Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Don't Exclude Church from Social Life, Says Pope

European Bishops Reflect on Challenges After Berlin Wall

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging the European bishops to refrain from excluding the Church from social and cultural life, even while upholding its just distinction from the State.

The Pope affirmed this in a message sent to Cardinal Peter Erdo, president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences and archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary.

The council held its plenary assembly in Paris last week, in which it focused on the theme "Church-State Relations 20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall."

The message, signed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state on the Pontiff's behalf, affirmed that the Church is "faithful to her mission of truth in favor of a society to the measure of man, of his dignity and of his vocation.

"It added that this fidelity "is guarantee of an integral human development, remedy for the many imbalances that our world is suffering today."
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 7:03 PM