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Yankee Stadium, New York
Monday, 4 October 1965
Brothers and sons of New York,
Brothers and sons of the United States and of all America,
All of you who have assembled here from every part of the World,
We greet you and We bless you!
This is this day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad
today! This is the day which We have desired for centuries! The day
which, for the first time, sees the Pope setting foot on this young
and glorious continent! An historic day, for it recalls and crowns
the long years of the evangelization of America, and the magnificent
development of the Church in the United States! All honour to you,
Brothers and sons! Peace and joy in Christ to you, whom We wish
We could individually receive and embrace! A paternal and brotherly
greeting to you, Bishops and Pastors, to you, Priests, Men and
Women Religious of America! To the Shepherd of this most
flourishing Archdiocese, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of
New York, who is, here beside Us, Our greeting and blessing,.
as a token of Our veneration and Our affection, of Our gratitude to
him and Our esteem; especially today, on the feast of Saint Francis
of Assisi. Our best wishes on his name day; and together with him
We greet and salute the entire Catholic community of New York and of
all the United States of America. We know your pastoral work and
your faithfulness; We know the splendid organization and spiritual
vitality of your parishes, of your seminaries, of your universities,
of your schools, of your hospitals, of your works of charity! We
know too your love for Christ and His Church. We affirm of you what
Saint Paul wrote to the Romans: «Your faith is proclaimed all
over, the world» (Rom. 1, 8). And it is from Rome that We
bring you that message of faith and love which unites us all in
Christ; together with the blessing of Saints Peter and Paul.
We are most happy to greet at the same time, with all reverence and
sincerity, those Christian brothers here present, separated from us,
yet united with us by baptism and by belief in the Lord Jesus. We
keep them all in Our heart and in Our prayers. We also greet those
here present who follow other religious beliefs, and who in good
conscience intend to seek and honour Almighty God, the Lord of
heaven and earth; among whom the descendants of Abraham have Our
particular consideration.
We feel, too, that the entire American people is here present, with
its noblest and most characteristic traits: a people basing its
conception of life on spiritual values, on a religious sense, on the
rule of law, on freedom, on loyalty, on work, on the respect of
duty, on family affection, on generosity and courage. We pay honour
to the human and civil virtues of this great people, and in these
virtues We recognize valuable derivations from Christian values,
which We hope will ever remain living and active, safeguarding the
American spirit from those dangers which prosperity itself can entail,
and which the materialism of our day can make even more menacing. From
its brief but heroic history, this young and flourishing country can
derive lofty and convincing examples to encourage it in its future
progress.
So, too, We turn Our thoughts cordially to all those who belong to
other nations and are present at this great religious assembly; they
show forth the hospitality of this country, and also the fact that men
of different origins can live together, work together and prosper
together in freedom and in concord. To all of them and to their
respective countries We send Our greetings and good wishes.
What are We to say to you, that can correspond to the duties of Our
apostolic ministry and be adequate to the spirit of this unique
occasion? Our words can only be the words to the Gospel, which has
just been read to you; the words of the risen Jesus, which He
repeated three times: Peace be to you!
Truly, verily, Peace be to you!
How rich in meaning, how abundant in good things, is this divine and
human greeting of Peace! Repeated thousands of times, we all
recognize it, we all desire it. And that is good. But allow Us to
exhort you to consider it once again, to preserve it as the Gospel
message of the Pope as He lands on this soil and proclaims to all
those He meets: Peace be to this house, to this continent, and to
all those who inhabit it!
We have, then, three things to say to you.
First of all, you must love peace. Here We can use the words of
Christ: «Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
son of God» (Matth. 5, 9). If we truly wish to be
Christians, we must love peace, we must make our own the cause of
peace, we must meditate on the real meaning of peace, we must conform
our minds to the thought of peace. In the past, it was not always so
in the education of minds and the training of citizens; but today it
must be so; we must love peace, because its dwelling is first in
men’s hearts, and only afterwards in the external condition of
society. Peace must live and reign in men’s consciences, as Holy
Scripture teaches us: «May the peace of Christ reign in your
hearts» (Col. 3, 15). Peace is order, in relation to God
and in relation to men; it is wisdom, it is justice, it is
civilization. Whoever loves peace loves mankind, without distinction
of race or of colour.
Second thought: You must serve the cause of peace. Serve it, and
not make use of it for aims other than the true aims of peace. Serve
it, and not use this noble standard as a cover for cowardice or
selfishness, which refuses to make sacrifices for the common good; not
debilitate and pervert the spirit, by evading the call of duty and
seeking one’s own interests and pleasure. Peace is not a state which
can be acquired and made permanent. Peace must be built; it must be
built up every day by works of peace. These works of peace are, first
of all, social order; then, aid to the poor, who still make up an
immense multitude of the world population, aid to the needy, the
weak, the sick, the ignorant. Peace must be like a garden, in which
public and private beneficence cultivates the choicest flowers of
friendship, of solidarity, of charity and love.
Third thought: Peace must be based on moral and religious
principles, which will make it sincere and stable. Politics do not
suffice to sustain a durable peace. The absence of conflict does not
suffice to make of peace a source of happiness and of true human
progress. Peace must have its roots anchored in wisdom, and this
wisdom must draw nourishment from the true concept of life, that is the
Christian concept. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus: «Peace
I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives
do I give to you» (Io. 14, 27). Jesus, the Prince of
Peace (Is. 9, 6), has His own original and characteristic
peace, which can regulate every human relationship because, in the
very first place, it regulates the relationship with God.
Coming among you at a moment, so beautiful, so brief but so
important, as this, We have no better greeting, no better
remembrance for you than to repeat that holy salutation of Christ:
Peace, His peace!
Finally, one more word.
At the end of this Mass, We shall bless a stone, which We had
removed from Saint Peter’s Basilica and which We Ourself brought
here from Rome. This blessed stone will be placed in the foundations
of a great new edifice, the Seminary of the Archdiocese of New
York. Cardinal Spellman, with that courage and farsightedness which
are characteristic of him, is preparing to build this Seminary for the
new and future generations of students for the Priesthood in the
service of Holy Mother Church. This is indeed a monument worthy of
perpetuating the memory of Our visit to you. You can see in this
corner stone an eloquent symbol of the faith and love which unite the
Catholics of New York to the Church of Rome. You can see in this
ceremony the proof of Our confidence in the Seminarians of New
York, those of today and those of tomorrow; the pledge of Our good
wishes that they may always be sustained by Christ, and always be the
gloria Christi, the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 8, 23).
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