VATICAN CITY, February 26, 2011 (VIS). Today was published the letter of the Holy Father to SB Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, which he accepted the resignation:
"The year spent in 1000-6 hundredth anniversary of the death of Saint Maron reaches its conclusion. This exceptional jubilee was a time of grace has been given to the Maronite Church. It is also the culmination of your service for the greater glory of God and the good of all its faithful . In his unfathomable love, God you have shaped and marked its indelible mark for a special election to its service. This choice has found his secret correspondence in your reply to the free and enthusiastic example of the Mother of God, Let me according to thy word. "You could celebrate your last year's sixty years of priesthood, which prove your loyalty and love for Jesus Christ, the High Priest. In July, you will again have the opportunity to raise a thanksgiving to the Trinity for your fifty years of episcopate. For nearly a quarter century, you've worked with both of your predecessors in the See of Antioch before being chosen by the Synod to succeed them April 19, 1986. This moment puts you on the threshold of your silver jubilee this charge.Vous have started this noble ministry of the Maronite Patriarch in the turmoil of the war that bloodied Lebanon for too many years. With the ardent desire for peace for your country you have driven this Church and traveled the world to comfort your people forced to emigrate. Peace finally came back, always fragile, but still present. John Paul II, I have to proclaim the joy Blessed May 1, has called you to become a member of the College of Cardinals, November 26 1994, to insert yourself into a deeper communion with the universal Church. The arrival of my venerable Predecessor on Beirut in 1997 to sign the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation (A New Hope for Lebanon) scored again the constant link of your Church with the Successor of Peter. When I convened the extraordinary Synod for the Middle East in September 2009, I have appointed Deputy Chairman ad honorem to emphasize the value of ecclesial service you have done in the name of Christ. These days I blessed the statue of Saint Maron placed in a niche in the Vatican Basilica for the closing of the jubilee year, and I was able to greet you and the President of the Lebanese Republic and numerous bishops and faithful. You have chosen to forego the expense of Maronite Patriarch of Antioch in this circumstance and I welcome your decision which is free and magnanimous expression of great humility and deep detachment. I am sure you will always accompany the path of the Maronite Church in prayer, wise counsel and sacrifices. I ask God Almighty through the intercession of St. Maron and Our Lady of Lebanon, to fill you with his blessings. In my heart I wish you the apostolic blessing as well as bishops, priests, people devoted and faithful to all Maronites, and the beloved Lebanese nation! ".
BXVI-LETTER / SCREW 20110226 (540)
"The year spent in 1000-6 hundredth anniversary of the death of Saint Maron reaches its conclusion. This exceptional jubilee was a time of grace has been given to the Maronite Church. It is also the culmination of your service for the greater glory of God and the good of all its faithful . In his unfathomable love, God you have shaped and marked its indelible mark for a special election to its service. This choice has found his secret correspondence in your reply to the free and enthusiastic example of the Mother of God, Let me according to thy word. "You could celebrate your last year's sixty years of priesthood, which prove your loyalty and love for Jesus Christ, the High Priest. In July, you will again have the opportunity to raise a thanksgiving to the Trinity for your fifty years of episcopate. For nearly a quarter century, you've worked with both of your predecessors in the See of Antioch before being chosen by the Synod to succeed them April 19, 1986. This moment puts you on the threshold of your silver jubilee this charge.Vous have started this noble ministry of the Maronite Patriarch in the turmoil of the war that bloodied Lebanon for too many years. With the ardent desire for peace for your country you have driven this Church and traveled the world to comfort your people forced to emigrate. Peace finally came back, always fragile, but still present. John Paul II, I have to proclaim the joy Blessed May 1, has called you to become a member of the College of Cardinals, November 26 1994, to insert yourself into a deeper communion with the universal Church. The arrival of my venerable Predecessor on Beirut in 1997 to sign the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation (A New Hope for Lebanon) scored again the constant link of your Church with the Successor of Peter. When I convened the extraordinary Synod for the Middle East in September 2009, I have appointed Deputy Chairman ad honorem to emphasize the value of ecclesial service you have done in the name of Christ. These days I blessed the statue of Saint Maron placed in a niche in the Vatican Basilica for the closing of the jubilee year, and I was able to greet you and the President of the Lebanese Republic and numerous bishops and faithful. You have chosen to forego the expense of Maronite Patriarch of Antioch in this circumstance and I welcome your decision which is free and magnanimous expression of great humility and deep detachment. I am sure you will always accompany the path of the Maronite Church in prayer, wise counsel and sacrifices. I ask God Almighty through the intercession of St. Maron and Our Lady of Lebanon, to fill you with his blessings. In my heart I wish you the apostolic blessing as well as bishops, priests, people devoted and faithful to all Maronites, and the beloved Lebanese nation! ".
BXVI-LETTER / SCREW 20110226 (540)
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