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   THE POPE CONSECRATES THE CHURCH OF THE SAGRADA FAMILIA   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 7 NOV 2010 (VIS) - At 9 a.m. today the Pope travelled by   
   popemobile from the archbishopric of Barcelona to the church of the Sagrada   
   Familia, masterpiece of the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.   
      
   Work on the building, which began in the year 1882, continues today thanks to   
   donations from all over the world and is scheduled to come to an end in 2026.   
   The final project is due to comprehend eighteen spires, twelve dedicated to the   
   Apostles, four to the Evangelists, one to Jesus - at 170 metres the highest of   
   all - and one to the Virgin Mary.   
      
   Before Mass, the Holy Father travelled around the outside of the church where   
   thousands of people were gathered to greet him.   
      
   Benedict XVI entered the building by a secondary entrance where he was welcomed   
   by the president of the Sagrada Familia foundation and by Jordi Bonet, head of   
   the building project. He then went on to meet with King Juan Carlos and Queen   
   Sofia of Spain in the Museum Hall of the Sagrada Familia.   
      
   After his meeting with the monarchs, the Pope went to the sacristy to prepare   
   for the celebration of Mass during which he consecrated the church and the   
   altar of the Sagrada Familia.   
      
   Beginning his homily the Pope spoke in Catalan, greeting the King and Queen,   
   and Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona, and the other   
   cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay people present.   
      
   Going on then to highlight how this day "marks an important step in a long   
   history of hope, work and generosity that has gone on for more than a century",   
   the Holy Father made special mention of the people whose efforts made it   
   possible to build the church, especially "the man who was the soul and the   
   artisan of this project, Antoni Gaudi, a creative architect and a practising   
   Christian who kept the torch of his faith alight to the end of his life, a life   
   lived in dignity and absolute austerity. This event is also in a certain sense   
   the high point of the history of this land of Catalonia which, especially since   
   the end of the nineteenth century, has given an abundance of saints and   
   founders, martyrs and Christian poets. It is a history of holiness, artistic   
   and poetic creation, born of the faith, which we gather and present to God   
   today as an offering in this Eucharist".   
      
   Benedict XVI expressed his joy at the fact that "this shrine, since its   
   beginnings, has had a special relationship with St. Joseph. I have been moved   
   above all by Gaudi's confidence when, in the face of many difficulties, filled   
   with trust in divine Providence, he would exclaim, 'St. Joseph will finish this   
   church'. So it is significant that it is also being dedicated by a Pope whose   
   baptismal name is Joseph".   
      
   This work of art "stands as a visible sign of the invisible God, to whose glory   
   these spires rise like arrows pointing towards absolute light and to the One   
   Who is Light, Height and Beauty itself. In this place, Gaudi desired to unify   
   that inspiration which came to him from the three books which nourished him as   
   a man, as a believer and as an architect: the book of nature, the book of   
   Sacred Scripture and the book of the liturgy. In this way he brought together   
   the reality of the world and the history of salvation, as recounted in the   
   Bible and made present in the liturgy. He made stones, trees and human life   
   part of the church so that all creation might come together in praise of God,   
   but at the same time he brought the sacred images outside so as to place before   
   people the mystery of God revealed in the birth, passion, death and   
   resurrection of Jesus Christ.   
      
   "In this way, he brilliantly helped to build our human consciousness, anchored   
   in the world yet open to God, enlightened and sanctified by Christ. In this he   
   accomplished one of the most important tasks of our times: overcoming the   
   division between human consciousness and Christian consciousness, between   
   living in this temporal world and being open to eternal life, between the   
   beauty of things and God as beauty. Antoni Gaudi did this not with words but   
   with stones, lines, planes, and points. Indeed, beauty is one of mankind's   
   greatest needs; it is the root from which the branches of our peace and the   
   fruits of our hope come forth. Beauty also reveals God because, like Him, a   
   work of beauty is pure gratuity; it calls us to freedom and draws us away from   
   selfishness".   
      
   "The Church of herself is nothing; she is called to be the sign and instrument   
   of Christ, in pure docility to His authority and in total service to His   
   mandate. The one Christ is the foundation of the one Church. He is the rock on   
   which our faith is built. Building on this faith, let us strive together to   
   show the world the face of God Who is love and the only one who can respond to   
   our yearning for fulfilment. This is the great task before us: to show everyone   
   that God is a God of peace not of violence, of freedom not of coercion, of   
   harmony not of discord.   
      
   "In this sense", the Pope added, "I consider that the dedication of this church   
   of the Sagrada Familia is an event of great importance, at a time in which man   
   claims to be able to build his life without God, as if God had nothing to say   
   to him. In this masterpiece, Gaudi shows us that God is the true measure of   
   man; that the secret of authentic originality consists, as he himself said, in   
   returning to one's origin which is God. Gaudi, by opening his spirit to God,   
   was capable of creating in this city a space of beauty, faith and hope which   
   leads man to an encounter with Him Who is truth and beauty itself. The   
   architect expressed his sentiments in the following words: 'A church [is] the   
   only thing worthy of representing the soul of a people, for religion is the   
   most elevated reality in man'".   
      
   The Holy Father recalled then how "this church began as an initiative of the   
   Association of the Friends of St. Joseph, who wanted to dedicate it to the Holy   
   Family of Nazareth. The home formed by Jesus, Mary and Joseph has always been   
   regarded as a school of love, prayer and work. The promoters of this church   
   wanted to set before the world love, work and service lived in the presence of   
   God, as the Holy Family lived them. Life has changed greatly and with it   
   enormous progress has been made in the technical, social and cultural spheres.   
   We cannot simply remain content with these advances. Alongside them, there also   
   need to be moral advances, such as in care, protection and assistance to   
   families, inasmuch as the generous and indissoluble love of a man and a woman   
   is the effective context and foundation of human life in its gestation, birth,   
   growth and natural end.   
      
   "Only where love and faithfulness are present can true freedom be born and   
   endure. For this reason the Church advocates adequate economic and social means   
   so that women may find in the home and at work their full development, that men   
   and women who contract marriage and form a family receive decisive support from   
   the state, that life of children may be defended as sacred and inviolable from   
   the moment of their conception, that the reality of birth be given due respect   
   and receive juridical, social and legislative support. For this reason the   
   Church resists every form of denial of human life and gives its support to   
   everything that would promote the natural order in the sphere of the   
   institution of the family", said the Pope.   
      
   Benedict XVI asked God "that in the land of Catalonia new witnesses of holiness   
   may rise up and flourish, and present to the world the great service that the   
   Church can and must offer to humanity: to be an icon of divine beauty, a   
   burning flame of charity, a path so that the world may believe in the One Whom   
   God has sent".   
      
   "I implore the Lord of our lives that, from this altar, which will now be   
   anointed with holy oil and upon which the sacrifice of the love of Christ will   
   be consumed, there may be a flood of grace and charity upon the city of   
   Barcelona and its people, and upon the whole world. May these fruitful waters   
   fill with faith and apostolic vitality this archdiocesan Church, its pastors   
   and its faithful".   
      
   The Pope concluded his homily in Catalan, saying "I wish to commend to the   
   loving protection of the Mother of God, Mary Most Holy, April Rose, Mother of   
   Mercy, all who enter here and all who in word or deed, in silence and prayer,   
   have made this possible this marvel of architecture. May Our Lady present to   
   her divine Son the joys and tribulations of all who come in the future to this   
   sacred place so that here, as the Church prays when dedicating religious   
   buildings, the poor may find mercy, the oppressed true freedom and all men may   
   take on the dignity of the children of God. Amen".   
      
   At the end of Mass Cardinal Sistach read out the decree by which the Pope   
   declares the church of the Sagrada Familia to be a minor basilica.   
      
   Following the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Father left the building by the   
   Portico of the Nativity and appeared on the terrace overlooking the square and   
   adjoining street where thousands of faithful had followed the Mass on giant   
   screens.   
      
   Before praying the Angelus , the Pope recalled how in the Brazilian city of   
   Porto Alegre yesterday the beatification had taken place of Servant of God   
   Maria Barbara of the Blessed Trinity, foundress of the Sisters of the   
   Immaculate Heart of Mary. "May the deep faith and fervent charity with which   
   she followed Christ", he said, "awaken in many the desire to devote their lives   
   completely to the greater glory of God and the generous service of their   
   brothers and sisters, especially the poorest and the most needy".   
      
   Referring then to the architect Antoni Gaudi, the Holy Father highlighted how,   
   "through his work, he sought to bring the Gospel to everyone. For this reason,   
   he conceived of the three porticos of the exterior of the church as a   
   catechesis on the life of Jesus Christ, as a great Rosary, which is the prayer   
   of ordinary people, a prayer in which are contemplated the joyful, sorrowful   
   and glorious mysteries of our Lord. In collaboration with the parish priest Gil   
   Pares, he also designed and financed from his own savings the creation of a   
   school for the children of the workers and of the poorest families of the   
   neighbourhood, which was at that time a outlying suburb of Barcelona. He   
   brought concrete reality to the conviction, saying: 'The poor must always find   
   a welcome in the Church, which is an expression of Christian charity'".   
      
   The Pope then travelled to the archbishopric of Barcelona, where he had lunch.   
   PV-SPAIN/VIS 20101107 (1870)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)