Pope Benedict XVI to travel to Germany: Fr. Lombardi's editorial

The future and God

We are living in times of worry for the future: the future of the planet Earth and of life on it, the future of the world’s economy and of peace between peoples, the future of Europe and of the nations that form part of it, the future of young people and children who are venturing into life. Going to his country, Germany, by many seen above all to be a leading power in the old continent but where the Christian faith appears to be rapidly diminishing, the Pope has chosen as the motto for his trip: “Where God is, there is a future”. These were the key words of his homily at the Austrian sanctuary of Mariazell four years ago, when he interpreted Europe’s demographic crisis as a sign of a lack of faith in the future and had responded: “The earth will be deprived of a future only when the powers of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart will go out – when the face of God will no longer shine upon the Earth. Where God is, there is a future”.

From the first day after his election, Pope Benedict explained to us that the announcement of the primacy of God would be the first priority of his pontificate. Who is God? How can we see his face? Where can we meet him and how can we talk to him? How does the relationship with God guide the life of every person and his responsibility in society? How does it establish the search for justice and rights?
God is no stranger to life. We mustn’t expect answers from the Pope to marginal questions but to those which are most essential. Passing through a country where the totalitarian denial of God has demonstrated its most extreme consequences, we will reflect together on how to work – as people, as believers in God, as Christians and as Catholics – to build a future worthy of man.