Vatican City, Dec 17, 2010 / 16:07 pm
Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Catholics to be faithful and courageous in witnessing to a secularized society in a letter sent to an Italian archdiocese.
The letter, published Dec. 14 by L’Osservatore Romano, was addressed to Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples, Italy to mark the archdiocese's Jubilee Year.
Benedict XVI noted that the religious heritage of Naples “demands consistent fidelity and courageous witness.” He explained that this witness is made difficult by the socio-cultural context of the world today “which is very different from the past.” The world is now characterized by a “secularist view of life and the influence of evil” on civil life, the Pope said.
Amid the negative and erroneous models that affect family and social life, the Pope underscored “the urgency of human and Christian formation for boys and girls, as they are heavily exposed to the risks associated with these deviations.”