To the Clergy and Religious in the Cathedral of Wroclaw (21 June 1983)

On Tuesday, 21 June 1983, the Holy Father addressed the Clergy and Religious in the Wroclaw Cathedral, telling them that "they are the expression of the priesthood of the People of God, in a hierarchical, that is, ministerial, dimension."

I have been here many times. But this presence has a special character and therefore my emotion is also special. I greet all of you present here, and in you I greet the Church that is in Wroclaw: the archdiocesan and metropolitan Church. I greet this Church especially in you, priests.

You are the expression of the priesthood of the People of God, in a hierarchical, that is, ministerial, dimension. Thanks to your character linked to the Sacrament of the priesthood, this People receives the priestly service and finds the expression of its priestly union with Christ. Through you, through your Sacrament, your character, through your life and your service, I see the Church that is in Wroclaw as a living community of the People of God. And I see all these local communities, parishes and also the others that gather around you and of which you are pastors, in the image of Jesus Christ, for which you are priests. I greet all these communities. In them lives the Church in Wroclaw, both in the Metropolis and in the Archdiocese. In them lives the universal Church. Convey to all these communities the greeting of the Bishop of Rome.

I also see this Church in you, dear sisters, and in all the people who are in this cathedral, consecrated to God through religious vows. You are the expression of evangelical radicalism, of this total dedication to Christ himself. The Church is dedicated to Christ and is totally dedicated because she is his Bride. This total dedication of the Church to Christ must find expression in particular vocations. Yours is a spousal vocation. It is you who say to all men that the Church is the Bride of Christ. It is you who give a testimony of the Kingdom that is not of this world.

I thank you for the witness of the Gospel that you give to the People of God in Lower Silesia, in this Archdiocese, in this Metropolis. Always be close to the Immaculate Virgin, because she is the fullest, the most perfect model of what you are and what you must be in the Church of Jesus Christ.

I greet all those present, I thank you for the invitation to this Cathedral; for being able to meet here with the past time of the Piasts and with those who came after; I thank you for being able to stop and pray before the tomb of my friend, Cardinal Boleslaw Kominek, of holy memory. I also thank you for being able to bless the foundation stones of the new churches as a sign of the service that I was given to perform in Wroclaw on 21 June 1983.

Dear brothers and sisters, I entrust to your prayers, to your community of brothers and sisters, the Bishops - your Bishops of Wroclaw, of Lower Silesia, the Polish Bishops and all the Bishops of the world - so that they may be one in Jesus Christ, so that we, being one in Jesus Christ, may save the world in Jesus Christ, since only in him is the salvation of the world: yesterday, today and forever.

Accept my blessing.
 

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