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WCC GENERAL SECRETARY CONGRATULATES POPE BENEDICT XVI ON HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY....
Your Holiness,
Christ is Risen!
"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father." (1Thess.1:2-3)
With these words of the apostle, we gladly join this Sunday, April 15, our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers across the world who will celebrate your 80th birthday in Eucharistic fellowship.
Your Holiness, in your long life and ecclesial ministry you have experienced the most difficult upheavals in both society and science. You have dedicated your life to searching for responses that are grounded in our common faith in the Risen Lord.
During your Pontificate you have been preaching and teaching about renewal and re-discovery of this very amazing faith in Christ. A message that we have embodied in the theme of the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly last year in Porto Alegre , Brazil : "God, in your grace, transform the world".
On behalf of the fellowship of churches constituting the World Council of Churches, we pray to the Almighty that by His Grace you are blessed to continue leading the faithful of the Roman Catholic Church, so that as you said in your message on Easter Saturday, "through the wounds of the Risen Christ we can see the evils which afflict humanity with the eyes of hope".
We thank you for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and sharing generously the assurance of the resurrection. We thank God for your life and work.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
General Secretary
World Council of Churches
Pope Benedict gave thanks for his 80 years of life dedicated to the Church with a special Sunday Mass, a celebration tinged with nostalgia which drew a huge crowd to St. Peter's Square.
The Vatican had invited rank-and-file faithful to the late-morning Mass on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica to help the pontiff celebrate both his 80th birthday Monday and the anniversary of his April 19, 2005, election to the pontificate.
Joseph Ratzinger, who would take the name of Benedict as pontiff, was born April 16, 1927, in Marktl Am Inn, a riverside town in the Bavaria region of Germany.
Thousands of pilgrims from Bavaria attended the Mass, and German echoed in the ancient alleys leading to the Vatican as groups streamed to the square. Some of his fellow countrymen and women wore traditional dress, including feather-trimmed hats; others waved German flags.
Benedict told the crowd they were joining him in a reflection of his "not brief" life.
Acknowledging their participation, the pope said he was extending, "my most sincere thanks, from the depth of my heart, to the entire Church, which, like a true family, especially in these days, surrounds me with its affection."
Benedict's reserved, almost shy style, came through in his homily. In contrast to his late predecessor, John Paul II, who would often speak informally of his youth in Poland, Benedict sounded almost apologetic that he was striking a personal note, however brief, in a religious service.
"The liturgy should not serve to talk about one's ego, of one's self," Benedict said.
He thanked his late sister, Maria, and his retired choirmaster brother, Georg, for being steadfastly close to him.
"I give thanks in a special way because, from the first day, I was able to enter and grow in the great community of believers" in God, Benedict said. He noted that he was born at Easter time, when Christians celebrate in joy their belief in Christ's resurrection.
Benedict appears to carry his years well. He walks briskly, stands through long public ceremonies, and his first book written as pontiff goes on sale Monday.
Right after Benedict's election as pope, his brother expressed worry about the toll that the burdens of the papacy might take on his brother's health. But Benedict's stamina seems to be holding up despite his rigorous schedule.
On Wednesday, he will receive U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Vatican, and next weekend he will make an overnight pilgrimage to northern Italy. In early May, he will travel to Brazil, where the traditionally strong Catholic Church is losing some faithful to Protestant evangelical churches.
While there are no indications that Benedict suffers from any serious or chronic medical problems, there have been ailments in the past — including a 1991 hemorrhagic stroke.
Among the pope's birthday presents was a Gospel holder decorated with gold and precious stones, from Munich-Freising Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, and a more secular gift — 80 bottles of specially brewed Bavarian dark beer and an equal number of steins, carried in the luggage of another bishop from the diocese on a train filled with German pilgrims.
The pope smiled as he gazed across the sea of faithful gathered under brilliant sunshine.
Yellow and white are the official Vatican colors, and yellow pansies were lined up in perfect order across the basilica's steps. Clusters of yellow daffodils brightened the gray cobblestones elsewhere in the square.
The future pope spent most of his earlier years studying and teaching theology in Germany and later trying to ensure that Catholics kept to doctrinal correctness in two decades as a top aide to John Paul II.
In his first two years as pope, Benedict has waged a vigorous Church campaign against same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. He has cracked down on Church clerics whose writings were found not to correctly reflect Vatican teaching. Benedict has also called for the use of more Latin in the Church, including some prayers by the faithful.
