MARIAZELL, Austria, SEPT. 9, 2007, (Zenit.org).- The origin of the current crisis of the West is a loss of confidence in the truth, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this Saturday during the open-air Mass he presided over at the Marian shrine of Mariazell in Austria, which commemorated the 850th anniversary of the founding of the pilgrimage site.
In his homily, the Holy Father told the tens of thousands who participated in the Mass near the shrine's basilica that Jesus alone "is the bridge that truly brings God and man together ... the one universal mediator of salvation, valid for everyone and, ultimately, needed by everyone."
Saying this, the Pontiff explained, "does not mean that we despise other religions, nor are we arrogantly absolutizing our own ideas."
Proclaiming the Christian faith, he added, means only that we are "gripped by him who has touched our hearts and lavished gifts upon us, so that we, in turn, can offer gifts to others."
"In fact," Benedict XVI said, "our faith is decisively opposed to the attitude of resignation that considers man incapable of truth as if this were more than he could cope with."
The Bishop of Rome expressed his conviction that an "attitude of resignation with regard to truth" is "at the heart of the crisis of the West, the crisis of Europe."
The Pope continued: "If truth does not exist for man, then neither can he ultimately distinguish between good and evil.
"And then the great and wonderful discoveries of science become double-edged: They can open up significant possibilities for good, for the benefit of mankind, but also, as we see only too clearly, they can pose a terrible threat, involving the destruction of man and the world.
Think future
"We need truth," said the Holy Father. "Yet admittedly, in the light of our history we are fearful that faith in the truth might entail intolerance.
"If we are gripped by this fear, which is historically well-grounded, then it is time to look toward Jesus as we see him in the shrine at Mariazell. We see him here in two images: as the child in his mother's arms, and above the high altar of the basilica as the Crucified."
Contemplating him, said Benedict XVI, we can see that "truth prevails not through external force, but it is humble and it yields itself to man only via the inner force of its veracity. Truth proves itself in love.
"We need this inner force of truth. As Christians we trust this force of truth. We are its witnesses."
The lack of confidence in truth likewise implies a lack of confidence in the future, a sentiment that, according to the Pope, explains the demographic winter of the old Continent.
The Holy Father compared Europe to a poor child: "We want everything for ourselves, and place little trust in the future.
"Yet the earth will be deprived of a future only when the forces of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart are extinguished -- when the face of God no longer shines upon the earth."
To recover confidence in the truth the Pope proposed a rediscovery of God: "Where God is, there is the future."
ZE07090907 - 2007-09-09