Pope addresses Pontifical Council for the Laity

(May 21, 2010) Imparting technical training to politicians is not the duty of the Church. However, offering moral judgement on political issues that affect the fundamental rights of man and the salvation of souls belongs to the mission of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI stressed this point on Friday in an address to members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Laity. “Witnesses of Christ in the Political Community,” was the theme of the council’s two day plenary assembly that concludes in Rome on Saturday. The Pope told the participants that the Church expects that the lay faithful concretely show in their personal and family life, in their social, cultural and political life, that faith is capable of transforming reality, that Christian hope broadens man’s horizon beyond to God and that charity in truth is the most effective force that can change the world. The Pope also stressed on the Gospel’s liberating power and the principles of the Church’s social doctrine. “There is need of authentic Christian politicians, but even much more, of lay faithful who are witnesses of Christ and the Gospel in the civil and political community,” the Pope said. In an age where the spread of a confused cultural relativism and a hedonistic and utilitarian individualism weakens democracy and favours the rule of the powerful, the Pope said a true revolution of love is needed.