Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte

To my Brother Bishops,

To Priests and Deacons,

Men and Women Religious

and all the Lay Faithful.

1. At the beginning of the new millennium, and at the close of the Great

Jubilee during which we celebrated the two thousandth anniversary of the

birth of Jesus and a new stage of the Church's journey begins, our hearts

ring out with the words of Jesus when one day, after speaking to the

trusted Christ's words, and cast the nets. "When they had done this, they

caught a great number of fish" (Lk 5:6).

Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to

remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and

The Church's joy was great this year, as she devoted herself to

contemplating the face of her Bridegroom and Lord. She became more than

ever a pilgrim people, led by him who is the "the great shepherd of the

sheep" (Heb 13:20). With extraordinary energy, involving so many of her

members, the People of God here in Rome, as well as in Jerusalem and in

all the individual local churches, went through the "Holy Door" that is

Christ. To him who is the goal of history and the one Saviour of the

world, the Church and the Spirit cried out: "Marana tha — Come, Lord

Jesus" (cf. Rev 22:17, 20; 1 Cor 16:22).

It is impossible to take the measure of this event of grace which in the

living water", the water that continually flows "from the throne of God

is the water of the Spirit which quenches thirst and brings new life (cf.

Jn 4:14). This is the merciful love of the Father which has once again

been made known and given to us in Christ. At the end of this year we can

118:1).

2. For all this, I feel the need to write to you, dearly beloved, to share

this song of praise with you. From the beginning of my Pontificate, my

thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. I

thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the

Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,

would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take

up her evangelizing mission with fresh enthusiasm.

Has the Jubilee succeeded in this aim? Our commitment, with its generous

efforts and inevitable failings, is under God's scrutiny. But we cannot

fail to give thanks for the "marvels" the Lord has worked for us:

"Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo" (Ps 89:2).

At the same time, what we have observed demands to be reconsidered, and in

a sense "deciphered", in order to hear what the Spirit has been saying to

the Church (cf. Rev 2:7,11,17, etc.) during this most intense year.

3. Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is especially necessary for us to direct

our thoughts to the future which lies before us. Often during these months

we have looked towards the new millennium which is beginning, as we lived

this Jubilee not only as a remembrance of the past, but also as a prophecy

I wish to invite all the local churches to undertake. In each of them,

gathered around their Bishop, as they listen to the word and "break bread"

in brotherhood (cf. Acts 2:42), the "one holy catholic and apostolic

Church of Christ is truly present and operative".1 It is above all in the

actual situation of each local church that the mystery of the one People

of God takes the particular form that fits it to each individual context

and culture.

In the final analysis, this rooting of the Church in time and space

mirrors the movement of the Incarnation itself. Now is the time for each

local Church to assess its fervour and find fresh enthusiasm for its

spiritual and pastoral responsibilities, by reflecting on what the Spirit

has been saying to the People of God in this special year of grace, and

indeed in the longer span of time from the Second Vatican Council to the

Great Jubilee. It is with this purpose in mind that I wish to offer in

this Letter, at the conclusion of the Jubilee Year, the contribution of my

Petrine ministry, so that the Church may shine ever more brightly in the

variety of her gifts and in her unity as she journeys on.

I

MEETING CHRIST

THE LEGACY OF THE GREAT JUBILEE

4. "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty" (Rev 11:17). In the Bull of

Indiction of the Jubilee I expressed the hope that the bimillennial

reconciliation and a sign of true hope for all who look to Christ and to

essential aspects, reaching moments of intensity which have made us as it

were touch with our hands the merciful presence of God, from whom comes

"every good endowment and every perfect gift" (Jas 1:17).

My thoughts turn first to the duty of praise. This is the point of

departure for every genuine response of faith to the revelation of God in

Christ. Christianity is grace, it is the wonder of a God who is not

satisfied with creating the world and man, but puts himself on the same

level as the creature he has made and, after speaking on various occasions

and in different ways through his prophets, "in these last days ... has

spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1-2).

years of history have passed without diminishing the freshness of that

"today", when the angels proclaimed to the shepherds the marvellous event

of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem: "For to you is born this day in the

years have gone by, but Jesus' proclamation of his mission, when he

applied the prophecy of Isaiah to himself before his astonished fellow

years have gone by, but sinners in need of mercy — and who is not? — still

experience the consolation of that "today" of salvation which on the Cross

The fullness of time

5. The coincidence of this Jubilee with the opening of a new millennium

has certainly helped people to become more aware of the mystery of Christ

within the great horizon of the history of salvation, without any

concession to millenarian fantasies. Christianity is a religion rooted in

covenant with Israel and so prepare the birth of the Son from the womb of

incarnation, culminating in the Paschal Mystery and the gift of the

Spirit, is the pulsating heart of time, the mysterious hour in which the

Kingdom of God came to us (cf. Mk 1:15), indeed took root in our history,

"Glory to you, Jesus Christ, for you reign today and for ever". With this

song repeated thousands of times, we have contemplated Christ this year as

contemplating Christ, we have also adored the Father and the Spirit, the

one and undivided Trinity, the ineffable mystery in which everything has

its origin and its fulfilment.

The purification of memory

6. !!To purify our vision for the contemplation of the mystery, this Jubilee

Year has been strongly marked by the request for forgiveness. This is true

not only for individuals, who have examined their own lives in order to

ask for mercy and gain the special gift of the indulgence, but for the

entire Church, which has decided to recall the infidelities of so many of

her children in the course of history, infidelities which have cast a

For a long time we had been preparing ourselves for this examination of

once holy and always in need of being purified".

4 Study congresses helped us to identify those aspects in which, during the course of the first two

forget the moving Liturgy of 12 March 2000 in Saint Peter's Basilica, at

which, looking upon our Crucified Lord, I asked forgiveness in the name of

the Church for the sins of all her children? This "purification of memory"

has strengthened our steps for the journey towards the future and has made

us more humble and vigilant in our acceptance of the Gospel.

7. This lively sense of repentance, however, has not prevented us from

giving glory to the Lord for what he has done in every century, and in

particular during the century which we have just left behind, by granting

his Church a great host of saints and martyrs. For some of them the

Jubilee year has been the year of their beatification or canonization.

Holiness, whether ascribed to Popes well-known to history or to humble lay

and religious figures, from one continent to another of the globe, has

emerged more clearly as the dimension which expresses best the mystery of

is the living reflection of the face of Christ.

On the occasion of the Holy Year much has also been done to gather

together the precious memories of the witnesses to the faith in the

twentieth century. Together with the representatives of the other Churches

and Ecclesial Communities, we commemorated them on 7 May 2000 in the

evocative setting of the Colosseum, the symbol of the ancient

persecutions. This is a heritage which must not be lost; we should always

be thankful for it and we should renew our resolve to imitate it.

8. As if following in the footsteps of the Saints, countless sons and

daughters of the Church have come in successive waves to Rome, to the

Tombs of the Apostles, wanting to profess their faith, confess their sins

and receive the mercy that saves. I have been impressed this year by the

crowds of people which have filled Saint Peter's Square at the many

celebrations. I have often stopped to look at the long queues of pilgrims

waiting patiently to go through the Holy Door. In each of them I tried to

imagine the story of a life, made up of joys, worries, sufferings; the

story of someone whom Christ had met and who, in dialogue with him, was

setting out again on a journey of hope.

As I observed the continuous flow of pilgrims, I saw them as a kind of

concrete image of the pilgrim Church, the Church placed, as Saint

Augustine says, "amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations

of God".

5 We have only been able to observe the outer face of this unique

event. Who can measure the marvels of grace wrought in human hearts? It is

better to be silent and to adore, trusting humbly in the mysterious

workings of God and singing his love without end: "Misericordias Domini in

aeternum cantabo!".

9. The many Jubilee gatherings have brought together the most diverse

groups of people, and the level of participation has been truly impressive

— at times sorely trying the commitment of organizers and helpers, both

ecclesiastical and civil. In this Letter I wish to express my heartfelt

gratitude to everyone. But apart from the numbers, what has moved me so

often was to note the intensity of prayer, reflection and spirit of

communion which these meetings have generally showed.

And how could we fail to recall especially the joyful and inspiring

2000 that more than any other will live on in memory, it is surely the

streams of young people with whom I was able to engage in a sort of very

was like this from the moment I welcomed them in the Square of Saint John

Lateran and Saint Peter's Square. Then I saw them swarming through the

city, happy as young people should be, but also thoughtful, eager to pray,

seeking "meaning" and true friendship. Neither for them nor for those who

saw them will it be easy to forget that week, during which Rome became

"young with the young". It will not be possible to forget the Mass at Tor

Vergata.

Yet again, the young have shown themselves to be for Rome and for the

Church a special gift of the Spirit of God. Sometimes when we look at the

young, with the problems and weaknesses that characterize them in

People however changed that, telling us that young people, whatever their

possible ambiguities, have a profound longing for those genuine values

which find their fullness in Christ. Is not Christ the secret of true

freedom and profound joy of heart? Is not Christ the supreme friend and

people as he really is, they experience him as an answer that is

convincing and they can accept his message, even when it is demanding and

enthusiasm, I did not hesitate to ask them to make a radical choice of

faith and life and present them with a stupendous task: to become "morning

watchmen" (cf. Is 21:11-12) at the dawn of the new millennium.

10. Obviously I cannot go into detail about each individual Jubilee event.

Each one of them had its own character and has left its message, not only

for those who took part directly but also for those who heard about them

or took part from afar through the media. But how can we forget the mood

of celebration of the first great gathering dedicated to children? In a

did when he placed a child in the midst of the disciples and made it the

very symbol of the attitude which we should have if we wish to enter the

Thus, in a sense, it was in the footsteps of children that all the

different groups of adults came seeking the Jubilee grace: from old people

to the sick and handicapped, from workers in factories and fields to

sportspeople, from artists to university teachers, from Bishops and

priests to people in consecrated life, from politicians to journalists, to

the military personnel who came to confirm the meaning of their service as

a service to peace.

One of the most notable events was the gathering of workers on 1 May, the

day traditionally dedicated to the world of work. I asked them to live a

spirituality of work in imitation of Saint Joseph and of Jesus himself.

That Jubilee gathering also gave me the opportunity to voice a strong call

to correct the economic and social imbalances present in the world of work

and to make decisive efforts to ensure that the processes of economic

globalization give due attention to solidarity and the respect owed to

every human person.

Children, with their irrepressible sense of celebration, were again

present for the Jubilee of Families, when I held them up to the world as

the "springtime of the family and of society". This was a truly

significant gathering in which numberless families from different parts of

the world came to draw fresh enthusiasm from the light that Christ sheds

commit themselves to bringing that light to bear on a culture which, in an

ever more disturbing way, is in danger of losing sight of the very meaning

of marriage and the family as an institution.

For me one of the more moving meetings was the one with the prisoners at

Regina Caeli. In their eyes I saw suffering, but also repentance and hope.

For them in a special way the Jubilee was a "year of mercy".

Finally, in the last days of the year, an enjoyable occasion was the

meeting with the world of entertainment, which exercises such a powerful

influence on people. I was able to remind all involved of their great

responsibility to use entertainment to offer a positive message, one that

is morally healthy and able to communicate confidence and love.

11. In the spirit of this Jubilee Year the International Eucharistic

Congress was intended to have special significance. And it did! Since the

Eucharist is the sacrifice of Christ made present among us, how could his

real presence not be at the centre of the Holy Year dedicated to the

Incarnation of the Word? The year was intended, precisely for this reason,

to be "intensely Eucharistic",

6 and that is how we tried to live it. At

the memory of the Mother be missing? Mary was present in the Jubilee

celebration not only as a theme of high-level academic gatherings, but

above all in the great Act of Entrustment with which, in the presence of a

large part of the world episcopate, I entrusted to her maternal care the

lives of the men and women of the new millennium.

12. !!You will understand that I speak more readily of the Jubilee as seen

from the See of Peter. However I am not forgetting that I myself wanted

the Jubilee to be celebrated also in the particular churches, and it is

there that the majority of the faithful were able to gain its special

graces, and particularly the indulgence connected with the Jubilee Year.

Nevertheless it is significant that many Dioceses wanted to be present,

with large groups of the faithful, here in Rome too. The Eternal City has

thus once again shown its providential role as the place where the

resources and gifts of each individual church, and indeed of each

individual nation and culture, find their "catholic" harmony, so that the

one Church of Christ can show ever more clearly her mystery as the

"sacrament of unity".

7

I had also asked for special attention to be given in the programme of the

Jubilee Year to the ecumenical aspect. What occasion could be more

suitable for encouraging progress on the path towards full communion than

the shared celebration of the birth of Christ? Much work was done with

this in mind, and one of the highlights was the ecumenical meeting in

Saint Paul's Basilica on 18 January 2000, when for the first time in

history a Holy Door was opened jointly by the Successor of Peter, the

Anglican Primate and a Metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of

Constantinople, in the presence of representatives of Churches and

Ecclesial Communities from all over the world. There were also other

important meetings with Orthodox Patriarchs and the heads of other

Christian denominations. I recall in particular the recent visit of His

Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. In

addition, very many members of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities

took part in the Jubilee meetings organized for various groups. The

ecumenical journey is certainly still difficult, and will perhaps be long,

but we are encouraged by the hope that comes from being led by the

presence of the Risen One and the inexhaustible power of his Spirit,

always capable of new surprises.

13. And how can I not recall my personal Jubilee along the pathways of the

Holy Land? I would have liked to begin that journey at Ur of the

Chaldeans, in order to follow, tangibly as it were, in the footsteps of

Abraham "our father in faith" (cf. Rom 4:11-16). However, I had to be

content with a pilgrimage in spirit, on the occasion of the evocative

Liturgy of the Word celebrated in the Paul VI Audience Hall on 23

February. The actual pilgrimage came almost immediately afterwards,

following the stages of salvation history. Thus I had the joy of visiting

Mount Sinai, where the gift of the Ten Commandments of the Covenant was

given. I set out again a month later, when I reached Mount Nebo, and then

went on to the very places where the Redeemer lived and which he made

holy. It is difficult to express the emotion I felt in being able to

venerate the places of his birth and life, Bethlehem and Nazareth, to

celebrate the Eucharist in the Upper Room, in the very place of its

institution, to meditate again on the mystery of the Cross at Golgotha,

where he gave his life for us. In those places, still so troubled and

again recently afflicted by violence, I received an extraordinary welcome

not only from the members of the Church but also from the Israeli and

Palestinian communities. Intense emotion surrounded my prayer at the

Western Wall and my visit to the Mausoleum of Yad Vashem, with its

chilling reminder of the victims of the Nazi death camps. My pilgrimage

was a moment of brotherhood and peace, and I like to remember it as one of

the most beautiful gifts of the whole Jubilee event. Thinking back to the

mood of those days, I cannot but express my deeply felt desire for a

prompt and just solution to the still unresolved problems of the Holy

Places, cherished by Jews, Christians and Muslims together.

International debt

otherwise. Already in the years of preparation, I had called for greater

the world. The problem of the international debt of poor countries took on

particular significance in this context. A gesture of generosity towards

these countries was in the very spirit of the Jubilee, which in its

original Biblical setting was precisely a time when the community

committed itself to re-establishing justice and solidarity in

interpersonal relations, including the return of whatever belonged to

States have voted a substantial remission of the bilateral debt of the

Governments will soon implement these parliamentary decisions. The

question of multilateral debt contracted by poorer countries with

international financial organizations has shown itself to be a rather more

problematic issue. It is to be hoped that the member States of these

organizations, especially those that have greater decisional powers, will

succeed in reaching the necessary consensus in order to arrive at a rapid

solution to this question on which the progress of many countries depends,

with grave consequences for the economy and the living conditions of so

many people.

15. These are only some of the elements of the Jubilee celebration. It has

features and in his mystery, Christ known through his manifold presence in

the Church and in the world, and confessed as the meaning of history and

the light of life's journey.

Now we must look ahead, we must "put out into the deep", trusting in

Christ's words: Duc in altum! What we have done this year cannot justify a

commitment. On the contrary, the experiences we have had should inspire in

us new energy, and impel us to invest in concrete initiatives the

9:62). In the cause of the Kingdom there is no time for looking back, even

less for settling into laziness. Much awaits us, and for this reason we

must set about drawing up an effective post-Jubilee pastoral plan.

It is important however that what we propose, with the help of God, should

continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of

"doing for the sake of doing". We must resist this temptation by trying

"to be" before trying "to do". In this regard we should recall how Jesus

reproved Martha: "You are anxious and troubled about many things; one

number of practical guidelines for your consideration, I wish to share

with you some points of meditation on the mystery of Christ, the absolute

foundation of all our pastoral activity.

Apostle Philip by some Greeks who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for

the Passover, echoes spiritually in our ears too during this Jubilee Year.

Like those pilgrims of two thousand years ago, the men and women of our

own day — often perhaps unconsciously — ask believers not only to "speak"

Church's task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period,

to make his face shine also before the generations of the new millennium?

Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had

not first contemplated his face. The Great Jubilee has certainly helped us

to do this more deeply. At the end of the Jubilee, as we go back to our

ordinary routine, storing in our hearts the treasures of this very special

time, our gaze is more than ever firmly set on the face of the Lord.

17. The contemplation of Christ's face cannot fail to be inspired by all

that we are told about him in Sacred Scripture, which from beginning to

end is permeated by his mystery, prefigured in a veiled way in the Old

Testament and revealed fully in the New, so that Saint Jerome can

8

Remaining firmly anchored in Scripture, we open ourselves to the action of

the Spirit (cf. Jn 15:26) from whom the sacred texts derive their origin,

as well as to the witness of the Apostles (cf. Jn 15:27), who had a

first-hand experience of Christ, the Word of life: they saw him with their

eyes, heard him with their ears, touched him with their hands (cf. 1 Jn

1:1).

What we receive from them is a vision of faith based on precise historical

testimony: a true testimony which the Gospels, despite their complex

redaction and primarily catechetical purpose, pass on to us in an entirely

trustworthy way.9

18. The Gospels do not claim to be a complete biography of Jesus in

accordance with the canons of modern historical science. From them,

nevertheless, the face of the Nazarene emerges with a solid historical

foundation. The Evangelists took pains to represent him on the basis of

trustworthy testimonies which they gathered (cf. Lk 1:3) and working with

the basis of such first-hand testimony that, enlightened by the Holy

Spirit's action, they learnt the humanly perplexing fact of Jesus'

virginal birth from Mary, wife of Joseph. From those who had known him

during the almost thirty years spent in Nazareth (cf. Lk 3:23) they

collected facts about the life of "the carpenter's son" (Mt 13:55) who was

himself a "carpenter" and whose place within the context of his larger

family was well established (cf. Mk 6:3). They recorded his religious

fervour, which prompted him to make annual pilgrimages to the Temple in

Jerusalem with his family (cf. Lk 2:41), and made him a regular visitor to

the synagogue of his own town (cf. Lk 4:16).

Without being complete and detailed, the reports of his public ministry

become much fuller, starting at the moment of the young Galilean's baptism

by John the Baptist in the Jordan. Strengthened by the witness from on

high and aware of being the "beloved son" (Lk 3:22), he begins his

preaching of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and explains its demands

and its power by words and signs of grace and mercy. The Gospels present

him to us as one who travels through towns and villages, accompanied by

twelve Apostles whom he has chosen (cf. Mk 3:13-19), by a group of women

who assist them (cf. Lk 8:2-3), by crowds that seek him out and follow

him, by the sick who cry out for his healing power, by people who listen

to him with varying degrees of acceptance of his words.

The Gospel narrative then converges on the growing tension which develops

between Jesus and the dominant groups in the religious society of his

time, until the final crisis with its dramatic climax on Golgotha. This is

the hour of darkness, which is followed by a new, radiant and definitive

victorious over death. They point to the empty tomb and follow him in the

cycle of apparitions in which the disciples — at first perplexed and

bewildered, then filled with unspeakable joy — experience his living and

glorious presence. From him they receive the gift of the Spirit (cf. Jn

20:22) and the command to proclaim the Gospel to "all nations" (Mt 28:19).

which the Apostles contemplated after the Resurrection was the same face

of the Jesus with whom they had lived for almost three years, and who now

convinced them of the astonishing truth of his new life by showing them

"his hands and his side" (ibid.). Of course it was not easy to believe.

The disciples on their way to Emmaus believed only after a long spiritual

journey (cf. Lk 24:13-35). The Apostle Thomas believed only after

regardless of how much his body was seen or touched, only faith could

disciples must have already had during the historical life of Christ, in

the questions which came to their minds whenever they felt challenged by

path of faith, on a journey of which the stages seem to be indicated to us

16:13-20). Engaging in a kind of first evaluation of his mission, Jesus

asks his disciples what "people" think of him, and they answer him: "Some

say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the

prophets" (Mt 16:14). A lofty response to be sure, but still a long way —

by far — from the truth. The crowds are able to sense a definitely

exceptional religious dimension to this rabbi who speaks in such a

spellbinding way, but they are not able to put him above those men of God

who had distinguished the history of Israel. Jesus is really far

different! It is precisely this further step of awareness, concerning as

it does the deeper level of his being, which he expects from those who are

proclaimed by Peter, and with him by the Church in every age, truly goes

to the heart, and touches the depth of the mystery: "You are the Christ,

20. How had Peter come to this faith? And what is asked of us, if we wish

to follow in his footsteps with ever greater conviction? Matthew gives us

an enlightening insight in the words with which Jesus accepts Peter's

to man and the common way of understanding things. In the case of Jesus,

this common way is not enough. A grace of "revelation" is needed, which

comes from the Father (cf. ibid.). Luke gives us an indication which

points in the same direction when he notes that this dialogue with the

indications converge to make it clear that we cannot come to the fullness

of contemplation of the Lord's face by our own efforts alone, but by

prayer offers the proper setting for the growth and development of a true,

faithful and consistent knowledge of that mystery which finds its

culminating expression in the solemn proclamation by the Evangelist Saint

John: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and

truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father"

(1:14).

is in the intimate and inseparable union of these two aspects that

Christ's identity is to be found, in accordance with the classic formula

is that, and that alone, of the Eternal Word, the Son of the Father. The

two natures, without any confusion whatsoever, but also without any

possible separation, are the divine and the human.10

We know that our concepts and our words are limited. The formula, though

always human, is nonetheless carefully measured in its doctrinal content,

and it enables us, albeit with trepidation, to gaze in some way into the

Apostle Thomas, the Church is constantly invited by Christ to touch his

wounds, to recognize, that is, the fullness of his humanity taken from

Mary, given up to death, transfigured by the Resurrection: "Put your

finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my

the Risen One, clothed in the fullness of his divine splendour, and never

of the mystery of Christ is confirmed by the entire New Testament. The

Apostle Paul takes this same approach when he affirms that the Son of God

was born "of the race of David, according to the flesh" (cf. Rom 1:3; cf.

contemporary culture, it is above all faith in the divinity of Christ that

has become problematic, in other historical and cultural contexts there

was a tendency to diminish and do away with the historical concreteness of

indispensable to affirm that the Word truly "became flesh" and took on

perspective, the incarnation is truly a kenosis — a "self-emptying" — on

the part of the Son of God of that glory which is his from all eternity

(Phil 2:6-8; cf. 1 Pt 3:18).

On the other hand, this abasement of the Son of God is not an end in

itself; it tends rather towards the full glorification of Christ, even in

his humanity: "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him

the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee

should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue

2:9-11).

Psalmist could receive no fulfilment greater and more surprising than the

contemplation of the face of Christ. God has truly blessed us in him and

has made "his face to shine upon us" (Ps 67:1). At the same time, God and

man that he is, he reveals to us also the true face of man, "fully

revealing man to man himself".11

Jesus is "the new man" (cf. Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) who calls redeemed

humanity to share in his divine life. The mystery of the Incarnation lays

the foundations for an anthropology which, reaching beyond its own

limitations and contradictions, moves towards God himself, indeed towards

redeemed on to Christ and their admission into the intimacy of the

Trinitarian life. The Fathers have laid great stress on this

because the Son of God truly became man that man, in him and through him,

24. !!This divine-human identity emerges forcefully from the Gospels, which

offer us a range of elements that make it possible for us to enter that

"frontier zone" of the mystery, represented by Christ's self-awareness.

The Church has no doubt that the Evangelists in their accounts, and

inspired from on high, have correctly understood in the words which Jesus

Luke wishes to tell us when he recounts Jesus' first recorded words,

spoken in the Temple in Jerusalem when he was barely twelve years old?

Already at that time he shows that he is aware of a unique relationship

with God, a relationship which properly belongs to a "son". When his

mother tells him how anxiously she and Joseph had been searching for him,

Jesus replies without hesitation: "How is it that you sought me? Did you

wonder therefore that later as a grown man his language authoritatively

expresses the depth of his own mystery, as is abundantly clear both in the

Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22) and above all in the Gospel of

!!25. In contemplating Christ's face, we confront the most paradoxical

aspect of his mystery, as it emerges in his last hour, on the Cross. The

mystery within the mystery, before which we cannot but prostrate ourselves

in adoration.

The intensity of the episode of the agony in the Garden of Olives passes

before our eyes. Oppressed by foreknowledge of the trials that await him,

and alone before the Father, Jesus cries out to him in his habitual and

affectionate expression of trust: "Abba, Father". He asks him to take

away, if possible, the cup of suffering (cf. Mk 14:36). But the Father

seems not to want to heed the Son's cry. In order to bring man back to the

Father's face, Jesus not only had to take on the face of man, but he had

to burden himself with the "face" of sin. "For our sake he made him to be

sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of

life to the Father in love, for the salvation of all. At the very moment

when he identifies with our sin, "abandoned" by the Father, he "abandons"

himself into the hands of the Father. His eyes remain fixed on the Father.

28. !!As on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Church pauses in

offers salvation to the world. But her contemplation of Christ's face

cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One! Were

this not so, our preaching would be in vain and our faith empty (cf. 1 Cor

as we learn from the Letter to the Hebrews: "In the days of his flesh,

Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to

him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly

fear. Son though he was, he learned obedience through what he suffered;

and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all

Two thousand years after these events, the Church relives them as if they

how sweet is the memory of Jesus, the source of the heart's true joy!

Heartened by this experience, the Church today sets out once more on her

journey, in order to proclaim Christ to the world at the dawn of the Third

Millennium: he "is the same yesterday and today and for ever" (Heb 13:8).

assurance, dear brothers and sisters, has accompanied the Church for two

thousand years, and has now been renewed in our hearts by the celebration

of the Jubilee. From it we must gain new impetus in Christian living,

making it the force which inspires our journey of faith. Conscious of the

Risen Lord's presence among us, we ask ourselves today the same question

We put the question with trusting optimism, but without underestimating

the problems we face. We are certainly not seduced by the naive

expectation that, faced with the great challenges of our time, we shall

find some magic formula. No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a

Person, and the assurance which he gives us: I am with you!

It is not therefore a matter of inventing a "new programme". The programme

already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living

Tradition, it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfilment in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is a programme which does not change with shifts of times and cultures, even though it takes account of time and culture for the sake of true dialogue and effective communication. This programme for all times is our programme for the Third Millennium.

extraordinary opportunity to travel together for a number of years on a

journey common to the whole Church, a catechetical journey on the theme of

the Trinity, accompanied by precise pastoral undertakings designed to

ensure that the Jubilee would be a fruitful event. I am grateful for the

sincere and widespread acceptance of what I proposed in my Apostolic

goal that we face, but the larger and more demanding challenge of normal

programme of the Gospel must continue to take root, as it has always done,

and methods, formation and enrichment of the people involved, the search

for the necessary resources — which will enable the proclamation of Christ

to reach people, mould communities, and have a deep and incisive influence

This harmonization will certainly be facilitated by the collegial work

which Bishops now regularly undertake in Episcopal Conferences and Synods.

Was this not the point of the continental Assemblies of the Synod of

Bishops which prepared for the Jubilee, and which forged important

directives for the present-day proclamation of the Gospel in so many

different settings and cultures? This rich legacy of reflection must not

be allowed to disappear, but must be implemented in practical ways.

What awaits us therefore is an exciting work of pastoral revitalization —

wish to indicate certain pastoral priorities which the experience of the

Great Jubilee has, in my view, brought to light.

initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. Was this not the ultimate

meaning of the Jubilee indulgence, as a special grace offered by Christ so

that the life of every baptized person could be purified and deeply

renewed?

!!It is my hope that, among those who have taken part in the Jubilee, many

will have benefited from this grace, in full awareness of its demands.

Once the Jubilee is over, we resume our normal path, but knowing that

stressing holiness remains more than ever an urgent pastoral task.

It is necessary therefore to rediscover the full practical significance of

Chapter 5 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,

such stress on this point, not just to embellish ecclesiology with a kind

Church as "mystery", or as a people "gathered together by the unity of the

Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit",15 was bound to bring with it a

But the gift in turn becomes a task, which must shape the whole of

Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness

31. At first glance, it might seem almost impractical to recall this

elementary truth as the foundation of the pastoral planning in which we

"planned"? What might the word "holiness" mean in the context of a

pastoral plan?

In fact, to place pastoral planning under the heading of holiness is a

choice filled with consequences. It implies the conviction that, since

Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of God through incorporation

into Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit, it would be a contradiction

to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a

As the Council itself explained, this ideal of perfection must not be

misunderstood as if it involved some kind of extraordinary existence,

holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual. I thank

the Lord that in these years he has enabled me to beatify and canonize a

re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary

Christian living: the whole life of the Christian community and of

that the paths to holiness are personal and call for a genuine "training

resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of

individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of

support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church.

Prayer

intense prayer, both personal and communal. But we well know that prayer

Wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, this reciprocity opens us, through

Christ and in Christ, to contemplation of the Father's face. Learning this

Trinitarian shape of Christian prayer and living it fully, above all in

the liturgy, the summit and source of the Church's life,17 but also in

personal experience, is the secret of a truly vital Christianity, which

has no reason to fear the future, because it returns continually to the

sources and finds in them new life.

despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread demand for

spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed

Christian lands, offer their own responses to this need, and sometimes

believing in Christ, the revealer of the Father and the Saviour of the

lead.

consecrated life are of course called to prayer in a particular way: of

its nature, their consecration makes them more open to the experience of

contemplation, and it is important that they should cultivate it with

special care. But it would be wrong to think that ordinary Christians can

be content with a shallow prayer that is unable to fill their whole life.

Especially in the face of the many trials to which today's world subjects

faith, they would be not only mediocre Christians but "Christians at

risk". They would run the insidious risk of seeing their faith

progressively undermined, and would perhaps end up succumbing to the

allure of "substitutes", accepting alternative religious proposals and

even indulging in far-fetched superstitions.

It is therefore essential that education in prayer should become in some

dedicate the forthcoming Wednesday catecheses to reflection upon the

Psalms, beginning with the Psalms of Morning Prayer with which the public

helpful it would be if not only in religious communities but also in

proper discernment, this would require that popular piety be given its

Perhaps it is more thinkable than we usually presume for the average day

of a Christian community to combine the many forms of pastoral life and

Christian groups, also those made up largely of lay people, is proof of

this.

35. !!It is therefore obvious that our principal attention must be given to

development in the way the Christian community celebrates the Sacraments,

especially the Eucharist. It is necessary to continue in this direction,

and to stress particularly the Sunday Eucharist and Sunday itself

experienced as a special day of faith, the day of the Risen Lord and of

Christian time has been measured by the memory of that "first day of the

of Christ's Resurrection is the original fact upon which Christian faith

time, prefiguring the last day when Christ will return in glory. We do not

know what the new millennium has in store for us, but we are certain that

it is safe in the hands of Christ, the "King of kings and Lord of lords"

(Rev 19:16); and precisely by celebrating his Passover not just once a

year but every Sunday, the Church will continue to show to every

It is a fundamental duty, to be fulfilled not just in order to observe a

precept but as something felt as essential to a truly informed and

shows signs of being marked by a profound interweaving of cultures and

religions, even in countries which have been Christian for many centuries.

37. I am also asking for renewed pastoral courage in ensuring that the

day-to-day teaching of Christian communities persuasively and effectively

presents the practice of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As you will

recall, in 1984 I dealt with this subject in the Post-Synodal Exhortation

Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, which synthesized the results of an Assembly

to make every effort to face the crisis of "the sense of sin" apparent in

face of Christ that must be rediscovered through the Sacrament of Penance,

which for the faithful is "the ordinary way of obtaining forgiveness and

addressed the problem, the crisis of the Sacrament was there for all to

see, especially in some parts of the world. The causes of the crisis have

not disappeared in the brief span of time since then. But the Jubilee

Year, which has been particularly marked by a return to the Sacrament of

38. If in the planning that awaits us we commit ourselves more confidently

to a pastoral activity that gives personal and communal prayer its proper

besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that

us really to cooperate with his grace, and therefore invites us to invest

all our resources of intelligence and energy in serving the cause of the

It is prayer which roots us in this truth. It constantly reminds us of the

primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life

and of holiness. When this principle is not respected, is it any wonder

that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening

sense of frustration? We then share the experience of the disciples in the

Gospel story of the miraculous catch of fish: "We have toiled all night

conversation with God, in order to open our hearts to the tide of grace

and allow the word of Christ to pass through us in all its power: Duc in

altum! On that occasion, it was Peter who spoke the word of faith: "At

allow the Successor of Peter to invite the whole Church to make this act

inconceivable without a renewed listening to the word of God. Ever since

the Second Vatican Council underlined the pre-eminent role of the word of

God in the life of the Church, great progress has certainly been made in

devout listening to Sacred Scripture and attentive study of it. Scripture

has its rightful place of honour in the public prayer of the Church.

Church at the dawn of the new millennium. Even in countries evangelized

many centuries ago, the reality of a "Christian society" which, amid all

the frailties which have always marked human life, measured itself

a situation which is becoming increasingly diversified and demanding, in

the context of "globalization" and of the consequent new and uncertain

In the Third Millennium, Christianity will have to respond ever more

completely true to itself, with unswerving fidelity to the proclamation of

the Gospel and the tradition of the Church, will also reflect the

different faces of the cultures and peoples in which it is received and

beauty of the Church's varied face. This is perhaps only a beginning, a

barely sketched image of the future which the Spirit of God is preparing

for us.

adults, families, young people, children, without ever hiding the most

radical demands of the Gospel message, but taking into account each

person's needs in regard to their sensitivity and language, after the

example of Paul who declared: "I have become all things to all men, that I

might by all means save some" (1 Cor 9:22). In making these

recommendations, I am thinking especially of the pastoral care of young

Jubilee has given us an encouraging testimony of their generous

investing that enthusiasm like a new talent (cf. Mt 25:15) which the Lord

has put into our hands so that we can make it yield a rich return.

have remembered during the Jubilee sustain and guide us in this confident,

enterprising and creative sense of mission. For the Church, the martyrs

this famous "law" formulated by Tertullian has proved true in all the

millennium now beginning? Perhaps we were too used to thinking of the

martyrs in rather distant terms, as though they were a category of the

This is the other important area in which there has to be commitment and

planning on the part of the universal Church and the particular Churches:

the domain of communion (koinonia), which embodies and reveals the very

demonstration of that love which springs from the heart of the Eternal

Father and is poured out upon us through the Spirit which Jesus gives us

in building this communion of love that the Church appears as "sacrament",

as the "sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of

The Lord's words on this point are too precise for us to diminish their

import. Many things are necessary for the Church's journey through

will be in vain. It is again the Apostle Paul who in the hymn to love

reminds us: even if we speak the tongues of men and of angels, and if we

have faith "to move mountains", but are without love, all will come to

Doctor of the Church precisely because she is an expert in the scientia

Church to act... I understood that Love encompassed all vocations, that

great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning, if we

wish to be faithful to God's plan and respond to the world's deepest

yearnings.

But what does this mean in practice? Here too, our thoughts could run

immediately to the action to be undertaken, but that would not be the

right impulse to follow. Before making practical plans, we need to promote

a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding principle of education

wherever individuals and Christians are formed, wherever ministers of the

altar, consecrated persons, and pastoral workers are trained, wherever

families and communities are being built up. A spirituality of communion

indicates above all the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the

Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see

of communion also means an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in

faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as

sufferings, to sense their desires and attend to their needs, to offer

as a gift from God: not only as a gift for the brother or sister who has

intent on valuing and developing the forums and structures which, in

accordance with the Second Vatican Council's major directives, serve to

ensure and safeguard communion. How can we forget in the first place those

specific services to communion which are the Petrine ministry and, closely

related to it, episcopal collegiality? These are realities which have

their foundation and substance in Christ's own plan for the Church,28 but

which need to be examined constantly in order to ensure that they follow

their genuinely evangelical inspiration.

Much has also been done since the Second Vatican Council for the reform of

the Roman Curia, the organization of Synods and the functioning of

Episcopal Conferences. But there is certainly much more to be done, in

order to realize all the potential of these instruments of communion,

which are especially appropriate today in view of the need to respond

promptly and effectively to the issues which the Church must face in these

rapidly changing times.

Bishops, priests and deacons, between Pastors and the entire People of

God, between clergy and Religious, between associations and ecclesial

movements must all be clearly characterized by communion. To this end, the

structures of participation envisaged by Canon Law, such as the Council of

Priests and the Pastoral Council, must be ever more highly valued. These

of course are not governed by the rules of parliamentary democracy,

because they are consultative rather than deliberative;29 yet this does

not mean that they are less meaningful and relevant. The theology and

spirituality of communion encourage a fruitful dialogue between Pastors

and faithful: on the one hand uniting them a priori in all that is

essential, and on the other leading them to pondered agreement in matters

open to discussion.

To this end, we need to make our own the ancient pastoral wisdom which,

without prejudice to their authority, encouraged Pastors to listen more

reminder to the Abbot of a monastery, inviting him to consult even the

While the wisdom of the law, by providing precise rules for participation,

attests to the hierarchical structure of the Church and averts any

temptation to arbitrariness or unjustified claims, the spirituality of

communion, by prompting a trust and openness wholly in accord with the

dignity and responsibility of every member of the People of God, supplies

institutional reality with a soul.

Certainly, a generous commitment is needed — above all through insistent

prayer to the Lord of the harvest (cf. Mt 9:38) — in promoting vocations

traditionally Christian countries, the situation has become dramatic, due

to changed social circumstances and a religious disinterest resulting from

implement an extensive plan of vocational promotion, based on personal

contact and involving parishes, schools and families in the effort to

foster a more attentive reflection on life's essential values. These reach

their fulfilment in the response which each person is invited to give to

God's call, particularly when the call implies a total giving of self and

of one's energies to the cause of the Kingdom.

It is in this perspective that we see the value of all other vocations,

rooted as they are in the new life received in the Sacrament of Baptism.

In a special way it will be necessary to discover ever more fully the

specific vocation of the laity, called "to seek the kingdom of God by

engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of

people of God in the Church and in the world ... by their work for the

promotion of forms of association, whether of the more traditional kind or

the newer ecclesial movements, which continue to give the Church a

vitality that is God's gift and a true "springtime of the Spirit".

Obviously, associations and movements need to work in full harmony within

both the universal Church and the particular Churches, and in obedience to

and decisive warning applies to all: "Do not quench the Spirit, do not

5:19-21).

fundamental institution is experiencing a radical and widespread crisis.

In the Christian view of marriage, the relationship between a man and a

woman — a mutual and total bond, unique and indissoluble — is part of

God's original plan, obscured throughout history by our "hardness of

On this point the Church cannot yield to cultural pressures, no matter how

ensure that through an ever more complete Gospel formation Christian

families show convincingly that it is possible to live marriage fully in

keeping with God's plan and with the true good of the human person — of

must become increasingly conscious of the care due to children, and play

an active role in the Church and in society in safeguarding their rights.

48. And what should we say of the urgent task of fostering communion in

the delicate area of ecumenism? Unhappily, as we cross the threshold of

the new millennium, we take with us the sad heritage of the past. The

Jubilee has offered some truly moving and prophetic signs, but there is

still a long way to go.

By fixing our gaze on Christ, the Great Jubilee has given us a more vivid

sense of the Church as a mystery of unity. "I believe in the one Church":

what we profess in the Creed has its ultimate foundation in Christ, in

division among the Church's children appears at the level of history, as

the result of human weakness in the way we accept the gift which flows

endlessly from Christ the Head to his Mystical Body. The prayer of Jesus

reveals to us the unity of Christ with the Father as the wellspring of the

Church's unity and as the gift which in him she will constantly receive

members, and it is at work in varying degrees in all the elements of

holiness and truth to be found in the other Churches and Ecclesial

Communities. As gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, these

elements lead them continuously towards full unity.34

Christ's prayer reminds us that this gift needs to be received and

developed ever more profoundly. The invocation "ut unum sint" is, at one

and the same time, a binding imperative, the strength that sustains us,

Jesus's prayer and not on our own strength that we base the hope that even

within history we shall be able to reach full and visible communion with

all Christians.

great hope to the Eastern Churches, and I pray for a full return to that

exchange of gifts which enriched the Church of the first millennium. May

the memory of the time when the Church breathed with "both lungs" spur

Christians of East and West to walk together in unity of faith and with

respect for legitimate diversity, accepting and sustaining each other as

essential points of faith and Christian morality, cooperation in works of

charity, and above all the great ecumenism of holiness will not fail, with

God's help, to bring results. In the meantime we confidently continue our

pilgrimage, longing for the time when, together with each and every one of

Christ's followers, we shall be able to join wholeheartedly in singing:

133:1).

49. Beginning with intra-ecclesial communion, charity of its nature opens

which must clearly mark the Christian life, the Church's whole activity

and her pastoral planning. The century and the millennium now beginning

will need to see, and hopefully with still greater clarity, to what length

Christ, we must learn to see him especially in the faces of those with

whom he himself wished to be identified: "I was hungry and you gave me

not a simple invitation to charity: it is a page of Christology which

sheds a ray of light on the mystery of Christ. By these words, no less

the Bride of Christ.

Certainly we need to remember that no one can be excluded from our love,

since "through his Incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some

requires the Church to make a preferential option for them. This option is

a testimony to the nature of God's love, to his providence and mercy; and

in some way history is still filled with the seeds of the Kingdom of God

which Jesus himself sowed during his earthly life whenever he responded to

those who came to him with their spiritual and material needs.

evangelization through charity and without the witness of Christian

poverty the proclamation of the Gospel, which is itself the prime form of

charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words

crisis which is making vast areas of our planet uninhabitable and hostile

emergencies to which every Christian heart must be sensitive.

A special commitment is needed with regard to certain aspects of the

Gospel's radical message which are often less well understood, even to the

point of making the Church's presence unpopular, but which nevertheless

must be a part of her mission of charity. I am speaking of the duty to be

committed to respect for the life of every human being, from conception

science, especially in the field of biotechnology, must never disregard

fundamental ethical requirements by invoking a questionable solidarity

which eventually leads to discriminating between one life and another and

For Christian witness to be effective, especially in these delicate and

controversial areas, it is important that special efforts be made to

explain properly the reasons for the Church's position, stressing that it

is not a case of imposing on non-believers a vision based on faith, but of

interpreting and defending the values rooted in the very nature of the

culture, politics, the economy and the family, so that the fundamental

principles upon which depend the destiny of human beings and the future of

civilization will be everywhere respected.

laity especially must be present in these areas in fulfilment of their lay

vocation, without ever yielding to the temptation to turn Christian

relationship with civil society should respect the latter's autonomy and

areas of competence, in accordance with the teachings of the Church's

social doctrine.

Well known are the efforts made by the Church's teaching authority,

especially in the twentieth century, to interpret social realities in the

light of the Gospel and to offer in a timely and systematic way its

contribution to the social question, which has now assumed a global

The ethical and social aspect of the question is an essential element of

individualistic spirituality which ill accords with the demands of

charity, to say nothing of the implications of the Incarnation and, in the

last analysis, of Christianity's eschatological tension. While that

does not inhibit men and women from building up the world, or make them

disinterested in the welfare of their fellow human beings: on the contrary

The endowment to be established will be but a small stream flowing into

the great river of Christian charity that courses through history. A small

but significant stream: because of the Jubilee the world has looked to

Rome, the Church "which presides in charity"37 and has brought its gifts

to Peter. Now the charity displayed at the centre of Catholicism will in

some way flow back to the world through this sign, which is meant to be an

enduring legacy and remembrance of the communion experienced during the

Jubilee.

54. !!A new century, a new millennium are opening in the light of Christ.

But not everyone can see this light. Ours is the wonderful and demanding

task of becoming its "reflection". This is the mysterium lunae, which was

so much a part of the contemplation of the Fathers of the Church, who

employed this image to show the Church's dependence on Christ, the Sun

said when he called himself the "light of the world" (Jn 8:12) and asked

55. It is in this context also that we should consider the great challenge

of inter-religious dialogue to which we shall still be committed in the

new millennium, in fidelity to the teachings of the Second Vatican

has sought to build, not least through a series of highly symbolic

meetings, a relationship of openness and dialogue with the followers of

cultural and religious pluralism which is expected to mark the society of

the new millennium, it is obvious that this dialogue will be especially

spectre of those wars of religion which have so often bloodied human

Christians are in duty bound, while engaging in dialogue, to bear clear

that it will be considered an offence to the identity of others what is

rather the joyful proclamation of a gift meant for all, and to be offered

the revelation of the God who is Love, the God who "so loved the world

Iesus stressed, this cannot be the subject of a dialogue understood as

negotiation, as if we considered it a matter of mere opinion: rather, it

is a grace which fills us with joy, a message which we have a duty to

proclaim.

The Church therefore cannot forgo her missionary activity among the

peoples of the world. It is the primary task of the missio ad gentes to

announce that it is in Christ, "the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (Jn

missionary duty, moreover, does not prevent us from approaching dialogue

in the presence of the mystery of grace, infinitely full of possibilities

cease putting questions, trusting in the help of the Paraclete, the Spirit

truth" (Jn 16:13).

This is a fundamental principle not only for the endless theological

investigation of Christian truth, but also for Christian dialogue with

other philosophies, cultures and religions. In the common experience of

he wills" (Jn 3:8), not infrequently reveals signs of his presence which

help Christ's followers to understand more deeply the message which they

Second Vatican Council sought to read "the signs of the times"?41 Even as

she engages in an active and watchful discernment aimed at understanding

the "genuine signs of the presence or the purpose of God",42 the Church

acknowledges that she has not only given, but has also "received from the

history and from the development of the human race".43 This attitude of

openness, combined with careful discernment, was adopted by the Council

Church, as a way of preparing for the Great Jubilee, to examine herself on

the reception given to the Council.44 Has this been done? The Congress

held here in the Vatican was such a moment of reflection, and I hope that

similar efforts have been made in various ways in all the particular

be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the

ended, I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the

great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find

a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.

disappoint" (Rom 5:5).

At the beginning of this new century, our steps must quicken as we travel

the highways of the world. Many are the paths on which each one of us and

each of our Churches must travel, but there is no distance between those

nourished at the table of the Eucharistic Bread and the Word of Life.

Every Sunday, the Risen Christ asks us to meet him as it were once more in

the Upper Room where, on the evening of "the first day of the week" (Jn

20:19) he appeared to his disciples in order to "breathe" on them his

life-giving Spirit and launch them on the great adventure of proclaiming

the Gospel.

few months ago, in the presence of a great number of Bishops assembled in

Rome from all parts of the world, I entrusted the Third Millennium. During

this year I have often invoked her as the "Star of the New

Evangelization". Now I point to Mary once again as the radiant dawn and

sure guide for our steps. Once more, echoing the words of Jesus himself

and giving voice to the filial affection of the whole Church, I say to

59. Dear brothers and sisters! The symbol of the Holy Door now closes

behind us, but only in order to leave more fully open the living door

which is Christ. After the enthusiasm of the Jubilee, it is not to a dull

everyday routine that we return. On the contrary, if ours has been a

genuine pilgrimage, it will have as it were stretched our legs for the

journey still ahead. We need to imitate the zeal of the Apostle Paul:

"Straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the

we must all imitate the contemplation of Mary, who returned home to

Nazareth from her pilgrimage to the Holy City of Jerusalem, treasuring in

This will be the much desired fruit of the Jubilee of the Year 2000, the

Jubilee which has vividly set before our eyes once more the mystery of

Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and the Redeemer of man.

As the Jubilee now comes to a close and points us to a future of hope, may

the praise and thanksgiving of the whole Church rise to the Father,

through Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

In pledge of this, I impart to all of you my heartfelt Blessing.

From the Vatican, on 6 January, the Solemnity of the Epiphany, in the year

2001, the twenty-third of my Pontificate.

NOTES

(1) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Pastoral Office of

Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus, 11.

(2) Bull Incarnationis Mysterium, 3: AAS 91 (1999), 132.

(3) Ibid., 4: loc. cit., 133.

(4) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church

Lumen Gentium, 8.

(5) De Civitate Dei, XVIII, 51, 2: PL 41, 614; cf. Second Vatican

Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 8.

(6) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente (10

November 1994), 55: AAS 87 (1995), 38.

(7) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church

Lumen Gentium, 1.

(8) "Ignoratio enim Scripturarum ignoratio Christi est": Commentarii in

Isaiam, Prologue: PL 24, 17.

(9) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine

Revelation Dei Verbum, 19.

(10) "Following the holy Fathers, unanimously, we teach and confess one

and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in his divinity and

perfect in his humanity, true God and true man ... one and the same Christ

the Lord, the only-begotten, to be recognized in two natures, without

confusion, immutable, indivisible, inseparable ... he is not divided or

separated in two persons, but he is one and the same Son, the

only-begotten, God, Word and Lord Jesus Christ": DS 301-302.

(11) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the

Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.

(12) Saint Athanasius observes in this regard: "Man could not become

divine remaining united to a creature, if the Son were not true God":

Oratio II contra Arianos, 70: PG 26, 425 B.

(13) Cf. n. 78.

(14) Last Conversations. Yellow Booklet (6 July 1897): Êuvres complètes

(Paris, 1996), p. 1025.

(15) Saint Cyprian, De Oratione Dominica, 23: PL 4, 553; cf. Lumen

Gentium, 4.

(16) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the

Church Lumen Gentium, 40.

(17) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred

Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10.

(18) Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter on Certain

Aspects of Christian Meditation Orationis Formas (15 October 1989): AAS 82

(1990), 362-379.

(19) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10.

(20) John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini (31 May 1998), 19: AAS 90

(1998), 724.

(21) Ibid., 2: loc. cit., 714.

(22) Cf. ibid., 35: loc. cit., 734.

(23) Cf. No. 18: AAS 77 (1985), 224.

(24) Ibid., 31: loc. cit., 258.

(25) Tertullian, Apologeticum, 50, 13: PL 1, 534.

(26) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the

Church Lumen Gentium, 1.

(27) Manuscript B, 3vo: Êuvres complètes (Paris, 1996), p. 226.

(28) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the

Church Lumen Gentium, Chapter III.

(29) Cf. Congregation for the clergy et al., Instruction on Certain

Questions regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the

Sacred Ministry of Priests Ecclesiae de Mysterio (15 August 1997): AAS 89

(1997), 852-877, especially Article 5: "The Structures of Collaboration in

the Particular Church".

(30) Regula, III, 3: "Ideo autem omnes ad consilium vocari diximus, quia

saepe iuniori Dominus revelat quod melius est".

(31) "De omnium fidelium ore pendeamus, quia in omnem fidelem Spiritus Dei

spirat": Epistola 23, 36 to Sulpicius Severus: CSEL 29, 193.

(32) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the

Church Lumen Gentium, 31.

(33) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Apostolate of the

Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2.

(34) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the

Church Lumen Gentium, 8.

(35) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the

Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.

(36) Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et

Spes, 34.

(37) Cf. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, Preface, ed.

Funk, I, 252.

(38) Thus, for example, SAINT AUGUSTINE: "Luna intellegitur Ecclesia, quod

suum lumen non habeat, sed ab Unigenito Dei Filio, qui multis locis in

Sanctis Scripturis allegorice sol appellatus est": Enarrationes in

Psalmos, 10, 3: CCL 38, 42.

(39) Cf. Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian

Religions Nostra Aetate.

(40) Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and Pontifical Council

for Interreligious Dialogue, Instruction on the Proclamation of the Gospel

and Interreligious Dialogue Dialogue and Proclamation: Reflections and

Orientations (19 May 1991), 82: AAS 84 (1992), 444.

(41) Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium

et Spes, 4.

(42) Ibid., 11.

(43) Ibid., 44.

(44) Cf. Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente (10 November 1994),

36: AAS 87 (1995), 28.