Pope decries “desert of godlessness”
In his annual Good Friday address, Pope Benedict warned that Western civilization has “drifted into a desert of godlessness.”
Jesus is humiliated in new ways even today – when things that are most holy and profound in the faith are being trivialised, the sense of the sacred is allowed to erode,’ he said.
‘Everything in public life risks being desacralised – persons, places, pledges, prayers, practices, words, sacred writings, religious formulae, symbols, ceremonies. Our life together is being increasingly secularised.
‘Religious life grows diffident. Thus we see the most momentous matters placed among trifles, and trivialities glorified.
‘Values and norms that held societies together and drew people to higher ideals are laughed at and thrown overboard. Jesus continues to be ridiculed.’
The Pope, who turns 82 later this month, prayed that Christians would respond to the problem by growing in faith.
‘May we never question or mock serious things in life like a cynic,’ he said.
‘Allow us not to drift into the desert of godlessness. Enable us to perceive you in the gentle breeze, see you in street corners, love you in the unborn child.’
While assuredly not intentional, it was interesting to hear the pope allude to how end-time western culture (America included, if not specifically) is portrayed in Isaiah 18, Jeremiah 50 & 51, and Revelation 18.
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