Brindisi (AsiaNews) - Peace for the Middle East, recalling that "it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage. What is needed is a deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation".  From Brindisi, a city in southern Italy facing the Mediterranean Sea, where he went on a pastoral visit, Benedict XVI today repeated the words with which, in front of the assembly of the United Nations, he called states back to their common responsibility for peace.

To the 50,000 people present in the square facing the port, where he celebrated the Mass and which is connected to the memory of help given in recent years to the Albanians forced to leave their country, the pope, before reciting the Angelus, took his cue precisely from "the place where we find ourselves, the port" saying that this "is pregnant with symbolic meaning.  Every port speaks of welcome, of shelter, of safety; it speaks of the landing point desired after a journey, possibly a long and difficult one.  But it also speaks of departure, of projects and aspirations, of the future.  In particular, the port of Brindisi plays a primary role for communication toward the Mediterranean Sea and toward the East, and for this reason it also hosts a United Nations base that fulfils an important humanitarian function".

"From this evocative place, not far from the spot referred to as the 'good day' of Italy (Calimera), I thus desire to renew the Christian message of cooperation and peace among all peoples, especially among those who are situated around this sea, an ancient cradle of civilisation, and those of the Near and Far East.  And I am pleased to do so with the words that I used to months ago in New York, speaking to the assembly of the United Nations: 'The action of the international community and its institutions, provided that it respects the principles undergirding the international order, should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty. On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage. What is needed is a deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation'. (L'Osservatore Romano, 20.04.08, p. 8).  From this bit of Europe jutting out into the Mediterranean, between East and West, we once again turn to Mary, the mother who 'shows us the way' - Odegitria - giving us Jesus, the Way of peace.  Let us invoke her with all of the titles by which she is venerated in the shrines of Puglia, and in particular here, from this ancient port, let us pray to her as the 'port of salvation' for every man and for all humanity".

The sanctity and missionary nature of the Church were, instead, the themes of which Benedict XVI spoke during the Mass.  The plan of God, he said, is "to spread through humanity and through the entire cosmos his love, which generates life.  But the Lord wants to implement this plan only in respect of our freedom, because love, by its nature, cannot be imposed.  The Church is, then, in Christ, the space of welcoming and mediation for the love of God.  In this perspective, it is clear that that sanctity and the missionary nature of the Church constitute two sides of the same coin: only insofar as it is holy, meaning full of divine love, can the Church fulfil its mission, and it is precisely by virtue of this task that God has chosen and sanctified it as his own".

And in regard to the pairing "sanctity-mission", the pope called for reflection on the fact that "the twelve apostles were not perfect men, chosen for their irreprehensible moral and religious character.  There were certainly believers, full of enthusiasm and zeal, but they were marked by their limitations, some of them serious.  So then, Jesus did not call them because they were holy, but in order that they might become holy.  Just like us.  Just like all Christians".  "The Church", he concluded, "is a community of sinners who believe in the love of God, and allow themselves to be transformed by him, thus becoming holy".