesses to the presence of Christ for the men and women of the
21st century. "This is even more urgent today, as entire countries
and nations, where Christian religion and life once flourished, and was
capable of giving life to communities of living and working faith, are
now subject to harsh trial by the continuous spread of indifference,
secularism, and atheism," he added.
"In face of this situation, which is a
challenge to believers to remake the Christian fabric of human society,
through the insertion of 'new men and women' for the encounter with
Christ, the Cursillos' method attempts to change the environment where
people live and work in a Christian way," the Holy Father said.
All those present responded to the Pope's
words with prolonged applause. The most numerous and noisy were the
Spanish. Along with them, was a large contingent from the Fatima
diocese, led by their Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva.
Individualism and relativism are the great
challenges for Christianity at this time, according to the Pontiff.
"In face of a culture that also frequently denies the existence of
an objective Truth of universal value, and that often sinks in the
shifting sands of nihilism, believers must be able to indicate clearly
that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
Therefore, addressing the millions of
members around the world, the Pope said: "To you, who opened your
heart wide to him, Christ himself asks that you tirelessly announce him
to whomever has yet to accept him. He asks you to place yourself in his
service, at the service of his Truth that make one free."
Around 8 p.m., as the sun was setting, John
Paul II bid farewell to the pilgrims and returned to Castel Gandolfo.
The III World "Ultreya" of the Cursillos of Christianity
continued well into the night, framed by Bernini's colonnade, and
absorbed in the testimonies of representatives from around the world.
Remarks of Pope John
Paul II at the World Ultreya
Christ is calling you to
serve his Truth
"You who have generously opened your hearts
to Jesus are being asked by him to proclaim his name untiringly to those
who do not yet know him", the Holy Father said on Saturday, 29
July, to the thousands of members of the Cursillos de Cristiandad
Movement who had come to Rome during the Jubilee Year for their Third
World Ultreya. The Pope reminded them that the "more transparent
this "diakonia of the truth' becomes in your daily lives, the more
convincing it will be". Also attending the meeting was a pilgrim
group from the Diocese of Leiria-Fátima, Portugal, and faithful from
Poland. Here is a translation of the Holy Father's address, which was
given in Italian, Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and
Polish.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. I am pleased to extend my affectionate
greeting to all of you who have come here from the five continents for
the Third World Ultreya of the Cursillos de Cristiandad, the Ultreya of
the Great Jubilee. Thank you for your visit and welcome to all.
I greet the Spanish-speaking cursillistas
who have come from America and from Spain, recalling that this apostolic
experience was founded in Palma de Mallorca by Bishop Juan Hervás, the
zealous Pastor of that ecclesial community.
I welcome each one of you and encourage you
to make this Ultreya of the Great Jubilee a time of renewed commitment
to holiness of life and to the apostolate.
I extend a cordial welcome to all the
French-speaking participants.
I very cordially greet all who are with us
from German-speaking countries. May this celebration strengthen your
faith.
I greet the President of the World
Organization of the Cursillos de Cristiandad and thank him for his
cordial words to me in your name, and for presenting your movement's
apostolic commitment and the good which the Lord works through you. I
greet the movement's founders, spiritual leaders and various officers.
Your presence here, so varied and festive, shows that the tiny seed
planted in Spain more than 50 years ago has become a great tree laden
with fruits of the Spirit. Indeed, it continues to be a successful
response to the question asked by my venerable Predecessor Pope Paul VI
at the first world Ultreya in Rome: "Can the Gospel still win
over the mature person ... in urban and rural cultures?" (AAS, 58,
1966, 503).
You transform the world by becoming new men
and women
I am therefore delighted to join in your
thanksgiving to the Lord for all he has done and never ceases to do in
the Church through the Cursillos de Cristiandad.
The theme of this world Ultreya -
"Evangelizing the Milieus of the Third Millennium: A
"Challenge' for the Cursillos de Cristiandad" - demonstrates
your effort to repropose the experience of Christ to the men and women
of the 21st century with new means and enthusiasm. This has become even
more urgent, since "whole countries and nations, where religion and
the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering a
viable and working community of faith, are now put to a hard test ... as
a result of the constant spread of indifference to religion, of
secularism and atheism" (Christifideles laici, n. 34).
2. In view of this situation which
challenges believers to "remake the Christian fabric of the
ecclesial community" (ibid.), the Cursillo method aims at helping
to transform in a Christian way the milieus where people live and work
through the involvement of "new men and women" who have become
such from their encounter with Christ. This is the goal of the three-day
"little course" on Christianity, in which a team of priests
and lay people, supported by the prayer and sacrifices of the movement's
other members, communicate the fundamental truths of the Christian faith
in an especially "living" way. When presented in this way, the
message of Christ almost always opens participants in a cursillo to the
gift of conversion and to a deeper awareness of the Baptism they have
received and of their own mission in the Church. They feel called to be
the prophetic "leaven" which is kneaded into the dough so that
the whole mass will rise (Mt 13: 33), to be the "salt of the
earth" and the "light of the world" (Mt 5: 13-14),
to proclaim to everyone they meet that only in Jesus Christ is there
salvation (Acts 4: 12), and that it is "only in the mystery of
the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear" (Gaudium
et spes, n. 22).
3. Dear brothers and sisters, be the
courageous witnesses of the "service of the Truth" and work
ceaselessly with the "strength of communion". In relying on
your rich spiritual experiences, which are a treasure, take up the
"challenge" that our time raises to the new evangelization and
fearlessly give it your own response.
Faced with a culture that often denies the
very existence of an objective Truth of universal value and frequently
loses its way in the "shifting sands" of nihilism (cf. Fides
et ratio, n. 5), the faithful must know how to show clearly that Christ
is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14: 6).
You who have generously opened your hearts
to Jesus are being asked by him to proclaim his name untiringly to those
who do not yet know him. He is calling you to his service, to the
service of his Truth, the truth which makes us free.
The more transparent this "diakonia of
the truth" becomes in your daily lives, the more convincing it will
be. As you are reminded in a prayer often used in the Cursillo Movement,
"Christ has no hands, he has only our hands to change the world
today. Christ has no feet, he has only our feet to lead this world to
himself. Christ has no lips, he has only our lips to speak to the
people".
Carry out your apostolate in harmony with
the Church
4. This is your apostolate, carried out in
constant harmony with the Church, to show the "strength of
communion" which is at once the style and the very essence of the
People of God. As you face the various forms of individualism which
fragment and divide your evangelizing ability and resources, join your
missionary forces with those of the various ecclesial groups raised up
by the Spirit in the Church of our time. Endeavour to restore the beauty
of the first Christian communities which prompted pagans to say with
admiration: "See how they love one another!". And always
be docile to the directives of the Magisterium. No charism, in fact,
dispenses you from referring and submitting to the Pastors of the
Church, whose discernment is a guarantee of fidelity for the charism
itself. May the Jubilee celebration instil in all of you a renewed
fidelity to your original inspiration and a firmer ecclesial
communion.
Many people are looking to you for the light
of faith
5. "Bright colours deck the fields in
springtime.
Bright colours clothe the little birds
outside.
Bright colours paint the rainbow we see
shining...".
During the days of a cursillo, the words of
this popular Spanish song help the participants to reflect on the
multifaceted beauty of creation. In encountering Christ, you have
learned to look with new eyes at others and at nature, at everyday
events and at life in general. You have experienced that true happiness
is found in following the Lord. This personal and community experience
must be passed on to others. Many men and women of our time, who
unfortunately turn away from God, expect from you the light of faith
that will help them rediscover the colours of life and the happiness of
feeling loved by God.
"Courage! Ultreya! Go forth!",
the Successor of Peter repeats to you today. Look to Mary, an example of
unfailing fidelity to God, and, like her, put your trust in every
circumstance in God, the Father of Mercy, who guards your steps on the
way of truth and love.
I extend the same cordial greetings to all
the other pilgrims who have gathered here. In particular, to those of
the Diocese of Leiria-Fátima, led by their Pastor, dear Bishop Serafim:
Dear brothers and sisters!
Two months have passed since I had the
pleasure of being among you, enjoying your warm hospitality and
witnessing your radiant joy at seeing the holiness of two of your
compatriots confirmed: Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto. In
seeing you here today - as the chosen representatives of this local
Church - I see my visit repaid: you have come to the tomb of the
Prince of the Apostles in a spirit of prayer and penance to implore
pardon and forgiveness, and to renew your dedicated commitment to that
work of divinizing humanity which began 2,000 years ago with the birth
of the God made man.
I cordially greet the whole Diocese of
Leiria-Fátima, with my wish that this Great Jubilee of the Incarnation
will be for you all that "year of the Lord's favour" which
became a reality with Jesus and in Jesus (cf. Lk 4: 19-21), so that
you can hope confidently in the power of his message and saving work,
love everyone with self-giving love and reparation for the ingratitude
to God of so many, and witness to faith courageously and consistently in
today's society.
May the Virgin Most Holy, mystically present
in your Marian shrines, the most distinguished of which, by her choice,
is the Shrine of Fátima, grant you her motherly guidance on your
journey of penance and conversion, and support you in the fulfilment of
your good intentions for your Diocese and for the world's
salvation.
I cordially greet the pilgrims from Poland
who have come to this meeting. I thank you for your commitment to the
new evangelization and to building the civilization of love and
solidarity in the world. The Church needs you! She needs your Christian
attitude and your holiness, so that she can carry out the great work of
salvation in the world.
I affectionately assure you of a constant
remembrance in my prayer and impart my Apostolic Blessing to you all, as
a pledge of abundant divine graces.
Remarks
of Pope John Paul II during his Angelus Message of July 30, 2000,
discussing the movement
CHRISTIANITY IS AN ENCOUNTER
WITH JESUS, NOT MERELY A DOCTRINE
Pope Analyzes Revolution of
New Movements and Communities
CASTEL GANDOLFO, JULY 30 (ZENIT.org).-
"Christianity cannot be reduced to a doctrine, or simple
principles," John Paul II said today, alerting his listeners
against a stagnant idea of Christian life. In fact, the Holy Father
added, "Christ, the center of Christianity, is alive and his
presence is the event that constantly renews the human creature and the
cosmos."
Today was a special Sunday for John Paul II.
On one hand, the people of Castel Gandolfo, located some 30 kilometers
from Rome, where the Pope is spending the rest of the summer, were
celebrating their "peach festival": a typical noisy summer
celebration of good food. The Holy Father also received the visit of the
group "Festival of the New Roman Song on Tour," at his summer
residence. On the other hand, with no space left in the patio of the
papal residence, members of the "Cursillos de Cristiandad,"
who celebrated their Jubilee in Rome over the weekend, were connected
live from the Vatican General Audience Hall with Castel Gandolfo for the
traditional Angelus prayer.
The Pope had vivid memories of his
afternoon meeting in St. Peter's Square with 20,000 members of that
movement from around the world. In fact, it was contact with the members
of this movement, born 50 years ago in Spain and boasting a following of
5 million throughout the world, that inspired the topic the Holy Father
addressed this Sunday.
John Paul II said that what characterized
the "Cursillos de Cristiandad," as well as similar ecclesial
movements, "is the new evangelization of adults." Over the
past half century, these realities have caused a genuine revolution in
the Catholic Church: "The Christian message is proposed through
times of intense spiritual experience, capable of making one rediscover
the beauty of encountering Christ and of being Church, as well as the
joy of fraternity and reciprocal service, permeating the whole of life
with a Christian spirit."
The demand of integral Christianity -- that
no reductions be made when it comes to truth -- at the same time, knows
how to measure itself against history and modernity. It marked the whole
of the last century and emerged with force during Vatican Council
II," the Holy Father added.
Thus the Pope explained the motive that gave
life to these new movements and communities, which on other occasions he
has referred to as a "springtime of the Spirit":
"Through the unfolding of what at times were dramatic events of the
past decades, the Church has understood ever more clearly that its task
is care and responsibility for men and women, not in the 'abstract,' but
the 'real,' 'specific,' and 'historical.' The Church incessantly offers
Christ, the only Redeemer of humanity."
"In fact, only in Christ, and the
Church does not tire of repeating it, especially in this Jubilee Year,
can human beings find the real and full meaning of their existence.
Therefore, Christianity cannot be reduced to a doctrine, or simple
principles, because Christ, the center of Christianity, is alive, and
his presence is the event that constantly renews the human creature and
the cosmos. This truth of Christ is vigorously proclaimed today, as it
was courageously defended in the 20th century by so many witnesses of
the faith and illustrious Christian thinkers, among whom I am pleased to
remember today Vladimir Sergeevic Soloviev, the centenary of whose death
we commemorate these days." the Holy Father said.
ANGELUS MESSAGE July 30, 2000
Dearest Brothers and Sisters!
1. Even at the height of the summer,
the Great Jubilee does not stop. Yesterday, among the numerous pilgrims
who converged on St. Peter's Square were those of the "Cursillos de
Cristiandad" movement, born 50 years ago, and now extended to many
countries of the world.
The characteristic of the Cursillos, as
of similar ecclesiastical movements, is the new evangelization of
adults. The Christian message is proposed through times of intense
spiritual experience, capable of making one rediscover the beauty of
encountering Christ and of being Church, as well as the joy of
fraternity and reciprocal service, permeating the whole of life with a
Christian spirit.
2. The demand of integral Christianity
-- that no reductions be made when it comes to truth -- at the same
time, knows how to measure itself against history and modernity. It
marked the whole of the last century and emerged with force during
Vatican Council II.
Through the unfolding of what at times were
dramatic events of the past decades, the Church has understood ever more
clearly that its task is care and responsibility for men and women, not
in the "abstract", but the "real,"
"specific," and "historical." The Church incessantly
offers Christ, the only Redeemer of humanity. In fact, only in Christ,
and the Church does not tire of repeating it, especially in this Jubilee
Year, can human beings find the real and full meaning of their
existence. Therefore, Christianity cannot be reduced to a doctrine, or
simple principles, because Christ, the center of Christianity, is alive,
and his presence is the event that constantly renews the human creature
and the cosmos. This truth of Christ is vigorously proclaimed today, as
it was courageously defended in the 20th century by so many witnesses of
the faith and illustrious Christian thinkers, among whom I am pleased to
remember today Vladimir Sergeevic Soloviev, the centenary of whose death
we commemorate these days.
Remembering this Russian personality of
extraordinary profundity, who with great clarity also warned about the
drama of the division among Christians and the urgent necessity of their
unity, I would like to ask you to pray so that believers in Christ of
the East and West will be able to find their full communion as soon as
possible. For this to take place, it is indispensable that they all be
converted to the living Christ, yesterday, today, and forever. By living
his Gospel without compromises, they will become the yeast of a new
humanity. This is the prayer we raise to heaven today, sustained by the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Divine Wisdom, to whom we now turn in
trust.
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 9/16 August
2000)
