BENEDICT XVI ON RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE ROME, SEPT. 18, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Social and public life needs a religious element, insisted Benedict XVI during his weekly audience this Wednesday. "At the very center of social life there must be, therefore, a presence that evokes the mystery of the transcendent God," he said. "God and man walk together in history." On numerous occasions Benedict XVI has spoken about the valuable contribution Christianity and religious believers can make to today's society. During one of his early major addresses, on May 12 to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, the Pope...