CHRISTIANS MUST PASS JUDGMENT SAYS POPE

By a Special Correspondent Christians today, who lived "in a climate of public liberty" had a major duty to exercise their "critical moral judgment" on society, Pope Paul said last week.
This was his central point at his general audience on Wednesday, at ,which he spoke to a packed crowd of summer iiisitors and pilgrims.
I I e said Christians today lived in a society which had become radically secularised and emptied of spiritual values, which in the past were the touchstones of life in general.
"What should the Christian do in this situation?" Pope Paul asked. "Should he alienate himself, should he -adapt to the situation? Should he toss away his own ideal and moral reservations and immerse himself in the world with needless permissiveness . . .?"
Should the Christian live "without taking into account his adherence to his religious and moral, principles or the speculative and practical degradations in which often today's profane-and worldly existence is lived?"
The Pope said he trusted that "no aware Christian would betray his baptismal commitment, that no faithful Chris tian would he unfaithful to the Cross of Christ, by virtue of which true salvation comes to us."
Pope Paul said that for Christians to keep clear of "earthly corruption," it "was necessary to form an authentic spiritual outlook." To achieve this outlook. the first requirement was that Christians should maintain a line of demarcation between the Christian life and the life of the world.
To keep this division dear the Christian must "keep himself free and poor in respect to the kingdom of the world." The, more perfectly he could do this, the Pope added, "the more authentic will be his personal religious status and the more . effective will he his action in giving or restoring to certain. aspects of natural and social life a spiritual and moral value."
A second requirement, he said. was that the Christian should be aware of' his moral sense of judgment in terms of the world's values.