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On the Trip to the Czech Republic "A People and a Church With Profound Historical and Religious Roots" VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address during today's general audience held in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, As is the custom following international apostolic journeys, I shall take advantage of the general audience to speak about the pilgrimage I made these past days to the Czech Republic. I do this first of all as an act of thanksgiving to God, who enabled me to make this visit and who...

On the Year for Priests "The Priest Is a Slave of Christ" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 24, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Last Friday, June 19, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the day traditionally dedicated to pray for the sanctification of priests, I had the joy of inaugurating the Year for Priests. The year was proclaimed on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the "birth into eternal life" of the Curé d'Ars, St....

On Cyril and Methodius "Each People Should Â… Express the Salvific Truth With Their Own Language" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 17, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, part of a catechetical series he is giving about great writers of the Church in the Middle Ages. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: Today, I would like to speak about Sts. Cyril and Methodius, brothers of the same parents and in the faith, known as the apostles to the Slavic people. Cyril was born in Thessalonica, son...

On John Scotus Erigena "His Theology Proceeds Â… by Asserting Primarily What God Is Not" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, part of a catechetical series he is giving about great writers of the Church in the Middle Ages. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: Today I would like to speak of a notable thinker of the Christian West: John Scotus Erigena, whose origins are obscure. He certainly came from Ireland, where he was born at the beginning of the...

On Rabanus Maurus "A Truly Extraordinary Personality of the Latin West" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 3, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, part of a catechetical series he is giving about great writers of the Church in the Middle Ages. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: Today I would like to speak about a truly extraordinary personality of the Latin West: the monk Rabanus Maurus. Together with men such as Isidore of Seville, the Venerable Bede and Ambrose Auperto, of whom I have already spoken...

On the Pope's Trip to the Holy Land "I Presented Myself as a Pilgrim of Faith" VATICAN CITY, MAY 20, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, I pause today to speak about the apostolic journey that I made May 8-15 to the Holy Land, for which I do not cease to give thanks to the Lord, because it has shown itself to be a great gift for the Successor of Peter and for the whole Church. I wish...

On St. John Damascene "God Wants to Rest in Us" VATICAN CITY, MAY 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience in St. Peter's Square. He continued his series on great writers of the Church in the Middle Ages, focusing today on St. John Damascene. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: I would like to speak today about John Damascene, a prominent personality in the history of Byzantine theology, a great doctor in the history of the universal Church. He is above all an eye witness of the passage...

On St. Germanus "There Is a Certain Visibility of God in the World" VATICAN CITY, APRIL 29, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, part of a catechetical series he is giving about great writers of the Church in the Middle Ages. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, The patriarch Germanus of Constantinople, of whom I would like to speak today, does not belong to the most characteristic figures of the Eastern Christian world, and yet, his name appears with a certain solemnity in the...

On Ambrose Autpert, "1st Mariologist of the West" "Christ Must Daily Be Born, Die, and Rise in Us" VATICAN CITY, APRIL 22, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, part of a catechetical series he is giving about great writers of the Church in the Middle Ages. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Church lives in people and whoever wants to get to know the Church, to understand its mystery, must consider the people who have lived and who continue to live its message,...

On St. Boniface "His Ardent Zeal for the Gospel Always Impresses Me" VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: Today we pause to consider a great missionary of the 8th century, who spread Christianity in Central Europe, precisely in my homeland as well: St. Boniface, who has been recorded in history as the "apostle of the Germans." We have not a little information about his life, thanks to the diligence of his biographers: He was...

On the Life of St. Bede He "Contributed Effectively to the Making of a Christian Europe" VATICAN CITY, FEB. 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave on the life of St. Bede during today's general audience in Paul VI Hall. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, The saint on whom we reflect today is called Bede. He was born in Northeast England, in fact in Northumbria, in the year 672/673. He himself narrates that, when he was seven years old his parents entrusted him to the abbot of the neighboring Benedictine monastery, to...

On St. Paul and Justification "To Be Just Means Simply to Be With Christ and in Christ" VATICAN CITY, NOV. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, On the journey we have undertaken under the guidance of St. Paul, we now wish to reflect on a topic that is at the center of the controversies of the century of the Reformation:...

On St. Paul and the Second Coming "Come, Lord! Come Where You Are Not Known" VATICAN CITY, NOV. 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, The theme of the Resurrection, which we considered last week, opens a new perspective -- that of awaiting the return of the Lord. And therefore it brings us to reflect on the relationship between the present...

On St. Paul and the Resurrection 2 Facts Are Important: The Tomb Is Empty and Jesus Really Appeared VATICAN CITY, NOV. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: "And if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. … You are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:14,17). With these heavy words of the First...

On Paul's Christology "The Radical Humility of Christ Is the Expression of Divine Love" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 22, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, In the catecheses from previous weeks, we have meditated on the "conversion" of St. Paul, fruit of a personal encounter with the crucified and risen Christ, and we have asked ourselves about the reaction of the Apostle...

St. Paul's Teaching on the Church "We Are the Temple of God in the World" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, In last Wednesday's catechesis, I spoke of Paul's relationship with the pre-Easter Jesus in his earthly life. The question was: "What did Paul know of the life of Jesus, his words, his passion?" Today, I would...

On How St. Paul Knew Christ "Jesus Lives Now and Speaks With Us Now" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 8, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the previous catecheses on St. Paul, I spoke of his encounter with the Risen Christ, which fundamentally changed his life, and then of his relationship with the Twelve Apostles called by Jesus, particularly with Sts. James,...

On Paul's Dealings With Peter "Only Sincere Dialogue Could Guide the Path of the Church" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, The respect and veneration for the Twelve, which Paul had always cultivated, did not diminish when he frankly defended the truth of the Gospel, which is nothing other than Jesus Christ, the Lord. Today, we wish...

On Paul and the Other Apostles "He Insists on Fidelity to What He Himself Has Received" VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father continued today the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to speak about the relationship between St. Paul and the apostles who preceded him in the following of Jesus. These relationships were always marked by profound respect and by the frankness...

On St. Maximus the Confessor "He Always Had As His Compass the Concrete Reality of the World" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 25, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, dedicated to the figure of Saint Maximus the Confessor. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to present the figure of one of the great Fathers of the Eastern Church of later times. He is a monk, St. Maximus, who merited from Christian tradition the title of Confessor because of the intrepid courage with which...