A time for Christians to engage with the world: Pope writes in FT

December 20, 2012: ‘A time for Christians to engage with the world’ is the title of an English language article written by Pope Benedict XVI in Thursday's Financial Times newspaper. The article originated from a request from the editorial office of the newspaper asking for the Pope's comments to mark the occasion of Christmas and following the recent publication of the Holy Father's book on Jesus' infancy, said a note of explanation by the Press Office of the Holy See.

“Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God,” was the response of Jesus when asked about paying taxes. His questioners, of course, were laying a trap for him. They wanted to force him to take sides in the highly-charged political debate about Roman rule in the land of Israel. Yet there was more at stake here: if Jesus really was the long-awaited Messiah, then surely he would oppose the Roman overlords. So the question was calculated to expose him either as a threat to the regime, or a fraud.
Jesus’ answer deftly moves the argument to a higher plane, gently cautioning against both the politicization of religion and the deification of temporal power, along with the relentless pursuit of wealth”, explained the article.

Jesus’ audience needed to be reminded that the Messiah was not Caesar, and Caesar was not God. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish was of an altogether higher order, wrote the Pope.

Moving on to the Christmas, the Pontiff writes, the birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life. While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience, added the Pope

Vatican’s Press Office said that it is not the first time that the Pope accepted such unusual request. In the past also the Pontiff responded to some unusual requests, such as requests to speak to the BBC, just in time for Christmas a few months after the trip to the United Kingdom, or the request for an interview television for the program "In His Image" of RAI, answering questions on Good Friday.