Pope calls on new cardinals to be "servants" of Jesus' "caritas"
In his first consistory, Benedict XVI spoke to the 15 new members of the Church's "senate" on how authority is to be understood.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) "Service" to the Church and the faithful, so that she truly be "caritas" throughout the world, and, in this, the role of the collaborators of the successor of Peter. These are the two "characteristics" of becoming a member of the College of Cardinals, "senate of the Church", which Benedict XVI highlighted in the words he spoke for today's Ordinary Public Consistory, during which he "created" 15 new cardinals.
The full College of Cardinals, with few exceptions, on Saint Peter's Square, hundreds of bishops, the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican and some 30,000 people for Benedict XVI's first consistory, celebrated on a cloudy day, with the wind forcing the cardinals and bishops to keep a hand on their skull caps. For all the new cardinals, the creed, the oath of fidelity, the assignment of "title" (i.e. a parish or deaconry that makes each part of the Roman clergy) and the red hat placed upon them by the Pope. As of today, the college has 193 members, 120 of which not yet 80 years of age, who could thus take part one day in a conclave.
Benedict XVI spoke to the new cardinals of the meaning of being "servant of the servants of God," as the true essence of the authority and the prestige that, as of today, they enjoy, saying in this regard that "when Jesus explains to the twelve Apostles that their authority will have to be exercised quite differently from that of 'the rulers of the Gentiles', he expresses it in terms of service: 'Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all' (Mk 10:43-44). Total and generous availability to serve others is the distinctive mark of those in positions of authority in the Church, because it was thus for the Son of Man, who came 'not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mk 10:45)." "The first 'servant of the servants of God' is therefore Jesus. After him, and united with him, come the Apostles; and among these, in a particular way, Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the responsibility of guiding his flock. The Pope must be the first to make himself the servant of all."
Addressing the new cardinals directly, he said, "I want to sum up the meaning of this new call that you have received in the word which I placed at the heart of my first Encyclical: caritas. This matches well the colour of your cardinalatial robes. May the scarlet that you now wear always express the caritas Christi, inspiring you to a passionate love for Christ, for his Church and for all humanity. You now have an additional motive to seek to rekindle in yourselves those same sentiments that led the incarnate Son of God to pour out his blood in atonement for the sins of the whole world. I am counting on you, venerable Brothers, I am counting on the entire College into which you are being incorporated, to proclaim to the world that "Deus caritas est", and to do so above all through the witness of sincere communion among Christians: "By this", said Jesus, "all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35). I am counting on you, dear Brother Cardinals, to ensure that the principle of love will spread far and wide, and will give new life to the Church at every level of her hierarchy, in every group of the faithful, in every religious Institute, in every spiritual, apostolic or humanitarian initiative. I am counting on you to see to it that our common endeavour to fix our gaze on Christ's open Heart will hasten and secure our path towards the full unity of Christians. I am counting on you to see to it that the Church's solicitude for the poor and needy challenges the world with a powerful statement on the civilization of love. All this I see symbolized in the scarlet with which you are now invested. May it truly be a symbol of ardent Christian love shining forth in your lives." (FP)
.png)
22/02/2014
