Globalized World Needs the Gospel, Says Pope

Globalized World Needs the Gospel, Says Pope
Marks 25th Anniversary of Culture Council



Vatican City, JUNE 15, 2007 (Zenit.org).- In an age of globalization, it is urgent that the Gospel becomes leaven for culture, says Benedict XVI.

This is the message the Pope issued today in a meeting with Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and other dicastery officials and members. The council is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its establishment by Pope John Paul II.

The Holy Father stated that the importance of the council has become decisive for the Church, "Thanks to the formidable development of the mass media and the resulting intensification of the social network."

"It has become, therefore, evermore urgent that the Church promote cultural development, valuing the human and spiritual quality of both the message and the content," the Pontiff stated.

Benedict XVI continued: "Culture today is inevitably affected by the process of globalization, which, if not constantly accompanied by vigilant discernment, can rebel against man and impoverish rather than enrich him.

"And, how great the challenges we face in this regard in our evangelization efforts!"

Intertwined

The Pope said that "the history of the Church is inseparably linked to the history of culture and art."

The Holy Father made reference to various works, "such as the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 'Divine Comedy,' the Cathedral of Chartres, the Sistine Chapel and the cantatas of Johannes Sebastian Bach."

"These constitute incomparable syntheses of the Christian life and of human expression," said the Pontiff.

Benedict XVI clarified: "If, indeed, these are, so to speak, pinnacles of the synthesis between faith and culture, their encounter is realized daily in the life and the work of the baptized, in that hidden work of art which is the love story of each individual with the living God and with one's neighbor, in the joy and toil of following Christ in everyday life.

"In the cultural arena, Christianity has to offer everyone its powerful capacity for renewing and lifting up, that is, the love of God that becomes human love."

The Pope continued, quoting from the letter with which John Paul II instituted the Pontifical Council for Culture: "Love is a great hidden force lying in the heart of cultures that encourages them to overcome their unavoidable finality, and opening them to him who is its source and summit, giving them, when they are open to his grace, a fullness and richness."