Pope addresses unemployment, Chinese Church, world peace during Monte Cassino visit

(May 25, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called for solutions to the unemployment crisis, for the creation of jobs to help and protect families who are facing critical economic situations. The Pope’s appeal came in his homily during a Mass he celebrated for thousands of people at Monte Cassino, a town about 130 km southeast of Rome. The site is famous for its hill-top Benedictine Abbey built in 529 by the Pope’s patron, St. Benedict. Speaking in his homily the Holy Father explained the purpose of his visit – namely, to encourage them constantly to build, found and rebuild the diocesan community on Christ, following the example of St. Benedict, who recommended in his Rule to put nothing before Christ. After speaking about the priority of prayer as “the silent path that leads us directly to the heart of God…” Pope Benedict noted the importance of work in the Benedictine tradition. Acknowledging the critical the situation of many workers he expressed solidarity with those who live in troubling precariousness, such as those laid off and on state assistance. He called on "the entrepreneurs and those who are able, to seek, with everyone's help, valid solutions to the employment crisis, creating new places of work to safeguard families." He particularly assured the young unemployed that the Church will not abandon them.
From Monte Cassino, Pope Benedict also appealed to Catholics in China to renew their loyalty to the Holy See. His call during Sunday’s midday Marian “Regina Coeli” prayer came on the Vatican's second annual day of prayers for the church in China. The world’s most populous nation forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in the state-approved Church called the Chinese Patriotic Association that does not recognize the Pope’s authority and appoints its own priests and bishops. Millions of Chinese, however, belong to unofficial congregations that are loyal to Rome. In 2007, Pope Benedict sent a special letter to Catholics in China, praising the underground church but also urging the faithful to reconcile with followers of the official church. «In particular, I greet with great love the Catholics in China and urge them to renew today their communion of faith in Christ and loyalty to the successor of Peter,» Pope Benedict said on Sunday. The Vatican plans to publish a new document following up on the 2007 letter. The document, in a question-and-answer format like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, will summarize and discuss the contents of the pope's letter to make it more accessible, the Vatican said on Saturday. The Vatican plans to post it on its Web site in English and Chinese.
At the midday ‘Regina Coeli’ prayer at Monte Cassino Pope Benedict XVI also prayed for an end to all violent conflict. Visiting the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of World War Two, the Pontiff prayed for an end to all violent conflict. The Pope celebrated mass for thousands of people at the foot of the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino, Italy, which was destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombs and later rebuilt. The Allies had wrongly believed the Germans were using the monastery as a lookout. Tens of thousands of soldiers were killed before the Allies broke through and captured Rome as the Germans retreated north. "In this place, where so many lost their lives in the battles that were fought during the Second World War, we pray especially for the souls of the fallen, commending them to God's infinite mercy, and we pray for an end to the wars that continue to afflict our world," the Holy Father said at the end of the mass. In his sermon, the pope said the military cemeteries that dot the area were "silent witnesses" to suffering. Before returning to Rome, the pope stopped to pray at the Polish military cemetery, where more than 1,000 Polish soldiers who died in the battle are buried. Pope Benedict asked God to enlighten today's leaders to understand that "peace is more precious" than anything else.