Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Castel Gandolfo (Agenzia Fides) - During the last of his Summer Angelus reflections at Castel Gandolfo, before returning to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI, stressed the importance to make generous use of the gifts of the earth. The Gospel on 30th September 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time was in fact the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus (Lk 16,19-31). The Pope said: “The rich man personifies the evil use of riches on the part of those who use them for selfish, unleashed luxury thinking only of satisfying themselves, with no thought at all for the beggar at their doorstep. The poor man, on the contrary, represents the person for whom only God cares… those forgotten by everyone, God does not forget; those worth nothing in the eyes of humanity, are precious in the eyes of the Lord”. In fact the Gospel tells how Lazarus, after his death, is welcomed to eternal beatitude but the rich man "ends up in the torments of hell".
Reading this Gospel in a social key and in keeping with the encyclical of Pope Paul VI “Populorum Progressio”, the Holy Father recalled numerous situations of extreme poverty caused partly by "bondage coming from men" and a " nature insufficiently mastered". “How can we fail to think at this moment - Benedict XVI continued -, especially of sub-Saharan countries, affected in the past few days by serious floods? But we cannot forget so many other situations of humanitarian emergencies in different regions of the planet, where conflict for political and economic power worsen already serious situations of environmental discomfort. The appeal launched by Paul VI: ‘The peoples of hunger are a dramatic challenge to the peoples of opulence’, maintains all its urgency today.”
The Pope "May the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede that we may be more aware of brothers and sisters in need, and share with them the little or lot that we have, and beginning with ourselves, start to spread the logic and style of authentic solidarity.” After the Marian prayer Pope Benedict XVI asked people to pray for Myanmar and for Korea and he said: “I watch with trepidation the grave events in Myanmar and wish to express my spiritual closeness to those dear people at this time of hard trial. While I assure my sympathy and intense prayer and call the whole Church to do the same, I sincerely hope a peaceful solution will be found for the good of the nation. I also recommend to your prayers the situation in the peninsula of Korea where major developments in dialogue between the two Koreas are a sign of hope that the present efforts for reconciliation may be consolidated for the good of the Korean people and for stability and peace in the entire region.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/10/2007 - righe 32, parole 457)
