Pope Appeals to World Leaders to Live Up to Millenium Development Promises

(21 Sept 08 - RV) Looking forward to next week’s UN Summit on the Millennium development goals Pope Benedict XVI today appealed to world leaders to have the courage of their convictions to help the impoverished nations of the world...


Pope Benedict opened his Angelus this Sunday by drawing peoples memories back to the 19^th of April 2005, the day of his election to St Peter’s Chair, when he presented himself to a crowded St peter’s square as a ‘humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord’.

Reflecting on that very parable presented in this Sunday’s Gospel the Pope went on to trace the lesson it contains; what it means to really work for the common good, that those who consider themselves first among men may finish last, that the least, most humble of God’s creatures will be first in the Kingdom of Heaven and most importantly those who only work for earthly reward will never know the value of this priceless treasure.

In was an incisive introduction to the two appeals the Pope would launch following the Angelus Prayer.

His concern for the populations of the Caribbean and the Southern swathes of the United States, still struggling in the wake of devastating storms. In particular, his appeal for aid for Haiti, considered the last or poorest nation in the western hemisphere.

And his appeal to the leaders of the First World, who are set to gather in New York next week, to examine the progress of promises they made over 8 years ago to eradicate global poverty.
 From his Summer Residence in Castel Gandolfo Pope Benedict renewed his appeal to world leaders to courageously apply all necessary measures to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger, ignorance, the scourge of disease which above all affect the most vulnerable.

Aware that in this time of global economic difficulty, the Pope said such a commitment requires serious sacrifices, he urged the leaders to consider the important benefits they would produce in the development of nations desperately in need of foreign aid, in furthering peace between nations and the well-being of the entire planet.

In short as The Gospel parable teaches us, the first nations of the world putting the least before them for the common good.

Earlier Sunday morning Pope Benedict made the short journey from the Papal Summer Residence to the nearby town of Albano-Laziale, where he celebrated mass dedicating the new altar of the restored Cathedral.

There retracing this solemn and ancient rite, the Holy Father stripped down to his simple dalmatic, and with his bare hands anointed the marble altar with sacred chrism, incensed it and lit 7 consecration candles in preparation for its first mass.

In his homily, he described the altar as the central point of encounter between Heaven and earth; where Jesus makes his real presence felt among us.

He told the congregation that the altar is a constant invitation to love; that we must always draw near to it with a heart open to receive love and to give love; to receive forgiveness and to grant forgiveness, only then concluded Pope Benedict will we be worthy to take part in communion with Christ.