MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Vatican Media
Brussels (Agenzia Fides) – “The synodal process must be a return to the Gospel; it must not have among its priorities some ‘fashionable’ reform, but ask: how can we bring the Gospel to a society that no longer listens to it or has distanced itself from the faith? Let us all ask ourselves this question”. On the penultimate day of the Apostolic Journey to the heart of Europe, Pope Francis meets the Bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians and pastoral workers of Belgium in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Koekelberg, offering the local Catholic community, and the entire Western Church, a profound reflection on what he himself defines as a “crisis of faith” that the West itself is experiencing. A crisis, the Pontiff underlines, which is pushing the Catholic community “to return to the essential, that is, to the Gospel, so that the good news that Jesus brought into the world may be announced again to everyone, making all its beauty shine”. But Christ, he points out, is not a negative experience, on the contrary it is “a time that is offered to us to shake ourselves, to question ourselves and to change. It is a precious opportunity – in biblical language it is called kairòs – to be awakened from torpor and to rediscover the paths of the Spirit. When we experience desolation, in fact, we must always ask ourselves what message the Lord wants to communicate to us”. This “crisis of faith”, underlines the Bishop of Rome, shows us how the West has passed “from a Christianity placed in a hospitable social framework to a Christianity ‘of minority’, or rather, of testimony”. And this, he continues, “requires the courage of an ecclesial conversion, to start those pastoral transformations that also concern the customs, the models, the languages of faith, so that they are truly at the service of evangelization”. In this perspective, “this courage is also required of priests. To be priests who do not limit themselves to preserving or managing a heritage of the past, but pastors in love with Jesus Christ and attentive to grasping the questions of the Gospel, often implicit, as they walk with the holy People of God, a little in front, a little in the middle and a little at the back”. Hence the reflection on the synodal process, which in a few days will see a further step forward with the celebration of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly in the Vatican. Finally, the Pope recommends to the Church of Belgium to be merciful: “In the face of the experience of evil, we simply apply earthly justice that says: ‘whoever makes a mistake must pay’. However, the justice of God is superior”. And, dwelling on the concept of justice, the Pontiff also speaks of abuse (last night in the Apostolic Nunciature he met 17 victims of abuse by the Belgian clergy, ed.) thanking the Catholic community “for the great work” done “to transform anger and pain into help, closeness and compassion. Abuse generates atrocious suffering and wounds, also undermining the path of faith. And there is a need for so much mercy, so as not to remain with a heart of stone in the face of the suffering of the victims, to make them feel our closeness and offer all the help possible, to learn from them to be a Church that serves all without subjugating anyone”. In greeting those present, Francis recalls a work by Magritte, an illustrious Belgian painter entitled “The Act of Faith”. The canvas represents a door closed from the inside, which however is broken in the center, it is open to the sky: “It is a gash, which invites us to go beyond, to turn our gaze forward and upward, to never close ourselves in. This is an image that I leave you, as a symbol of a Church that never closes its doors, that offers everyone an opening to the infinite, that knows how to look beyond”. “Walk together, you and the Holy Spirit, to be a Church like this. Without the Spirit, nothing Christian happens,” concluded the Pope, who at the end of the meeting went to the royal crypt, beneath the church of Our Lady of Laeken, where the tombs of many members of the Royal House of Belgium are gathered. Welcomed by the King and Queen, the Pope stopped in front of the tomb of King Baudouin in silent prayer. Subsequently, in front of the King and those present, he praised his courage, when he chose to “leave his post as King so as not to sign a murderous law”. In 1992, in fact, the sovereign abdicated for 36 hours so as not to sign the law on the legalization of abortion. Finally, the Pope urged the Belgians to look to him at this time when criminal laws are making their way, hoping that his cause for beatification will proceed. (FB) (Agenzia Fides 28/9/2024) Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.