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Skriven 2005-05-09 08:50:40 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
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                               VIS-Press releases

BENEDICT XVI TAKES POSSESSION OF CATHEDRA AS BISHOP OF ROME

VATICAN CITY, MAY 7, 2005 (VIS) - This evening, Benedict XVI presided at a
Eucharistic celebration in the basilica of St. John Lateran, on the occasion of
his taking possession of the Cathedra of the Bishop of Rome. Forty cardinals,
members of the diocesan episcopal council, the canons of the Lateran Basilica
and the council of pastor prefects concelebrated with the Holy Father.

At the beginning of the celebration, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general of
the diocese of Rome expressed the joy of the Church of Rome for her new pastor.
The Pope then sat in his cathedra for the first time while the choir and
congregation sang: "Joy, peace and life to you Benedict, bishop of Rome." After
this, the Holy Father received expressions of "obedience" from a group of
representatives of the Roman Church: Cardinal Ruini in his capacity as
archpriest of the basilica of St. John Lateran; Archbishop Luigi Moretti,
vicegerent of the diocese; two priests; a permanent deacon and a deacon
preparing for the priesthood; a male and a female religious; a layman and a
laywoman, and two young people who had received the rite of Confirmation.

At the beginning of his homily, the Holy Father spoke of the Ascension of the
Lord, which in many places is celebrated this Sunday, saying that Christ,
"thanks to His being with the Father, is close to each of us forever. Each of
us can address Him as a friend, each of us can call on Him." Although "we can
live with our backs turned to Him, He always awaits us, He is always close to
us."

Benedict XVI emphasized that the Risen Christ "has need of witnesses who have
met Him, of men and women who have known Him intimately through the power of
the Holy Spirit. ... The successors to the Apostles - that is, the bishops -
have the public responsibility to ensure that the network of this testimony
endures over time. ... And in this network of witnesses, a special task falls
to Peter's Successor."

The Pope "must be aware that he is a weak and fragile man," in constant need of
"purification and conversion. Yet he may also be aware that from the Lord comes
the strength to confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith, and to keep them
united in confessing the Crucified and Risen Christ."

"The bishop of Rome sits in his cathedra to bear witness to Christ," said the
Pope. "Thus the cathedra is the symbol of the 'potestas docendi,' that
authority to teach which is an essential part of the mandate to bind and to
loosen conferred by the Lord on Peter and, after him, on the Twelve." On this
subject, the Pope affirmed that "where Holy Scripture is disjoined from the
living voice of the Church, it falls prey to the disputes of experts."

"This authority to teach frightens many people, both within and outside the
Church. They ask themselves whether it does not threaten freedom of belief,
whether it is not a presumption that goes against freedom of thought. It is not
so. ... The Pope is not an absolute sovereign whose thoughts and will are law.
Quite the contrary, the ministry of the Pope is a guarantee of obedience to
Christ and to His Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but constantly bind
himself and the Church in obedience to God's Word in the face of all attempts
to adapt that Word or to water it down, and in the face of all forms of
opportunism."

Benedict XVI emphasized that this is what John Paul II did "when, in the face
of all apparently benevolent attempts, in the face of erroneous interpretations
of freedom, he unequivocally underlined the inviolability of the human being,
the inviolability of human life from conception to natural death. The freedom
to kill is not true freedom, but a tyranny that reduces human beings to
slavery."

"The Pope is aware of being bound - in his important decisions - to the great
community of the faith of all times, to the binding interpretations that have
developed during the Church's pilgrim journey." He has the responsibility to
ensure that the Word of God "continues to be present in its greatness and to
sound forth in its purity, so that it is not dismembered by constant changes in
fashion."

At the end of his homily, the Holy Father assured Romans: "Now I am your
bishop. Thank you for your generosity! Thank you for your kindness! Thank you
for your patience! As Catholics we are all, in some way, also Romans."

After Mass, the Pope traveled in an open car to the basilica of St. Mary Major
to venerate the "Salus Populi Romani" icon of the Virgin Mary which is
conserved in the Borghese Chapel. This act of veneration by a new Pope
represents an unbroken tradition of supplication by the people of Rome to the
Mother of Salvation.
BXVI-POSSESSION LATERAN BASILICA/.../... VIS 050509 (840)

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