Pope Slams Modern Societies For Godlessness

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday that modern culture is pushing God out of people's lives, causing nations once rich in religious faith to lose their identities.

Benedict celebrated a Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to open a worldwide meeting of bishops on the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics.

"Today, nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture," said Benedict, who has been pushing for religion to be given more room in society.

The meeting of 253 bishops, known as a synod of bishops, will run from Monday through Oct. 26. The Vatican said that despite Benedict's efforts to improve relations with Communist China, no bishops have come from the mainland, although there are prelates from Macau and Hong Kong.

"Surely they tried, I mean the Holy See tried but obviously they could not make agreement," Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen told AP Television News as he entered the basilica.

"Maybe the Holy See welcomes someone that they (the Chinese) would not allow," he said, adding that China might try to send a bishop who is not acceptable to the Holy See.

Chinese bishops have not been allowed to travel to similar meetings in the past.

Ties between the Vatican and China's communist government have long been strained. Beijing objects to the Vatican's tradition of having the pope name his own bishops, calling it interference in China.

China appoints bishops for the state-sanctioned Catholic church. In recent years, some of those bishops have received the Vatican's tacit approval.

Still, many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church with bishops loyal to the pope.

A document prepared for the meeting rejects a fundamentalist approach to the Bible and said a key challenge was to clarify for the faithful the relationship of scripture to science. A rabbi will address the conference on Monday in what is believed to be the first time a Jew has participated in such a meeting.

Comments

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

...hard to take people in funny hats seriously.

[Quaoar]

Man needs religion like a fish needs a bicycle.

[mnkors]

It would be nice if the Church begin preaching for the sanctity of life in conjunction with condemnation the weapon production. - At least, demanding from all “Christian” countries to dedicate same money to children’s health and education as it is allocated to the production of the WMD.
Otherwise, put your efforts to developing safe and effective contraceptives, and let women make an intelligent choice of how many kids she is able to bring up to maturity.

[mnkors]

Charity begins at home. Pope needs to be reminded that the old nuns, who dedicated their lives to the service of others, need health care, same as he does.
And by the way, a woman has only a certain amount of energy and material recourses to bring a child up. If the Church is so sure about the sanctity of the unborn, than these lavishly dressed men of Vatican should abdicate their powerful positions and give away the Church wealth to the needy - first of all to pregnant mothers and small children.

[MadamRoma]

This Pope has got more loose screws than a 1976 Dodge.

[Agent420]

What do you expect him to say? He, like his religion, is fossilized.

[DCato]

This is a bit of a 'Dog Bites Man' story. If the headline was something like "Pope Gives Thumbs Up To Godlessness" now that would be news.

[tryme]

the fact is that no matter who comes in the name of christianity the secular left will mock him.no such mocking if they happen to be muslim leaders.oh!i forgot they're afraid al-qaeda might come after them.grant­ed the catholic church has a very tainted history as well as other christian groups.it only means that jesus christ hasn't been very well served by them.jesus however offered the only blueprint for human freedom and equality that's if you believe he was god incarnate.­people everywhere have a right to either believe that or not just as much as an atheist belief must be protected in any society.mo­ral of the story is that you shouldn't be afraid to debate all these valid points about faith and cherish the fact that we have a democracy that allows us that freedom.

[plages]

Psst . . . how many wondrous century's old master paintings are there in the Vatican's vaults, grottos, sleeping quarters, that can be sold and that money just given to the worlds poor and underprivileged, and will the pope state that from this point on, all church belongings, holdings and properties will be taxed at the going rate for each and every country, in which there is a Catholic presence for the benefit of all poor, under educated, and ill peoples?

[gigs]

yes there have been terrible deeds done by people in the Church - unfortunately the Church on earth is made of human beings who sometimes do terrible things
but the Catholic Church and Catholics in general have done and continue to do many many acts of charity - and many many acts of self sacrifice -
unfortunately we dont always live up to the standards and ideals of our faith but many of us try and try very very hard and I am sick and tired of people insulting a great faith and a great people.
and with respect to the art work of the Vatican - if it werent for the Vatican and the Catholic Church many great works of art wouldnt even exist - and just think how much poorer the world would be if we couldnt escape the dreariness sometimes and gaze on the genius of a Michelangelo.

[kilbilly]

Defending the same organization which was responsible for torturing and burning hundreds, if not thousands of people who didn't believe 'official' church doctrine, huh? Take some time and imagine how wonderful things might be today if the church still ruled the world.
Yep.

[Dynamohum]

I am a recovering Catholic, and I must say that your rant is not founded. This church of yours condemns condoms, birth control pills, etc. No condom = AIDS/Herpe­s/HPV/gono­rrhea/syph­illis/chla­mydia. No Birth Control = too many children that are not cared for properly.

The guilt/shame trip pulled on Catholics takes a complet lifetime to get over. I do not have any use for either. The bible is a fairy tale and the pope is just a fairy, or possibly a pedophile.

There would be many incredible inventions and artwork if the Catholic church had stayed out of the way. Most of what they have they stole during World Wars.

[uc1000]

The crusades killed thousands. Northern Ireland! Spanish Inquisition! Blind eye to Hitler! A designer ceiling and some fancy rocks doesn't make up for that. Also, most scientists in the past only professed to believe for money so they could study.

[Tom95134]

Nice hat. Very stylish (for the 12th century.)

[JBS]

Why am I expected to take religious guidance from a guy who looks like Uncle Fester?

[FreedomCorpse]

actually the hat is more in tune with the times of the pharaohs.

[gigs]

the world needs God today more than ever - only God can save us from the fundamentalists

[burndtdan]

that's like saying only unprotected sex can save you from STDs

[LITU]

To your first postulate, I believe the opposite.

[editorjuno]

The only man even older and less relevant than John McCain "rears his head." ZZzzzz....­.

[themodernleader]

The role of religion is to convince members of the organization to accept their place; in this regard religion is the enemy of human enlightenment and growth.

[identify]

Once the Pope can stop the chronic molestation of children that occurs on his watch, then he can pass judgment about 'godlessne­ss'...he's one to talk.. put away all the pederasts and then you can take the moral high ground, you clown!

[foofighter]

Didn't Ann Coulter write a book titled "Godless"? Does that make Coulter the Pope?

Or is that only Papal Bull?

[Jingo]

The Pope needs to embrace modern technology, not complain about it. How about confessions via IM, email or text? Say 3 H Marys and 1 R Fathr... Set up weekly tithing via automatic debit or Paypal. And while where talking about money, why not bring back Indulgences. The Church can sell prepaid cards for use against future sins. Imagine how many pairs of Prada shoes he could buy with the all the cash that would bring in?

[AnotherHuddy]

nice.