Phoenix, Ariz., Aug 4, 2009 / 19:03 pm
The greetings of several heads of state were read at this afternoon’s opening meeting at the Knights of Columbus convention in Phoenix, including words of appreciation and encouragement from Pope Benedict and President Barack Obama.
In a letter written on behalf of Pope Benedict by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the Pontiff sent his “warm personal greetings to all in attendance,” as well as “his prayerful good wishes for the occasion.”
In the message, Bertone wrote that the Church is called to work “to renew and transform society by defending those unchanging moral truths inscribed on our hearts by the Creator, discernible to right reason and essential to the building of a just, free and humane society.”
Noting the growing “ethical confusion” in the world, the Pope's message highlighted how the Church’s witness to these truths is even more necessary. “For this reason the Holy Father encourages the praiseworthy efforts of the Knights to promote knowledge of the rich body of the Church’s social teaching, and, in union with the Bishops…to let that teaching shape and direct their personal lives, their institutional decisions and their engagement in the life of society at every level.