CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI encouraged the participants at the Communion and Liberation Movement's annual Meeting in Rimini, Italy, to live the vocation of the human person: seeking the truth.
The Pope sent his greeting today from Castel Gandolfo at the conclusion of the Angelus address.
The Holy Father commented on the theme of this year’s convention, "The Truth Is the Destiny for Which We Have Been Made."
He assured the participants of his prayer "that, through the multiple initiatives of the program, the meeting might be for many a profitable occasion for reflection and awareness, to realize the profoundest vocation of man: being a seeker of truth and thus a seeker of God."
Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone opened the Communion and Liberation gathering, which began today and will continue through Aug. 25.
Thousands of people, most of them youth, are present at the gathering, which has taken place every year since 1980.
In the homily for the inaugural Mass, Cardinal Bertone noted that today "one gets the impression that, in the climate of relativism and skepticism that pervades our civilization, we have arrived at proclaiming a radical lack of confidence in the possibility of knowing the truth."
Alluding to the readings for today's liturgy, the secretary of state explained, "Christ is the only one who can identify the truth with a person; he is the truth become person, become humanity, and those who seek him and follow him completely fulfill themselves."
The cardinal reconsidered the question posed by St. Augustine, "What does man desire more ardently than the truth?" and commented: "Man’s whole existence is driven by this question, which finds its complete answer in the encounter with Christ."
ZE07081907 - 2007-08-19