Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged Catholics to renew their faith and not to give in to “worrying problems” and “fear of the other” at an open-air mass in front of 300,000 people near Venice. “We have to testify about Christian hope to modern man, who is often beset with vast and worrying problems that throw the very foundations of his being and his actions into crisis,” the pope told the crowd in his homily.
He said Catholics should not give in to “fear of the other, of foreigners, of people who come from far away” and said believers should resist “a way of thinking that openly rejects or surreptitiously opposes the Bible’s message.” Europe has been mired in controversy over the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants and refugees from Libya and Tunisia in recent months, with Italy finding itself on the frontline of the wave of arrivals from North Africa. He also hailed the movements behind “a new evangelisation” including “Communion and Liberation” “Focolari” and “Neocatechumenal Way”, which have sometimes been criticised for their attitude towards secular societies.
The German pontiff made no mention of the many doubts among believers over the Church’s strict stance on doctrine or the scandal of paedophile priests, concentrating instead on the dangers of moral relativism and hedonism. The 84-year-old German pontiff called on Catholics to “promote and defend with courage the truth and unity of the faith,” adding that being a Christian should not be a cultural or social identity without spiritual content.
The crowd, mostly from the surrounding area but also from Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, assembled in the San Giuliano park in Mestre, an industrial town on the other side of the lagoon from the famous island city of Venice.
