Meeting with Monsignor Joao Alves, Bishop of Coimbra (15 May 1982)

On Saturday, 15 May 1982, the Holy Father met with Monsignor João Alves, he Bishop of Coimbra, greeting all the people with words of comfort and blessing.

Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ!

1. I thank the Bishop of Coimbra, Monsignor João Alves, for his vibrant words of greeting! Thank you, most excellent Authorities, for your deferential presence! Thank you, my brother Bishops! Thank you all, brothers and sisters in Christ!

When I read references or heard about this famous city of Coimbra, these ideas were associated in my spirit: holiness and beauty, history and life.

- Holiness, linked above all to the names of Saint Teutonius and Queen Saint Isabella and, in some way, to Saint Anthony;

- beauty, which God has bestowed on this corner of Portuguese land and beauty created by man, in art, literature and music;

- history, which is lost in the soot of the centuries: from the "Conimbriga" of the Romans, through the beginnings of nationality, up to eight centuries of Portuguese life and culture;

- life, finally, linked to this friendly population, among which emerge the young students of this famous "Lusitanian Athens", the so-called "gang" - if I may - to whom I want to say: look, "gang", the Pope counts on you! Or rather, Christ is counting on you!

2. But at this moment Coimbra, before my eyes, has taken the place of images and ideas. Coimbra is you. All of you: clergy, religious and faithful of this diocese; you, seminarians; you, fathers and mothers of families, young people and children; you, who do important work and you who provide humble services; you, "the least ones" - as the Lord called you - all of you who suffer in body or spirit, thinking in a special way of the sufferers in the various hospitals of the city; everyone, without wanting to leave anyone out. The Pope greets everyone, he wishes to comfort and bless everyone.

Coimbra is you! In you I see beauty and life concretely translated; and in the hope, confirmed in your history, the holiness that I wish and implore for all, through the intercession of your patron saints, whose memory you certainly wish to honor, honoring the Coimbrican tradition, for fidelity to God, through Christ, in the holy Church.

3. But, allow me to broaden my horizon and express the feelings I have in my soul, to embrace the whole region - central Portugal - from Leiria to Castelo Branco and Guarda, and from Aveiro to Viseu, which is well located here represented: by its Pastors and diocesan faithful (and it seems to me that they are numerous), who have come here to meet the Pope, successor of Saint Peter. I greet everyone cordially! I wish everyone all the best! I repeat to everyone and I want to leave as a reminder a word that the first Pope wrote, the apostle fisherman of Galilee: I leave it here, in Portugal, and in an area where there are many fishermen, to whom all my sympathy goes:

For Christ, “believe in God . . . / may your faith and hope be fixed in God. / Obeying the truth. . . love one another” ( 1 Pt 1, 21-22). And rest assured that the merciful God loves you very much. Greeting you with "the kiss of charity", I implore for all divine favors, through the intercession of the Holy Virgin Queen in particular, with the apostolic blessing.
 

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