Posted on 12/25/2006 8:22:49 PM PST by Coleus
Mankind, which has reached other planets and decoded the genetic instructions for life, should not presume it can live without God, Pope Benedict said in his Christmas message on Monday. In an age of unbridled consumerism it was shameful many remained deaf to the "heart-rending cry" of those dying of hunger, thirst, disease, poverty, war and terrorism, he said.
"Does a 'Saviour' still have any value and meaning for the men and women of the third millennium?" he asked in his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message to the faithful in St Peter's Square, broadcast live to millions in 40 countries. "Is a 'Saviour' still needed by a humanity which has reached the moon and Mars and is prepared to conquer the universe; for a humanity which knows no limits in its pursuit of nature's secrets and which has succeeded even in deciphering the marvelous codes of the human genome?"
He appealed for peace and justice in the Middle East, an end to the brutal violence in Iraq and to the fratricidal conflict in Darfur and other parts of Africa, and expressed his hope for "a democratic Lebanon". In a separate, written message to the small Christian communities of the Middle East, the Pope said he hoped to visit the Holy Land as soon as the situation allowed. Speaking to tens of thousands of people in a sunny square, he wished the world a Happy Christmas in 62 languages -- including Arabic, Hebrew, Mongolian and Latin -- but his speech highlighted his preoccupation with humanity's fate.
SUFFERING HUMANITY
Marking the second Christmas season of his pontificate, he said that while 21st century man appeared to be a master of his own destiny, "perhaps he needs a saviour all the more" because much of humanity was suffering. "People continue to die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty, in this age of plenty and of unbridled consumerism," he said from the central balcony of Christendom's largest church.
"Some people remain enslaved, exploited and stripped of their dignity; others are victims of racial and religious hatred, hampered by intolerance and discrimination, and by political interference and physical or moral coercion with regard to the free profession of their faith. "Others see their own bodies and those of their dear ones, particularly their children, maimed by weaponry, by terrorism and by all sorts of violence, at a time when everyone invokes and acclaims progress, solidarity and peace for all."
The Pope also made reference to the controversial case of Piergiorgio Welby, a paralyzed Italian man who was denied a Catholic funeral because he had asked to die. "What are we to think of those who choose death in the belief that they are celebrating life?" he said. Welby, an advocate of euthanasia, died on Wednesday after a doctor gave him sedatives and detached a respirator that had kept the victim of advanced muscular dystrophy alive for years.
In his midnight mass for some 10,000 people in St. Peter's Basilica earlier on Monday, the Pope said the image of the baby Jesus in a manger should remind everyone of the plight of poor, abused and neglected children the world over. At that mass a member of the congregation read a prayer in Arabic asking God to encourage "a spirit of dialogue, mutual understanding and collaboration" among followers of the three great monotheistic religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Have I said before how much I love this man? A Blessed Christmas to His Holiness!
Do tell me something was lost in translation.
Good for the Pope!
"is prepared to conquer the universe; for a humanity which knows no limits in its pursuit of nature's secrets and which has succeeded even in deciphering the marvelous codes of the human genome?"
Context is always good.
Where did Welby say this was an act of "celebrating life?"
I knew a man who suffered from AIDS for years, and went from one horrible experience to another for years.
He finally decided to just stop taking his meds, and there is no way I could judge him for this decision.
http://assistedsuicide.org/blog/2006/09/26/piergiorgio-welbys-open-letter-to-the-italian-president-full-text/
The problem, Jorge, is that he is supporting an ideology that is wrong.
If someone gives up and simply stops taking his meds, that is one thing, but assisted suicide is a political issue and involves the taking of life by others. I find it interesting that he could come up with the strength to write the letter I posted.
Probably.
We are just barely a level 0.7 civilization. We are pathetic.
Not taking meds can be interpreted as letting life take its course. In fact it is!
Families often up the dosage of pain meds knowing full well they could hasten the death of a terminal loved one, rather than see them suffer pointlessly.
Happens all the time.
Thank you.
And not being hooked up to a machine can be interpreted the same way.
"Worship God not technology, Pope says on Christmas."
Apparently, the lastest edition of Time Magazine's selection/topic of Person of the Year..does not impress the Pope.
I am sorry your Holiness, could you please repeat that again ? I had to change the battery in my Digital Voice Recorder.
Suffering humanity? Consider the trial of galileo : he was persecuted by this same catholic church for saying the earth spins on its axis and(copernicus)orbits the sun. Those same church holinesses have done virtually NOTHING to alleviate human suffering since then. The scientists that galileo inspired have done WONDERS in the hundreds of years since, esp in the field of medicine. They purport to represent Jesus, and yet Jesus said : a tree is known by its fruit. It is my belief as a christian that there have been far more saints in science than there ever were in the catholic church. If "human suffering" is the battlefield, where are thy victories oh catholic church? How do they compare to science's victories of overcoming ignorance?
..yeah. That was possibly one the most idiotic things I've ever read. Science isn't moralistic by nature. People want to know stuff. People advance humanity. One one hand, we have penicillin. On the other, we have things like anthrax. Advance merely heightens the potential for humanity to do good or evil, it doesn't force us into either path.
I love the Galileo comparison, by the way. Because, y'know, the Church in the times of the industrial revolution was EXACTLY THE SAME as the church of today.
Hell, why don't we just find the Germans, and make them pay for Hitler's crimes. While we're at it, what did those Germans ever do for anyone? They collapsed the Roman Empire! Damn Germans.
That's what your reply sounds like. Now, I'll put this in terms you can understand. The Pope is a religious authority for Catholics. If he told Catholics to go out and start proletyzing their faith above any other concern, whether it be humanitarian or otherwise, no doubt quite a few of them would obey.
Saying that he hasn't done anything good is the same as saying Pres. Bush hadn't done the world a favor when he ordered the invasion (and subsequent, hideously expensive rebuilding) of Iraq. After all, he didn't PERSONALLY rebuild the damn thing, eh?
It is my belief as an atheist that someone doing good is doing just that - good. It doesn't matter a damn what their predecessors have done in the past, nor does it matter the historic actions of their organization - inherited guilt is a crock.
The Pope isn't the best person in the world, I can agree to that. But to attack him because he says people should go out and help one another?
It's the same as seeing your neighbour trying to get people together, and help the homeless, and then ask him what he's done in the past, what his moral authority is, that allows him to get people together to do such a thing.
Whether a religious figure, a scientist, a poor man in India, a CEO, or a man dressed in a bear suit does good, whether it be directly, (working with the hungry), or indirectly (using corporate money to feed the hungry), it is good nonetheless.
The Pope isn't advocating religion over science. He's saying it's a shame, that, despite humanity's great progress, the fact that we can travel to the moon, that we have cracked the human genome, that we can produce enough food to feed the world twice-over, it's a shame that hunger and poverty exist in large scales in such a world that we have built.
And I think, in all honesty, we can all agree with that.
There are talkers and there are doers. Popes and pastors love to sermonize but do next to nothing as to rolling up their sleeves and helping others by WORKING. Again, as a christian and scientist I see them generally as hypocrites : running off at the mouth instead of the sweat glands in helping a poor man build his house. As our lord said : before you would be king, you must first be a servant. And as to science, can you unlock these riddles : Can you demonstrate a time event that is not a kinetic energy event? And can you demonstrate infinity?
Later read/pingout..
Must ping later today.
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