To participants in the General Assembly of the Priestly Fraternity of St Charles Borromeo

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF ST CHARLES BORROMEO

Small Hall next to Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Your Excellencies,
Dear Brothers,

It gives me great joy to be with you. I remember well my visits to Palazzo Borromeo, next door to St Mary Major, where I personally met Fr Giussani. I became acquainted with his faith, his joy, his strength, the wealth of his ideas and the creativity of his faith. So it was that a true friendship developed; thus, through him, I also came to know the community of Communion and Liberation better.

And I am glad that his successor is with us and that he is continuing this great work and inspires so many, so many lay men and women, priests and laity, to collaborate in the dissemination of the Gospel, in the development of the Kingdom of God. And it was here that I also met Massimo Camisasca. We talked about various things, I got to know his creativity in art, his ability to see and interpret the signs of the times, his great gift as an educator and as a priest.

I once also had the honour of ordaining several priests at Porto Santa Rufina. It was beautiful to see that a new priestly Fraternity is developing here in the spirit of St Charles Borromeo, who always remains the great model of a Pastor, truly stimulated by the love of Christ. The Fraternity seeks out little ones, loves them, thereby creating faith and making the Church grow.

Your Fraternity is now large, and this is a sign that there are vocations in it. However, there is also a need for our openness in order to find, accompany, guide and help the development of these vocations. For this I thank Fr Camisasca who has served as a great educator. And today education is always fundamental to growth in the truth, to our growth as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God I have been acquainted for some time now with your new Superior General who also has a certain familiarity with my theology. I am therefore glad that I can be with you both spiritually and intellectually and that we can make each other’s work fruitful.

May the Lord bless you. Thanks be to the Lord for this gift of your Fraternity: may it never cease to grow and to deepen its love for Christ, to deepen the love of human beings for Christ. The Lord be with you!

I impart my blessing to you, certain that you will pray for me, that you will accompany me with your prayers.

I thank you all!