Pope
Audience: Our strength is the love of Christ
(Vatican Radio) During his General Audience on Wednesday,
Pope Francis reflected on his Apostolic Voyage to Albania.
Below, please
find Vatican Radio’s translation of the full text of Pope Francis’ remarks:
Dear brothers
and sisters,
Today I want
to speak about the Apostolic Voyage I took to Albania last Sunday. I do so
first of all as an act of thanksgiving to God, who allowed me to undertake this
Visit in order to show, even in a physical and tangible way, my closeness and
the closeness of the whole Church to this people. Next I desire to renew my
fraternal gratitude to the Albanian Episcopate, to the priests and to the men
and women religious who worked so hard. My grateful thoughts go out also to the
Authorities that welcomed me with such courtesy, as well as to those who
cooperated for the realization of the visit.
This visit was
born from the desire to go to a country that, having long been oppressed by an
atheistic and inhuman regime, is now living an experience of peaceful coexistence
among its various religious components. It seemed important to encourage them
along this path, so that they might continue with tenacity and deepen all
aspects for the benefit of the common good. For this reason, at the centre of
the Voyage there was an inter-religious meeting where I was able to see, with
great satisfaction, that the peaceful and fruitful coexistence between people
and communities belonging to different religions is not only desirable, but
also concretely possible and practicable. They practice it! It is a genuine and
fruitful dialogue that avoids relativism and takes into account the identity of
each. What unites the various religious expressions, in fact, is the journey of
life, the good will to do good to others, without denying or downplaying their
respective identities.
The encounter
with the priests, consecrated men and women, the seminarians and the lay
movements was the occasion to remember gratefully, with particular emotion, the
many martyrs of the faith. Thanks to the presence of some elderly people, who
experienced the terrible persecutions in their own flesh, the faith of many
heroic witnesses of the past, who followed Christ to the very end, continues to
resonate. It is precisely from the intimate union with Jesus, from the
relationship of love with Him, that the strength to face the painful events
that led to them to martyrdom rose up in these martyrs, as in every martyr.
Even today, as yesterday, the strength of the Church is not given so much by
organizational capabilities or structures (which are also necessary). The
strength of the Church is not found there. Our strength is the love of Christ!
A strength that sustains us in times of trouble and inspires the daily
apostolic action to offer to all goodness and forgiveness, thus testifying to
the mercy of God.
Travelling
along the principle road of Tirana, that takes you from the airport to the
great central piazza, I was able to see the pictures of forty priests killed
during the communist dictatorship, for whom the cause of beatification has been
opened. To these are added the hundreds of Christian religious and Muslims
killed, tortured, imprisoned, and exiled solely for believing in God. They were
dark years, during which religious liberty was razed to the ground and it was
forbidden to believe in God; thousands of churches and mosques were destroyed,
transformed into stores and cinemas that propagated Marxist ideology; religious
books were burned; and parents were forbidden to give to their children the
religious names of their ancestors. The remembrance of these dramatic events is
essential for the future of a people. The memory of the martyrs who resisted in
the faith is the guarantee for the destiny of Albania; for their blood was not
shed in vain, but is a seed that will bear the fruits of peace and fraternal
collaboration. Today, in fact, Albania is an example not only of the rebirth of
the Church, but also of peaceful co-existence among the religions. Therefore,
the martyrs are not the vanquished, but the victors: in their heroic witness
the omnipotence of God, who always consoles His people, shines forth, opening
new paths and horizons of hope.
I have
entrusted this message of hope, founded on faith in Christ and on the memory of
the past, to the whole population of Albania, whom I saw enthusiastic and
joyful in my meetings and in the celebrations, as well as in the streets of
Tirana. I encouraged everyone to draw new energy from the Risen Lord, to be
able to be an evangelical leaven in society and to engage, as is already being
done, in charitable and educational activities.
I give thanks
once more to the Lord because, with this Voyage He allowed me to meet a strong
and courageous people, [a people] that has not allowed themselves to be bent in
pain. To the brothers and sisters of Albania I renew the invitation to courage
to do good, to build the present and the future of their country and of Europe.
I entrust the fruits of my visit to the Madonna of Good Counsel, venerated in
the Sanctuary of Scutari dedicated to her, that she might continue to guide the
path of this martyr-people. The bitter experience of the past is ever more
rooted in the openness towards the brothers, especially the weakest, and makes
it the protagonist of that dynamism of charity that is so necessary in today’s
socio-cultural context. I would like for all of us today to salute this
courageous, hard-working people, who seek unity in peace.
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