VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Jun. 05, 2012
By Alessandro Speciale, Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY — Over the course of the last six months, Pope Benedict XVI delivered five major speeches to small groups of American bishops who were in Rome for their “ad limina” visits, which are required once every five years.
The “ad limina” visits are the way the pope and and Vatican departments keep tabs on bishops from around the world. They are also an occasion for the pope to address the major issues faced by a local church.
In his speeches, Benedict often echoed bishops’ concern about religious freedom and the challenges confronting the American church. In his last address, on May 22, he warned bishops of the “threat of a season in which our fidelity to the Gospel may cost us dearly.” …
Here’s a recap of what Benedict had to say on hot-button issues in these past months.
•Sexual abuse: “It is my hope that the church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society” (Nov. 26).
•”Dissent” within the Catholic church: “The seriousness of the challenges which the church in America … is called to confront in the near future cannot be underestimated. The obstacles to Christian faith and practice raised by a secularized culture also affect the lives of believers, leading at times to that ‘quiet attrition’ from the church which you raised with me during my pastoral visit” (Nov. 26).
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