Pope to Politicians: "Recognise the Role of Religions in Society"

(17 June 09 - RV) Over 30 thousand pilgrims were present in St Peter’s Square among them groups from Malaysia and Singapore, unusual additions to this papal appointment:
“I greet the pilgrims from the parishes of Sacred Heart, Dontozidon, Ilapayan and Tuaran from the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, accompanied by Archbishop John Lee, and also the pilgrims from Saint Francis Parish, Singapore”.
Pope Benedict also recalled the meeting of religious leaders from around the world, currently under way in Rome ahead of the July G8 summit:
“I am confident – he said in comments in English - that it will do much to draw the attention of world political leaders to the importance of religions within the social fabric of every society and to the grave duty to ensure that their deliberations and policies support and uphold the common good''.
But the Popes real lesson for pilgrims this Wednesday is that in enculturation is no modern phenomenon, and that the Gospel message can only really be understood if it is accessible to people in their own language. All this from his reflections on two brothers from 9^th century Greece, who became known as the “Apostles of the Slavs”, and co Patrons of Europe: Saints Cyril and Methodius. Cyril was the younger of the two and was sent to Constantinople at 14 years of age, where he was a companion of the Emperor Emanuel III.
“When his brother Michael became a monk, taking the name of Methodius, Cyril also decided to embrace the monastic life”.
 Their “mission” began when they were invited to the Crimea, where Cyril learnt Hebrew and found the tomb and relics of Pope Clement Ist, who had been exiled there. They were then invited to Moravia by Michael III, at the behest of Prince Rastislav, who said “we have no master who can teach us about our faith in our own language”. It was at this point that Cyril began translating the Gospel into Slav. In 867 they were called to Rome where despite hostility from Latin and Greek traditionalists, Pope where Hadrian II welcomed them recognising the importance of their “ecclesial mission”,
“Inventing an alphabet for the Slavonic language, they together with their disciples translated the Liturgy, the Bible and texts of the Fathers, shaping the culture of the Slav peoples and leaving an outstanding example of enculturation”. May we imitate their strong faith and their Christian wisdom concluded Pope Benedict as we bear witness to the Gospel in our daily lives!