To the People of the Diocese of Salamanca (1 November 1982)

On Monday, 1 November 1982, the Holy Father, in Alba de Tormes, greeted the people of the Diocese of Salamanca. In his speech, the Pope spoke of how Saint Teresa – “together with Saint John of the Cross – was a teacher, inspiration and guide for me through the paths of the spirit.” For this reason, he wanted to approach “the human, linguistic, cultural and religious context of [their] life and work.”

Dear brothers and sisters of Alba de Tormes and Salamanca.

1. It is a source of special joy for me that the Teresian itineraries today make me meet you, with the diocesan Pastor, with the Authorities and the People of God of the diocese of Salamanca, in this town of Alba de Tormes, linked in such a way particular to Saint Teresa of Jesus.

Here, in Alba de Tormes, she founded the monastery of the Annunciation; here, being born to her eternal life, she saw her longing come true: “I die because I do not die”; and here her people are custodians of the treasure of her sacred relics. For the people of Alba, guarding the relics of the Carmelite reformer and venerating the Castilian saint constitutes their greatest pride and greatest glory.

Therefore, my presence in this place could not be missed, a natural complement to Avila, as it is to Alba de Tormes, to officially conclude the centenary year of the death of Saint Teresa. And brotherly around her figure, I see the authorities and the people of Avila, just as in this morning's proceedings I had intentionally seen the authorities and the people of Alba.

These meetings today have a particular meaning for me. You cannot imagine with how much admiration and affection I approach the human, linguistic, cultural and religious context of the life and work of Saint Teresa of Jesus. She - together with Saint John of the Cross - was a teacher, inspiration and guide for me through the paths of the spirit. In her I have always found the stimulus to nourish and maintain my inner freedom for God and for the cause of human dignity.

2. You are fellow citizens and heirs of that world in which Saint Teresa lived. It is true that in these four centuries that world has undergone many shocks and, for the most part, has disappeared, but the Saint's message still retains its truth and its strength.

The Pastors of the Church have rightly worked hard to ensure that, during the year of the fourth centenary of his death, the Christian people were not content to celebrate a glory of the past, but listened to the Teresian message. I urge you - Christians of Alba de Tormes and the diocese of Salamanca - to persist in translating into works a message in which the soul of your people has played such a part.

Being faithful to this message means being faithful to the virtues of the men and women of these lands: rectitude, industriousness, discretion, esteem for man for what he is , rather than for what he has ; it also means improving traditional family values; it means esteeming God as the greatest thing and man as he is capable of God.

3. I know that you are living in difficult times. These are "hard times", as our Saint would say. Among other things, emigration, particularly of young people, has impoverished your rural areas. Values, criteria and rules of conduct contrary to the Christian faith have dampened the religious and moral vigor of some. In these circumstances, you Christians will have to live your faith forcefully, trying to integrate the criteria and norms of current civilization with Christian doctrine, morality and practices.

On the other hand, the life of your capital, Salamanca, revolves around the Pontifical University and the Civil University, continuators of the University of Salamanca, of universal value in the history of culture, and which, in its time, established a happy synthesis between the Christian faith and human life and culture: a synthesis that we underestimate today, and which requires a serious effort on the part of those responsible.

4. I invite you to overcome these difficulties by leveraging the imperatives of the message of Saint Teresa of Jesus; I exhort you to have a "spirit for great undertakings", as you have had in the past. However, only in the Teresian experience of God's love will you find the strength and freedom to realize them, since "if we do not recognize ourselves as favored by God, I believe that it is impossible to have the spirit for great things" (S. Teresa, Vita , 10, 6).

I ask you to expand your heart, "not to make your desires smaller". Open yourself to the future. Take risks like Teresa of Jesus, whose words I cannot help but quote: "What matters most of all is the great and very determined decision not to stop until one has reached (the source of life), at any cost, whatever happens, at the cost of any effort, regardless of the murmurings, at the cost of dying on the road, or arriving without any strength left, and even if the world falls apart" (St. Teresa, The Way of Perfection, 35, 2).

Before concluding this act, allow me to greet with the greatest possible cordiality the Portuguese brothers who have come here to see the Pope. They reciprocate the fraternal ecclesial gesture of the many Spaniards who came to see me in Fatima. Dear all: thank you for your visit and your affection which I appreciate very much. May the common Mother, whom you love so much in Portugal and Spain, always protect you.

Dear brothers and sisters all: I cordially impart the apostolic blessing to you and your families.

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