[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 5919-5920]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     WELCOMING HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. W. TODD AKIN

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 14, 2008

  Mr. AKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to welcome His Holiness Pope 
Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.
  Since April 2005, Pope Benedict XVI has led the Roman Catholic Church 
admirably, he has served his church faithfully, and focused strongly on 
the dignity and importance of human life, particularly for those who 
are often ignored: the elderly, the disabled, and the unborn.
  In his first papal visit to the United States of America, Pope 
Benedict will only be able to visit two cities, but citizens across the 
Nation, of all faiths and backgrounds, warmly welcome him to our 
country.
  Pope Benedict stands for both truth in the face of relativism and 
peace and love in the face of violence and hate--it is these strengths 
that make Pope Benedict's voice and message one that all Americans, and 
all people around the world, should be eager to hear.
  The theme of Pope Benedict's apostolic visit is ``Christ our Hope.'' 
In his latest Encyclical, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict notes, ``. . . it is 
true that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain 
all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope 
that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12). Man's great, true hope 
which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God--God 
who has loved us and who continues to love us `to the end,' until all 
`is accomplished' (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever

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is moved by love begins to perceive what `life' really is. . . . Life 
in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from 
ourselves: it is a relationship. And life in its totality is a 
relationship with him who is the source of life. If we are in relation 
with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we 
are in life. Then we `live.' ''
  May all of us, as Americans, be open to Pope Benedict's message of 
hope this week.
  I welcome Pope Benedict XVI in this visit and hope he will return to 
our Nation again in the near future.

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