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  ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PILGRIMS FROM THE DIOCESE OF SAINT-BRIEUC
AND TREGUIER IN BRITTANY, FRANCE

Saturday, 31 May 2003

 

Bishop,
Dear Friends,

I greet you with pleasure, pilgrims of the Diocese of Saint-Brieuc and Tréguier, who have come to Rome on the occasion of the celebrations for the seventh centenary of the death of St Ivo. I also cordially greet the authorities and more especially, those of the civil and legal world who have come to Rome to attend a colloquium to study in depth the timeliness of St Ivo's message. I thank Bishop Fruchaud for the kind words he has just addressed to me on behalf of you all. The Churches of St Yves des Bretons (St Ivo of the Bretons) and Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza (St Ivo at the University), at which you will be gathering, testify to the extraordinary spread of the devotion to him, long practised in Europe by all who recognize him as their spiritual master, and particularly by lawyers whose Patron Saint he is.

The values proposed by St Ivo continue to be a powerful incentive in our time, especially in the Europe that is being built. A servant of justice, St Ivo invites people of good will to build a world of peace founded on respect for the law and on the service of the truth. This lawyer, a champion of the poor, encourages persons and peoples to exercise solidarity and fairness to guarantee the rights of the weakest whose inalienable dignity will be fully recognized. As a priest and a tireless preacher of the Word of God, he calls the Church today to present the Gospel to all, a source of new human relationships. May St Ivo's example and life invite Christians to contribute actively to building Europe, destined to be a community in which all are called to work so that love and truth meet, and justice and peace embrace! (cf. Ps 85[84]: 11).

As I entrust you to the care of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Querrien, I impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I willingly extend to the pastors and faithful of the Diocese of Saint-Brieuc and Tréguier.

 



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