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POPE-ELSALVADOR Feb-28-2008 (480 words) xxxi
Pope, Salvadoran bishops discuss emigration, violence, poverty
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Preaching the Gospel in El Salvador requires concrete efforts to strengthen family life and to fight poverty and injustice, Pope Benedict XVI told the country's bishops.
"Increasing violence is the immediate consequence of other, deeper social wounds, such as poverty, the lack of education, the progressive loss of those values that always forged the Salvadoran soul and the breakup of families," the pope said.
Pope Benedict met the bishops of El Salvador Feb. 28 at the end of their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses.
Praising the deep faith of the Salvadoran people, the pope said the Gospel had been preached with fervor "by pastors filled with love of God like Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero," who was murdered in 1980 as he celebrated Mass.
Pope Benedict did not mention the status of the late archbishop's sainthood cause, which has been the object of debate. While many believe he was a martyr, others say he was killed for political motives and not for his faith.
Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle of San Salvador, speaking on behalf of the country's bishops, told the pope that the number of Catholics in the country continues to increase as does the number of vocations to the priesthood.
"The phenomenon of the massive emigration of Salvadorans to the United States is a serious worry," he told the pope. Although there is good cooperation with U.S. bishops in providing pastoral care for Salvadorans, the negative impact on young people, on family life and on traditional values is obvious, he said.
Archbishop Saenz said the young members of Salvadoran gangs in Los Angeles are a special concern, not only because they commit so many acts of violence, but also because U.S. authorities regularly deport gang members after they have served prison sentences in the United States.
Pope Benedict told the bishops he understood that poverty forces many Salvadorans to emigrate, seriously threatening the stability of marriages and of family life in general.
The pope asked the bishops to strengthen their pastoral outreach to families and to focus on "offering young people a solid spiritual and affective formation, which will help them discover the beauty of God's plan for human love and will enable them to live coherently the authentic values of marriage and family life, such as tenderness and mutual respect, self-control, total self-giving and constant fidelity."
The church also must educate Catholics in the faith and in the social teaching of the church, which will give them clear principles for working for justice and the common good in society, the pope said.
"The challenges that you face are enormous and appear greater than your efforts and abilities," the pope told the bishops, adding that they must continue to place their trust in God, "for whom nothing is impossible."
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