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EUROPE MUST OPEN TO TRANSCENDENCE

VATICAN CITY, 6 NOV 2010 (VIS) - At 4.30 p.m. today Benedict XVI celebrated
Mass for the Holy Year of Santiago de Compostela in the city's Plaza de
Obradoiro, so called because it once housed the workshops of the stonemasons
who worked on the cathedral. The square was able to accommodate some 8,000
people while the rest followed the Eucharistic celebration on giant screens set
up in the surrounding area. Among those attending the ceremony were the Prince
and Princess of Asturias.

Before delivering his homily, the Holy Father pronounced some words in
Galician: "I give thanks to God for the gift of being here in this splendid
square filled with artistic, cultural and spiritual significance. During this
Holy Year, I come among you as a pilgrim among pilgrims, in the company of all
those who come here thirsting for faith in the Risen Christ, a faith proclaimed
and transmitted with fidelity by the Apostles, among whom was James the Great,
who has been venerated at Compostela from time immemorial".

The Pope then began his homily by quoting a phrase from today's first reading:
"'The Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord with great power'.
Indeed", he said, "at the beginning of all that Christianity has
been and still
is, we are confronted not with a human deed or project, but with God, Who
declares Jesus to be just and holy in the face of the sentence of a human
tribunal that condemned Him as a blasphemer and a subversive; God Who rescued
Jesus from death; God Who will do justice to all who have been unjustly treated
in history. ... Brothers and sisters, today we are called to follow the example
of the Apostles, coming to know the Lord better day by day and bearing clear
and valiant witness to His Gospel. We have no greater treasure to offer to our
contemporaries".

"Beside these words of the Apostle of the Gentiles stand those of the
Gospel",
the Holy Father continued. "They invite us to draw life from the humility of
Christ Who, following in every way the will of His Father, came to serve. ...
It is a service that is not measured by worldly standards of what is immediate,
material or apparent, but one that makes present the love of God to all, in
every way, and bears witness to Him even in the simplest of actions.

"Proposing this new way of dealing with one another within the community, based
on the logic of love and service, Jesus also addresses 'the rulers of the
nations' since, where self-giving to others is lacking, there arise forms of
arrogance and exploitation that leave no room for an authentic integral human
promotion. I would like this message to reach all young people: this core
content of the Gospel shows you in particular the path by which, in renouncing
a selfish and short-sighted way of thinking so common today, and taking on
instead Jesus' own way of thinking, you may attain fulfilment and become a seed
of hope.

"The celebration of this Holy Year of Compostela also brings this to
mind", the
Pope added. "This is what, in the secret of their heart, ... so many pilgrims
experience as they walk the way to Santiago de Compostela to embrace the
Apostle. The fatigue of the journey, the variety of landscapes, their encounter
with peoples of other nationalities - all of this opens their heart to what is
the deepest and most common bond that unites us as human beings: we are in
quest, we need truth and beauty, we need an experience of grace, charity,
peace, forgiveness and redemption. And in the depth of each of us there
resounds the presence of God and the working of the Holy Spirit".

"From this place, as a messenger of the Gospel sealed by the blood of Peter and
James, I raise my eyes to the Europe that came in pilgrimage to Compostela.
What are its great needs, fears and hopes? What is the specific and fundamental
contribution of the Church to that Europe which for half a century has been
moving towards new forms and projects? Her contribution is centred on a simple
and decisive reality: God exists and He has given us life".

"Tragically, above all in nineteenth century Europe, the conviction grew that
God is somehow man's antagonist and an enemy of his freedom", the Holy Father
explained. "As a result, there was an attempt to obscure the true biblical
faith in the God Who sent into the world His Son Jesus Christ, so that no-one
should perish but that all might have eternal life.

"The author of the Book of Wisdom, faced with a paganism in which God envied or
despised humans, puts it clearly: how could God have created all things if He
did not love them, He Who in His infinite fullness, has need of nothing? Why
would he have revealed Himself to human beings if He did not wish to take care
of them? God is the origin of our being and the foundation and apex of our
freedom, not its opponent. ... How can it be that there is public silence with
regard to the first and essential reality of human life? How can what is most
decisive in life be confined to the purely private sphere or banished to the
shadows? We cannot live in darkness, without seeing the light of the sun. How
is it then that God, Who is the light of every mind, the power of every will
and the magnet of every heart, be denied the right to propose the light that
dissipates all darkness?

"This is why we need to hear God once again under the skies of Europe; may this
holy word not be spoken in vain, and may it not be put at the service of
purposes other than its own. It needs to be spoken in a holy way. ... Europe
must open itself to God, must come to meet him without fear, and work with his
grace for that human dignity which was discerned by her best traditions: not
only the biblical, at the basis of this order, but also the classical, the
medieval and the modern, the matrix from which the great philosophical,
literary, cultural and social masterpieces of Europe were born.

"This God and this man were concretely and historically manifested in Christ.
It is this Christ Whom we can find all along the way to Compostela for, at
every juncture, there is a cross which welcomes and points the way. The cross,
which is the supreme sign of love brought to its extreme and hence both gift
and pardon, must be our guiding star in the night of time. ... So do not fail
to learn the lessons of that Christ Whom we encounter at the crossroads of our
journey and our whole life, in Whom God comes forth to meet us as our friend,
father and guide. Blessed Cross, shine always upon the lands of Europe!"

The Pope went on: "Allow me here to point out the glory of man, and to indicate
the threats to his dignity resulting from the privation of his essential values
and richness, and the marginalisation and death visited upon the weakest and
the poorest. One cannot worship God without taking care of His sons and
daughters; and man cannot be served without asking who his Father is and
answering the question about Him. The Europe of science and technology, the
Europe of civilisation and culture, must be at the same time a Europe open to
transcendence and fraternity with other continents, and open to the living and
true God, starting with the living and true man. This is what the Church wishes
to contribute to Europe: to be watchful for God and for man, based on the
understanding of both which is offered to us in Jesus Christ".

At the end of his homily the Pope again pronounced some words in Galician
saying "may St. James, the companion of the Lord, obtain abundant blessings for
Galicia and the other peoples of Spain, elsewhere in Europe and overseas,
wherever the Apostle is a sign of Christian identity and a promoter of the
proclamation of Christ".

Following Mass the Pope greeted Mariano Rajoy, president of the People's Party
and leader of the opposition, who was accompanied by his wife, then travelled
back to the airport of Santiago de Compostela where his plane departed for
Barcelona at 7.15 p.m.
PV-SPAIN/VIS 20101107 (1430)

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