Pope pays tribute to vision of Leo XIII

BY STAFF REPORTER
EVERY POPE and pastor of the Catholic Church is called to give his flock a concrete message, not abstract truths, that can help people put their faith into action, Pope Benedict XVI has said.
The Pope spoke during a brief visit on Sunday to Carpineto Romano, the birthplace of Pope Leo XIII. As part of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Pope Leo’s birth, the Pope celebrated Mass in the town about 35 miles south-east of Rome.
Pope Leo, like many pastors, sought to address the burning questions and problems of his day in a way that was faithful to Catholic tradition and teachings, Pope Benedict said in his homily.
Pope Leo’s 1891 encyclical, erum Novarum (on capital and labour), marked the start of modern Catholic social teaching. The document emphasised workers’ rights and the responsibility of employers to promote the common good.
During Pope Leo’s pontificate from 1878 to 1903, poverty and slavery existed hand-in-hand with a nascent industrial revolution while political movements were often strongly anti-clerical, the Pope said.
Yet, Pope Leo approached social justice issues in a way that was “positive and effective, with dialogue and mediation”, said Pope Benedict.
Pope Leo showed Catholics how they could constructively participate in society by being firm in their Christian principles, yet also “capable of openness”, he added.
“Every pastor is called to give the people of God not abstract truths, but ‘knowledge’, that is, a message that joins faith and life, truth and concrete reality,” Pope Benedict said. The Gospel message of love and charity has “revolutionary power”, he said.
Christianity, with its concept of brotherhood and everyone being a child of God, overcomes all social and economic castes while it promotes social change and development through individual renewal, he added.
“Charity – Christ’s love – renews humanity and the world,” he said.
The Pope returned to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo for the midday recitation of the Angelus.
Addressing pilgrims gathered for the prayer in the courtyard of the papal residence, he said he hoped Pope Leo’s social teachings would “continue to inspire the efforts of the faithful to build a just society rooted in the teachings of Christ”.
Days earlier the Pope had also spoken on the theme of evangelisation when he addressed Asian Christians on how they could bear witness to the faith in societies were they find themselves in the minority.
Lay Catholics can be effective witnesses of the Christian faith by being models of married love, defending human life, helping the poor and showing their willingness to forgive those who hurt them, he said.
“Asia’s Catholics are called to be a sign and promise of that unity and communion communion with God and among men – which the whole human family is meant to enjoy and which Christ alone makes possible,” he said in a message to participants in the Congress of Asian Catholic Laity, meeting in Seoul, South Korea. Sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the congress included representatives of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences and lay movements active throughout Asia.
“Asia, home to two-thirds of the world’s people, the cradle of great religions and spiritual traditions, and the birthplace of diverse cultures, is currently undergoing unprecedented processes of economic growth and social transformation,” the Pope said.
Catholics need to be part of that social transformation, bringing Gospel values to bear on economic, social and political life and sharing their faith in Jesus with their neighbours, he said. Pope Benedict said there are “vast horizons of mission” open to Asian Catholics, many of them relying more on giving an example of faith and holy living than on simply preaching about Jesus. “I think especially of the opportunities offered by their example of Christian married love and family life, their defence of God’s gift of life from conception to natural death, their loving concern for the poor and the oppressed, their willingness to forgive their enemies and persecutors, their example of justice, truthfulness and solidarity in the workplace, and their presence in public life,” the Pope said.