Vatican, Jul. 2, 2007 (
CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) met with
a group of bishops from Puerto Rico on June 30, and encouraged them to meet
the challenges of "religious indifference" and "a certain moral relativism"
in their society.
The Pope noted that the Puerto Rican bishops, who were making their ad
limina visits, had commented on the challenges they faced in their reports
to Rome. He told them that they have the duty to ensure that "the Church
remains a place where the mystery of divine love is taught and lived."
The problem for the Church in a secularized Puerto Rica stems largely from
an attitude that "leads to derision or ignorance of the sacred, relegating
faith to a merely private sphere," the Pope said. While this attitude
hampers the public work of the Church, the health of family life is
simultaneously endangered by a combination of materialism and "the lack of
stability and faithfulness in couples." Young people, meanwhile, are exposed
to the damaging influence of "religious indifference and the temptation of
an easy moral permissiveness, as well as ignorance of the Christian
tradition."
