UP Ibalon Bicol: Godless world puts Christian identity in peril

Godless world puts Christian identity in peril

10/06/2008 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

In a three-week gathering of 250 bishops from America, Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Africa, Pope Benedict XVI in his Sunday October 5, 2008 mass celebration in the Roman Basilica of St. Paul sounded again the perils faith is facing in the increasing secular society.

The 81-year old pope in his homily said, there are those who say that “God is dead and declare themselves to be the only creator of their own fate, the absolute owner of the world."

He asked, “"When men proclaim themselves absolute owners of themselves and the only masters of creation, are they really going to be able to construct a society where freedom, justice and peace reign? Is it not more likely -- as demonstrated by news headlines every day -- that the arbitrary rule of power, selfish interests, injustice and exploitation, and violence in all its forms, will extend their grip?" AFP (10/06/08)

“The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church," is the theme of the meeting, the second after Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 into the papacy. The gathering makes the consultations among bishops all over the globe possible. It is attended by Greek Orthodox Church head Bartholomew I, Israeli Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen and Protestant and Anglican prelates. The bishops from China who represent 8 to 12 million Christian believers are unable to attend because of restrictions imposed by the communist state.

The pope’s comment against loss of the Christian identity is an expression of the urgent need for moral values to return to the world, in particular, in Europe’s secular affairs where Christianity has been barren for years. The weakened religious faith may be part of the increasing secularism, relativism, selfishness, and injustice that trouble many nations worldwide. (Photo Credits: Totie Mesia)=0=