SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA: Pope Benedict XVI called on Spain and the rest of Europe on Saturday to reinvigorate their Christian roots and warned against a preoccupation with material needs.
Moments after landing in Spain’s holiest city Santiago de Compostela, he recalled that Pope John Paul II had exhorted Europe from the same city to “give new impulse to its Christian roots”.
“I too wish to encourage Spain and Europe to build their present and to project their future on the basis of the authentic truth about man, on the basis of freedom which respects this truth and never harms it, and on the basis of justice for all, beginning with the poorest and the most defenceless,” the 83-year-old pontiff said.
“A Spain and a Europe concerned not only with people’s material needs but also with their moral and social, spiritual and religious needs, since all these are genuine requirements of our common humanity and only in this way can work be done effectively, integrally and fruitfully for man’s good.” AFP
