CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 24, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI answered a number of questions posed by priests of the Diocese of Albano, during a meeting Aug. 31 at the papal summer residence. The residence is located in that diocese.

Here is a Vatican text of a second question answered by the Pope. The first question-and-answer appeared in Friday's dispatch.

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Monsignor Gianni Macella, parish priest in Albano:

In recent years, in harmony with the project of the Italian bishops' conference for the decade 2000-2010, we have been striving to implement a project for "integrated pastoral care." There are many difficulties. It is worth remembering at least the fact that many of us priests are still bound to a certain not particularly mission-oriented pastoral practice which seemed to have been consolidated; it was so closely bound to a context, as people call it, "of Christianity."

On the other hand, many of the requests of a large number of the faithful themselves presume the parish to be a "supermarket" of sacred services. So this is what I would like to ask you, Your Holiness: Is integrated pastoral care only a question of strategy, or is there a deeper reason why we must continue to work along these lines?

Benedict XVI:

I must confess that I had to learn the term "integrated pastoral care" from your question. However, I have understood its content: that we must strive to integrate in a single pastoral process both the different pastoral workers who exist today and the different dimensions of pastoral work. I would therefore distinguish the dimensions of the subjects of pastoral work and then attempt to integrate the whole into a single pastoral process.

In your question, you have explained that there is, shall we say, the "classic" level of work in the parish for the faithful who have stayed on -- and who perhaps are also increasing -- and give life to our parish. This is "classic" pastoral care and it is always important. I usually make a distinction between continuous evangelization -- because faith continues, the parish survives -- and the new evangelization that seeks to be missionary, to supersede the limits of those who are already "faithful" and live in the parish or who, perhaps with a "reduced" faith, make use of parish services.

In the parish, it seems to me that we have three fundamental commitments that stem from the essence of the Church and the priestly ministry.

The first is sacramental service. I would say that baptism, its preparation and the commitment to giving continuity to the baptismal promises, already puts us in contact with those who are not convinced believers. It is not, let us say, a task of preserving Christianity, but rather an encounter with people who may seldom go to church. The task of preparing for baptism, of opening the hearts of parents, relatives and godparents to the reality of baptism already can and should be a missionary commitment that goes beyond the boundaries of people who are already "faithful."

In preparation for baptism, let us seek to make people understand that this sacrament is insertion into God's family, that God is alive, that he cares for us. He cares for us to the point that he took on our flesh and instituted the Church, which is his Body, in which he can, so to speak, put on new flesh in our society.

Baptism is a newness of life in the sense that, as well as the gift of biological life, we need the gift of a meaning for life that is stronger than death and that will endure even when, one day, the parents are no longer alive. The gift of biological life is justified only if we can add the promise of a stable meaning, of a future which, also in future crises -- which we cannot know -- will give value to life so that it is worth living, worth being creatures.

I think that in the preparation for this sacrament or in conversation with parents who view baptism with suspicion, we have a missionary situation. It is a Christian message. We must make ourselves interpreters of the reality that begins with baptism.

I am not sufficiently familiar with the Italian rite. In the classic rite, inherited from the ancient Church, baptism begins with the question: "What do you ask of God's Church?" Today, at least in the German rite, the response is simply "Baptism." This does not adequately explain what it is that should be desired. In the ancient rite the answer was "faith": that is, a relationship with God, acquaintanceship with God. And, "Why do you ask for faith," the rite continues. "Because we wish for eternal life": We also want a safe life in future crises, a life that has meaning, that justifies being human. In any case, it seems to me that this dialogue should take place with the parents prior to baptism. This is only to say that the gift of the sacrament is not merely a "thing," it is not merely "reifying" it, as the French say; it is missionary work.

Then there is confirmation to prepare for at the age when people also begin to make decisions with regard to faith. Of course, we must not turn confirmation into a form of "Pelagianism," almost as if in it one became Catholic by oneself, but rather into a blending of gift and response.

Finally, the Eucharist is Christ's permanent presence in the daily celebration of holy Mass. It is very important, as I have said, for the priest, for his priestly life, as the real presence of the gift of the Lord.

We can now also mention marriage: Marriage too presents itself as a great missionary opportunity because today -- thanks be to God -- many people, even those who do not go to church often, still want to marry in church. It is an opportunity to make these young people face the reality of Christian marriage, sacramental marriage.

This also seems to me a great responsibility. We see it in causes of the nullity of marriage, and we see it above all in the great problem of divorced and remarried people who want to receive Communion and do not understand why this is impossible. It is more than likely that when they said their "yes" before the Lord, they did not understand what this "yes" means. It is an identification with the "yes" of Christ, it means entering into the fidelity of Christ, hence, into the sacrament that is the Church and thus, into the sacrament of marriage.

I therefore think that preparation for marriage is a very important missionary opportunity for proclaiming the sacrament of Christ once again in the sacrament of marriage, to understand this fidelity and thereby help people to understand the problem of those who are divorced and remarried.

This is the first and "classic" section of the sacraments which gives us the opportunity to meet people who do not go to church every Sunday: hence, an opportunity for a truly missionary proclamation, for "integrated pastoral care."

The second section is the proclamation of the Word with the two essential elements: homily and catechesis.

In the Synod of Bishops last year, the Fathers spoke a lot about the homily, emphasizing how difficult it is today to find a "bridge" between the Word of the New Testament, written 2,000 years ago, and our present day. I must say that historical and critical exegesis often does not give us sufficient help in drafting the homily. I notice it myself as I try to prepare homilies that actualize the Word of God: or rather, given that the Word has an actuality in itself, that make people perceive, understand, this actuality.

Historical-critical exegesis has much to tell us about the past, about the moment when the Word was born, about the meaning it had at the time of Jesus' apostles; but it does not always give us enough help in understanding that the words of Jesus, of the apostles and also of the Old Testament, are spirit and life: The Lord of the Old Testament also speaks today.

I think we have "to challenge" theologians -- the synod did so -- to move ahead, to give parish priests greater help in preparing their homilies and in making the presence of the Word visible: The Lord speaks to me today and not only in the past.

In the last few days I have been reading the draft of the postsynodal apostolic exhortation. I was pleased to see that this "challenge" of preparing sample homilies has returned. In the end, the homily is prepared by the parish priest in his own context, for he speaks to "his" parish. But he needs help in understanding and in making understood this "present" of the Word that is never a Word of the past but of the "present."

Lastly, the third section: "caritas," "diakonia." We are always responsible for the suffering, the sick, the marginalized, the poor. From the portrait of your diocese, I see that many are in need of our "diakonia," and this is also always a missionary opportunity. Thus, it seems to me that the "classic" parish pastoral ministry transcends itself in all three sectors and is becoming missionary pastoral care.

I now move on to the second aspect of pastoral care, concerning both the agents and the work that is to be done. The parish priest cannot do it all! It is impossible! He cannot be a "soloist"; he cannot do everything but needs other pastoral workers. It seems to me that today, both in the movements and in Catholic Action, in the new communities that exist, we have agents who must be collaborators in the parish if we are to have "integrated" pastoral care.

I would like to say that for this "integrated" pastoral ministry it is important today that the other agents present are not only activated but are integrated in the work of the parish. The parish priest must not only "do," but also "delegate." The others must learn to be really integrated in their joint work for the parish and, of course, also in the self-transcendence of the parish in a double sense: self-transcendence in the sense that parishes collaborate within the diocese because the bishop is their common pastor and helps coordinate their commitments; and self-transcendence in the sense that they work for all the people of this time and seek to reach out with the message to agnostics and to people who are searching. This is the third level, of which we have previously spoken at length.

It seems to me that the opportunities mentioned give us the chance to meet and to say a missionary word to those who do not come to the parish, have no faith or have little faith. It is especially these new subjects of pastoral care and lay people who exercise the professions of our time, who must also take God's Word to areas often inaccessible to the parish priest.

Coordinated by the bishop, let us seek together to organize these different sectors of pastoral care, to activate the various agents and recipients of pastoral care in the common commitment: on the one hand, to encourage the faith of believers, which is a great treasure, and on the other, to reach out with the proclamation of the faith to all who are sincerely seeking a satisfying response to their existential questions.