Text of Pope Benedict XVI's message given at first Mass in Sistine Chapel

Vatican ^ | April 20, 2005 | Pope Benedict XVI

[ELS]

Another excellent, brilliant message from a "simple, humble worker in God's vineyard." We are truly blessed to have Pope Benedict XVI.

[ELS]

For your information

[wideawake]

'The priestly life must have in a special way a 'Eucharistic form', he wrote in his last Letter for Holy Thursday. The devout daily celebration of Holy Mass, the center of the life and mission of every priest, contributes to this end.

Thank you, Holy Father!

Give us the universal indult.

[conservonator]

"I too, as I start in the service that is proper to the Successor of Peter, wish to affirm with force my decided will to pursue the commitment to enact Vatican Council II, in the wake of my predecessors and in faithful continuity with the millennia-old tradition of the Church. Precisely this year is the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of this conciliar assembly (December 8, 1965). With the passing of time, the conciliar documents have not lost their timeliness; their teachings have shown themselves to be especially pertinent to the new exigencies of the Church and the present globalized society.

I look forward to furthering the intended implementation of Vatican II.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

It will be good when the dross people dragged in under the name of VII is finally put to sleep....

[NYer]

"You are Christ! You are Peter! It seems I am reliving this very Gospel scene; I, the Successor of Peter, repeat with trepidation the anxious words of the fisherman from Galilee and I listen again with intimate emotion to the reassuring promise of the divine Master.

We have been given a truly special grace in this new pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI! Thank you, Lord!

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[conservonator]

I only hope my children will never have to be subjected to maudlin felt banners and find the mass "AWSOME" because it is and not because of the electric guitar that accompanied the choir :)

[anonymoussierra]

"We have been given a truly special grace in this new pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI! Thank you, Lord!"Thank you"NYer"

[Romulus]

Give us the universal indult.

Ecclesia: mater et magistra

Liturgy in the "mother" tongue is about to be restored to its full meaning.

[Romulus]

The homily was in Latin? Could the signal be any more clear? This guy's not wasting any time.

[NYer]

"In support of this promise, I invoke the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy, in whose hands I place the present and the future of my person and of the Church. "

Thank you Holy Father for accepting this guardianship!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Definately in Latin - I heard it, and it's on the Vatican's webpage in Latin and Italian...

[ELS]

"I undertake this special ministry, the 'Petrine' ministry at the service of the Universal Church, with humble abandon to the hands of the Providence of God. And it is to Christ in the first place that I renew my total and trustworthy adhesion: 'In Te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum!'

"The Church today must revive within herself an awareness of the task to present the world again with the voice of the One Who said: 'I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.' In undertaking his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today: not his own light but that of Christ.

"'Mane nobiscum, Domine!' Stay with us Lord! This invocation, which forms the dominant theme of John Paul II's Apostolic Letter for the Year of the Eucharist, is the prayer that comes spontaneously from my heart as I turn to begin the ministry to which Christ has called me. Like Peter, I too renew to Him my unconditional promise of faithfulness. He alone I intend to serve as I dedicate myself totally to the service of His Church.

Thank you, God, for giving us such a faithful and courageous Holy Father.

[lightman]

Pope John Paul II justly indicated the Council as a 'compass' with which to orient ourselves in the vast ocean of the third millennium

A beautiful allusion also to the metaphor used by St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz and first missionary to the Germanic people:

In her voyage across the ocean of the world the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course.

[anonymoussierra]

Benedictum XVI do need all good persons pray pray pray I do read many news persons do atack new Papiez Benedictum XVI this is total war Good G-D do will win!!!Pray Pray Pray good friend Thank you all

"""In support of this promise, I invoke the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy, in whose hands I place the present and the future of my person and of the Church.""

[ELS]

The homily was in Latin?

Yes, it was beautiful! I stayed up late/got up early to watch the Mass on EWTN. Did you see the Mass? If not, EWTN will re-air it a few times, I believe.

Could the signal be any more clear? This guy's not wasting any time.

IMHO, each Mass that he has celebrated (funeral, pro eligendo summo pontifice, first papal) has been increasingly more beautiful. This one being entirely in Latin and in the Sistine Chapel seemed to be quite a clear message. He is implementing the early version of Arinze's document (the name escapes me right now) before the guts were edited out of it.

[eastsider]

I consider this a grace obtained for me by my venerated predecessor, John Paul II.

With your election, he blesses us all, Holy Father.

[DBeers]

The Church today must revive within herself an awareness of the task to present the world again with the voice of the One Who said: 'I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.' In undertaking his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today: not his own light but that of Christ.

Yes!

[jrny]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I skimmed the Latin version, and the Holy Father has reemployed the "royal we" which is incorrectly translated in the English.

He says at the end, "WE impart OUR blessing...."


This was the common practice until JP1 switched to the first person singular.

Hmmmmmm.....