Humankind, despite tech advances, needs God as savior, Benedict says

12/26/2006

Catholic Online

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – Mankind, an apparent “sure and self-sufficient master of its own destiny” which has reached other planets, broken the human genome code and made the Earth a global village with communications technologies, still needs a savior in its fight against war, poverty, enslavement and unbridled consumerism, said Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Day.

In his Dec. 25 annual address “Urbi et Orbi” – to the City and the World – Pope Benedict marked the second Christmas season of his pontificate by appealing for a just peace and resumed negotiations in the Middle East, a healing of fratricidal wounds in Darfur and the rest of Africa, hope for a democratic Lebanon and an end to the violence in Iraq.

In a separate, written message issued by the Vatican to Christian communities in the Middle East, the pope said he hoped “that providence will offer circumstances permitting a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (to) pray in Jerusalem, the emotional heartland of all the descendents of Abraham.”

The 79-year-old pontiff, dressed in gold vestments, told the thousands gathered in a sunny St. Peter’s Square here that humanity’s technological advance has yet to conquer its most troubling problems.

“Despite humanity’s many advances, man has always been the same: a freedom poised between good and evil, between life and death,” the pope said, in the message broadcast live to millions in 40 countries throughout the world. “In this post-modern age, perhaps he needs a savior all the more, since the society in which he lives has become more complex and the threats to his personal and moral integrity have become more insidious.”

While 21st century humanity “appears as a sure and self-sufficient master of its own destiny, the avid proponent of uncontested triumphs,” the pope stressed that “this is not the case.”
“People continue to die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty, in this age of plenty and of unbridled consumerism,” Pope Benedict said.

He pointed to those that “enslaved, exploited and stripped of their dignity” and others who are “victims of racial and religious hatred” or “maimed by weaponry, by terrorism and by all sorts of violence” or refugees “forced to leave their homes and countries in order to find humane living conditions elsewhere,” as well as those in unhealthy relationships and those “enslaved to alcohol or drugs.”

“How can we not hear, from the very depths of this humanity, at once joyful and anguished, a heart-rending cry for help?” the pope asked.
Christmas offers mankind “a message of hope” that “tells us to fear not,” the pope said.

Yet on “this festive day” celebrating the coming of the prince of peace, the pontiff pointed areas of the world wracked by conflict.

“With deep apprehension,” Benedict pointed to the Middle East “marked by so many grave crises and conflicts,” offering the hope for “a just and lasting peace” that will respect “the inalienable rights of the peoples living there.”

He saw as positive initial steps taken in recent days toward a “resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians” and expressed confidence that, “after so many victims, destruction and uncertainty, a democratic Lebanon … will survive and progress.”

Pope Benedict appealed to those “who hold in their hands the fate of Iraq” to bring to an end “the brutal violence that has brought so much bloodshed to the country,” and asked that conflicting sides in Sri Lanka “heed the desire of the people for a future of brotherhood and solidarity.”

He urged that steps be taken to close “the open wounds” on the African continent and move toward consolidating “reconciliation, democracy and development” efforts.
The pope also made reference to the controversial case of Piergiorgio Welby, an Italian paralyzed by advanced muscular dystrophy who was denied a Catholic funeral because he had asked to die. On Dec. 20, he was taken off a respirator that had kept him alive for years.

"What are we to think of those who choose death in the belief that they are celebrating life?" Benedict said.
“‘Salvator noster’ (‘our savior’): This is our hope,” the pope said, “This is the message the church proclaims once again on Christmas day.”

The Christian community must provide an example to the world as “saved by Christ,” the pontiff urged, giving “witness of united, open communities where fraternity and forgiveness reign” and “full respect for all cultural and religious traditions.”
“In truth, Christ comes to destroy only evil, only sin; everything else, all the rest, he elevates and perfects. Christ does not save us from our humanity, but through it; he does not save us from the world, but came into the world, so that through him the world might be saved,” the pope said.

“Do not be afraid,” he concluded, “open your hearts to him and receive him, so that his kingdom of love and peace may become the common legacy of each man and woman. Happy Christmas!”
Last year, in his first Christmas message as pontiff, Pope Benedict issued calls for an awakening from spiritual barrenness by humankind and for peace and reconciliation in some of the world’s hotspots.

To some 40,000 gathered in a chilly downpour in St. Peter’s Square here on Christmas day 2005, the pope called for “a new world order based on just ethical and economic relationships” and a strengthened “common consciousness” of the global family.

The pope on Africa singled out peace efforts, economic development, prevention of fratricidal conflicts, consolidations of political transitions and “protection of the most elementary rights of those experiencing tragic humanitarian crisis,” such as in Darfur, Sudan.

“A united humanity will be able to confront the many troubling problems of the present time: from the menace of terrorism to the humiliating poverty in which millions of human beings live, from the proliferation of weapons to the pandemics and the environmental destruction which threatens the future of our planet.”

“On Bethlehem night, the redeemer becomes one of us, our companion along the precarious paths of history,” the pope said in last year’s address. “Let us take the hand which he stretches out to us. It is a hand which seeks to take nothing from us, but only to give.”