Pope Benedict XVI yesterday warned Catholics of the perils of pop culture and pillaging the earth’s resources after a rapturous welcome at the world’s biggest Christian festival in Australia.
Speaking against the spectacular backdrop of Sydney’s famous harbor, the pontiff told hundreds of thousands of pilgrims that “something is amiss” in modern society.
“Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises,” the pope said after a welcoming ceremony by Aborigines in tribal paint.
Benedict told a vast sea of youths from around the world, gathered under a forest of national flags for World Youth Day, that humanity was squandering the earth’s resources to satisfy its insatiable appetite for material goods.
In one of his strongest-ever messages on the environment, the pope spoke poetically of his 20-hour flight from Rome to Australia, saying the wondrous views from his plane evoked a profound sense of awe.
But the 81-year-old pontiff told his youthful audience that the planet’s problems were also easier to perceive from the sky.
“Perhaps reluctantly, we come to acknowledge that there are scars which mark the surface of our earth — erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world’s mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption,” he said.
Earlier, shouts of “Viva, Papa” rang out over the harbor as a “boat-a-cade” of 13 vessels led by a water-spouting fire tug and flanked by bodyguards on jet skis glided past Sydney’s iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge en route to the pope’s World Youth Day debut.
Benedict arrived in Sydney last Sunday, but took a four-day holiday before beginning his formal duties, which end with a papal mass expected to draw 500,000 people on Sunday.
Ahead of his public appearance, the pope was welcomed by Governor-General Michael Jeffery, the representative of Australia’s head of state, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
In a brief speech at the ceremony at Sydney’s Government House, the pontiff hailed Rudd’s apology to Aborigines for past injustices in an historic address to parliament in February.
“Thanks to the Australian government’s courageous decision to acknowledge the injustices committed against the indigenous peoples in the past, concrete steps are now being taken to achieve reconciliation based on mutual respect,” Benedict said.
“This example of reconciliation offers hope to peoples all over the world who long to see their rights affirmed and their contribution to society acknowledged and promoted,” he said.
But there was some confusion over whether the pope would deliver an apology of his own to Australian victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergymen, as the scandal cast a shadow over the festival.
Benedict indicated to journalists on his plane on the way to Australia that he would apologize but a Vatican official late on Wednesday raised doubts over the issue.
The angry parents of two Australian girls sexually abused by a Catholic priest urged Benedict not to back away from his apparent pledge to apologize.
“I can’t really understand why they’re backpedaling on that,” said Anthony Foster, as he and his wife Christine flew into Sydney after cutting short a holiday in London.
The Fosters’ daughter Emma committed suicide this year aged 26, after struggling to deal with abuse by a priest while she was at primary school.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College