Dear brothers in Christ,
It is a great pleasure for me to be with you today as you open this
plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and
Wales.
I am very grateful for your kind invitation not only to attend
this important ecclesial event, but also to address you, once again, as
Apostolic Nuncio in Great Britain.
First of all, I would like to convey to you, as the Bishops’
Conference, as well as to each one of you individually, the closeness,
the affection and the esteem of the Holy Father Pope Francis, who most
of you had the opportunity to meet personally, albeit briefly, last
April in Rome. The Holy Father appreciates your generous pastoral zeal
and has asked me to convey to you His Apostolic Blessing.
I also want to deeply thank you for what you have done in defending
the real nature of marriage and its truth during the long months
previous to the approval of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. I
really admire your determined and steady commitment in trying to avoid
this sad legislation and its negative consequences for the family. In a
special way, I want to thank Their Graces, Archbishops Vincent Nichols
and Peter Smith; I am sure that this sentiment of gratitude is shared by
all of you as well.
Unfortunately, there are also many others challenges that our Church,
both here in Great Britain and abroad has to face; I think, for
example, of issues like religious and catholic education in schools; the
serious consequences that will follow if the Right-to-die Bill is
passed, etc. Though we are not living in easy times for the Church, we
don’t get discouraged. As Pope Francis said during his homily on Palm
Sunday, “Never give way to discouragement!”. Indeed, we are confidence
in the help and assistance of God’s Providence.
Having said that, now I would like to dwell on the appointment of
Bishops, a very delicate and important work, which all of us at the
Nunciature are very committed to. In this regard, the Holy Father Pope
Francis, addressing the participants in the Papal Representatives Days
in Rome last June, indicated some criteria to be followed in the process
of choosing candidates for the Episcopacy (I have made some copies of
this paragraph in particular, so that each one of you can read and
reflect on it).
For Pope Francis, one of the main criteria is that candidates must be
endowed with the following human and priestly qualities: “pastors close
to the people […] gentle, patient and merciful; may they love poverty,
interior poverty”, without “the mindset of ‘princes’”, and so on. “May
they be able – the Holy Father said – to ‘watch over’ the flock that
will be entrusted to them, in other words to care for all that keeps it
united”.
In this way, the Holy Father not only presents the profile of who
should be taking into consideration as a candidate for the Episcopacy,
the “bishops-to-be”, but – I dare to say – also Pope Francis shows how
those who are already Bishops should live; actually each one of us! We
are called to a permanent conversion in our ministry to imitate more
closely Jesus, the Good Shepherd. May I invite you to read and meditate
on these words of Pope Francis.
Changing to another issue I would like to say that following the
beautiful and fruitful experiences of last year visiting the Dioceses of
Birmingham, Hexham and Newcastle and Menevia, among others, this year
as well I have had the wonderful opportunity to visit more of the
Scottish dioceses, some others in England and Wales, recently
Northampton and Wrexham.
While I deeply express my gratitude to their
Ordinaries for their warm and fraternal welcoming, I want to say that
these visits have been of great help for me to get to know better, and
at first hand, the reality of the Catholic Church in England and Wales
and to recognize and appreciate the pastoral zeal and commitment of
their Pastors.
Certainly it has been for me and my collaborators a
“strong experience of Church and communion”, full of spiritual fruits.
Indeed, I have experienced as true what the psalmist affirms: “How good
and how pleasant it is, when brothers dwell together as one!” (Psalm
133:1).
And I think that the same positive experience has been lived by the
bishops as well. I have been very glad when afterwards I heard bishops
talking also about the benefits of the Papal Nuncio’s visit to their
dioceses. Therefore I would like to reiterate my willingness to visit
your communities, if you think that this can be helpful for you and for
them. For me it certainly proves to be a wonderful opportunity to learn
more about your “joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties” in your pastoral
work.
I conclude by reassuring you of my prayers for your work during these
days as a Bishops’ Conference as well as for each one of you and your
individual Dioceses. While I fraternally ask you to keep me and my
collaborators at the Nunciature in your prayers that we may better serve
the Church in Great Britain.
In this, the Dowry of Mary, I entrust you
to the protection of Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, and, by Her
intercession, I fraternally invoke upon you God’s blessing. May the
Lord, the Good Shepherd, inspire all your works and support you in your
ministry.
I thank you for your attention.