At his public audience on July 2, the first Wednesday audience of the Pauline year, Pope Benedict XVI began a new series of talks on the influence of St. Paul. Speaking to about 8,000 people in the Paul VI auditorium, the Holy Father remarked that St. Paul is "an example of complete dedication to the Lord and to His Church, as well as of great openness to humanity and its cultures."
Explaining that he was planning a series of talks on the Apostle, the Pope said that he would begin with some background about the culture in which St. Paul lived. St. Paul, the Pope reminded his audience, was a member of what was, at the time, "clearly a minority culture, that of the people of Israel and their tradition."
Surrounding nations could view the Hebrew people with either admiration or contempt, but they saw that people as distinctive. Two other cultures, more powerful at the time, served to help St. Paul spread the Gospel message, the Pope continued. These were the Hellenic culture of learning, which had spread across the Mediterranean region, and the Roman culture, politically dominant in that era, providing "a shared and unifying fabric."
St. Paul, in a sense, was "the man of three cultures," Pope Benedict said. "St. Paul's time was also marked by a crisis in traditional religion, at least in its mythological and civic aspects," the Pope said. The Apostle preached to people who were influenced by the philosophy of the Stoics, as well as the faith of the Hebrews.
Pope Benedict observed that these cultural factors need to be understood by those who seek a better understanding of St. Paul. And a deeper understand of St. Paul, he continued, is the goal of the Pauline year, which began June 28 and will continue through June 29, 2009: the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
The Pope opened his new series of Wednesday-audience talks on St. Paul after a long series of talks on the early Church.
The Pontiff had begun that series in March 2006 and continued each Wednesday, tracing the growth of the Church and the theological developments from the days of the apostles through the fathers of the 5th and 6th centuries.
The July 2 session was the only Wednesday public audience that Pope Benedict will hold this month.
Later in the day he headed for his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, where he will stay until he leaves for World Youth Day in Australia.
Upon his return he will relax for a few days at Castel Gandolfo, then take a 2-week vacation in the Italian Alps.
He will presumably take up his series of talks on St. Paul when he resumes public audiences in August.
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