To the Episcopal Conference

On Thursday, 15 August 1985. the Holy Father addressed the Episcopal Conference of Zaire, celebrating the beatification of Marie-Clementine Anuarite, who answered the universal call to holiness.

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

1. Our meeting crowns a truly historic day for the Church of Zaire. I am happy to spend this evening with you, to share the pastors' thanksgiving for the gift of God manifested in the beatification of your sister Marie-Clementine Anuarite. Your President, Monsignor Monsengwo Pasinya, has just expressed your fervent joy; I thank him for these words spoken on behalf of all of you and assure you that I deeply share in the joy of this day on which Blessed Anuarite confirms us in hope.

2. Yes, the first Zairian woman raised to the altars inspires in us a profound thanksgiving. Here, before the gaze of her brothers and sisters, is the admirable fruit of this people's Baptism. After more than a century of patient efforts by its builders, the edifice of the Church in this land stands firm. The works of evangelization, carried out with exceptional patience and generosity by so many men and women from other countries, have given rise to a vibrant community, within which the Lord has called his own pastors. I wholeheartedly join in the homage you have paid to the missionary pioneers who came from afar, and I appreciate your determination to unite in a single body of apostolic workers, priests and religious men and women, African or otherwise, since all serve a single faith in the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How significant it is that in Anuarite's religious life she was first guided by a spiritual director who came from Belgium, then by a superior originally from her own country, while a missionary bishop, who advised her and listened to her with trust, passed away a few days before her!

Very close to today's generations, this humble nun of the Jamaa Takatifu takes the place among her people of the saints she herself venerated. Thanks to her balanced and generous religious life, her devotion unto death, and her virginity offered to the Lord, Anuarite is among you a providential sign of God's presence in his Church: she bears witness to the greatness of faith, demonstrating the admirable transfiguration that God's grace brings about in the human being united to him in holy Baptism. United with Christ in death and having entered with him into the new life of his kingdom, may she lead her brothers and sisters along the path of holiness she has traced! May this martyr, chosen by God, shine brightly upon all your dioceses!

3. Among you, Anuarite makes particularly present that universal call to holiness on which we meditated on the centenary of the evangelization of Zaire. No doubt you often recall that moving moment of episcopal ordination, in which the holy apostles, martyrs, and all the saints of history are invoked on behalf of the one who, prostrate on the ground, prepares to be entrusted with the fullness of the priesthood. Bishops, we are the first called to lead the people of God on the paths of holiness; we are called to conform ourselves to the holiness of the Spirit who consecrates our entire being. May our prayer, may our entire life be inspired by the ardour of the apostle Paul, impatient to commit himself entirely to imitating Christ: “I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, if by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or am already perfected, but I press on to make it my own, for Christ Jesus has made me his own” ( Phil 3:10-12).

Shepherds, we follow the Good Shepherd who "lays down his life for the sheep" ( Jn 10:11), "with the holiness and sincerity that come from God" ( 2 Cor 1:12). We entrust to the intercession of Anuarite, faithful to the end, the sanctification of those who have had the mission of being for his people the intermediaries of the holiness that comes from God. And on this day of the Assumption we invoke Mary, Mother of the Church, to whom Jesus on the cross told us that we are her children; certain of her support, we can carry out our task in peace.

4. Invested with the fullness of the priesthood, the bishop fulfills the central act of his mission when he celebrates Christ's sacrifice. As the supreme officiant of the local Church, he is truly given the power to act "in persona Christi." As a priest participating in Christ's priesthood, he unites his people to Jesus' sacrifice and thanksgiving, offering his entire being to the Father so that the multitude may be reconciled and saved. Successor of the apostles, the bishop is the one who allows the diocesan community to receive the bread of life, to be nourished by the body of the Lord, and thus to be integrated into that one body composed of innumerable members, whose head is Christ.

The Eucharist and all the sacraments constitute the core of priestly service. They are the true signs of the Lord's living presence. Celebrating Baptism, Confirmation, and forgiveness, which prepare Christians to participate fully in the Eucharist, sanctifying couples through marriage, comforting the sick through the grace of Anointing: all these acts are a bestowal of the gifts of holiness entrusted by Christ to his Church. It is an admirable task to enable the faithful to encounter the Lord in the sacramental liturgy.

It is the bishop's primary responsibility to help Christians receive the sacraments and the Church's liturgy in devotion to their institution and in the beauty of prayer expressed by the people with all the riches of their souls. The sacred liturgy is like the knot that connects all the different lines of pastoral action; the sacraments, in fact, mark and unify the paths of holiness.

5. Your ministry as bishops extends to that of the priests who participate in it through the ordination you are entrusted with conferring upon them. Together with you, they ensure the cohesion of the diocesan community, make the same call to holiness heard, and prepare and enable the faithful's encounter with the Lord. Their bond with you is very close, since it is you who send them on mission with the authority with which you are invested. Therefore, one of the first and most beautiful tasks of the bishop is to ensure the unity of the presbyterate, in its legitimate diversity. Spiritual solidarity extends quite naturally through trusting human relationships, which constitute an indispensable support for priests whose task is arduous. The support they find in their bishop frees them and makes them available to be devoted pastors and assiduous evangelizers of the community to which they are sent.

It is your duty to watch over priests, like a father, to ensure that they remain faithful to their commitments, and that they have the spiritual and intellectual means to sustain themselves, enabling them to progress unceasingly in their selfless service to the Lord and their brothers. Today in your country, many young men are responding to the vocation to the priesthood, and this is a positive sign of the Church's vitality. I am aware of the efforts you are making to carry out the necessary selection and provide solid formation. You, who are responsible for the call to the priesthood, know that there is nothing more useful than supporting candidates in a spiritual journey nourished by prayer, so that they may assimilate a correct synthesis of the Gospel message, illuminated by the tradition of the entire Church, and be prepared by a demanding life for the sacrifices necessary for their fidelity. The People of God deserve priests who generously fulfill in their lives what they fulfill in their ministry, as the ordination ritual demands.

6. How can we fail to remember, now that we have just celebrated the beatification of Anuarite, your responsibility toward men and women religious! Consecrated persons offer an irreplaceable testimony to the importance of prayer, the value of virginity, the goodness of community life, devotion to the Church, and the willingness to help the poorest and most disoriented. All, men and women, bear witness through their selfless and dedicated lives to the beauty of the Lord's call, some dedicating themselves more to giving praise and intercession in monasteries from which these prayers radiate, others assigning a prominent place to the often humble and discreet services of charity and education. Respecting the charisms and structures specific to each institute, following the founding bishops you yourselves recall, ensure that men and women religious receive all the spiritual support and formation that will enable them to respond, throughout their entire life offered without asking for anything in return, to the greatness of the vows through which they have committed themselves to the Lord within the Church.

7. In your diocesan communities, the activities and concerns are numerous. Leaders, priests, religious, and lay people, whom we met together this afternoon in the Cathedral, are pursuing complementary objectives within various groups or movements. You have expressed many of your pastoral concerns in this regard, highlighting the breadth of your responsibilities. I keep them all very present. Moreover, we had already addressed many of these issues together during our working meetings two years ago in Rome. This evening, I will limit myself to saying that it is the bishop's task to coordinate all efforts and direct them toward the primary objective: the unity of all human life transfigured by the light of the Gospel. Whether one works in the field of charity, or strives to promote justice in society, or dedicates oneself to the education of young people, or supports family life, or defends the dignity of every human person, the principal light of Christian action is that of the covenant that God establishes with humanity through the gift of his own Son, so that his name and those he loves may be sanctified. Social doctrine, and family morality in particular, presents indispensable requirements for fulfilling God's will. We cannot fail to expound and explain them, once we recognize the beauty of man united to Christ, which makes him strong and sustains his fidelity to the one who came in the name of the Lord to seek and save the lost. Yes, St. Paul tells us: "Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" ( Eph 5:1-2). The members of God's people, in their diversity, each according to their own vocation, reflect the presence of Christ in their lives, thanks to the light of the Spirit. Together, they form a great mosaic of differently colored tiles that form the admirable image of Christ, encompassing all humanity. It is this Church that Jesus entrusted to his Father before his death. He prayed that his disciples would be consecrated in truth, that they might continue his mission in the world among those who, through their word, would believe in him, so that all might be one (cf. Jn 17:17-20).

8. Bishops of today, you are, in the name of Christ, servants of the unity of the Church, which continues and renews the work of evangelization. In solidarity with all the successors of the apostles in every corner of the world, united with the successor of Peter, as our meeting this evening testifies, it is your mission and also your charism to unite the Church of Zaire with the Church that lives on every continent. Your Church has received much. It is now illuminated and sustained by the holiness of the first of its daughters, presented to the world as the priceless fruit of its maturity. Much is now asked of your Church, so that it may follow Christ with the devout zeal demonstrated by Anuarite in uniting herself to the Passion in order to enter the blessed life of the redeemed.

Brothers in the episcopate, I pray with you that Christ, who has chosen you, may grant you the fullness of his joy (cf. Jn 17:13). Be disciples who bring the holy word, the good news, to the world; steadfast in faith, ardent in charity, witnesses to the hope of the future kingdom, courageously overcome difficulties and trials. By sharing God's inexhaustible gift with your brothers, be happy to contribute to the authentic formation of men and women raised to the dignity of children of God, united under one head, Christ. I invoke upon you the living and triune God in his immeasurable love, the merciful and faithful God, that he may fill you with his blessings.

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