Pope’s Sunday ‘Angelus’ addresses various issues around the world

(Feb. 4, 2008) Vocations, respect for human life, the 150^th anniversary of the apparitions of Lourdes, as well as the violence in Kenya, Iraq, Colombia were the various issues that Pope Benedict XVI address on Sunday. Addressing thousands of faithful in Saint Peter's Square during his weekly midday ‘Angelus’ prayer the Pope also wished all those celebrating the lunar new year, which is will be celebrated on February 7 in China, Vietnam, and other countries of the far east.
The Pope recalled the Day for Life which is marked by Italy’s Catholic Church on the first Sunday of February. Commenting on the theme chosen by the Italian bishops this year, "To serve life", the Pope said: "Everyone, according to his own opportunities, professionalism, and competencies, should feel himself increasingly prompted to love and serve life, from its beginning to its natural end. It is in fact the common task of all to welcome human life as a gift to be respected, protected, and promoted, and all the more so when it is fragile and in need of attention and care, both before birth and as well as in its terminal phase.”
The German pontiff also reminded all of the up-coming Lenten period that begins this week with Ash Wednesday and the 150 year anniversary of the apparitions of Lourdes. For the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (February 11th), the pope established that from February 2-11 one can obtain plenary indulgence, i.e. full remission of temporal punishment in purgatory, due for sins which have already been forgiven. A person seeking an indulgence must fulfil certain conditions.
After reciting the “Angelus”, the pontiff asked all to pray for "reconciliation, justice, and peace" in Kenya, where following the contested elections a violent war has been taking place for weeks among ethnic groups in the country. The pope also asked for prayers for Iraq, where "malice and its burden of suffering seem to know no limits". He said he was again raising his voice "in favour of that population, so harshly tested, and on their behalf I invoke the peace of God". Speaking in Spanish, the pontiff also recalled Colombia and "the sons and daughters" who suffer "extortion, kidnapping, and the violent loss of their loved ones"
At his Sunday Angelus, Pope Benedict also referred to the Catholic Church’s annual Day of Consecrated Life, celebrated the previous day, Saturday, on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. He thanked the world’s men and women religious "who dedicate themselves to the total service of God and of the Church through the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.” Hundreds of priests, brothers and sisters had gathered in St Peter's Basilica for a Mass on Saturday evening by Cardinal Franc Rodé, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. At the end of the Mass Pope Benedict address the gathering urging religious men and women across the world to contribute to the preparations for the worldwide Synod of Bishops scheduled for October this year in Rome, on the theme, the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. Underscoring the importance of the Oct. 5-26 synod the Pope said, “consecrated life is, in fact, rooted in the Gospel, it has continued down through the centuries to be inspired by it as its first rule, and it is called to return to it in order to be constantly rejuvenated so it may bring the fruits of the salvation of souls". At the origins of various expressions of consecrated life, the Pope said, there has always been a strong evangelical inspiration. It is the Holy Spirit who attracts a few persons to live the Gospel in a radical way and to transform it in a generous form of discipleship, he said. Thus is born a religious family, whose presence in turn becomes a living interpretation of the Word of God. Pope Benedict concluded urging the religious of the world to help the faithful to appreciate prayer, meditation and the Word of God in their daily life.
Pope Benedict also addressed the crowd in English, reminding the people of Lent: