Pope Receives Bishops of Slovenia

24 Jan 08 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI today received the bishops of Slovenia, who are here in Rome for their ad limina visists.
Chris Altieri reports…


Pope Benedict XVI received the bishops of Slovenia on Thursday morning in the Vatican.
The bishops are in Rome for their ad limina visits.
In remarks to the bishops, the Holy Father recalled some of the many changes Slovenian society has undergone since 2001, when last the bishops were in Rome to visit the threshold of the Apostles.
In April of 2004, Slovenia entered the European Union. In 2007, Slovenia adopted the Euro as its currency, and entered the free-circulation zone created by the Schengen Agreement.
Slovenia currently holds the European Union’s revolving presidency.
Pope Benedict recalled how the bishops sent a Pastoral Letter to all the faithful of Slovenia on occasion of the Church’s entrance into the EU.
The Pope praised the letter’s insistence on the need to preserve the Christian roots of Europe’s commitment to respecting the dignity of the human person, if Europe is to remain and continue to become ever more a land of peace.
Pope Benedict said there are different kinds of humanism, and the different humanisms are not morally equivalent.
A given society’s decision to adopt one or another vision of the human person will have consequences for that society’s attempts to order its civic life.
Different and perhaps even more insidious than Marxism, said Pope Benedict , Western-style secularism presents signs that cannot but be cause for worry.
The Holy Fathers said the unbridled pursuit of material goods, the decline in birth rates and the drop in religious observance are just a few of the problems secularism has brought to Slovenian society, and the Church has been for some time and in different ways engaged in countering secularism’s effects.
Pope Benedict said pastors have the duty to show Christians the path that leads to life, so that the faithful can be salt and light in society.
Quoting the Bishops’ 2004 pastoral letter, the Holy Father said “Christianity is the religion of hope: hope in life, in happiness without end, in the achievement of the brotherhood of all men.”