By Tim Waggoner
OTTAWA, July 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While on his flight to WYD 2008 in Australia, Pope Benedict XVI addressed a question by a journalist regarding the state of the Church in Australia, noting the crisis of faith that has permeated Western societies – a theme that he has commented on in the past.
The Pontiff said the crisis has occurred because of the modern notion that man does not need God in his life. He said that this crisis of faith and religion is most widespread in Europe, but can be seen in America and Australia too.
“The Western world has had in the last 50 years great successes: economic successes, technical successes; yet religion – Christian faith – is in a certain sense in crisis. This is clear because there is the impression that we do not need God, we can do all on our own, that we do not need God to be happy, we do not need God to create a better world, that God is not necessary, we can do all by ourselves,” said Pope Benedict.
Pope Benedict previously elaborated on this crisis of faith in his book titled, “Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures.” In it he spoke about the morally relativistic philosophies so prevalent in Western culture that have led many to abandon their faith – thus leading to a crisis in cultures.
“These philosophies are characterized by their positivist – and therefore anti-metaphysical – character, so that ultimately there is no place for God in them. They are based on a self-limitation of the positive reason that is adequate in the technological sphere but entails a mutilation of man if it is generalized. The result is that man no longer accepts any moral authority apart from his own calculations,” said the Pope in his book.
Yet Pope Benedict concluded his comments on the crisis of faith on a positive note:
“So, I think there will be in a certain sense in this ‘Western world’ a crisis of our faith, but we will always also have a revival of the faith, because Christian faith is simply true, and the truth will always be present in the human world, and God will always be truth. In this sense, I am in the end optimistic.”
To see the Pope’s full interview on the plane:
Please see related LifeSiteNews.com coverage on, “Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures”:
A Reflection on the Emerging New World Order by Michael D. O’Brien
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/060526a.html