Pope Benedict XVI addresses American Bishops during Ad Limina Visit

(January 19, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI said that the Church in America with her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth. He added that our tradition links our commitment to building an authentically just, humane and prosperous society to our ultimate assurance that the cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning. The Pontiff was addressing the American Bishops of the Regions 4^th to 6^th on Thursday in Rome during their Ad Limina visit. An ad Limina visit means the obligation of residential diocesan bishops of visiting the thresholds of the Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, and of meeting the Pope to report on the state of their dioceses. The Pope appreciated the Church’s efforts today to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness. He added that the legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation. The Pontiff told the Bishops to be cautious of the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. He invited them to build an articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism detrimental to the future of American society. Pope Benedict appreciated their efforts to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights.