Text 2254, 49 rader
Skriven 2007-03-06 20:59:38 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
===================================================
Hello All!
                This Area is READ ONLY.  Do not post to this area.
                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

PAUL VI: THOUGHT AND DEED FOR CHRIST AND FOR THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, the Pope received
members of the research and executive committees of the Paul VI Institute of
Brescia, Italy. The group was founded in 1979 and promotes studies into the
life, thought and activities of Pope Paul VI, who governed the Church from 1963
to 1978.

Benedict XVI recalled with gratitude how Paul VI had appointed him as
archbishop of Munich, Germany and, three months later, as cardinal. That
pontiff, he continued, "received the call of divine providence to guide the
ship of Peter through a historical period marked by no small number of
challenges and problems."

Paul VI's missionary zeal "inspired him and encouraged him to undertake
important apostolic trips, even to distant nations, and to make prophetic
gestures of great ecclesial, missionary and ecumenical value. He was the first
Pope to travel to the Land of Christ," where his visit "took on clear symbolic
significance, indicating to the Church that the way of her mission is to follow
the footsteps of Christ."

The Holy Father indicated that "the secret of the pastoral activity that Paul
VI carried out with such tireless dedication, sometimes making difficult and
unpopular decisions, lay in his love for Christ. ... Until his last breath, his
thoughts, energies and activities were for Christ and for the Church."

Pope Benedict pointed out "how arduous a task it was for Paul VI to lead the
Church in the period following Vatican Council II." However, "he did not let
himself be conditioned by misunderstandings and criticisms, although he
sometimes had to endure suffering and occasionally-violent attacks, yet he
always remained a firm and prudent helmsman of the ship of Peter.

"With the passing of the years," he added, "the importance of his pontificate
for the Church and the world becomes ever clearer, as does the value of his
exalted Magisterium, which inspired his successors and to which I too continue
to refer."
AC/PAUL VI/...VIS 070305 (340)

SUMMARY

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)