CNS STORY: In Bari, pope highlights importance of Eucharist, Christian unity

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POPE-BARI May-31-2005 (830 words) With photos. xxxi

In Bari, pope highlights importance of Eucharist, Christian unity

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

BARI, Italy (CNS) -- On the shores of the Adriatic Sea, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his first Mass outside Rome as pope, encouraging Catholics to demonstrate to the world the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, "the sacrament of his love."

The May 29 Mass, celebrated under a hot sun on the seashore, marked the conclusion of the weeklong Italian eucharistic congress.

Pope Benedict, who spoke of the importance of celebrating the Eucharist as a community united in faith, used the Mass as an opportunity to affirm his commitment to promoting Christian unity.

The Gospel was chanted in Greek by an Eastern-rite Catholic deacon, underlining Bari's identity as a place where Christians from the East and West meet around the tomb of St. Nicholas, a saint both venerate.

"The Christ we encounter in the Eucharist is the same here in Bari as in Rome, in Europe as in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania," Pope Benedict said. "It is the one Christ who is present in the eucharistic bread everywhere on earth."

The fact that all who eat of Christ's body and drink his blood are incorporated as one into his body means that "we cannot communicate with the Lord if we do not communicate among ourselves," he said.

"If we want to present ourselves to him, we also must go out to meet each other," Pope Benedict said.

"The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity," he said, "but unfortunately Christians are divided, precisely in the sacrament of unity."

Pope Benedict said that receiving the Eucharist must make Christians feel more strongly the need to work and pray "with all our strength for that full unity for which Christ ardently prayed."

"I want to restate my desire to take on, as a fundamental commitment, working with all my energy for the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ," he said to great applause.

Pope Benedict also used his homily to stress the Catholic Church's faith that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, that the consecrated host becomes his body in a mysterious, but real way, not just symbolically.

The Gospel of John recounts that when Jesus told his followers that by eating his body they would have eternal life many of them asked, "But how can he give us his flesh to eat?" the pope said.

"In reality," Pope Benedict said, "that attitude has been repeated many times in the course of history."

The pope told the Bari crowd that Jesus could have said: "Friends, do not worry. I spoke of flesh, but it is only a symbol."

However, he said, Jesus stood firm in his statement and Christians rejoice at having him so close to them.

"We need this bread," the pope said.

"It is not easy to live as Christians," he said. "From a spiritual point of view, the world in which we find ourselves -- often marked by unbridled consumerism, religious indifference and secularism closed to the transcendent -- can appear as a desert."

Jesus does not leave Christians alone, the pope said. He feeds them, guides them and helps them to fulfill all the moral precepts required of true believers.

For most of the celebration, Pope Benedict was seated in the shade, but the altar was in the sun. A papal aide held a large white umbrella over his head during the eucharistic prayer.

Among the estimated 200,000 people attending the Mass were tens of thousands of young people, many of whom had spent the night at the Mass site.

Patrizia Tano, 22, and her friends from the Italian Missionary Youth Movement came from Cosenza for the Mass.

So far, Tano said, they like Pope Benedict.

"He is a good person. We were so used to Pope John Paul II that it will take some getting used to. He seems shy, but he smiles and waves," Tano said before the Mass.

Singing nearby were 50 members of a Cursillo group from San Vita, Italy.

Pino Greco, the group leader, said they came not only to see the new pope, but to demonstrate the importance of the Eucharist in their lives.

"For us, the Eucharist is the center of our lives," he said. "Our experience begins with meeting Christ in the tabernacle. When we recognize that gift, our hearts beat more quickly and we have to share this experience with others."

The Mass also marked the first time since Italy and the Vatican signed a treaty in 1929 recognizing each other's territorial rights that Swiss Guards, dressed in their ceremonial uniforms and carrying their halberds, stood watch at a papal Mass in Italy outside Vatican territory.

Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, said he did not know the details of the agreement between the Vatican and Italy that led to the guards' presence, but he said Swiss Guards would continue to accompany the pope on Italian trips.

END

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