Quotes and news

This week’s quotes are taken from various speeches by Pope Benedict during his recent visit to Germany.

God and human rights

From his speech to the German Parliament: “The conviction that there is a Creator God gave rise to the idea of human rights, of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition of the inviolability of human dignity in every person and the aware­ness of people’s responsibility for their actions.

“The culture of Europe arose from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – between Israel’s mono­theism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This three-way encounter has shaped the inner identity of Europe.”

State without a culture

From his speech to the German Parliament: “I say this with Europe specifically in mind, where there are concerted efforts to recognise only positivism as a common culture and a common basis for law-making, reducing all the other insights and values of our culture to the level of subculture, with the result that Europe is left in a state of being without a culture, and extremist and radical movements fill the vacuum.

“In its self-proclaimed exclusivity, the positivist reason which recognises nothing beyond mere functionality resembles a concrete bunker with no windows, in which we ourselves provide lighting and atmospheric conditions, being no longer willing to obtain either from God’s wide world.”

The Church: Not just an organisation

Speaking at Berlin’s Olympic stadium: “Many see only the outward form of the Church. This makes the Church appear as merely one of the many organisations within society, whose criteria and laws are then applied to the task of evaluating and dealing with such a complex entity.

“If to this is added that the Church contains both good and bad fish, wheat and darnel, and if only these negative aspects are taken into account, then the deep mystery of the Church is no longer seen.”

Dangers of relativism

Addressing members of the Central Committee for German Catholics: “We live at a time that is broadly characterised by a subliminal relativism that penetrates every area of life.

“Sometimes this relativism becomes aggressive, when it opposes those who claim to know where the truth or meaning of life is to be found. And we observe that this relativism exerts more and more influence on human relationships and on society...

“Many no longer seem capable of any form of self-denial or of making a sacrifice for others. Even the altruistic commitment to the common good, in the social and cultural sphere or on behalf of the needy, is in decline.

“Others are now quite incapable of committing themselves unreservedly to a single partner.”

Christ is your friend

Speaking to youths: “No saint, apart from the Blessed Virgin Mary, has not known sin, has never fallen. Christ is not so much interested in how often in your lives you stumble and fall, as in how often you pick yourselves up again.

“He does not demand glittering achievements, but He wants His light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because He is good and He wants to make you His friends.

“You are the light of the world because Jesus is your light. You are Christians not because you do special, extraordinary things, but be­cause Christ is your life. You are holy because His grace is at work in you.”

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)