Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Benedict XVI calls for renewal of American Church and evangelization

Washington DC, Apr 17, 2008 / 10:07 am (CNA).- Before a crowd of 50,000 people from around the United States, Pope Benedict XVI described the Church in America and society as a whole as being at a crossroads. American Catholics must use this moment to seek conversion, the power of the Holy Spirit and as a chance to bring the witness of Christ to a society in crisis, he said.

The Pope began his homily by recalling the anniversaries of several American dioceses and the witness of the Catholics of the past who built up the Church in these areas.

Given this past, “the Church in the United States is now called to look to the future, firmly grounded in the faith passed on by previous generations, and ready to meet new challenges - challenges no less demanding than those faced by your forebears - with the hope born of God's love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit”.

He continued by explaining his purpose in his trip. “I have come to repeat the Apostle's urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country.”

Once forgiveness and conversion occur, the Holy Father prayed that Catholics in America will use this momentus occasion “to reaffirm their unity in the apostolic faith, to offer their contemporaries a convincing account of the hope which inspires them (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and to be renewed in missionary zeal for the extension of God's Kingdom.”

“The world needs this witness! Pope Benedict XVI exclaimed.”

“Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the Church in America but also for society as a whole?” he said.

Those who have “taken up the challenge of the Second Vatican Council, so often reiterated by Pope John Paul II, and committed their lives to the new evangelization” also received the encouragement of the Pope.

While highlighting the progress that has been already made in teaching the faith in the US, Pope Benedict called for the cultivation of “a mindset, an intellectual ‘culture’, which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith's vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of American society.”
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 11:12 AM