'The visit of Pope Benedict to the United Kingdom in September is remarkably historic. It is the first ever State visit by a Pope; the first ever Beatification to take place in this country; Cardinal Newman is the first English ‘confessor of the faith’ to be beatified in over 600 years. These startling perspectives help us to appreciate not only the importance of this visit for our history but also for our future. This visit spells out, in a borrowed phrase, ‘the future of our past’!When Pope John Paul came to Britain in 1982, he came as the chief Pastor of the Catholic Church, to visit the Catholic community here, to celebrate the Sacraments and to confirm and strengthen our faith.
This visit of Pope Benedict is quite different. He is the guest of our Queen and Government. The first images we will see will be his greeting Her Majesty, her welcome to him and his visit to the people of these nations.
Pope Benedict comes with the delicate task of presenting to our society, in his reasoned and elegant manner, the crucial importance for our world of faith in God and the enrichment it brings. This is a mighty and sensitive task, especially given some of the social tensions and raised voices with which we are familiar today. It is so important that we give him our wholehearted and unstinting support.
We might set out thinking that the Pope has come to see us, the Catholic community. But his principal aim is not exactly that. Rather he has come to offer to our society a witness to the Christian Gospel as a message of hope and love, as a firm and reliable basis for modern living. So our role is to support the Holy Father in his most difficult tasks. We have to get right behind him. The witness of our actions and of our lives must give visible credibility to the message he offers to all.
We can support the Pope in so many different ways. We can pray for him. We can promote the vision and importance of his visit. We can make contact with all our friends and colleagues to help them to see the importance and the possibilities of this moment. We can help to meet the costs of the visit, and the cost of a constructive follow-up.
How will the Pope go about this task?
He will affirm so much of our great heritage and tradition: that of our civil society, its tolerance and robust democracy, and that of our Christian faith, in our culture, our music, and our religious traditions.
He will encourage us in the efforts we are making to be a society which is compassionate, which is committed to justice and which is generous to those most in need.
He will engage in thoughtful discourse, inviting dialogue among us: on the key themes of the work of education; on the importance of sound and lasting values in society, based on an insightful understanding of our human nature; on the role of religious faith and reason in society, in our legal system, in political life.
He will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will, therefore, occupy a crucial place in the profile of this visit. Cardinal Newman is a man who has a very special place in English cultural history, being such a clear and subtle exponent of the Christian and Catholic faith in literature, poetry, scholarship, debate and service of those in need. And for thirty years Cardinal Newman was a parish priest, much loved by his people as are so many priests today.
He will pray with us and invite us to prayer. Perhaps this is most important of all. He will remind us that we are all spiritual beings; that we are so much more than the sum total of our material achievements; that we are drawn to love and to beauty; that there is a capacity within every person for the things of the spirit, the things of God. In London, for example, on the evening of Saturday 18 September, the Pope will take part in a Vigil of Prayer. In the context of one of the world’s great cities, there will be a place and space of prayer, of silence, and of praise of God. What a moment that will be!
There is no doubt that we are entering into a time of economic austerity. At such times, the quality of relationships between all people becomes so much more central to our shared well-being. This will be the context in which the Pope speaks to us. He will help us to remember that faith in God, that the Christian faith is a major factor in creating and sustaining good-will, compassion, generosity and the spirit of the service of others. This is one of the important roles of faith in our world today. And Pope Benedict is an eloquent and humble proponent of it.
Three major events
Every moment of the visit will be available as an on-line broadcast. Much will be on television. There will be three major outdoor events: one in Scotland, one in London and one in Coventry. Over 400,000 people will be able to be present at these events, following arrangements that will be announced before too long. These are the ways in which we can all participate in this short but intense visit.
I ask you to support this visit generously with your prayers and with your donations. There are considerable costs yet nearly half of them have already been met. But we need every Catholic to play a part. I thank you for your generosity.
Now we prepare in earnest to welcome Pope Benedict on this historic visit. We offer him our full support in this great endeavour. Let us all be protagonists of his historic visit to Britain this September.'
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