Benedict XVI's visit to Australia will be one of the most important events in the nation's history, affirmed a group of bishops from the region.The Special Council for Oceania of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops held its ninth meeting in Rome from Feb. 14 to 15.
The meeting was presided over by Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, and attended by two cardinals, five archbishops and one bishop, the majority of them from Oceania.
According to a communiqué from the meeting, "The particular Churches on this continent have an unquestionable vitality."
"The entire continent is being mobilized -- both in the more socially advanced areas and in less developed regions -- to prepare" for World Youth Day 2008, the council reported.
World Youth Day will be held in Sydney this July.
"The [World] Day is considered as one of the most important events in the history of Australia, and interest is growing in the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, as an event of special grace," the communiqué continued.
The Special Council also considered the theme of inculturation, which they affirmed as one of the "great pastoral concerns of the Church in Oceania."
"It is a gradual process by which the Gospel enters the various cultures, transforming or purifying certain values so they can find their place within a genuine Christian culture, without undermining due respect either for the Gospel or for the cultures themselves," the communiqué stated. "In this dynamic process, the joint efforts of pastors, priests, deacons and catechists are indispensable.
"Of particular importance are Catholic schools of all levels, which safeguard Catholic identity and remain as vital instruments of evangelical witness in the modern world, which is so often secularized."
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