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   BENEDICT XVI, ROMAN CURIA EXCHANGE CHRISTMAS GREETINGS   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 20 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Today in the Sala Regia of the Vatican   
   Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father held his traditional meeting with the   
   cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and members of the Roman Curia and of the   
   Governorate of Vatican City State, in order to exchange Christmas greetings.   
      
   Recalling the principal events of the past twelve months, the Pope noted how   
   "with great joy we began the Year for Priests and, thanks to God, were able to   
   conclude it with much gratitude, though it was very different to how we had   
   imagined. Among us as priests and among the laity, also and especially the   
   young, a renewed awareness arose of the great gift of the priesthood of the   
   Catholic Church, which was entrusted to us by the Lord. One again we came to   
   understand how beautiful it is that human beings are authorised to pronounce   
   the name of God and, with complete authority, the word of forgiveness, and thus   
   that they are able to change the world, to change life. How beautiful it is   
   that human beings are authorised to pronounce the words of consecration. ...   
   How beautiful it is to be able to remain, with the strength of Lord, close to   
   mankind in his joys and sorrows".   
      
   "Thus our shock was even greater when, precisely in this year and in a   
   dimension that we could not imagine, we became aware of the abuse of minors   
   committed by priests who distort the Sacrament into its antithesis: under the   
   veil of the sacred they inflicted profound harm on human beings in their   
   infancy, causing damages that lasts a lifetime.   
      
   "In this context", the Pope added, "a vision of St. Hildegard of Bingen came to   
   my mind, who disturbingly describes what we experienced this year".   
      
   "In St. Hildegard's vision the face of the Church was soiled with dust, and   
   this is how we saw it. Her vestments were torn, and the fault was of priests.   
   Just as she saw and expressed her vision, so have we lived this year. We must   
   humbly accept this humiliation as an exhortation to truth and a call to   
   renewal. Only the truth saves. We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair,   
   as much as possible, the injustice committed. We must ask ourselves what was   
   wrong in our announcement, in our entire way of determining Christian   
   existence, that such a thing could happen.   
      
   "We must discover a new resolve to be faithful and good. We must be capable of   
   penance. We must strive to do everything possible, when preparing people for   
   the priesthood, to ensure such a thing can never happen again. This is also the   
   place to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone working to help victims, to   
   restore their trust in the Church and their capacity to believe in her message.   
      
   "In my meetings with victims of this sin, I have also always encountered people   
   who, with great dedication, remain close to those who are suffering or have   
   been damaged. This is also an occasion to thank the many good priests who   
   humbly and faithfully transmit the Lord's goodness and who, amidst so much   
   devastation, are witnesses of the beauty of the priesthood, a beauty which has   
   not been lost".   
      
   The Holy Father went on: "We are aware of the particular gravity of this sin   
   committed by priests and of our consequent responsibility. Yet we cannot remain   
   silent concerning the context of our time in which we see these events taking   
   place. There is a market for child pornography which, in some way, seems to be   
   increasingly considered by society as something normal. The psychological   
   devastation of children in whom human beings are reduced to the level of a   
   market commodity, is a frightening sign of the times".   
      
   In this context, the Holy Father mentioned the problem of drugs, "which with   
   increasing strength extends its tentacles to the entire world. ... All pleasure   
   becomes insufficient and excess under the delusion of intoxication turns into   
   violence that rends entire regions. And all this in the name of a fatal   
   misunderstanding of freedom, in which precisely man's freedom is undermined and   
   in the end completely cancelled.   
      
   "To oppose these forces we must look at their ideological foundations. In the   
   1970s it was theorised that paedophilia was entirely consistent with man and   
   with children. This, however, was part of a basic perversion of the concept of   
   'ethos'" in which "nothing is good or bad in itself, everything depends on the   
   circumstances and on the intended goal. ... Morality was replaced with a   
   calculation of consequences, and by this process ceased to exist. The effects   
   of these theories are evident today. Against them, Pope John Paul II, in his   
   1993 Encyclical 'Veritatis splendor', indicated with prophetic force the great   
   rational tradition of Christian 'ethos' as the essential and permanent   
   foundations for moral action. Today this text must once again be placed at the   
   centre as a way to form consciences".   
      
   Benedict XVI then turned his attention to the Synod of the Churches of the   
   Middle East which began when he consigned the "Instrumentum laboris" during his   
   apostolic trip to Cyprus in June. "Even if full communion is not yet granted to   
   us", said the Pope referring to the Orthodox Church, "we have nevertheless   
   established with joy that the basic form of the ancient Church unites us   
   profoundly with one another: the sacramental office of bishops as the bearer of   
   apostolic tradition, the reading of Scripture according to the hermeneutic of   
   the 'Regula fidei', the understanding of Scripture in its manifold unity   
   centred on Christ, developed under divine inspiration, and finally, our faith   
   in the central place of the Eucharist in the Church's life".   
      
   "We witnessed impressive manifestations of the rich Christian culture of the   
   Christian East. But we also saw the problems. ... The wrongs and the deep   
   wounds of the past were all too evident, but so too was the desire for the   
   peace and communion that had existed before. Everyone knows that violence does   
   not bring progress; indeed, it gave rise to the present situation. Only in a   
   spirit of compromise and mutual understanding can unity be re-established. To   
   prepare the people for this attitude of peace is an essential task of pastoral   
   ministry.   
      
   "During the Synod itself", he added, "our gaze was extended over the whole of   
   the Middle East, where the followers of different religions - as well as a   
   variety of traditions and distinct rites - live together. ... In the turmoil of   
   recent years, the tradition of peaceful coexistence has been shattered ... with   
   the result that we witness with increasing alarm acts of violence in which   
   there is no longer any respect for what the other holds sacred. ... In the   
   present situation, Christians are the most oppressed and tormented minority.   
   For centuries they lived peacefully together with their Jewish and Muslim   
   neighbours. During the Synod we listened to wise words from the Counsellor of   
   the Mufti of the Republic of Lebanon against acts of violence targeting   
   Christians. He said: when Christians are wounded, we ourselves are wounded.   
   Unfortunately, though, this and similar voices of reason, for which we are   
   profoundly grateful, are too weak. Here too we come up against an unholy   
   alliance between greed for profit and ideological blindness.   
      
   "On the basis of the spirit of faith and its rationality", the Pope went on,   
   "the Synod developed a grand concept of dialogue, forgiveness and mutual   
   acceptance, a concept that we now want to proclaim to the world. The human   
   being is one, and humanity is one. Whatever damage is done to another in any   
   one place, ends up by damaging everyone. Thus the words ... of the Synod must   
   be a clarion call, addressed to all people with political or religious   
   responsibility, to put a stop to Christianophobia; to rise up in defence of   
   refugees and all who are suffering, and to revitalise the spirit of   
   reconciliation".   
      
   The Holy Father also dwelt on his apostolic trip to the United Kingdom in   
   September, during which he beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, focusing his   
   remarks on "two points that are connected with the theme of the responsibility   
   of Christians at this time and with the Church's task to proclaim the Gospel".   
      
   On the subject of his meeting with the world of culture at Westminster Hall in   
   London, the Pope noted how "Alexis de Tocqueville, in his day, observed that   
   democracy in America had become possible and had worked because there existed a   
   fundamental moral consensus which, transcending individual denominations,   
   united everyone. Only if there is such a consensus on the essentials can   
   constitutions and law function. This fundamental consensus derived from the   
   Christian heritage is at risk wherever its place, the place of moral reasoning,   
   is taken by purely instrumental rationality. ... In reality, this makes reason   
   blind to what is essential. To resist this eclipse of reason and to preserve   
   its capacity for seeing the essential, for seeing God and man, for seeing what   
   is good and what is true, is the common interest that must unite all people of   
   good will. The very future of the world is at stake".   
      
   On the subject of Cardinal Newman, the Holy Father highlighted the blessed's   
   conversion to a "faith in the living God" in which he recognised that "God and   
   the soul, man's spiritual identity, constitute what is genuinely real, what   
   counts. ... Where such a conversion takes place, it is not just a person's   
   theory that changes: the fundamental shape of life changes. We are all in   
   constant need of such conversion: then we are on the right path.   
      
   "The driving force that impelled Newman along the path of conversion was   
   conscience", meaning "man's capacity for truth: the capacity to recognise   
   precisely in the decision-making areas of his life - religion and morals - a   
   truth, the truth. At the same time, conscience - man's capacity to recognise   
   truth - thereby imposes on him the obligation to set out along the path towards   
   truth, to seek it and to submit to it wherever he finds it. ... The path of   
   Newman's conversions is a path of conscience - not a path of self- asserting   
   subjectivity but, on the contrary, a path of obedience to the truth that was   
   gradually opening up to him".   
      
   Finally, the Holy Father also made brief mention of his trips to Malta,   
   Portugal and Spain where, he said, "it once again became evident that the faith   
   is not a thing of the past, but an encounter with the God Who lives and acts   
   now".   
   AC/VIS 20101220 (1770)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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