By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Pope Benedict XVI delivered a provocative message in his final homily on German soil this weekend, telling the faithful that it is better to be a searching agnostic than a fake believer. It was just one of many shining moments on a trip that even the mainstream media are dubbing a “success.”
Vatican Insider is reporting that during a Mass celebrated at the airport in Freiburg on Sunday morning, the Pope praised “agnostics who cannot find peace due to their questions about God, people who suffer because of our sins and are desirous of a pure heart.” They are “closer to the Kingdom of God than ‘routine’ believers who only see the apparatus of the Church without their hearts being touched by faith.”
In response to strong demands from his native country to reform Church teaching regarding the ordination of women, remarried divorcees and priestly celibacy laws, he didn’t flinch while making a strong appeal for the Church in Germany to maintain a strong bond with Rome.
“The renewal of the Church can only come about through the willingness to convert and through a renewal of faith,” he said.
He also predicted that “the Church in Germany will overcome the great challenges of the present and future and will remain yeast in society, if the priests, consecrated persons and lay believers in Christ, loyal to their own specific vocation, work together in unity.”
If it remains united with the successors of St. Peter and the Apostles, the German Church “will continue to be a blessing for the global Catholic community,” he said, and “allows itself to be ‘infected’ by the joy of the young faithful in the Church.”
He delivered the same courageous message to youth at a candlelight vigil on Saturday evening, encouraging them to look beyond the evil in the world and see the light of Christ.
“To be sure, those who believe in Jesus do not lead lives of perpetual sunshine, as though they could be spared suffering and hardship, but there is always a bright glimmer there, lighting up the path that leads to fullness of life. The eyes of those who believe in Christ see light even amid the darkest night and they already see the dawning of a new day.”
The Pope went on to encourage youth to strive for sainthood and dispelled the distorted notions that many attribute to holiness.
“Dear friends, again and again the very notion of saints has been caricatured and distorted, as if to be holy meant to be remote from the world, naive and joyless. Often it is thought that a saint has to be someone with great ascetic and moral achievements, who might well be revered, but could never be imitated in our own lives. How false and discouraging this opinion is! There is no saint, apart from the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has not also known sin, who has never fallen.
” . . . Christ is not so much interested in how often in your lives you stumble and fall, as in how often you pick yourselves up again. He does not demand glittering achievements, but He wants His light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because He is good and He wants to make you His friends.
“Yes, you are the light of the world because Jesus is your light. You are Christians – not because you do special and extraordinary things, but because Christ is your life. You are holy because His grace is at work in you.”
According to CatholicCulture.com, mainstream media outlets are reporting that Benedict’s trip to Germany was successful with many reporters suggesting that he was able to draw attention away from the protests that dominated news coverage before his arrival. Der Spiegel, which published a lengthy and negative review of the Pope before his arrival, is now saying that Benedict caught his audience offguard with his blunt remarks and speculated that the approach “could transform this visit into a rousing success.” Only the New York Times produced a negative report which highlighted the Pope’s critics and barely mentioned any of his actual remarks. His address to the German parliament, which drew a standing ovation from lawmakers, was dismissed as “comments that verged at times on the academic.”
The pope concluded his four day visit to Germany on Sunday and returned to Rome.
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Photo by Der Spiegel of the Pope delivering address to the Bundestag
