Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Pope says Catholic Church will survive all tests

ABS-CBN Interactive
August 31, 2006

ROME - The Roman Catholic Church will overcome any ordeals encountered, just as it weathered Muslim invasions, Nazism, communism and Enlightenment philosophy, Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday.

The Church lives and will continue to live, just as it has survived "two thousand years of history ... despite its suffering and its weaknesses," he said at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

Speaking with priests from the nearby Albano diocese, the pope reached as far back as the first Christian communities in Asia Minor (present-day western Turkey) and North Africa, and talked of "Muslim invasions."

"The Church seemed finished then," the pope said, quoted by the ANSA news agency, adding that numerous saints had revitalized the religion.

The Roman Catholic religion also overcome 18th century philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, such as Rousseau and Voltaire, and also Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler "who wanted to destroy Catholicism ... and had all the means to do so," the German said.

"Faith is stronger than currents that come and go," the pope stressed. "We must therefore be courageous (as the church) represents never ending hope." AFP

posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 2:38 PM