Monday September 20, 2010
Pope Calls Every Person to ‘Work for Culture of Life’
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
ROME, September 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At an open air prayer vigil in London’s Hyde Park on Saturday, Pope Benedict exhorted the thousands present to realize that “in our day, when an intellectual and moral relativism threatens to sap the very foundations of our society,” every person is called “to work for the advancement of God’s Kingdom by imbuing temporal life with the values of the Gospel.”
“Each of us has a mission,” the pope stated, “each of us is called to change the world, to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of each human person.”
The Holy Father toured Hyde Park in the popemobile, stopping near Speakers’ Corner at the north east entrance to the park. This was the site of the Tyburn gallows, a place of execution for political prisoners, including Catholic martyrs who died as a result of opposition to the Church of England, until 1759 when executions were moved to Newgate prison.
The vigil began with the Liturgy of the Word, following which the Pope welcomed those present and spoke of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s influence in his own life, as well as that of Christians around the world.
“How many people, in England and throughout the world, have longed for this moment! It is also a great joy for me, personally, to share this experience with you. As you know, Newman has long been an important influence in my own life and thought, as he has been for so many people beyond these isles.”
The pope spoke of the many aspects of Newman’s life which he said he considers “very relevant to our own lives as believers and to the life of the Church today,” especially his “struggle against the growing tendency to view religion as a purely private and subjective matter, a question of personal opinion.”
“Newman’s life,” the Holy Father added, “also teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly. The truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves; it calls for testimony, it begs to be heard …”
“Not far from here,” Benedict XVI continued, “at Tyburn, great numbers of our brothers and sisters died for the faith; the witness of their fidelity to the end was ever more powerful than the inspired words that so many of them spoke before surrendering everything to the Lord. In our own time, the price to be paid for fidelity to the Gospel is no longer being hanged, drawn and quartered but it often involves being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied. And yet, the Church cannot withdraw from the task of proclaiming Christ and His Gospel as saving truth, the source of our ultimate happiness as individuals and as the foundation of a just and humane society.”