Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

Resignation of auxiliary bishop of Sucre, Bolivia

Resignation and appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Juiz de Fora, Brazil

Appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Sorocaba, Brazil

Erection of the diocese of Bariadi, Tanzania, and appointment of first bishop

 

Resignation of auxiliary bishop of Sucre, Bolivia

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the metropolitan archdiocese of Sucre, Bolivia, presented by Bishop Adolfo Eduardo José Bittschi Mayer, titular bishop of Nigizubi.

 

Resignation and appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Juiz de Fora, Brazil

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the metropolitan archdiocese of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, presented by Archbishop Gil Antônio Moreira.

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Marco Aurélio Gubiotti as metropolitan archbishop of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, transferring him from the diocese of Itabira-Fabriciano.

Curriculum vitae

Archbishop-elect Marco Aurélio Gubiotti was born on 21 October 1963 in Ouro Fino, in the metropolitan archdiocese of Pouso Alegre, in the State of Minas Gerais. He studied philosophy at the Seminário Arquidiocesano Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora of Pouso Alegre-MG and theology at the Faculdade Dehoniana in Taubaté-SP. He obtained a licentiate in biblical theology from the Faculdade de Teologia Nossa Senhora da Assunção in São Paulo-SP-

He was ordained a priest on 14 January 1989, and incardinated in the metropolitan archdiocese of Pouso Alegre.

He has held the following offices: parish vicar of São Caetano in Brazópolis-MG; parish vicar and parish priest of Santo Antônio in Jacutinga-MG; parish priest of Nossa Senhora de Fátima in Santa Rita do Sapucaí-MG; parish priest of Nossa Senhora de Fátima in Pouso Alegre-MG; parish administrator of São Sebastião in São Sebastião da Bela Vista-MG; director and professor of the Instituto Teológico Interdiocesano São José in Pouso Alegre-MG; director general and professor of the Faculdade Católica de Pouso Alegre (FACAPA) ; formator of the theological community of the archdiocesan seminary; member of the Presbyteral Council.

On 21 February 2013 he was appointed bishop of Itabira-Fabriciano, and received episcopal ordination on the following 26 May.

 

Appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Sorocaba, Brazil

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop José Roberto Fortes Palau as metropolitan archbishop of Sorocaba, transferring him from the diocese of Limeira.

Curriculum vitae

Bishop José Roberto Fortes Palau was born on 9 April 1965 in Jacareí, diocese of São José dos Campos, in the State of São Paulo.

After studying philosopy at the Instituto de Teologia e Filosofia Santa Teresinha  in São José dos Campos-SP and theology at the Faculdade Dehoniana  in Taubaté-SP, he was awarded a licentiate in spiritual theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty “Teresianum” in Rome, and a doctorate in theology at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

He was ordained a priest on 6 February 1993, and incardinated in the diocese of São José dos Campos.

He has held the following offices: parish vicar of Sant’Ana  e di  São Bento  in São José dos Campos-SP; parish priest of São José in São José dos Campos-SP; Presbyteral Pastoral Coordinator; rector of the Theology Seminary; director of the Diaconal School; director and professor of the Faculdade Católica de São José dos Campos ; member of the Presbyteral Council and the College of Consultors; vicar general; professor of spiritual theology at the Faculdade Dehoniana  in Taubaté-SP.

On 30 April 2014 he was appointed titular bishop of Acufida and auxiliary of the metropolitan archdiocese of São Paulo, and received episcopal ordination the following 21 June. On 20 November 2019 he was appointed bishop of Limeira.

 

Erection of the diocese of Bariadi, Tanzania, and appointment of first bishop

The Holy Father has erected the diocese of Bariadi, Tanzania, with territory taken from the diocese of Shinyanga, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan archdiocese of Mwanza.

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Prosper Baltazar Lyimo, until now auxiliary of Arusha, as first bishop of the newly erected diocese.

Curriculum vitae

Bishop Prosper Baltazar Lyimo was born in the village of Kyou, in the municipality of Kilema, district of Moshi, in the Kilimanjaro Region, diocese of Moshi, on 20 August 1964. After his primary studies in Ngurdoto, Arusha, and his higher studies in the minor seminary of Arusha, Saint Thomas Aquinas , he carried out his studies in philosophy at Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Kibosho, Moshi, and in theology at Saint Paul in Kipalapala, Tabora.

He was ordained a priest for the metropolitan archdiocese of Arusha on 4 July 1997.

After ordination, he first held the roles of formator in the minor seminary of Arusha Saint Thomas Aquinas in Oldonyosambu (1997-1999) and chancellor of the archdiocese (2000-2004, 2007-2008). He was awarded a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome (2007), and a doctorate in canon law from Saint Paul University , Ottawa, Canada (2011). He went on to serve as chancellor and judicial vicar of the archdiocese (2011-2014). On 11 November 2014 he was appointed titular bishop of Vanariona and auxiliary of Arusha, Tanzania, receiving episcopal consecration on the following 15 February.

Statistical data

The newly erected diocese of Bariadi [Latin name Bariadensis ] was taken from the diocese of Shinyanga, and is a suffragan of the metropolitan archdiocese of Mwanza. The see of the diocese is in the city of Bariadi. The Cathedral of the new ecclesiastical circumscription will temporarily be the parish church of Saint John the Evangelist in Bariadi; in the future it will be the church dedicated to Saint Luke, currently under construction.

 

 

Shinyanga

Bariadi

Shinyanga

 

Before division

New diocese

After division

Area

31,500

16,638

14,862

Population

4,443,079

1,221,540

3,221,539

Catholics

880,000

366,000

514,000

Parishes

43

19

24

Diocesan priests

88

35

53

Religious priests

18

8

10

Men religious

11

4

7

Women religious

76

32

44

Seminarians

104

48

56

Educational Institutes

19

7

12

Healthcare Institutions

16

7

9

At 7.30 this morning, in the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father Leo XIV presided over Holy Mass with the Cardinals gathered in the Extraordinary Consistory.

During the Eucharistic Celebration, after the proclamation of the Holy Gospel, the Pope delivered the following homily:

 

Homily of the Holy Father

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God” ( 1   Jn  4:7). The liturgy sets this exhortation before us as we celebrate the Extraordinary Consistory, a moment of grace wherein our unity in the service of the Church finds its expression.

As we know, the word Consistory ( Consistorium , or “assembly”) can be understood through the root of the verb  consistere , meaning “to stand still.” Indeed, all of us have “paused” in order to be here. We have set aside our activities for a time, and even cancelled important commitments, so as to discern together what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people. This itself is already a highly significant and prophetic gesture, particularly in the context of the frenetic society in which we live. It reminds us of the importance, in every aspect of life, of stopping to pray, listen and reflect. In doing so, we refocus our attention ever more clearly on our goal, directing every effort and resource towards it, lest we risk running blindly or “beating the air” in vain, as the Apostle Paul warns (cf.  1   Cor  9:26). We gather not to promote personal or group “agendas,” but to entrust our plans and inspirations to a discernment that transcends us – “as the heavens are higher than the earth” ( Is  55:9) – and which comes only from the Lord.

For this reason, it is important that during this Eucharist, we place each of our hopes and ideas upon the altar. Together with the gift of our lives, we offer them to the Father in union with the Sacrifice of Christ, so that we may receive them back purified, enlightened, united and transformed by grace into one Bread. Indeed, only in this way will we truly know how to listen to his voice, and to welcome it through the gift that we are to one another – which is the very reason we have gathered.

Our College, while rich in many skills and remarkable gifts, is not called primarily to be a mere group of experts, but a community of faith. Only when the gifts that each person brings are offered to the Lord and returned by him, will they bear the greatest fruit according to his providence.

Moreover, God’s love, of which we are disciples and apostles, is a “Trinitarian” and “relational” love. It is the very source of that spirituality of communion, by which the Bride of Christ lives and desires to be a home and a school (cf. Apostolic Letter  Novo Millennio Ineunte , 6 January 2001, 43). Expressing the hope that this spirituality would flourish at the dawn of the third millennium,  Saint John Paul II  described it as “the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us” ( ibid .).

Our “pausing,” then, is first and foremost a profound act of love for God, for the Church and for the men and women of the whole world. Through this, we allow ourselves to be formed by the Spirit: primarily in prayer and silence, but also by facing one another and listening to one another. In our sharing, we become a voice for all those whom the Lord has entrusted to our pastoral care in many different parts of the world. We must live this act with humble and generous hearts, aware that it is by grace that we are here. Moreover, we bring nothing that we have not first received as a gift or talent, which are not to be squandered, but invested with prudence and courage (cf.  Mt  25:14–30).

Saint Leo the Great taught that “it is a great and very precious thing in the sight of the Lord when the whole people of Christ apply themselves together to the same duties, and all ranks and orders… cooperate with one and the same Spirit.” In this way, “the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick visited, and no one seeks his or her own interests, but those of others” ( Sermon  88, 4). This is the spirit in which we wish to work together: the spirit of those who desire that every member of the Mystical Body of Christ will cooperate in an orderly way for the good of all (cf.  Eph  4:11–13). May we fully carry out our ministry with dignity under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, happy to offer our own labor and to see it its fruits mature. May we likewise welcome the labors of others and rejoice in seeing them flourish (cf. Saint Leo the Great,  Sermon  88, 5).

For two millennia, the Church has embodied this mystery in its multifaceted beauty (cf.  Francis , Encyclical Letter  Fratelli Tutti , 280). This very assembly bears witness to it through the variety of our origins and ages, and in the unity of grace and faith that gathers us together and makes us brothers.

Certainly, we stand before a “great crowd” of humanity hungry for goodness and peace. In a world where satisfaction and hunger, abundance and suffering, and the struggle for survival together with a desperate existential emptiness continue to divide and wound individuals, communities and nations, we may feel inadequate. Faced with the words of the Master, “You give them something to eat” ( Mk  6:37), we too might feel, like the disciples, that we lack the necessary means. Yet Jesus repeats to us once more, “How many loaves have you? Go and see” ( Mk  6:38). This is something we can do together. We may not always find immediate solutions to the problems we face, yet in every place and circumstance, we will be able to help one another – and in particular, to help the Pope – to find the “five loaves and two fish” that providence never fails to provide wherever his children ask for help. When we welcome these gifts, hand them over, receive and distribute them, they are enriched by God’s blessing and by the faith and love of all, ensuring that no one lacks what is necessary (cf.  Mk  6:42).

Beloved brothers, what you offer to the Church through your service, at every level, is something profound and very personal, unique to each of you and precious to all. The responsibility you share with the Successor of Peter is indeed weighty and demanding.

For this reason, I offer you my heartfelt thanks, and I wish to conclude by entrusting our work and our mission to the Lord with the words of Saint Augustine: “You give us many things when we pray, and whatever good we received before we prayed for it, we have received from you. We have also received from you the grace that later we came to realize this... Remember, Lord ‘that we are but dust.’ You have made man of the dust” ( Confessions , 10, xxxi, 45).  Therefore, we say to you: “Grant what you command, and command what you will” (ibid.).

At 13.00 today, at the Holy See Press Office, Via della Conciliazione 54, a press conference was held to present the “ Pray with the Pope ” campaign, an initiative of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network .

The speakers were: Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, and Father Cristóbal Fones, S.J., international director fo the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

The following are their interventions.

 

Intervention of Paolo Ruffini

Good morning.

I will not take up much of your time.

However, I would like to emphasize the importance of this project for the Dicastery for Communication, which involves our technology department, Vatican Media, the editorial department, the theological-pastoral department and, of course, the Press Office, which has brought us together here today.

Praying with the Pope represents a different way of understanding the network, of weaving the network, of rooting it in the territory, of making connection a tool of communion, and communion a tool of communication.

It also means escaping the frenzy of speed that forces us to limit our attention to just a few seconds; to find ourselves with the Successor of Peter online and with our own community offline in a protected space, in a slow time of prayer.

Thinking about what I could say today, I was reminded – with regard to the different types of networks – of the dialogue between the spider and the bee in a famous fable by Jonathan Swift.

The former remains still. Its network is a spider's web. It produces a poison for flies. The bee, on the other hand, builds a network of meaning and, through universal exploration, long research, true judgement and distinction of things, brings home honey and wax. Thus providing humanity with two of the most noble things, which are sweetness and light.

“Around us”, Pope Leo said yesterday, “a distorted economy tries to profit from everything. We see how the marketplace can turn human yearnings of seeking, travelling and beginning again into a mere business”.

And we are so used to other networks, constructed according to this paradigm, where everything is monetized, that the idea of working on a prayer network without any other purpose may seem strange to us. Yet praying together is building a network.

And even in our secularized age, as Pope Leo said yesterday in his homily, we are challenged by the spiritual quest of our contemporaries, which is much richer than we can perhaps understand.

The Church was a network before the World Wide Web. But what united it and unites it deeply does not come from us but from God. Connection alone is not enough.

Pope Francis wrote, in Evangelii gaudium :

“Today, when the networks and means of human communication have made unprecedented advances, we sense the challenge of finding and sharing a ‘mystique’ of living together… To go out of ourselves and to join others is healthy for us” ( EG 87).

And Pope Leo XIV has invited us all, missionary disciples in our digital time, to go and repair the networks, which also means rediscovering the beauty of praying together for the common good, of not cultivating delusions of grandeur or conquest, but of relearning to turn to God together, calling him “Abba”, “Father”, like children; thus revealing the mystery of the communion that unites us among ourselves and with Him.

“Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them ( Mt 18:20)”.

The Pope’s worldwide prayer network responds to a widespread desire, much more widespread than we think: to rediscover this different beauty in the network; finding in prayer the strength to nurture a different way of acting in the world. A different path, as the Pope told us again yesterday when he recalled the Magi.

Repairing the nets, building a different network, is missionary work.

And the close collaboration of the Dicastery with the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network is a concrete way for us to combine the communication of the Holy See with the communion of the whole Church around the successor of Peter, which is precisely the mission entrusted to the Dicastery: the construction, through communication, of that network of communion that makes us truly members of each other.

This network, which is not virtual but real, shows that it is still possible – it is always possible – to encounter each other, even in a time of divisions, bombs and wars. We just need to create opportunities to do so. And meeting to pray helps us to bring back unity to what is divided.

The Pope's personal and universal prayer is thus offered in a new, sober and powerful way, as a visible instrument of union and sharing in the Lord, a meeting point for millions of people, members of one another, fully present in the digital and physical spaces of their lives, starting from the inner spaces of each person's heart.

It is a simple and powerful way to reconnect with the right words, true words, words that heal amid the din of too many misguided words. I believe we can all be grateful to the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, to Father Cristóbal Fones and to all those who, through their service, bring these words to life in the world by weaving them into a network.

 

Intervention of Father Cristóbal Fones, S.J.

Good afternoon, everyone, and a very happy 2026.

We are delighted to gather here today to share with you the “Pray with the Pope” campaign, a global initiative that the Holy Father Leo XIV has entrusted to his Worldwide Prayer Network, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication, to build even deeper authentic networks of solidarity and apostolic availability. Through this campaign, the Pope wishes to share his monthly prayer intention as a genuine invitation to “pray with him” for the great challenges we face in the world.

This campaign builds on a fruitful initiative launched by Pope Francis ten years ago, known as “The Pope Video”. In it, the Pontiff has invited us each month to open our hearts to the difficult realities of humanity, in the manner of Jesus. Under the direction of my predecessor, Fr. Frederic Fornos, and in close collaboration with the production company La Machi , professionally guided by journalist Andrea Sarubbi, “The Pope Video” has reached millions of people around the world, conveying a clear and challenging message that has left no one indifferent.

In keeping with this mission of compassion for the world, and adding a new perspective, the campaign we are presenting today moves us more decisively towards silence, towards an intimate, serene experience; a shared inner experience that truly transforms life from within.

The focus of this new stage will be more centred on supporting a spiritual experience, which often becomes difficult in the midst of our daily lives, so hectic and full of noise. The Pope is very aware of this and wants to help us, inviting us to pray together for others. He knows how deeply we need to slow down in order to achieve greater depth in our decisions and relationships.

With a simple and accessible format, “Pray with the Pope” aims to be an open door so that anyone, wherever they are, can join in the prayer intention proposed by the Holy Father each month, praying with him in a synodal way, sustained by the same mission. It is a simple and universal invitation to which each of us can respond.

Pope Leo XIV, as we know, has invited us numerous times this year to pray for an “unarmed and disarming peace”. And that peace is a grace to be received, as well as a task to be built; it comes from a true disposition of the heart that we must learn to ask for in a deeper way. Is there a place where we can become more vulnerable, exposed, without masks, than in the presence of the One who loves us? Prayer is that space where what is authentic, simple, fundamental, what makes us who we are, can emerge. And we want to live it together in service to the needs of the world.

The Pope's prayer intentions for the year 2026 address some of the challenges of our time, the wounds of the world, the search for the human being, and the hope that the Church is called to safeguard. We want each video and each audio to help us unite in the same prayer, addressing issues that affect each of us directly or indirectly.

We will begin this year by asking to learn to pray with the most definitive Word, which is not our own, so full of empty promises, but Jesus Christ. This is the basis for a year in which we will also be invited to pray for children with incurable diseases, for effective disarmament—particularly nuclear disarmament— for priests in crisis, for universal access to quality food, the promotion of the values of sport, respect for human life, accompaniment for those who feel alone in big cities, care for water, the good use of wealth, and families experiencing the absence of a mother or father.

This campaign can be followed on our landing page popesprayer.va in several languages, and can also be heard in audio format on Vatican Radio and on platforms associated with Pray with the Pope : Pray as You Go , RezandoVoy and Hallow .

We invite you to share this good news and to participate in this prayer network, which supports Pope Leo's ministry from a perspective that is often silenced by a mercantile and noisy society, governed by algorithms and stimuli that distance us from what is most true in our hearts. Praying—and doing so together—awakens our capacity to be brothers and sisters, to care for the lives of others, to build solidarity and concrete love.

The Worldwide Prayer Network seeks precisely to help in this direction. It is present in more than 90 countries and some 22 million people actively participate in it. You can imagine the variety of stories, faces, cultures, languages and perspectives on life. By uniting in this common mission, we truly seek to highlight issues that are important and decisive for everyone, opening our hearts to urgent realities and transforming our environment to counteract the “globalization of indifference”.

We would now like to present two video messages from people who are part of communities of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network in different parts of the world and who pray together for the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church. On the one hand, the testimony of Kédi Ogou Marianne Inès from Cote d’Ivoire reflects how intercessory prayer connects her deeply with the Lord and with others. On the other hand, Stella Vania from Indonesia tells us how prayer and attitudes for daily life help her to transform herself and have a more open view of others.

The following is the text of the video with the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of January, disseminated via the “Pray with the Pope” campaign, an initiative of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network , on the theme For prayer with the Word of God :

 

Video Message of the Holy Father

JANUARY: For the prayer with the Word of God

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amén.

Lord Jesus, living Word of the Father,

in You we find the light that guides our steps.

We know that the human heart lives restless, hungry for meaning,

and only your Gospel can give it peace and fullness.

Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures,

to let ourselves be challenged by your voice,

and to discern our decisions

from the closeness to your Heart.

May your Word be nourishment in weariness,

hope in darkness,

and strength in our communities.

Lord, may your Word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts—

the Word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters,

disciples and missionaries of your Kingdom.

Make us a Church that prays with the Word,

that is built upon it and shares it with joy,

so that in every person the hope of a new world may be born again.

May our faith grow in the encounter with you through your Word,

moving us from the heart

to reach out to others,

to serve the most vulnerable,

to forgive, build bridges, and proclaim life.

Amen.

This morning’s General Audience took place at 10.00 in the Paul VI Hall, where the Holy Father Leo XIV met with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and all over the world.

In his address in Italian, the Pope focused his catechesis on the theme “ Vatican Council II through its Documents” (Reading Heb 13:7.9).

After summarizing his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father addressed special greetings to the faithful present.

The General Audience concluded with the recitation of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing.

 

Catechesis: Vatican Council II through its Documents. Introductory catechesis

Brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

After the Jubilee Year, during which we focused on the mysteries of the life of Jesus, we will begin a new cycle of catechesis which will be dedicated to Vatican Council II and a rereading of its Documents. It is a valuable opportunity to rediscover the beauty and the importance of this ecclesial event. Saint John Paul II, at the end of the Jubilee 2000, stated: “I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century ” (Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte , 57).

Together with the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, in 2025 we remembered the seventieth anniversary of Vatican Council II. Although the time that separates us from this event is not so long, it is equally true that the generation of bishops, theologians and believers of Vatican II is no longer with us. Therefore, while we hear the call not to let its prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through “hearsay” or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content. Indeed, it is the Magisterium that still constitutes the guiding star of the Church’s journey today. As Benedict XVI taught, “as the years have passed, the Conciliar Documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society” ( First Message at the end of the Eucharistic Concelebration with the Members of the College of Cardinals , 20 April 2005).

When Pope Saint John XXIII opened the Council on 11 October 1962, he spoke of it as the dawn of a day of light for the whole Church. The work of the numerous Fathers convened from the Churches of all continents did indeed pave the way for a new ecclesial season. After a rich biblical, theological and liturgical reflection spanning the twentieth century, Vatican Council II rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children; it looked at the Church in the light of Christ, light of nations, as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and his people; it initiated important liturgical reform, placing at its centre the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire People of God. At the same time, it helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity, to echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and to collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society.

Thanks to Vatican Council II, the Church “has something to say, a message to give, a communication to make” (Saint Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam suam , 65), striving to seek the truth by way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and dialogue with people of good will.

This spirit, this inner disposition, must characterize our spiritual life and the pastoral action of the Church, because we have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today’s challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace. At the beginning of the Council, Monsignor Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I, as Bishop of Vittorio Veneto, wrote prophetically, “As always, there is a need to achieve not so much organizations or methods or structures, but a deeper and more widespread holiness. ... It may be that the excellent and abundant fruits of a Council will be seen after centuries and will mature by laboriously overcoming conflicts and adverse situations”. [1] Rediscovering the Council, then, as Pope Francis remarked, helps us to “restore primacy to God, to what is essential: to a Church madly in love with its Lord and with all the men and women whom he loves” ( Homily on the sixtieth anniversary of the beginning of Vatican Council II , 11 October 2022).

Brothers and sisters, Saint Paul VI’s words to the Council Fathers at the end of its work remain a guiding principle for us today. He affirmed that the time had come to leave the Council assembly and go out towards humanity to bring it the good news of the Gospel, in the awareness that they had experienced a time of grace in which the past, present and future were condensed: “The past: for here, gathered in this spot, we have the Church of Christ with her tradition, her history, her councils, her doctors, her saints; the present, for we are taking leave of one another to go out towards the world of today with its miseries, its sufferings, its sins, but also with its prodigious accomplishments, its values, its virtues; and lastly the future is here in the urgent appeal of the peoples of the world for more justice, in their will for peace, in their conscious or unconscious thirst for a higher life, that life precisely which the Church of Christ can and wishes to give them” (Saint Paul VI, Message to the Council Fathers , 8 December 1965).

This is also true for us. As we approach the documents of Vatican Council II and rediscover their prophetic and contemporary relevance, we welcome the rich tradition of the life of the Church and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew our joy in running towards the world to bring it the Gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice and peace.

[1] A. Luciani – John Paul I, Note sul Concilio , in Opera omnia , vol. II, Vittorio Veneto 1959-1962. Discorsi, scritti, articoli , Padua 1988, 451-453.

________________

Greeting in English

I extend a warm welcome this morning to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from England, Ireland, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. To all of you and your families, I offer my prayerful good wishes for a blessed Christmas season and a new year filled with joy and peace. God bless you all! 

________________

Summary of the Holy Father's words

Dear brothers and sisters, we begin today a new series of catecheses dedicated to the  Second Vatican Council  and to reflecting on its documents. The work of the Council Fathers paved the way for a new ecclesial season, placing at its center the mystery of salvation and the unity between God and his people. At the same time, it opened the Church to seek dialogue with the people of good will for a more just and fraternal world. We see that the documents have lost none of their relevance and are pertinent to the demands and challenges of today. Closely studying the Council documents will help us to be attentive interpreters of the signs of the times, and to proclaim the Gospel to all. As we make our journey of rediscovering the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, let us welcome the past with its rich tradition; let us consider the present with its joys and sorrows; and let’s look towards the future with an urgent appeal for greater justice, love and peace.