ARRIVAL IN LISBON
The Pope begins his visit
(11 May 10 – RV) Atlantic skies and the sun shining as a 32-member children’s choir from the prestigious Lisbon Academy of Saint Cecilia sang the hallmark hymn marking this journey to welcome Benedict XVI on Portuguese soil for the first time , as Roman Pontiff .
'Bem vindo Santo Padre , Bem vindo in Portugal' the children sang, while the President of the Republic Anibal Cavaco da Silva and his wife stood by together with the Patriarch of Lisbon Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo.
And there were speeches, beginning with the welcoming party, the President who welcomed the Pope at the start of this journey rife with meaning for Portugal describing him as a “messenger of hope at a time of uncertainty”.
“You cannot understand Portugal,” he stressed, “without that privileged relationship with the Holy See recalling how in the year 1079 the Pope of the time, Alexander III recognized the new State of Portugal”.
And the Roman Pontiff replied, greeting all the Portuguese people, whatever their faith or religion at a historic time for this beloved and ancient nation which this year is celebration the centenary of the proclamation of the Republic.
“I come,” he said, “as a pilgrim to Our lady of Fatima”, referring to the apparitions which took place in the Marian shrine almost a century ago, describing this moment as “a window of hope that God opens when a man closes the door to him”.
This Apostolic visit has two levels of interest - first of all, Marian devotion in continuity with the Successors of Peter, Paul VI first, and then John Paul II who all travelled to Fatima on the date of the Apparitions there, always on the 13th May, the date when Our Lady appeared to three little shepherd children for the first time .
In Fatima they refer to this continuity with the papacy by calling Benedict XVI “o terceiro papa”, the third Pope of Fatima.
The third Pope who in turn in his speech referred to the words of an eminent Portuguese cardinal from the Salazar era who once remarked “it was not the Church that imposed Fatima but it was Fatima that imposed itself on the Church” .
But it was the second level of interest, the more official one, that the Holy Father then highlighted picking up on the President’s mention of the special historical connection between Portugal and the Successor of Peter, noting as the President of Portugal had mentioned in his welcome address how “the people of this nation have since the earliest days of their nationhood looked to the Successor of Peter for recognition of their existence as a people”.
“This visit is under the sign of hope,” he said, “intended as a proposal of wisdom and mission”, a reference to the theme the Bishop’s of Portugal suggested for this visit .Pope Benedict went on to explain how “from a wise vision of life and of the world the just ordering follows”.
Benedict XVI then placed the Church in a historical context, pointing out its openness to cooperating “with anyone who does not marginalize or reduce to the private sphere the essential consideration of the human meaning of life”.
The point at issue he insisted “is not an ethical confrontation between a secular and a religious system, so much as a question about the meaning that we give to freedom” .
The brief arrival was a foretaste of the more official ceremony to take place later in the morning at the Mosterio du Jeronimos, a place relating to explorers and evangelisers, steeped in symbolism and beauty relating to the powerhouse of European exploration .
Here is the full text of the Holy Father's arrival address:
Mr President,
Distinguished Authorities,
Dear Brother Bishops,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Only now has it been possible for me to accept the kind invitations of the President and my Brother Bishops to visit this beloved and ancient Nation, which this year is celebrating the centenary of the proclamation of the Republic.
As I set foot on Portuguese soil for the first time since Divine Providence called me to the See of Peter, I feel greatly honoured and I am moved to gratitude by the respectful and hospitable presence of all of you.
I thank you, Mr President, for your kind words of welcome, giving voice to the sentiments and the hopes of the beloved Portuguese people.
To all, whatever their faith or religion, I extend a greeting in friendship, especially to those who were unable to be here to meet me. I come as a pilgrim to Our Lady of Fatima, having received from on high the mission to strengthen my brothers as they advance along their pilgrim journey to heaven.
Since the earliest days of their nationhood, the Portuguese people have looked to the Successor of Peter for recognition of their existence as a Nation; in due course, one of my predecessors was to honour Portugal, in the person of its King, with the title “most faithful” (cf. Pius II, Bull Dum Tuam, 25 January 1460), for long and distinguished service to the cause of the Gospel.
As for the event that took place 93 years ago, when heaven itself was opened over Portugal – like a window of hope that God opens when man closes the door to him – in order to refashion, within the human family, the bonds of fraternal solidarity based on the mutual recognition of the one Father, this was a loving design from God; it does not depend on the Pope, nor on any other ecclesial authority: “It was not the Church that imposed Fatima”, as Cardinal Manuel Cerejeira of blessed memory used to say, “but it was Fatima that imposed itself on the Church.”
The Virgin Mary came from heaven to remind us of Gospel truths that constitute for humanity – so lacking in love and without hope for salvation – the source of hope.
To be sure, this hope has as its primary and radical dimension not the horizontal relation, but the vertical and transcendental one. The relationship with God is constitutive of the human being, who was created and ordered towards God; he seeks truth by means of his cognitive processes, he tends towards the good in the sphere of volition, and he is attracted by beauty in the aesthetic dimension.
Consciousness is Christian to the degree to which it opens itself to the fullness of life and wisdom that we find in Jesus Christ. The visit that I am now beginning under the sign of hope is intended as a proposal of wisdom and mission.
From a wise vision of life and of the world, the just ordering of society follows. Situated within history, the Church is open to cooperating with anyone who does not marginalize or reduce to the private sphere the essential consideration of the human meaning of life.
The point at issue is not an ethical confrontation between a secular and a religious system, so much as a question about the meaning that we give to our freedom. What matters is the value attributed to the problem of meaning and its implication in public life.
By separating Church and State, the Republican revolution which took place 100 years ago in Portugal, opened up a new area of freedom for the Church, to which the two concordats of 1940 and 2004 would give shape, in cultural settings and ecclesial perspectives profoundly marked by rapid change.
For the most part, the sufferings caused by these transformations have been faced with courage. Living amid a plurality of value systems and ethical outlooks requires a journey to the core of one’s being and to the nucleus of Christianity so as to reinforce the quality of one’s witness to the point of sanctity, and to find mission paths that lead even to the radical choice of martyrdom.
Dear Portuguese brothers and sisters, my friends, I thank you once more for your cordial welcome. May God bless those who are here and all the inhabitants of this noble and beloved Nation, which I entrust to Our Lady of Fatima, the sublime image of God’s love embracing all as children.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 11/05/2010 17:17]