Pope: a West tired of God; Asia and Africa at the crossroads
Vatican City (AsiaNews) -- In a speech to the priests of the Aosta diocese on July 25, Pope Benedict XVI analyzed the life of the Church in the world, with its sad aspects (mainly in the West) and its hope (in Africa and Asia). The pope spoke off the cuff and the complete transcript of his words was published today in the Osservatore Romano. His address took place in the parish church of the town of Introd.
The Pope began with an observation: "it seems that people", he said, "have no need for us, all that we do seems useless." He stressed that he didn't have a ready-made formula: "I share with you these questions...I too suffer."
Speaking of the lack of vocations in the Western world, the Pope pointed to the West's own mentality, which he defined as "tired of its own culture", as having reached the conclusion that "there is no longer any evidence of the need for God, let alone Christ...in which it seems that man could construct himself...In this climate of rationalism closed in on itself, which considers the pattern of sciences the only pattern of knowledge, all the rest is subjective. Even...Christian life becomes a subjective choice, thus arbitrary and no longer the path of life. And therefore...it becomes difficult to believe and...offer one's life to the Lord to serve him."
Recalling the ad limina visits of various Asian and African bishops, Benedict XVI then said that "here, vocations are growing...indeed, there are so many that there is a lack of seminaries to receive these young men who want to become priests." "Of course," he went on to say, "some of them come in the hope of social advancement... Bishops must be very careful in discerning... Nevertheless, there is quite an enthusiasm of faith."
The Pope explained that such enthusiasm depends on the fact that these cultures "are at a given time of their history, namely a time in which traditional religions...reveal their insufficiency." "These traditional religions," he said, "carry in themselves a promise, but expect something. They expect a new response that purifies and, shall we say, takes on all beauty and liberates these insufficient and negative aspects. At this juncture, in which their culture really reaches out to a new hour in history, two offers -- Christianity and Islam -- are history's possible answers."
Christians and priests are called upon to live these challenges with "patience, in the certainty that the world cannot live without God; The God of Revelation -- and not any God: we see how dangerous a cruel God can be, an unreal God -- the God that showed in Jesus Christ his countenance. This countenance which suffered for us, this countenance of love which transforms the world in the manner of the grain of wheat which falls to the ground...Without the concrete God, the God with the Face of Christ, the world self-destructs...man self-destructs."
The Pope then asked priests to "deepen this certainty in a personal relation with the Lord...even with rational considerations." Through this "personalization...new vocations grow. We see this in the new generation after the great crises of this cultural struggle set off in 1968 where the historical era of Christianity seemed a thing of the past."
The Pope also suggested more community life to priests: "if young men see priests highly isolated, sad, tired, they say: if that is my future, forget about it. Such communion of life must truly be created to show the young: yes, this can be a future for me too, this can be life."
Answering afterwards questions posed by priests in attendance, Benedict XVI stressed once again the "need to attract the young to the Church." "It is important that young people can discover the beauty of faith...that it is beautful to have God as a friend...This intellectual factor must then be accompanied by an affective and social factor, that is by a socialization in faith...so that faith forms community, offers places of life and convinces in an ensemble of thought, affection, friendship of life....And for this reason they must be accompanied by intelligent answers to the questions of our times: is there still the need for God? Is it still reasonable to believe in God? Christ is just a figure of the history of religions or is He truly the Face of God of which we are all in need? Can we live well without knowing Christ? It must be understood that building life, the future, also requires patience and sufferance. The cross cannot lack from the life of the young and it is not easy to make this understood."
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