Pope Benedict to Asian Catholics: Be Witnesses to the Beauty of Christ's Being!

Pope Benedict published a message for the Catholics of Asia.

Rome (kath.net/as) this coming Sunday, the 5th of September, there will be a congress of Catholic Laity in Asia. For this event the Pope has composed a message to the Catholics of Asia, in which he exhorts them, to give ever more of a witness to the beauty of Christian existence and announce Jesus Christ as the only savior of the world. Similarly the Pope accentuated the indispensable role of the Lay Faithful for the mission of the Church. The message was read yesterday morning by the Apostolic Nuncio from South Korea, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla.

The Asiatic continent, which contains two thirds of the world population, is for Benedict XVI, the cradle of great religions and spiritual traditions; simultaneously it is with a growing economy combined confrontations with unparalleled social transformations. in the midst of this context the Catholic is bound to ask, "a sign and a promise of unity, which only a Christian makes possible."


The people of Asia need Christ and his Gospel, as the Pope cited and called to memory the post-synodal writing "Ecclesia in Asia" (1999) of his predecessor John Paul II.. Therefore they must be encouraged by a healthy spiritual formation for that, not only to be active in the building up of local communities, rather also to forge a new way for the Gospel in all parts of the society.

Of Especial importance for Benedict XVI. is the witness to the truth of the Gospel in the Life of Marriage and the Family, in the defense of life from birth until natural death, in the care of the poor and marginal, by the reconciliation and in the practice of justice in solidarity in the workplace.

The growing number of engaged laity is a "sign of great hope for the future of the Church in Asia" according to Pope Benedict XVI. The fundamental roll of the lay faithful in the mission of the Church to accentuate warned the Pope every Catholic, to follow the example of St. Paul, "in order to bring to other men the truth, the joy and the beauty of Jesus", without losing courage in the face of difficulties.

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