VATICAN - “It is extremely important that as Christians, we live our relationship with the dead in the truth of faith, and looking to death and the afterlife in the light of Revelation,” says Pope Benedict XVI on All Souls' Day

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “It is extremely important that as Christians, we live our relationship with the dead in the truth of faith, and looking to death and the afterlife in the light of Revelation...Today too it is necessary to spread the message of the reality of death and eternal life - a reality particularly subject to superstition and syncretism - so that Christian truth does not risk being confused with mythologies of various kinds.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI in addressing the faithful prior to the recitation of the Angelus on November 2, All Souls' Day.
The Pope recalled what the Apostle Paul had said in writing to the first Christian communities, telling them “not to be sad like those who live without hope,” as well as some of the questions on the mystery of eternal life presented in his most recent encyclical “Spe salvi.” Later, the Pope added: “In fact, as Saint Augustine already observed, all of us long for a 'blessed life' and happiness. we don't know what this is or what it is like, but we feel ourselves attracted to it. It is a universal hope, shared by people of all times and places. The expression 'eternal life' is an attempt to give a name to this unquenchable hope: not an endless succession, but an immersion in the ocean of infinite love, where time, before and after, exist no more. Fullness of life and of joy is what we hope and expect from being with Christ.”
Before reciting the Angelus, Benedict XVI encouraged all those present to renew “our hope in eternal life, a hope truly founded in the death and resurrection of Christ,” keeping in mind that “Christian hope is never something merely individual, it is always a hope for others. Our lives are deeply linked to one another, and the good and bad each of us does always touches other people. May Mary, Star of Hope, make our faith in eternal life stronger and more authentic, and support us in our prayer for our deceased brethren.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 3/11/2008)