09-09-2007, 12:05 AM
Pope blasts Europeans for not having enough children
11 hours ago
MARIAZELL, Austria (AFP) â Pope Benedict XVI blasted Europeans for being selfish and not having enough children, in a sermon on Saturday at the 850-year-old pilgrimage site of Mariazell in Austria.
"Europe has become child-poor. We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future," the pope told a crowd of faithful from his canopied area at an open-air mass that took place under heavy rain.
But Benedict held out hope, saying: "The earth will be deprived of a future only when the forces of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart are extinguished . . . Where God is, there is the future."
The pontiff had slammed abortion upon arriving in Austria Friday as the "very opposite" of human rights.
"The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself," he told members of the government and the diplomatic corps at the Hofburg, the seat of the Austrian presidency in Vienna.
The pope also warned at the mass Saturday that science must be used for good if man is not to be threatened with destruction.
If man cannot "distinguish between good and evil . . . then the great and wonderful discoveries of science become double-edged.
"They can open up significant possibilities for good, for the benefit of mankind but also, as we see only too clearly, they can pose a terrible threat, involving the destruction of man and the world," the pope said.
Despite the bad weather that has dogged the visit so far, thousands stood in the rain at Mariazell packed behind crowd barriers, with many wearing yellow raincoats and some waving blue scarves, the traditional colour of Jesus's mother Mary.
The pope, who had arrived in Mariazell from Vienna by car instead of by helicopter due to the weather, waved to the crowd through the windows of the Popemobile as he made his way to the centuries-old white and pink basilica in Mariazell.
People who had been sheltering under doorways rushed towards his motorcade as it passed, even as the rain increased in intensity.
Organisers said 33,040 free tickets had already been distributed for Mariazell and that the pilgrims would include 70 bishops from central and eastern European countries.
The Austrian archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, told the crowd that two pilgrims had died from health problems, and the Pope said a prayer for them.
On Friday, the pontiff said he intended his pilgrimage "to be a journey made in the company of all the pilgrims of our time."
He said Mariazell "symbolizes an openness which... transcends physical and national frontiers."
The main pilgrimage site in the Danube region, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) southwest of Vienna, the basilica was founded by Benedictine monks.
The site, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and celebrates its 850th anniversary this year, welcomes around a million pilgrims every year from Austria, neighbouring Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia as well as Poland, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The Pope arrived in Vienna Friday morning and addressed a crowd of thousands at Am Hof square before making a silent tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at a nearby monument.
The pope's visit has been greeted with some criticism in a country where the traditionally powerful Catholic Church is waning in influence.
Statistics show the Austrian Church has lost about one million followers since 1983, and only 67 percent of Austrians are still officially Catholic, compared to almost 92 percent in 1900.
On Sunday, the Pope will celebrate a morning mass at Vienna's St. Stephe`n's Cathedral and visit the Cistercian monastery in Heiligenkreuz, before flying back to Rome.
11 hours ago
MARIAZELL, Austria (AFP) â Pope Benedict XVI blasted Europeans for being selfish and not having enough children, in a sermon on Saturday at the 850-year-old pilgrimage site of Mariazell in Austria.
"Europe has become child-poor. We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future," the pope told a crowd of faithful from his canopied area at an open-air mass that took place under heavy rain.
But Benedict held out hope, saying: "The earth will be deprived of a future only when the forces of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart are extinguished . . . Where God is, there is the future."
The pontiff had slammed abortion upon arriving in Austria Friday as the "very opposite" of human rights.
"The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself," he told members of the government and the diplomatic corps at the Hofburg, the seat of the Austrian presidency in Vienna.
The pope also warned at the mass Saturday that science must be used for good if man is not to be threatened with destruction.
If man cannot "distinguish between good and evil . . . then the great and wonderful discoveries of science become double-edged.
"They can open up significant possibilities for good, for the benefit of mankind but also, as we see only too clearly, they can pose a terrible threat, involving the destruction of man and the world," the pope said.
Despite the bad weather that has dogged the visit so far, thousands stood in the rain at Mariazell packed behind crowd barriers, with many wearing yellow raincoats and some waving blue scarves, the traditional colour of Jesus's mother Mary.
The pope, who had arrived in Mariazell from Vienna by car instead of by helicopter due to the weather, waved to the crowd through the windows of the Popemobile as he made his way to the centuries-old white and pink basilica in Mariazell.
People who had been sheltering under doorways rushed towards his motorcade as it passed, even as the rain increased in intensity.
Organisers said 33,040 free tickets had already been distributed for Mariazell and that the pilgrims would include 70 bishops from central and eastern European countries.
The Austrian archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, told the crowd that two pilgrims had died from health problems, and the Pope said a prayer for them.
On Friday, the pontiff said he intended his pilgrimage "to be a journey made in the company of all the pilgrims of our time."
He said Mariazell "symbolizes an openness which... transcends physical and national frontiers."
The main pilgrimage site in the Danube region, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) southwest of Vienna, the basilica was founded by Benedictine monks.
The site, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and celebrates its 850th anniversary this year, welcomes around a million pilgrims every year from Austria, neighbouring Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia as well as Poland, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The Pope arrived in Vienna Friday morning and addressed a crowd of thousands at Am Hof square before making a silent tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at a nearby monument.
The pope's visit has been greeted with some criticism in a country where the traditionally powerful Catholic Church is waning in influence.
Statistics show the Austrian Church has lost about one million followers since 1983, and only 67 percent of Austrians are still officially Catholic, compared to almost 92 percent in 1900.
On Sunday, the Pope will celebrate a morning mass at Vienna's St. Stephe`n's Cathedral and visit the Cistercian monastery in Heiligenkreuz, before flying back to Rome.