Pope speaks to Brazil’s bishops on secularization

(September 7, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday warned against a tendency of “self-secularization” in the Catholic Church, which gives in too much by way of secularization, particularly in the field of ethics. The Pope’s warning came in a message he delivered to a group of Brazilian bishops making their 5-yearly so-called ‘Ad limina’ visit to Rome to report on the state of their dioceses. “In the decades following Vatican Council II,” the Pope observed, “some interpreted the opening of the Church to the world, not as a need for the missionary zeal after the heart of Christ, but as a gateway to secularization, seeing in it some values of great Christian import such as equality, freedom and solidarity, and willing to make concessions and find areas of collaboration.” This led to the intervention of some Church leaders in ethical debates, that met the expectations of public opinion, but which avoided stressing certain fundamental truths of faith, such as sin, grace, theological life and the ultimate realities. “While hoping to please those who distanced themselves from the Church,” the Pope pointed out, “many a Christian community unconsciously slipped into self-secularisation.” O the other hand, “many who were near, found themselves betrayed and disillusioned and thus distanced themselves.” Expressing concern at the falling number of faithful in Brazil’s Catholic Church due to aggressive competition from sects, the Pope told the country’s bishops that their contemporaries want to see the true joy and hope that gushes forth from being with the Risen Christ. He reminded them that there is a new generation in this secularized environment that feels the thirst for the transcendence.