For societies that do not always share the
teachings of the Church and which “sometimes try to ridicule it,
marginalise it or confine it to the private sphere” the Pope recommended
a “Christian testimony rooted in Christ and lived coherently and
authentically in everyday life. A testimony that is multiform and
devoid of set models.” Benedict XVI recalled this during his audience with the second group of French bishops, in Rome for their “ad limina” visit (the traditional meeting a country or ecclesiastical region’s prelates have with the Pope, Ed.), led by Cardinal André Vingt Trois, President of the Bishops’ Conference of France.
During the audience held in the Vatican’s Consistory Hall, Pope Benedict XVI cast his mind back to his trip to Paris in 2008 and especially to the cultural meeting at the College des Bernardins, underlining the importance of religious and monastic life.
“The more conscious the Church is of its being and its mission - the Pope remarked - the more it is able to love this world, to look at it trustingly, as Jesus did, without falling into the temptation of discouragement and regret.”
“Your nation has a long and rich Christian history that cannot be ignored or diminished,” Benedict XVI told French bishops. “In the important debates in society,” the Holy Father went on to say, “the voice of the Church must make itself heard tirelessly and with determination, even as She continues to be respectful of the country’s tradition of distinguishing the spheres of competence of the Church and those of the State.”
Benedict XVI also spoke about topics of interest and big questions that do not just concern believers and which even those who “are aware of the great challenges of our time, a time when the Christian message is an irreplaceable point of reference” are sensitive to.
Benedict XVI remarked on the importance and the role of religious and monastic life, before going on to urge French bishops to “cultivate the art of celebrating” and the concern for the transmission of faith to young generations.”
Finally, he urged believers to live a “unity of life”. Regarding the “Church’s moral teaching”, he asked them to have the “courage to announce their Christian beliefs, in all life contexts, without arrogance but with respect.”