"Christ our Hope" - Communion and Liberation assesses the 2008 Papal Visit to the U.S.

The May 2008 issue of Traces, published by Communion and Liberation, is devoted to the U.S. 2008 Papal Visit.

• The Pope Showed America the Face of Christ, edited by Davide Perillo. "The heart and the person. Legality and justice. Religious freedom and the role of the Church. On the Pontiff’s return from the United States, we asked Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Holy See’s “Foreign Minister,” to provide an assessment of the visit. He accepted, explaining why the Successor of Peter “embodies the message that he brings: Christ is our hope”.
• Human rights, “the fruit of unchanging justice”, by Stefano Alberto. In his address to the UN, the Pope returned to an issue which is widely discussed. And he went to the heart of it, continuing the journey begun at Regensburg.
• An Extraordinary Lesson of Method, by Lorenzo Albacete. From the bishops in search of answers about evangelization to the more skeptical and distant non-Catholics, everyone was surprised by a fact: a human encounter.
• In Service of the Truth, the Pope Educates the Heart of Man, edited by Santiago Ramos. The University of Notre Dame Law Professor (and President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) Paolo Carozza gets to the root of the Pontiff’s UN speech.
• The Holy Father Speaks at the United Nations: There Are No Human Rights Without Christ When Pope Benedict XVI addressed the United Nations General Assembly on April 18th, he was continuing a tradition that began in 1965. Mario Ramos-Reyes, Professor of Philosophy at Kansas City Community College, writes about Pope Benedict’s contribution to this tradition.
• A Choir of Friends Singing for the Pope, by Santiago Ramos. On April 19th the CL Choir was invited to perform for the Pope during the Youth Rally at St. Joseph’s Seminary Yonkers, New York.

Archbishop Sambi: Benedict's U.S. visit "still bearing fruit in local church"

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, representative of the Pope to the United States, has explained in an interview that Benedict XVI’s successful visit is bearing fruit in the local Church and in has opened the eyes of the secular world (Catholic.org June 12, 2008):

In an interview with Gianluca Biccini, that will be published in Wednesday's edition of L'Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Sambi said that during the April 15-20 papal trip, the theme of the visit, “Christ Our Hope,” permeated all the addresses of Pope Benedict XVI.

Hope filled more than the Pope’s speeches, the archbishop said as he recalled a brief message that Benedict gave to New York Catholic Radio. Speaking to the radio audience the Holy Father said “he had come ‘to confirm you in the faith, but in truth it has also been you who have confirmed me, with your response, your enthusiasm and affection’.”

The Nuncio said that the Pope was impressed by the fact that Americans “always in difficult moments, have always turned to their churches and temples, finding in the presence of God faith, unity and courage. This people has never been separated from the Word of God: the Bible remains the book that mostly accompanies the American citizen... which continues to illuminate the most significant moments of the personal, family and national life.”

“Therefore, speaking on hope, the Pope has touched an issue deeply rooted in the history and the culture of this people, and has stricken a particularly sensitive cord in these times,” the Nuncio added.

The Archbishop also highlighted the issue of evangelization, telling L'Osservatore that, “The United States, as every country in the world, is in need of a new evangelization. It must begin at home, that is to say, at the core of the Church itself, so that Christians may rediscover the joy and the strength of being Christians.”

“The Pope,” Sambi said, “has opened the way, has given the launch signal in his speeches to the bishops, the priests and religious, the educators, the lay people, the youth: all the sectors of the Church have been called to this commitment, to be instruments of the Spirit to a new Pentecost.” ... (Read More)