VATICAN CITY, NOV. 8, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A culture worthy of human life needs to be promoted, both in the Church and in the world, says Benedict XVI, who encouraged pontifical academies in their quest to accomplish this objective.
The Pope affirmed this in a message sent to Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the coordinating council of the pontifical academies and president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. He sent the note on the occasion of the public session of the academy council meeting.
"The celebration of this public session," writes the Pontiff in his message, "annually renews an opportunity for meeting and collaboration between the pontifical academies [...] in order to harmonize their various initiatives, all of which have a precise objective: promoting, both in the Church and the world, a culture worthy of human life, made fruitful by faith, capable of proposing the beauty of Christian life and of providing an adequate response to the ever more numerous challenges of today's cultural and religious context."
Alluding to the session's theme on the love of God shown in the lives of martyrs, the Holy Father highlighted how "it is more necessary than ever to re-present the example of Christian martyrs, both those of antiquity and those of our own time, whose lives and witness, even to the spilling of their blood, are the supreme expression of love of God."
The Pope concluded by mentioning "the works of charity that have flowered down the centuries through the efforts of generous faithful" who "have endeavored to create and promote charitable initiatives and institutions to meet the needs of the poorest, thus giving concrete expression to the close and indissoluble link between love of God and love of others."
ZE07110803 - 2007-11-08