Following is a translation of the Abbot Primate's address to the Pope and the Pope's discourse during our audience with him on September 20, 2008, during a Papal Audience for the Benedictine Abbots at the Holy Father's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

[The translation of the Italian text, made by a monk of Portsmouth Abbey, is not official.]

GREETINGS TO THE POPE BY THE ABBOT PRIMATE OF THE BENEDICTINE CONFEDERATION:

Holy Father,

Every four years we Benedictine abbots come to Rome to celebrate our international congress.  We reflect on the impact of the spiritual patrimony of Saint Benedict on the world of today; we discuss the common project of the Confederation, that is, Sant'Anselmo, as an academic and monastic entity.  We have invited also the representatives of the "Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum" [International Communion of Benedictine Women] and of the Orthodox Churches.  Today we have come to Castel Gandolfo to greet you, to hear your word, and to receive your blessing.  We have come with deepest esteem and gratitude toward you.

A great desire of yours is the rebirth of a Christian Europe on the basis of the principles of Saint Benedict.  We hope that our monasteries are spiritual and cultural centers which exert a strong influence on their surroundings.  Many people, young and adult, come and join us in prayer, in liturgical celebrations.  The welcoming of guests in our guesthouses and retreat houses, or of students in our schools, is a contribution we make to the witness of the Church and a new deepening of the faith.

This holds true now not only for Europe but for the whole world. 150,000 young people are being educated in our schools.  For this we have created a network among those in charge so as to define yet better the Benedictine character.

Already for some centuries Benedictine monasteries have grown up also outside Europe, as you have observed in Brazil.  The message of Saint Benedict in the period of globalization is expanding today in the whole world.  Every year there are born four new foundations, even in Eastern Europe, as far as Kazakhstan and shortly also in Cuba.  The official Church of China has sent a group of young priests to St. Ottilien [in Bavaria] to receive Benedictine formation and possibly in the future to begin a community in this country which is so close to your heart.

We have no reason to be defeatist.  In various parts of the world there are so many vocations, as in Asia and Africa, and also in some European communities they are not lacking.  Others, however, are standing waiting for years and do not know what their future will be.  For this reason some communities have seen themselves constrained to close their doors.  Where there are lacking children and faith, there is lacking the soil for vocations. 

Sant'Anselmo, with its Pontifical Atheneum and its Pontifical College, plays a special role. In the last century it was the unifying place of formation, of contact, and of living together of so many monastic observances and so many nations. Now at the moment of total globalization Sant'Anselmo will be yet more important to facilitate the unity of the Confederation.  And so we are grateful to you for having finally made clear the situation of the property of Sant'Anselmo, of which we have received officially from the Holy See the free usufruct.  Through the Pontifical Liturgical Institute we offer a special contribution to our universal Church.

In recent times there is growing interest also among so many laypeople who wish to actualize in their daily lives in the spirit of the Rule of Saint Benedict.  Always attached to a community of Benedictine men or women, they seek to witness to the world that it is only rooted in God that we can develop the fullness of a truly human life.  We have celebrated a first world congress of oblates, where they were able to share their experiences at an international level, draw new courage, and increase their fervor.  At present we are getting ready the second congress.

I would not want to conclude without mentioning our Benedictine nuns and sisters.  They bear witness in a special way in the bosom of the Church to the contemplative element and service of the poor.   Their number is double that of the monks, but they remain more hidden than the monks.  Together we seek to carry forward the precious patrimony of our father Saint Benedict, named Patron of Europe, but who in the future on the pattern of Abraham could be called "Patron of many peoples."

Holy Father, once again we thank you for this generous meeting and we humbly ask your paternal blessing. 

DISCOURSE OF THE POPE TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF BENEDICTINE ABBOTS

Dear Fathers Abbot,

Dear Sisters Abbess,

With great joy I welcome you and greet you on the occasion of the international Congress which every four years sees met at Rome all the Abbots of your Confederation and the Superiors of the independent priories, to reflect and discuss the methods with which to incarnate the Benedictine charism in the present social and cultural context and to respond to the ever new challenges which it poses to the witness of the Gospel.  I greet first of all Abbot Primate Dom Notker Wolf and thank him for what he has said in the name of you all.  I greet also the group of Abbesses who have come to present the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum, as well as the Orthodox representatives.

In a world which is desacralized and in an epoch marked by a prevalent culture of emptiness and of "no meaning," you are called to proclaim without compromises the primacy of God and to propose eventual new paths of evangelization. The commitment to sanctification, personal and communitarian, which you pursue and the liturgical prayer which you cultivate make you fit for a witness of particular efficacy.  In your monasteries, you are the first to renew and deepen daily the encounter with the person of Christ, whom you have always with you as guest, friend, and companion.

Thus your houses are places which men and women, also in our epoch, frequent to seek God and to learn to recognize the signs of the presence of Christ, of his charity, of his mercy.  With humble confidence do not grow weary of sharing with all those who turn to your spiritual ministrations, the richness of the Gospel message, which is summarized in the proclamation of the love of the merciful Father, ready to embrace in Christ every person.  You will continue in this way to offer your precious contribution to the vitality and the sanctification of the People of God, according to the special charism of Saint Benedict of Nursia.

Dear Abbots and Abbesses, you are the custodians of the patrimony of a spirituality radically anchored in the Gospel.  Per ducatum evangelii pergamus itinera eius [by the guidance of the Gospel let us travel along his pathways], says Saint Benedict in the Prologue of the Rule.  It is this which obliges you to communicate and make a gift to others of the fruits of your interior experience.

I recognize and appreciate very much the generous and skilled cultural and formative work which so many of your monasteries do, especially for the benefit of the younger generation, creating a climate of fraternal welcome which fosters a singular experience of Church.  As a matter of fact, it is of the first importance to prepare young people to meet their future and to tackle the multiple demands of society with a constant reference to the Gospel message, which is always relevant, inexhaustible, and life-giving.  Dedicate yourselves therefore with renewed apostolic zeal to the young, who are the future of the Church and of humanity.  For the construction of a "new" Europe there is needed a beginning from the new generations, offering them the possibility of becoming intimate with the spiritual riches of the liturgy, meditation, lectio divina.

In actual fact, how necessary this pastoral and formative action is for the entire human family!  In so many parts of the world, especially in Asia and Africa, there is a great need of vital spaces of encounter with the Lord, in which through prayer and contemplation serenity and peace with oneself and others may be regained.  Therefore, do not fail to come to meet with open heart the expectations of so many who, also outside of Europe, express the lively desire for your presence and your apostolate in order to be able to attain the riches of Benedictine spirituality.  Let yourselves be guided by the deep desire to serve with charity every human being, without distinctions of race or religion.  With prophetic liberty and wise discernment, be meaningful presences wherever Providence may call you to establish yourselves, distinguishing yourselves always through the harmonic equilibrium of prayer and work which characterizes your style of life.

And what can one say of the celebrated Benedictine hospitality?  This is a peculiar vocation of yours, an experience which is fully spiritual, human, and cultural.  Here, too, let there be balance: let the heart of the community be wide open, but let the times and the methods of welcome be well arranged.  Thus you will be able to offer to the men and women of our time the opportunity of deepening their sense of existence in the infinite horizon of Christian hope, cultivating interior silence in communion with the Word of salvation.  A community that is good at authentic fraternal life, fervent in liturgical prayer, study, work, in cordial availability to the neighbor who is thirsting for God, is the best stimulus to make spring up in the hearts, especially of the young, the monastic vocation and, in general, a fruitful path of faith.

I would like to direct a special word to the representatives of the Benedictine nuns and sisters.  Dear sisters, you, too, like other religious families, suffer, especially in some countries, from scarcity of new vocations.  Do not let yourselves be discouraged, but face these sad situations of crisis with serenity and with the awareness that what is required of each person is not so much success as faithfulness.  What must absolutely be avoided is failure to cling spiritually to the Lord and to one's own vocation and mission.  Rather, by persevering faithfully in it, one confesses---with great efficacy even in the eyes of the world---one's firm trust in the Lord of history, in whose hands are the times and the destinies of persons, institutions, peoples, and one entrusts to him also the historical outcomes of his gifts.  Make your own the attitude of the Virgin Mary, content to be "ancilla Domini," totally at the disposal of the will of the heavenly Father.

Dear monks, nuns, and sisters, thank you for this welcome visit!  I accompany you with my prayer that in the meetings of your Congress during these days you may be able to discern the most opportune methods of witnessing visibly and clearly in style of life, in work, and in prayer to your dedication to a radical imitation of the Lord.  May the Most Holy Mary sustain your every project of good, help you to keep God always before your eyes, above everything else, and accompany you maternally on your way.  While I invoke abundant heavenly blessings to support your every generous intention, I impart to you from my heart, and to the entire Benedictine Family, a special Apostolic Blessing.

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