Address to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI by Archbishop Seán Brady, 
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and President of the 
Irish Episcopal Conference on the conclusion of the visit 
Ad Limina Apostolorum on Saturday 28th October 2006 

Most Holy Father, with gratitude and joy, we, the Bishops of Ireland, have come to 
the Tombs of  Blessed Apostles to be confirmed in our faith by the successor of 
Peter. Many of us recall with affection our last Ad Limina visit seven years ago 
when we were greatly strengthened in our Apostolic ministry by your venerable 
predecessor Pope John Paul II. May he enjoy the eternal peace of our Father’s 
house.

We rejoice that the Lord, in his providence and care, has given you to his Church, 
Holy Father, as its Chief Pastor at this time. We welcome this opportunity to pledge 
to you our fraternal support, our willing collaboration and our ready obedience. We 
thank you in particular for the individual audiences graciously granted to us over 
the past two weeks and for the words of wisdom and strength that you have spoken to 
us. We have rejoiced in the privilege of coming to the successor of him who wrote: 
‘Have no fear nor be troubled, but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord.’ We 
also know that our joy and gratitude are shared by the Catholic people of Ireland 
on whose behalf we convey greetings and heartfelt good wishes. Holy Father, on 
behalf of the priests, religious and lay faithful of Ireland we take this opportunity 
to invite you to come among us in the footsteps of St. Patrick, and of your venerable
Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, and in the words of Deus Caritas Est, ‘transform 
the heart of the ecclesial community, so that it becomes [again] a witness before 
the world to the love of the Father.’ (DCE #19)

Should God’s will and your heavy responsibilities allow you to accept this invitation, 
you will discover in Ireland a country of warm welcome but also of change. In the 
last seven years our country has become known for its rapid economic success. This 
has brought with it many welcome benefits but also many social, moral and spiritual
challenges. The influence of secularism has struck Ireland with great speed and 
intensity. Dramatic and disorientating changes are taking place, which pose enormous 
challenges for the preaching of the Gospel. This is particularly manifest in a loss 
of Christian memory. Increasing numbers create a false distinction between their 
Catholic identity and participation in ecclesial life.

It is for this reason that we have made pastoral care and faith development in the 
context of a new evangelisation a key priority. Attention is also being given to 
the development of a strategic plan for communications and a systematic presentation 
of doctrinal and moral themes by the Episcopal Conference, drawing on the gift to 
the Church of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We are conscious that ‘a renewed 
impetus in Christian living passes through the Eucharist’ (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 
#60). So we wish to develop a renewed awareness of the Eucharist as ‘the source and 
the summit of all evangelization’(ibid., #22), ‘inseparably bound to the Church’s 
marks of unity, holiness, apostolicity and catholicity’(Catechismus Catholicæ Ecclesiæ,
1327). We look forward to the support that will be given to us in this important task 
by the post-synodal document on the Blessed Eucharist.

In the coming year we intend to host a Conference on Deus Caritas Est. In this your 
first encyclical letter, Holy Father, which was so warmly received throughout the 
world, you bring us back to the radical source of all evangelisation, namely ‘the 
encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive
direction.’ (DCE #1) You remind the world  that ‘love is now no longer a mere “command”; 
it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us.’ (ibid.) You 
also remind us that ‘the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness 
of mind… to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church 
deeply.’ (# 28) It is this concern for the common good which drives the search for 
peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. We know you share with us the hope of 
many that the progress of recent weeks in Northern Ireland will herald the dawn of 
a new era of shared ‘openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good’ 
and a peaceful future for all. We also thank you Holy Father for the concern you 
have expressed in our individual audiences for all those who have suffered as a 
result of violence.

Healing and reconciliation are issues of urgent global concern. It is in this context 
that Christians of all denominations have something unique to offer. In Ireland, 
the official contact between the Catholic Church and the thirteen members of the 
Irish Council of Churches is through the Irish Inter-Church meeting.  The next 
plenary meeting of the Inter-Church group will focus on preparation for the meeting 
of the third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania, 2007. Such meetings 
reflect the importance which you, Holy Father, have placed on the search for unity 
and communion among the followers of Christ since the beginning of your Petrine 
ministry. We thank you for the encouragement and support you have given to our 
work in this area.

Increased prosperity and ease of travel have also opened the borders of Ireland 
to an unprecedented level of migration, particularly of people from middle and 
eastern Europe. Many of those who come to our shores bring with them a resolute 
commitment to their Christian faith and a new vibrancy to their local Catholic 
parishes. Providing pastoral care to these new members of our national family 
remains a key priority for individual bishops and for the Episcopal Conference.

As Irish Bishops, in collaboration with many of the Religious Congregations in 
Ireland, we also hold in sacred trust a strong tradition of providing for Catholic
Education at primary, secondary and tertiary level. Increasing cultural and religious
diversity has raised new challenges for the valued place of Catholic Education in 
Irish life. Consequently the bishops and religious of Ireland continue to work with 
the civil authorities in both jurisdictions to ensure ongoing respect for the 
right of parents to have their children educated in accordance with their 
philosophical and religious convictions. We have been particularly anxious to 
challenge the view that faith-based education is an obstacle to tolerance and 
inconsistent with the demands of an increasingly diverse society. We are grateful 
to the Congregation for Education for their assistance to us in this area. 

We also wish to express our appreciation to the Secretariat of State for their 
guidance and encouragement regarding the proposed structured dialogue between 
the Church and State in Ireland. This is a welcome and important initiative 
which recognises the mutual yet distinct responsibilities of both Church and 
State in the promotion of the common good.  

Holy Father, no issue has received more time or attention from the Irish Episcopal
Conference than the agonising problem of responding to those who have had their 
trust betrayed, their lives devastated and often their faith destroyed by sexual 
abuse inflicted on them by some priests and religious. This abuse has also been 
a source of great scandal and discouragement for the whole Catholic community, 
including the great majority of priests and religious who continue to strive to 
live lives of holiness and selfless service in the name of the Lord. We thank 
you for the concern you have expressed for those who have been so grievously 
harmed and your sensitivity to the impact of this issue on our work and priorities. 
We value your continued support and that of the various Dicastaries of the Holy 
See in seeking to bring healing to all those who have been affected by this 
painful tragedy.

We also thank you, Holy Father, for the concern you have shown for the welfare 
and morale of the priests of our Dioceses during our private audiences. Your 
awareness of the increasing demands on our priests and of the particular challenges 
they face will be of immense encouragement and support to them in their vital 
ministry. On this pilgrimage we have given particular thanks to the Lord for 
the gift to us of our priests, the invaluable collaboration of the religious of 
our country and for the many Irish missionaries who work at home and abroad. 
During these days we have also remembered with affection Archbishop Michael 
Courtney, from the Diocese of Clonfert, who was murdered while serving as 
Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi and we have prayed for his eternal rest. The 
priests, religious, missionaries and lay faithful of Ireland today, take their 
honoured place in the long line of Irish women and men who, since the time of 
Patrick, have persevered in the following of Christ in spite of personal, 
cultural and human challenges. 

The legacy of Christian faith has left an indelible mark on the heritage and 
memory of Europe in particular. St. Columbanus, native of our land, has been 
described by Robert Schumann as ‘the patron saint of those who seek to construct 
a united Europe.’ Holy Father, in light of the growing loss of Europe’s Christian 
memory and heritage, and recalling the courage and witness of those who, like 
Columbanus, restored that memory in the past, the Church in Ireland asks you 
to consider our request that St. Columbanus be proclaimed Co-patron of Europe 
alongside St. Benedict, St Cyril and St Methodius, St Catherine of Siena, St. 
Brigid and St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  It is from the example of these 
great witnesses that the people of Europe, in the words of Deus Caritas Est, 
‘have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.’ 

We pray that our pilgrimage Ad Limina Apostolorum will be a source of renewal 
of Christian faith and love in us and our own country, as we now receive with 
gratitude your message and blessing as Vicar of Christ to us and to the Church 
in Ireland. 

ends
28 October 2006