I går åpna pave benedikt årets bispesynode om Bibelens plass i Kirken – i Pauluskirken utenfor muren i Roma, og 52 kardinaler, 45 erkebiskoper og 108 biskoper var til stede. Paven var ganske dristig og direkte i sin tale, og sa bl.a.:
“Nations which once were rich in faith and vocations are now losing their identity,” the pope said, “under the deleterious and destructive influence of a certain modern culture.” In that context, Benedict returned to a familiar theme: the false promises of a world without God.
“When humanity eliminates God from its horizon, declaring God ‘dead,’ does that really make people happier?” Benedict asked. “Does humanity become truly freer? When people proclaim themselves the absolute proprietors of themselves and the lone owners of creation, can they truly construct a society in which justice, freedom and peace reign?”
“Doesn’t the opposite actually happen, as the daily news amply demonstrates?” Benedict said, answering his own rhetorical question. “Doesn’t the rule of power, of egotistical interests, of injustice and exploitation, of violence in all of its expressions, simply spread even more?” A world without God, Benedict warned, ends with people “more alone, and a divided and confused society.”
John Allen er til stede under den tre uker lange bispesynoden, og vil skrive regelmessig om det som skjer – se her. Han skrev grundig om konferansen i sin fredagsspalte, og skrev også videre om hva pave Benedikt sa i sin preken i går:
Despite the dire tone of those alarms, Benedict also offered a note of hope, saying that “if in some regions the faith is weakening to the point of extinction, there will always be other peoples ready to welcome it.”
As pope, Benedict has repeatedly insisted that tension between proclaiming the gospel and working for social justice, which is often experienced at the Catholic grassroots, is a false choice. Ultimately, he has argued, Christ is the only basis for lasting justice and peace, so that preaching the gospel is a form of building a better world.
“Only the Word of God can change human hearts at the deepest level,” the pope said this morning.
In that connection, Benedict focused on the link between the Bible and the missionary impulse in Christianity. He distinguished three groups that should be the object of missionary efforts:
• Those who have never heard the gospel;
• Those who have weakened in the faith, and preserve only a superficial contact with the Word of God;
• Those who have become distant from the faith and therefore require a “new evangelization.”
Emphasizing the importance of the Bible, Benedict quoted a famous adage of St. Jerome: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
More broadly, Benedict urged that the synod develop new strategies to draw on the Bible to evangelize broad sectors of culture.