Madrid, Spain, Apr 24, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, says the pontificate of Benedict XVI will be characterized by “the Christian revitalization of the roots of Europe,” and he called the new Pontiff “the Pope of reconciliation and of peace.”
In a letter to the faithful to mark the beginning of the pontificate of Benedict XVI, the cardinal exhorted Catholics to respond “with an attitude of obedient communion” to his proposals for the future.
The Pope’s proposals, noted the cardinal, are based on “putting Christ above all things,” “living out the full spiritual richness of the Sacrament of the Eucharist,” and “offering the light of Christ, and not one’s own, through the work of evangelization, especially in dialogue with young people.”
Cardinal Rouco also emphasized in his letter that the Pope’s critics “have not been able to dampen or disturb this atmosphere of thankful appreciation and hopefulness for a new future of unity and peace.”
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