Pope Benedict XVIth celebrated Holy Mass with over 100.000 people in Glasgow's Bellahouston
Park. The Mass came at the end of the Pope's first day in the United Kingdom. Philippa
Hitchen is travelling with Pope Benedict and filed this report... listen...
A hundred
thousand welcomes is the Gaelic expression the archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti used
at the opening of the Mass in Bellahouston Park and the welcome the Scottish people
prepared for Pope Benedict has indeed exceed all the organisers’ expectations. Here
in the Catholic heartland of the country, up to 100.000 people turned out to take
part in the first open air event of his visit to the UK, in the same leafy suburban
park where Pope John Paul urged the spiritual heirs of St Andrew to hold fast to the
faith that guided their forefathers throughout the upheavals and conflicts of past
centuries.
Wrapped up well against the wind under clear blue skies, the crowds
had begun to gather early on Thursday afternoon to enjoy an energetic warm up featuring
the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ star Susan Boyle from West Lothian and ‘Pop Idol’ winner
Michelle McManus singing alongside an 800 strong choir and orchestra. Noting the
progress in ecumenical relations that has developed since his predecessor’s 1982 visit,
Pope Benedict stressed that the evangelisation of culture is all the more important
today when, he said, “a dictatorship of relativism threatens to obscure the truth
about man’s nature and destiny..
"There are some who now seek to exclude religious
belief from public discourse, to privatize it or even to paint it as a threat to equality
and liberty. Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect,
leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister."
The Pope urged
his listeners to become clear voices of authentic Christian prayer and action in a
society working for the true welfare of all its citizens. He urged young people in
particular to avoid the ever present temptations of drugs and alcohol, pornography
and promiscuous behaviour, held up as more attractive alternatives to the gospel values
of love and service to others.
"There is only one thing which lasts: the love
of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you. Search for him, know him and love
him, and he will set you free from slavery to the glittering but superficial existence
frequently proposed by today’s society."
Despite the regeneration and development
of Glasgow that has gone on in recent decades since the decline of the ship building
industry along the river Clyde, the city still struggles with high levels of alcohol
and substance abuse, fuelled by poverty and family breakdown. Pope Benedict noted
the vital role played by Catholic schools and the ancient Scottish universities in
providing an education for young people and the city council has also been very active
in setting up public arts and sports centres, including one located in Bellahouston
park itself. Above all though, the Pope urged young people in Scotland not to be afraid
and to follow in the footsteps of the great saints and evangelisers who have courageously
handed down the faith in this land.
With Pope Benedict in the UK, I’m Philippa
Hitchen