Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - At 12 noon on 25 December, Christmas Day, from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica Pope Benedict XVI delivered his Christmas Message and imparted his special Urbi et Orbi blessing to the ‘city and to the world’. "To us a Saviour is born " the Pope said at the beginning of the Message. “Last night in our churches once again we heard this announcement, and despite the passing of centuries, it retains unaltered all its newness … but for the men and women of the third millennium does a Saviour still have value and significance? Is a Saviour still necessary for man who has reached the Moon and Mars and prepares to conquer the universe; for man who explores without limits the secrets of nature and is able even to decipher the marvellous codes of the human genome? Can a Saviour be necessary for man who has invented interactive communication which spans the virtual ocean of the Internet and, thanks to the most advanced modern media technology, makes Earth, this great common-house, such a small global village?”
Although the man of today appears to be the “confident and autonomous artifice of his own destiny ”, the Pope said, “people still die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty in these times of abundance and unchecked consumerism. There are still people who are enslaved, abused, offended in their dignity; people who are victims of racial or religious hatred, people who, due to intolerance and discrimination, political interference and physical or moral coercion are prevented from freely professing their faith. There are people who see their own body and the bodies of their loved ones, especially children, martyred by the use of weapons, terrorism and all manner of violence… And what is to be said of the hopeless forced to abandon home and homeland in search of conditions of living more worthy of human dignity?” The Holy Father mentioned those who are misled by “false prophets of happiness”, those who become slaves of alcohol or drugs, those who “choose death thinking they are praising life”.
“How can we fail to realise - the Pope said - that precisely from the depth of this pleasure-seeking and desperate humanity there comes a heartrending cry for help? It is Christmas Day: today "the true light, which illuminates all men and women " comes into the world... Today, on this very day Christ comes once again to be "among his people"… Today, again this very day "our Saviour is born in the world", because he knows that we need him. Despite progress in so many forms, the human person is unchanged: freedom between good and evil, between life and death ... in the post- modern epoch, perhaps more than ever man has need of a Saviour, because more complex is the society in which he lives and more serious are the threats to his personal and moral integrity. Who can defend man if not the One who loved mankind enough to sacrifice his Only Son on the cross that he might be the Saviour of the world ?”
“Christ is the Saviour also for men and women of today” the Pope affirmed turning his thoughts to the most troubled areas of the world: the Middle East, signs of resumed dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, Lebanon, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Darfur, not forgetting pockets of war and tension all over Africa, in Europe and Latin America. “Salvator noster”: “this is our hope; this is the announcement which the Church makes again this Christmas” the Pope concluded, “Christ comes to destroy only evil, only sin; the rest, everything else, he elevates to perfection. Christ saves us not from our humanity but through our humanity; he does not save us from the world, he came into the world so that through him the world might be saved”. The Pope then delivered Christmas greetings in 62 different languages. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 28/12/2006 - Righe 41, parole 632)
