TEXT FOR PRE-RECORDED TV GREETING TO BE
GIVEN BY THE
HOLY FATHER BEFORE LEAVING ROME
(To be
transmitted across Canada September 4-5)
My dear friends of Canada:
I know that you have been waiting for me for some time. Indeed,
when I visited the United States in 1979, the Canadian Conference of Catholic
Bishops expressed its desire that I might stop
in your country. I even received an invitation signed by several thousand
of you.
Since that was impossible, the Catholic Bishops renewed their invitation in 1981, and again following my
accident. I was happy when it was
finally possible to announce that I would be going to your homeland from the 9th to the 20th of September
1984. Your country is so vast that I
felt it necessary to add another day to my trip. This was simply to enable me to visit our Amerindian and Inuit brothers and sisters in their own territory.
Since the official announcement of my visit, I have received a great number of letters which have given me
great pleasure. Your former Governor General, His Excellency Edward Schreyer,
and the Right Honourable Pierre
Trudeau, your recently retired Prime Minister,
hastened to extend a welcome and to assure me of a warm reception on the part of Canadians. The young
people of your country have also given
expressions of their affection and of their
desires for peace, justice and fraternity. A letter signed by the heads of several Christian Churches
profoundly touched me. They manifested
their availability for a meeting, and assured me of the prayers of their own
faithful for the success of my trip. I
have been advised, moreover, that the heads of other religions have similarly offered their collaboration on the
occasion of my visit. Finally, I have
especially appreciated how so many thousands
of Canadians have worked with such diligence and enthusiasm in the preparations
for my trip.
Your devotion and
attention as you prepare to receive me can only be a humbling
experience for me. Nevertheless, what prevails in my heart is the desire to be among you soon. I am sure that the
Lord will repay you a hundred fold for your efforts on my behalf. As we celebrate together our common faith,
it will be a moment of joy, of wonder and even of surprise.
So often in the course of my
travels the Lord uses me to reveal His message in unexpected ways.
Those expecting to encounter one person
discover an immense human community.
Those expecting a spiritual leader discover
an assembly of believers.
Those expecting the Pope discover the Church.
By virtue of the marvels
of television, you have seen immense crowds surrounding me. What is of importance for me when we gather together is our common experience of
fraternity, our community of faith and our communion
in the Good News of Jesus.
My dear friends of Canada, it has been said that my visit among you will be that of a pastor. A pastor is one
who gathers people together. The bishops and other religious leaders effect
that gathering of people together locally. The more we enable the pastor
to play his role, the more we respond to his call to assemble around him, the more naturally does he become a part of the
very assembly he sustains.
This is simply to say that
while you may be anticipating my visit, I am anticipating even more being among you, since it will be through your own preparations that we shall truly be able to
make my visit fruitful.
Let us then gather
together as brothers and sisters united in our common
humanity, to deepen our sense of sisterhood and brotherhood and our commitment
to justice.
Let us gather together as
believers in God, recognizing each other as
sons and daughters of the same Father, and in this recognition discovering the
foundations of true peace.
Let us gather together as
believers in the Lord Jesus who reveals to us a definite hope and enables us to meet the legitimate
aspirations of men and women of our time.
As you wait for me, know that I am also waiting for you so that together we may celebrate our faith in the
Lord Jesus, in God, and in humanity.