“In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.” - Pope Benedict XVI in Australia
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The Pope launched a fresh assault on consumer culture and materialism today, warning of a “spiritual desert” spreading across the world in a speech to a sprawling, flag-waving crowd of about 400,000 worshippers at a mass in Sydney.
Benedict XVI, who yesterday apologised to children abused by paedophile priests, challenged young people to help build a “new age” by rejecting the “indifference, spiritual weariness and blind conformity” of the times. He also urged them to fill the growing gaps in the ranks of priests and nuns.
“A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished — not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed,” the pope told the crowd, which the church claimed was the biggest on record in Australia.
Building on a theme he has developed over four days at the Catholic World Youth Day celebrations, Benedict used his final address to give a scathing assessment of the impact of secularism and the focus on material wealth. Pope Says ‘Spiritual Desert’ Is Spreading >>> By Roy Eccleston, Sydney | July 20, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia)
