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PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF MIGRANTS AND ITINERANT PEOPLE
Third Asian Congress on
Pilgrimages and Shrines Final Document
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CONCLUSIONS 1) Many people visiting Nagasaki are pained by the images of the destruction caused by the Atomic Bomb in the city. The rebuilt Cathedral of Urakami and the prosperity of the city are signs of the Hope of a people who made that reconstruction possible. 2) Applying this to our present reality, we believe that many spiritually broken people come to visit our Shrines. They look for compassion, understanding and healing. One of the dominant forces of healing lies in their hope: hope in God, in the Church and in humanity. We who are responsible for the Pastoral Care of Pilgrimages and Shrines have received a mission from God to help them to know Him, the real and only Healer. 3) The pilgrimage, a practice in most religions in the world and a custom existing even before the Bible, is a journey made by believers to a place consecrated by some manifestation of the Divine or by the deeds of some great religious figure, in order to pray there. It is a quest for God and an encounter with Him in the context of worship. 4) The Gospel tells us that Jesus, already from childhood, used to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the various feasts. Jesus has declared that his death and resurrection made his glorified body the new temple, the true centre of worship for his followers, and no longer any place on earth (Jn 2:19-21; 4:21-23). From that moment onward, the life of the new people of God, the Church, is on the real eschatological pilgrimage (2 Cor 5:6-10; He 13:14), which is also the new Exodus (Ac 3:15; 5:31; 1 Cor 5:7; He 9:11-12); its goal is the heavenly homeland (He 11:16) whose "temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb" (Rev 21:22). However, the Church is attached to history and continues to make pilgrimages to various shrines in order to show her fellowship in faith and prayer, and above all to remind us that she is on a journey towards the Lord, the Savior of the whole world, under his leadership. This is why Christians have hope in Him, who never deceives, but redeems them for ever. 5) The hope that accompanies the whole of our lives is the spirit of our determination to live in accordance with Christ's teaching and to endure all trials. This is perfectly assured, being founded on the promise of God and on the redeeming cross, having as pledge the resurrection of Christ, as our first fruit (1 Cor 15:12-33). It is love with faith which arouses and animates that hope. 6) Shrines are places of God's presence: the mystery of the shrine does not only call to mind our origin in the Lord; it also reminds us that once God has loved us, He never ceases to love us. In the specific moment of history in which we find ourselves today, faced with all the contradictions and the sufferings of the present, He is with us. Thus, shrines evoke God's living presence among us and for us; they are places where God's fidelity reaches out and transforms us. In these places, the Spirit acts especially through the signs of the new covenant that shrines possess and make available. 7) This essential significance of shrines in the life of the Church, aptly translated into pastoral terms, is summed up in canon 1234, the last of the five canons that the Code of Canon Law devoted to the "Shrines". The canon states in § I that "at shrines the means of salvation are to be more abundantly made available to the faithful"; then it lists the principal means by which this may be done: namely, "by the diligent proclamation of the word of God, the suitable promotion of liturgical life especially through the celebration of the Eucharist and of penance, and the cultivation of approved forms of popular piety". The participants fully accept the spirit and the letter of this canon. In fact, this text, read within the context of our reflection on faith and hope set in God, advances important challenges for Shrine Rectors, challenges which should become for them some of the priorities or main concerns in the fulfillment of their pastoral ministry. Challenges, together with ecumenical concern and other ministries sprouting from shrines' prophetic meaning, constitute privileged ways to rekindle hope in the world. 8) The participants also concluded that Ecumenism, in the broad sense of the word, is the final goal of mankind's journey, a goal that cannot be realized without dialogue. The vision of the Catholic Church in Asia is precisely that of the "Church-In-Dialogue", as the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) put it: "We are committed to bring Jesus' message to all nations of Asia. Our contribution lies in the witnessing to our faith and facilitating a dialogue of Faith and Life, Gospel and Culture, Church and Society". It is a movement toward dialogue with other religions, cultures and civilizations so deeply needed today in many parts of the world. 9) Pilgrimages and Shrines are privileged opportunities and places of peace and reconciliation, even not in fullness of communion, where not only the Catholic faithful gather, but also believers of other religions too. Using Pope Benedict XVI's recent words, "they become meeting spaces for unity while respecting legitimate diversity". 10) Finally, we reaffirm that pilgrimages can be occasions to know one another better, to give impetus to the places of worship and to make communion and solidarity grow among - the communities that form the one Church. This support between members of the family of Christ in Asia must everywhere serve the cause of evangelization and human promotion. |