Dublin 2012 and Church renewal in Ireland

The International Eucharistic Congress, due to take place in Dublin, in June 2012, fits perfectly into the program for the modernisation of the Church in Ireland, Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday as he greeted participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

National delegations from across the globe gathered this week to discuss preparations for Dublin 2012, when the Archdiocese will open its doors, chapels and churches to all those who want to take part in the week long event, centred on the theme "The Eucharist, communion with Christ and with one another”.

The Irish delegation was led by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and speaking to them Thursday the Pope observed, “your Assembly has paid great attention to this event, which is also part of the modernization program of the Church in Ireland. The theme,… recalls the centrality of the Eucharistic Mystery for the growth of the life of faith and every authentic process of church renewal”.

Pope Benedict also remarked that this week’s meeting falls on the 50th anniversary of the Eucharistic Congress in Munich, Bavaria, which marked a turning point in understanding these ecclesial events, and which the Pope said “I had the pleasure of attending ... in person, as a young professor of theology”. In addition, the 2012 Congress in Dublin will have a jubilee character, as it will be the 50th global gathering, and it will also be 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Tracing the long history International Eucharistic Congresses, the Pope said “through the characteristic formula of the "statio orbis”, they emphasize the universality of the celebration: in fact, it is always a celebration of faith gathered around the Eucharistic Christ, Christ's supreme sacrifice for humanity, which involves the faithful not only of a particular Church or nation, but as far as possible, from all over the globe. It is the Church, which gathers around the Lord”.

“The task of Eucharistic Congresses, especially in the current context”, he concluded “is also to make a distinctive contribution to the new evangelization by promoting mystagogical evangelization, which takes place in the school of the Church in prayer and through the liturgy”.

 SIC: VR/INT'L