Pope's general audience of July 7

(July 7, 2010) Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called the general audience, during which pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of seeing and hearing him speak. The Holy Father delivers a spiritual reflection and greets various groups in their languages, including in English. The General Audience of July 7 was held in the open in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. It began with aides taking turns reading a scripture passage in various languages. One of the aides greeted the Pope on behalf of the English-speaking pilgrims, and presented the various groups to him. Pope Benedict then delivered this discourse in English:

Listen:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our catechesis on medieval Christian culture, we now turn to the distinguished Franciscan theologian, Blessed John Duns Scotus. A native of Scotland, he taught at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Paris. Duns Scotus is best known today for his contribution to the development of Christian thought in three areas. First, he held that the Incarnation was not directly the result of Adam’s sin, but a part of God’s original plan of creation, in which every creature, in and through Christ, is called to be perfected in grace and to glorify God for ever. In this great Christocentric vision, the Incarnate Word appears as the centre of history and the cosmos. Secondly, Scotus argued that our Lady’s preservation from original sin was a privilege granted in view of her Son’s redemptive passion and death; this theory was to prove decisive for the eventual definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Finally, Duns Scotus paid great attention to the issue of human freedom, although by situating it principally in the will, he sowed the seeds of a trend in later theology that risked detaching freedom from its necessary relation to truth. May the teaching and example of Blessed John Duns Scotus help us to understand that we attain happiness, freedom and perfection by opening ourselves to God’s gracious self-revelation in Christ Jesus.
I offer a warm welcome to the members of the General Chapter of the Congregation of Holy Cross, together with my prayerful good wishes for the spiritual fruitfulness of your deliberations. Upon all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, especially the groups from Wales, Ireland, the Philippines, Canada and the United States of America, I invoke God’s abundant blessings.

After greeting other groups in their languages, Pope Benedict concluded Wednesday’s General Audience with his blessing. It was the pope's last general audience before leaving later on Wednesday, for the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, for his annual vacation. Hence his Wednesday general audiences in the coming three weeks will be suspended, and will resume on August 4. After his vacation, the Pope will continue his stay at Castel Gandolfo from where he will carry out his normal activites. On Sundays and feast days the Pope pray the midday 'Angelus' in Castel Gandolfo, but his general audience on Wednesdays will be held in the Vatican. Pope Benedict is scheduled to return to the Vatican in late September.