Dear Brothers,
Dear Friends,

I am happy to meet you on the occasion of your 43rd General Chapter, and at a time when your religious family is celebrating the centenary of the canonisation of St John Baptist de La Salle, and the 50th anniversary of his proclamation by Pope Pius XII as special patron of all educators of children and young people.

These different events are a particularly favourable opportunity for you to give a new impetus to the various aspects of your mission to educate and evangelise according to the charism of your Founder, despite the decrease in your numbers. I rejoice in particular at the willingness of your Institute to respond, in close communion with the local Churches, to the new needs of children and young people, especially of the most poor who, all over the world, need to receive a human, moral, catechetical and school education, in order to become men and women who will assume their share of responsibility in the Christian community and in the society of tomorrow. This willingness is reflected in the theme of your Chapter: "Associated for the educational service of the poor, as the Lasallian response to the challenges of the 21st century". The Church is called upon to offer tirelessly this gift of education to young people, demonstrating its attention to present-day reality and to the expectations of people who need help in their efforts to improve the quality of their lives.

Your Brothers have an incomparable role. By their consecrated life, they are for the world witnesses to the absolute nature of God and of the happiness to be found in the service of the Lord, by serving men, and in particular children, who are God's favourites. By their community life, they manifest that Christ is a very powerful fraternal bond among persons who are open to living together and working together in harmony and mutual forgiveness. They are also close to everyone, with the daily solidarity of the educator, who leads young people along the road to maturity and true freedom, with patience and sensitivity.

In recent Chapters, you have given thought to the participation of other religious congregations and lay people wishing to be associated with you in your mission, and to live, each in his own way, in accordance with the Lasallian charism. I am particularly interested in this form of collaboration, which makes it possible to unite forces to ensure greater missionary efficacy. The presence of lay persons at your side reflects in an appreciable manner the ever increasingly important place they are called to occupy in the life of the Church. This is something I should like to encourage strongly, as I have already in the past, in the post-synodal Apostolic Declaration Vita Consecrata (cf. N° 56). It is your responsibility to give lay people who wish to be associated members, the necessary formation for their spiritual life and apostolic service. This will enable them, with the inspiration of the teaching and spirituality of St John Baptist de La Salle, each according to his state, and with all due respect for the respective identities involved, and the special nature of the consecrated life, to find ways of developing their spiritual life, so as to put it into practice in the educational service that will be entrusted to them, as they strive all the while to become model Christian teachers.

As our meeting comes to an end, I ask the Virgin Mary and St John Baptist de La Salle to sustain you in your efforts and enable your General Chapter to bear fruit. I give you most gladly my affectionate apostolic blessing.