...Reflects on Highlights of April 15-21 Trip

VATICAN CITY - Benedict XVI says that during his trip to the United States, he tangibly experienced the support of the Church for his mission as Successor of Peter.

The Pope affirmed this today in his address at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, which he dedicated to reflecting on his April 15-21 apostolic journey to the United Nations and the United States.

"I have had the joy of personally visiting, for the first time as the Successor of Peter, the dear people of the United States of America, to confirm the Catholics in their faith, to renew and increase fraternity with all Christians, and to announce to everyone the message of 'Christ Our Hope,'" the Holy Father said, citing the theme of the trip.

The Pontiff said that at the White House, he was "able to pay homage to this great country, which from the beginning has been constructed based on a pleasing joining together of religious, ethical and political principles, and continues to be a valid example of healthy secularism, where the religious dimension, in the diversity of its expressions, is not only tolerated but valued as the 'soul' of the nation and the fundamental guarantee of the rights and duties of the human being."

Referring to his meeting with the nation's bishops, the Pontiff said: "I was able to support my brothers in the episcopate in their difficult task of sowing the Gospel in a society marked by many contradictions, which threaten the coherence of the faithful and of the clergy themselves. I encouraged them to raise their voices on current moral and social questions and to form the lay faithful so that they be good 'leaven' in the civil community, starting from the fundamental cell that is the family.

"In this sense, I exhorted them to re-propose the sacrament of matrimony as a gift and indissoluble commitment between a man and a woman, the natural environment for the welcoming and education of children."

Life and peace

The Bishop of Rome called education one of the challenges of our days, and said for this reason he met with leaders of schools and universities.

"The educational task is an integral part of the mission of the Church, and the U.S. Church community has always been very committed in this field, offering at the same time a great social and cultural service to the entire country," he said. "It is important that this can continue. And it is in the same way important to take care of the quality of the Catholic centers of education so that in them, [students] are formed truly according to 'the extent of the full stature' of Christ, joining together faith and reason, truth and liberty."

Benedict XVI affirmed that his ecumenical and interreligious meetings were an important part of his trip.

"I stressed the great responsibility of the religious representatives, both in teaching respect and nonviolence, and in nourishing the deepest questions of human consciousness," he recalled.

Turning his attention to the second leg of the trip, which brought him to New York, the Pope recalled his visit to the United Nations on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"Providence permitted me to confirm," he said, "in the most great and authoritative supranational assembly, the value of this declaration, recalling its universal basis, that is, the dignity of the human person created by God in his image and likeness to cooperate in the world with his great design of life and peace."

He continued: "Respect for human rights is rooted, as well as in peace, in 'justice,' that is, in an ethical order valid in all times and for all peoples, which can be summarized in the famous maxim: 'Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.' [...] Upon this base, which constitutes the characteristic contribution of the Holy See to the United Nations Organization, I renewed and I renew again today, the commitment of the Catholic Church in contributing to strengthen international relations, characterized by the principles of responsibility and solidarity."

Etched

There were moments of the Pope's time in New York that he said "have remained firmly etched in my spirit."

One of them, he recalled, was Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral with priests and consecrated persons.

"I will never forget the warmth with which they congratulated me for the third anniversary of my election to the See of Peter," the Pope affirmed. "It was a moving moment, in which I experienced in a tangible way all of the support of the Church for my ministry."

"Finally," he added, "my visit culminated with the celebration of the Eucharist in Yankee Stadium in New York: I still carry in my heart that festival of faith and brotherhood, with which we celebrated the 200 years of the oldest dioceses of North America. The original little flock has progressed enormously, enriching itself with the faith and the traditions of successive waves of immigration.

"To this Church, which now faces the challenges of the present, I have had the joy of announcing anew 'Christ Our Hope' of yesterday, today and forever."