(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict has sent a message to the Bishop of Rimini, Franesco
Lambiasi on the occasion of the 33rd Rimini meeting which begins Sunday.
The theme of meeting is, “By nature, Man is relation to the Infinite.”
In his
message the Pope writes "to speak of man and his desire to infinity - means first
acknowledging his constitutive relationship with the Creator.
Man is a creature
of God, yet the Pope adds, "Today this word “creature” appears almost out of fashion:
we prefer to think of man as being complete in itself, and master of its own destiny."
The
Holy Father goes on to say that despite man trying to escape this fundamental relationship
with God, his heart is still in search of the infinite, albeit in the wrong direction.
He "begins a frantic search for a sterile and false infinite that leads to dangerous
places, "to drugs, sexuality lived in a disorderly manner, success at any cost, and
even deceptive forms of religiosity."
"To truly find himself and his identity,
recommends Pope Benedict, man must return to recognizing himself as a creature, dependent
on God.
In recognition of this dependence, man experiences the joyful discovery
that we are children of God linked to the possibility of a truly free and full life.
"