By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
During the long flight to Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day 2008, Pope Benedict XVI told reporters that Western societies are permeated by a crisis of faith because modern man does not believe he needs God.
“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,” the Pope told reporters.
“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.”
The Pope said this crisis of faith and religion is most widespread in Europe, but can also be found in America and Australia.
However, he remains optimistic. “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.”
Meanwhile, at a press briefing before the start of World Youth Day 2008, Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, echoed the same sentiments saying that Australians were tempted to believe they could have a strong, happy family life without God.
“There is a crisis in the western world. No western country is producing enough babies to keep the population stable, no western country,” he said. “In many cases there is an increase in divorce and there is an increase in serial monogamy.”
Australia faces two challenges, he said.
“One is the Australian temptation to believe that you can have a good, happy life without God. And the second challenge revolves around the concept of sexuality, marriage and family. Ruthless commercial forces are telling young people that this is the way forward, this is the modern way and they remain totally silent on the difficulties and damage this does to family life.”
He also addressed the high level of youth suicide in Australia.
“It’s a danger sign. It’s a great paradox,” he said. “We have a wonderful society here in Australia, in many ways a lot of justice, and yet we have the third or fourth highest rate of youth male suicide in the world.”
Faith in religion, not pre-marital sex or drugs, will help prevent people from taking their own lives, he said.
“The basic Christian response to that is to say that our young people need faith and hope and love, and that we will make the situation worse by irresponsibly encouraging them into promiscuity or drugs or alcohol,” the Cardinal said.
“That’s only a prison. There’s no escape if people flee resolutely in that direction.”
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com
