Fight cultural "idolatry," Pope asks US bishops

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Fight cultural "idolatry," Pope asks US bishops

Vatican, Jun. 04 (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II (bio - news) today told a group of visiting US bishops that the Church in America must undertake an "evangelization of the culture." The Holy Father stressed that this effort is necessary in order to combat popular forms of "idolatry" and confusion.

"Ambiguous moral positions, the distortion of reason by particular interest groups, and the absolutizing of the subjective, are just some examples of a perspective of life which fails to seek truth itself and abandons the search for the ultimate goal and meaning of human existence," the Pope said. He was speaking to a group of bishops from the Rocky Mountain states on June 4-- just before a meeting with US President George W. Bush.

John Paul II reminded his American visitors of the words of Pope Paul VI, that "the split between the Gospel and culture is undoubtedly the drama of our time." That drama is particularly intense in affluent societies such as the US, he continued. The Pope mentioned the "new forms of poverty" that are evident amid great wealth, such as "despair at the lack of meaning in life," and "senseless pursuit of novelty."

The whole article is here.



-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), June 04, 2004

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