Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 89

the Janiculum hill, and the student priests of the Casa Santa Maria dell'Umil-

tà. Our meeting comes at the conclusion of the celebrations marking the one

hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the College's establishment by my pre-

decessor, Blessed Pius IX. On this happy occasion I willingly join you in

thanking the Lord for the many ways in which the College has remained

faithful to its founding vision by training generations of worthy preachers

of the Gospel and ministers of the sacraments, devoted to the Successor of

Peter and committed to the building up of the Church in the United States of

America.

It is appropriate, in this Year for Priests, that you have returned to the

College and this Eternal City in order to give thanks for the academic and

spiritual formation which has nourished your priestly ministry over the

years. The present Reunion is an opportunity not only to remember with

gratitude the time of your studies, but also to reaffirm your filial affection for

the Church of Rome, to recall the apostolic labors of the countless alumni

who have gone before you, and to recommit yourselves to the high ideals of

holiness, fidelity and pastoral zeal which you embraced on the day of your

ordination. It is likewise an occasion to renew your love for the College and

your appreciation of its distinctive mission to the Church in your country.

During my Pastoral Visit to the United States, I expressed my conviction

that the Church in America is called to cultivate "an intellectual 'culture'

which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and

reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith's vision to bear on the

pressing issues which affect the future of American society." 1 As Blessed

Pius IX rightly foresaw, the Pontifical North American College in Rome is

uniquely prepared to help meet this perennial challenge. In the century and a

half since its foundation, the College has offered its students an exceptional

experience of the universality of the Church, the breadth of her intellectual

and spiritual tradition, and the urgency of her mandate to bring Christ's

saving truth to the men and women of every time and place. I am confident

that, by emphasizing these hallmarks of a Roman education in every aspect

of its program of formation, the College will continue to produce wise and

generous pastors capable of transmitting the Catholic faith in its integrity,

bringing Christ's infinite mercy to the weak and the lost, and enabling Amer-

1 Homily at Nationals Stadium, Washington, 17 April 2008.