Pope says pleasure and violence are “poisoning” spiritual life
(June 1, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that today's focus on products that
promote pleasure and violence was “poisoning” spiritual life. In the same way the
world is fighting environmental pollution with new ecological initiatives, the same
must be done to fight the pollution that is corrupting hearts and minds, the Holy
Father said in his homily during the Pentecost Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Observed 50 days after Easter, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit
on Mary and the apostles, an event that is regarded as the birth of the Church. “What
the air is to biological life, the Holy Spirit is to spiritual life,” Pope Benedict
said hinting at today’s moral degradation. “In the same way as there is atmospheric
pollution that poisons the environment and its human beings, there is also a pollution
of the heart and spirit that kills and poisons spiritual existence,” he said. The
German-born Pope has frequently lamented how the entertainment industry and the media
sensationalize sex and violence. On Sunday, he didn't specify who was responsible
for making the products and images “that make a show of pleasure, violence or the
disregard for man and woman” which he said the world was increasingly getting used
to. “In the same way as we cannot get used to the poisons in the air, and for this
reason the ecological challenge is such a priority today, we must do the same to fight
that which corrupts the spirit,” he said.