themselves indispensable. ... We must be very clear that only the Holy Spirit   
   is   
   indispensable in the Church and Jesus is the only Lord. There are no others.   
   ... A   
   time limit should be established for roles in the Church, which are in reality   
   a   
   form of service. An important service carried out by lay leaders is to   
   facilitate the growth and the spiritual and pastoral maturity of those who will   
   take their place at the end of their service. It would be opportune for all   
   roles of service in the Church to have a time limit - there are no lifelong   
   leaders in the Church".   
    The Holy Father asked the members of Renewal in the Holy Spirit to share with   
   all in the Church the baptism they have received. "It is the most important   
   service that we can give to all in the Church", he emphasised: "helping the   
   people of God in their personal encounter with Jesus Christ, Who transforms us   
   into new men and women, in small groups, humble but effective, because the   
   Spirit that works within them. Do not focus on large-scale meetings that often   
   go no further, but instead on the 'artisanal' relationships that derive from   
   witness, in the family, at work, in social life, in parishes, in prayer groups,   
   with everyone!".   
    Another strong sign of the Spirit in Charismatic Renewal is the search for   
   unity in the Body of Christ. "You, as Charismatics, have the special grace of   
   praying and working for Christian unity, so that the current of grace flows   
   through all Christian Churches. Christian unity is the work of the Holy Spirit   
   and we must pray together. ... We have all received the same baptism, we all   
   follow Jesus' path. ... We have all caused these divisions throughout history,   
   for   
   different reasons, but not good ones. But now is the time that the Spirit makes   
   us think that these divisions are a sort of 'counter-witness', and we must do   
   all we can to walk side by side: spiritual ecumenism, the ecumenism of prayer".   
    There is also another form of unity: "the unity of the blood of martyrs, that   
   makes us one. There is the ecumenism of blood. We know that those who kill   
   Christians in hatred of Jesus Christ, before killing, do not ask: 'But are you   
   a   
   Lutheran, Orthodox, Evangelical, Baptist, Methodist?' They say, 'You are   
   Christian', and behead them. ... Fifty years ago, Blessed Paul VI, during the   
   canonisation of the young martyrs of Uganda, referred to the fact that for the   
   same reason the blood of their Anglican companion catechists had been shed.   
   They   
   were Christians, they were martyrs. Forgive me, and do not be scandalised, but   
   they are our martyrs! Because they gave their lives for Christ, and this is   
   ecumenism of blood. We must pray in memory of our common martyrs".   
    Finally, there is "unity in work with the poor and the needy, who also need   
   baptism in the Holy Spirit. It would be good to organise seminars on life in   
   the   
   Spirit, along with other Christian charismatic entities, for those brothers and   
   sisters who live on the streets: they too have the Spirit within them that   
   pushes for someone to throw open the door from outside".   
    Before imparting his final blessing, the Pope invited those present to go   
   forth   
   and preach the good news of Jesus "to the poor, to the marginalised, the blind,   
   the sick, the imprisoned, to all men and women. In each one of them there is   
   the   
   Spirit, Who wants to be helped to throw open the door so as to be revived. May   
   the Lord accompany you in this mission, always with the Bible in your hand,   
   always with the Gospel in your pocket, with the Word of Christ".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Benedict XVI receives Doctorate honoris causa from the Pontifical University   
   of   
   John Paul II and the Musical Academy of Krakow Vatican City, 4 July 2015 (VIS)   
   -   
   Pope emeritus Benedict XVI today received a Doctorate honoris causa from the   
   Pontifical University of John Paul II and the Musical Academy of Krakow,   
   Poland,   
   granted by the rectors of both institutions and conferred this morning at   
   Castel   
   Gandolfo by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow and grand   
   chancellor of the university dedicated to St. John Paul II.   
    Benedict XVI received the nomination with a discourse in which he recalled how   
   St. John Paul II demonstrated by example that "the joy of great religious music   
   and the role of popular participation in holy liturgy, the solemn joy and   
   simplicity of the humble celebration of the faith, go hand in hand".   
    "In the Vatican Council II Constitution on the liturgy it is written very   
   clearly: 'The treasure of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with   
   great care'. On the other hand, the text highlights, as a fundamental   
   liturgical   
   category, the participatio actuosa of all the faithful in holy action. But what   
   remained peacefully together in the Constitution has often subsequently, in the   
   reception of the Council, been in a relationship of dramatic tension.   
   Significant parts of the liturgical movement believed that there would be space   
   for the great choral works and even orchestral masses only in concert halls,   
   not   
   in the liturgy, in which there would have been space only for the hymns and   
   common prayer of the faithful. On the other hand, there was dismay at the   
   cultural impoverishment of the Church that would necessarily have resulted. How   
   could the two aspects be reconciled? These were the questions asked by many of   
   the faithful, including simple people, not only those with a theological   
   education".   
    "At this point, perhaps it is correct to ask the underlying question: what is   
   music? Where does it come from and where does it lead? I think there are three   
   'places' from which music arises. The first wellspring is the experience of   
   love. When human beings were seized by love, another dimension of being opened   
   up within them, a new greatness and breadth of reality, driving them to express   
   themselves in a new way. Poetry, hymn and music in general were born of the   
   opening up of this new dimension of life. A second origin of music is the   
   experience of sadness, of being touched by death, by suffering and by the   
   abysses of existence. In this case too, in the opposite direction, there open   
   up   
   new dimensions of life that do not find answers in discourse alone. Finally,   
   the   
   third origin of music is the encounter with the divine, which from the   
   beginning   
   is part of what defines the human being. ... It may be said that the quality of   
   music depends on the purity and the greatness of the encounter with the divine,   
   with the experience of love and pain. The purer and more authentic the   
   experience, the purer and greater will be the music that emerges and develops   
   from it".   
    "Certainly, western music goes far beyond the religious and ecclesial   
   environment. However, it finds its deepest source in the liturgy in the   
   encounter with God. In Bach, for whom the glory of God ultimately represents   
   the   
   aim of all music, this is entirely evident. The great and pure response of   
   western music developed in the encounter with that God Who, in the liturgy,   
   made   
   Himself present in us in Jesus Christ. That music, for me, is a demonstration   
   of   
   the truth of Christianity. Where this form of response develops, the encounter   
   with the truth, with the true Creator of the world, takes place. Therefore, the   
   great religious music is a reality of theological level and lasting meaning for   
   the faith of all Christianity, even though it is not at all necessary for it to   
   be performed always and everywhere. On the other hand, it is also clear that it   
   cannot disappear from the liturgy and its presence can be an entirely special   
   form of participation in holy celebration and in the mystery of the faith".   
    "If we think of the liturgy celebrated by St. John Paul II in all continents,   
   we see the full breadth of the expressive possibilities of faith in the   
   liturgical event, and we also see how the great music of the western tradition   
   is not external to the liturgy, but instead originated and grew within it and   
   in   
   this way continually contributes to its formation. We do not know the future of   
   our culture and of religious music. But one thing is clear: where there takes   
   place the encounter with the living God Who in Christ comes towards us, there   
   too develops the response, whose beauty comes from the truth itself", concluded   
   Benedict XVI.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 4 July 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:   
    - Joaquin Hermes Robledo Romero of Carapegua, Paraguay, as bishop of San   
   Lorenzo (area 1,944, population 823,239, Catholics 813,000, priests 41,   
   permanent deacons 29, religious 106), Paraguay.   
    - Bishop Jean Laffitte, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, as   
   prelate of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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