Pope: Beware of religious fads

2005-08-21 21:25

Cologne - Pope Benedict XVI issued a ringing back-to-basics call to more than one million young Catholics on Sunday at a giant open-air mass, which marked a triumphant finale to his first foreign visit as pope.

Wrapping up a successful four-day visit to his native Germany, the 78-year-old pontiff said young people should turn their backs on secularism and faddish new-age religions.

He said there was "a kind of new explosion of religion" that if pushed too far, turned faith into "almost a consumer product".

The huge, open-air mass was the culmination of a visit which swung between the spiritual and the political as Benedict made important progress to fulfilling his pledge to build "bridges of friendship" with other faiths.

Return

Benedict was due to return to Rome on Sunday evening at the end of what is being seen as a highly successful visit, during which he met German Jewish and Muslim leaders.

During his landmark visit to Cologne's synagogue on Friday - only the second ever by a pope to a Jewish place of worship - he condemned the "unimaginable crime" of the Holocaust in an address to Jewish leaders.

And on Saturday he urged Muslim leaders to do more to combat the "cruel fanaticism" of terrorism that aimed to poison ties between Christians and Muslims.

Shortly before his departure, the pope had time to lament the "dramatic" shortage of new recruits to the priesthood in his homeland, and urged German bishops to do more to get new vocations.

Problems

Outlining the problems facing the Church in his homeland, he said "secularism and de-Christianisation" continued to rise, while the "influence of Catholic ethics and morals were in constant decline".

Yet, he warned them there could be "no false compromises, no watering down of Gospel" in efforts to attract young people to the Church.

Earlier Sunday, in a 20-minute homily dominated by a staunch defence of the everyday practice of religion against secularism, the pope warned the multinational crowd of young pilgrims that constructing their faith on a "do-it-yourself" basis would ultimately prove fruitless.

"People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it. But religion constructed on a 'do-it-yourself' basis cannot ultimately help us."

- SAPA