Below is a translation of Pope
Benedict XVI’s final General
Audience address in St. Peter's
Square Wednesday from Vatican
Radio and published on the
church’s news Web site:
Venerable brothers in the
episcopate and in the priesthood!
Distinguished authorities! Dear
brothers and sisters!
Thank you for coming in such large
numbers to this last General
Audience of my pontificate.
Like the Apostle Paul in the biblical
text that we have heard, I feel in
my heart the paramount duty to
thank God, who guides the church
and makes her grow: who sows his
word and thus nourishes the faith
in his people. At this moment my
spirit reaches out to embrace the
whole church throughout the
world, and I thank God for the
“news” that in these years of
Petrine ministry I have been able
to receive regarding the faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity
that circulates in the body of the
church – charity that makes the
church to live in love – and of the
hope that opens for us the way
towards the fullness of life, and
directs us towards the heavenly
homeland.
I feel I [ought to] carry everyone in
prayer, in a present that is God’s,
where I recall every meeting, every
voyage, every pastoral visit. I
gather everyone and every thing in
prayerful recollection, in order to
entrust them to the Lord: in order
that we might have full knowledge
of his will, with every wisdom and
spiritual understanding, and in
order that we might comport
ourselves in a manner that is
worthy of him, of his, bearing fruit
in every good work (cf. Col 1:9-10).
At this time, I have within myself a
great trust [in God], because I
know – all of us know – that the
Gospel’s word of truth is the
strength of the church: it is her life.
The Gospel purifies and renews: it
bears fruit wherever the
community of believers hears and
welcomes the grace of God in truth
and lives in charity. This is my
faith, this is my joy.
When, almost eight years ago, on
April 19th, [2005], I agreed to take
on the Petrine ministry, I held
steadfast in this certainty, which
has always accompanied me. In
that moment, as I have already
stated several times, the words that
resounded in my heart were:
“Lord, what do you ask of me? It a
great weight that you place on my
shoulders, but, if you ask me, at
your word I will throw out the nets,
sure that you will guide me” – and
the Lord really has guided me. He
has been close to me: daily could I
feel his presence. [These years]
have been a stretch of the church’s
pilgrim way, which has seen
moments joy and light, but also
difficult moments. I have felt like
St. Peter with the Apostles in the
boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord
has given us many days of sunshine
and gentle breeze, days in which
the catch has been abundant;
[then] there have been times when
the seas were rough and the wind
against us, as in the whole history
of the church it has ever been - and
the Lord seemed to sleep.
Nevertheless, I always knew that
the Lord is in the barque, that the
barque of the church is not mine,
not ours, but his - and he shall not
let her sink. It is he, who steers
her: to be sure, he does so also
through men of his choosing, for he
desired that it be so. This was and
is a certainty that nothing can
tarnish. It is for this reason, that
today my heart is filled with
gratitude to God, for never did he
leave me or the church without his
consolation, his light, his love.
We are in the Year of Faith, which I
desired in order to strengthen our
own faith in God in a context that
seems to push faith more and more
toward the margins of life. I would
like to invite everyone to renew
firm trust in the Lord. I would like
that we all, entrust ourselves as
children to the arms of God, and
rest assured that those arms
support us and us to walk every
day, even in times of struggle. I
would like everyone to feel loved
by the God who gave his son for us
and showed us his boundless love. I
want everyone to feel the joy of
being Christian. In a beautiful
prayer to be recited daily in the
morning says, “I adore you, my
God, I love you with all my heart. I
thank you for having created me,
for having made me a Christian.”
Yes, we are happy for the gift of
faith: it is the most precious good,
that no one can take from us! Let
us thank God for this every day,
with prayer and with a coherent
Christian life. God loves us, but He
also expects that we love him!
At this time, however, it is not only
God, whom I desire to thank. A
pope is not alone in guiding St.
Peter’s barque, even if it is his first
responsibility – and I have not ever
felt myself alone in bearing either
the joys or the weight of the
Petrine ministry. The Lord has
placed next to me many people,
who, with generosity and love for
God and the church, have helped
me and been close to me. First of
all you, dear brother cardinals:
your wisdom, your counsels, your
friendship, were all precious to me.
My collaborators, starting with my
secretary of state, who
accompanied me faithfully over the
years, the secretariat of state and
the whole Roman Curia, as well as
all those who, in various areas, give
their service to the Holy See: the
many faces which never emerge,
but remain in the background, in
silence, in their daily commitment,
with a spirit of faith and humility.
They have been for me a sure and
reliable support. A special thought
[goes] to the Church of Rome, my
diocese! I can not forget the
brothers in the episcopate and in
the priesthood, the consecrated
persons and the entire people of
God: in pastoral visits, in public
encounters, at audiences, in
traveling, I have always received
great care and deep affection; I
also loved each and every one,
without exception, with that
pastoral charity which is the heart
of every shepherd, especially the
Bishop of Rome, the Successor of
the Apostle Peter. Every day I
carried each of you in my prayers,
with the father’s heart.
I wish my greetings and my thanks
to reach everyone: the heart of a
pope expands to [embrace] the
whole world. I would like to
express my gratitude to the
diplomatic corps accredited to the
Holy See, which makes present the
great family of nations. Here I also
think of all those who work for
good communication, whom I thank
for their important service.
At this point I would like to offer
heartfelt thanks to all the many
people throughout the whole
world, who, in recent weeks have
sent me moving tokens of concern,
friendship and prayer. Yes, the
pope is never alone: now I
experience this [truth] again in a
way so great as to touch my very
heart. The pope belongs to
everyone, and so many people feel
very close to him. It’s true that I
receive letters from the world’s
greatest figures - from the heads of
state, religious leaders,
representatives of the world of
culture and so on. I also receive
many letters from ordinary people
who write to me simply from their
heart and let me feel their
affection, which is born of our
being together in Christ Jesus, in
the church. These people do not
write me as one might write, for
example, to a prince or a great
figure one does not know. They
write as brothers and sisters, sons
and daughters, with the sense of
very affectionate family ties. Here,
one can touch what the church is –
not an organization, not an
association for religious or
humanitarian purposes, but a living
body, a community of brothers and
sisters in the body of Jesus Christ,
who unites us all. To experience
the church in this way and almost
be able to touch with one’s hands
the power of his truth and his love,
is a source of joy, in a time in which
many speak of its decline.
In recent months, I felt that my
strength had decreased, and I
asked God with insistence in prayer
to enlighten me with his light to
make me take the right decision –
not for my sake, but for the good of
the church. I have taken this step in
full awareness of its severity and
also its novelty, but with a deep
peace of mind. Loving the church
also means having the courage to
make difficult, trying choices,
having ever before oneself the
good of the church and not one’s
own.
Here allow me to return once again
to April 19, 2005. The gravity of the
decision was precisely in the fact
that from that moment on I was
committed always and forever by
the Lord. Always – he, who assumes
the Petrine ministry no longer has
any privacy. He belongs always and
totally to everyone, to the whole
church. His life is, so to speak,
totally deprived of the private
sphere. I have felt, and I feel even
in this very moment, that one
receives one’s life precisely when
he offers it as a gift. I said before
that many people who love the
Lord also love the Successor of
Saint Peter and are fond of him,
that the pope has truly brothers
and sisters, sons and daughters all
over the world, and that he feels
safe in the embrace of their
communion, because he no longer
belongs to himself, but he belongs
to all and all are truly his own.
The “always” is also a “forever” --
there is no returning to private life.
My decision to forgo the exercise of
active ministry, does not revoke
this. I do not return to private life,
to a life of travel, meetings,
receptions, conferences and so on. I
do not abandon the cross, but
remain in a new way near to the
crucified Lord. I no longer wield
the power of the office for the
government of the church, but in
the service of prayer I remain, so to
speak, within St. Peter’s bounds. St.
Benedict, whose name I bear as
pope, shall be a great example in
this for me. He showed us the way
to a life which, active or passive,
belongs wholly to the work of God.
I thank each and every one of you
for the respect and understanding
with which you have welcomed this
important decision. I continue to
accompany the church on her way
through prayer and reflection, with
the dedication to the Lord and to
his bride, which I have hitherto
tried to live daily and that I would
live forever. I ask you to remember
me before God, and above all to
pray for the cardinals, who are
called to so important a task, and
for the new Successor of Peter, that
the Lord might accompany him
with the light and the power of His
Spirit.
Let us invoke the maternal
intercession of Mary, Mother of
God and of the church, that she
might accompany each of us and
the whole ecclesial community: to
her we entrust ourselves, with
deep trust.
Dear friends! God guides his
church, maintains her always, and
especially in difficult times. Let us
never lose this vision of faith, which
is the only true vision of the way of
the church and the world. In our
heart, in the heart of each of you,
let there be always the joyous
certainty that the Lord is near, that
he does not abandon us, that he is
near to us and that he surrounds us
with his love. Thank you!

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