ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PILGRIMS FROM THE DIOCESE OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Clementine Hall
Friday, 13 October 1995

Dear Bishop Sullivan,
Dear Friends in Christ,

I am pleased to meet this Pilgrimage of Faith from the Diocese of Richmond, on the occasion of the hundred and twenty–fifth anniversary of the founding of the Diocese and Bishop Sullivan’s twenty–fifth Anniversary of Episcopal Consecration.

You have wished to come to Rome, to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in order to express and strengthen the bonds of faith and love between your local Church and the See of Peter, to which has been entrusted, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, the "mission to provide for the common good of the universal Church and for the good of the individual churches" (Christus Dominus, 21).

I hope and pray that your visit will indeed confirm you in the one, holy and apostolic faith. In my recent visit to your country I had the joy of celebrating this faith in union with many of the faithful. Our shared task, at the approach of the Third Millennium, is to live our Catholic heritage more fully and more deeply, and to communicate it whole and entire to the younger generation. May God pour forth his gifts upon you and your families. May he bless your Diocese and your country.

© Copyright 1995 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana