Pope recalls Chernobyl and urges peace with respect for mankind and nature
Benedict XVI made this appeal to those "responsible for the fate of mankind". He talked about Tradition of the Church to the crowd of 50,000 strong gathered for the general audience. This tradition "is the not simple material transmission of things and words, of what was given to the Apostles at the beginning, but the effective presence of the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, that accompanies and leads the community gathered around him in the spirit".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) Place "all energies at the service of peace, with respect for the needs of mankind and nature", said Benedict XVI. The pope made this appeal on the anniversary of the "tragic incident" in Chernobyl, to "all those who are responsible for the fate of humanity", urging them to make a "united effort" to reach this objective. The 20th anniversary of the tragedy at the Soviet nuclear plant was recalled by the pope at the end of today's general audience, with an appeal to politicians around the world and "vivid appreciation for those families, associations, civil administrations and Christian communities who, over the years, have committed themselves to hosting and looking after adults, and especially children, struck by the aftermath of this sorrowful event".
Before the appeal, the pope turned again to the topic he himself has described as a commitment to "understand the original design of the Church", and hence "our life in the Church today"; he talked about Tradition as "communion in time" to more than 50,000 people gathered in St Peter's Square despite the cloudy, sometimes rainy Roman weather. The encounter had a festive note, with banners and flags from several countries, including China, and a band in Tyrolese costume that drew a smile from the pope.
Ecclesial communion, in the words of Benedict XVI, "does not only extend to all believers in a given moment in time, which unites all believers in all parts of the world (synchronic communion); it also embraces all times and all generations of believers in the past and future (diachronic communion)."And so the "experience of the Risen Lord of the apostolic community at the beginnings of the Church, can always be lived by successive generations, in that it is transmitted and actualized in faith, in worship and in communion of the People of God, pilgrim in time. The apostolic Tradition of the Church consists of this transmission of the virtues of salvation, which makes the Christian community the permanent realization of the original community, in the strength of the Spirit. It is called so because it was born from the testimony of the Apostles and of the community of disciples at the beginning, it was handed down under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the writings of the New Testament and sacramental life, and the Church continually refers to it as its foundation and norm through the uninterrupted succession of the apostolic ministry." And it is the Spirit who "actualizes" the "saving presence of the Lord Jesus through the ministry of the apostles leaders of the eschatological Israel (cfr Mt 19:28) and through the life of all the people of the new covenant".
"This permanent actualization of the active presence of the Lord Jesus in his people, by the work of the Holy Spirit and expressed in the Church through the apostolic ministry and brotherly communion, is what is meant, in a theological sense, by the term Tradition: it is not the simple material transmission of things and words, of what was given to the Apostles at the beginning, but the effective presence of the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, that accompanies and leads the community gathered around him in the spirit".
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