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Archbishop Pell ... addressed Synod on hope, heaven and hell
By Johanna Bennett and the Catholic News Service
For a private meeting the current world synod is certainly generating a lot of press. This week Sydney’s Archbishop
George Pell spoke at the Rome synod on “the last things” – of Christian hope and how this touches on heaven and hell.
Bishops must speak out on these things, he said.
“One duty of the bishop is to
encourage Christian hope … (but) there is considerable silence and some confusion on Christian hope, especially as it touches on the last things, death and judgement, heaven and hell.
“Limbo seems to have
disappeared, purgatory has slipped into limbo (and) hell is left unmentioned, except perhaps for terrorists and infamous criminals,” said the archbishop.
He added that too many people, including Catholics,
thought “ heaven is the final and universal right”.
It was the duty of bishops to encourage “the development of Christian hope”, he said. But evil must also be faced, despite people’s reluctance to accept
its existence; perhaps because there was so much violence on television. “But perhaps September 11 might be changing this.”
The Bishop of Broken Bay diocese, Bishop David Walker, also spoke at the synod. He
admonished bishops for being too careerist, saying they must free themselves from elements of a “clerical-episcopal subculture” that emphasised status over service and career over ministry.
This concern
about getting priorities right was also touched on by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s head of doctrine, who said Catholics today spent too much time talking about the Church and not enough talking about
Jesus.
Although the dominant theme of the month-long synod (it continues until October 27) remains the sharing of Church governance – nearly two dozen bishops have advocated more local decision-making –
Cardinal Ratzinger’s speech drew the strongest applause so far.
Another emerging theme at the synod was the need for Church leaders to be prophets of social justice.
Several bishops cited the
international embargo of Iraq, the Palestinians’ situation and extreme poverty as injustices at the root of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
A number of bishops focused on the need
for outreach to groups of people suffering around the world, including the poor, those suffering from AIDS, migrants and victims of violence and the bishop’s role as a prophet of social justice in raising these
issues.
India’s Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi spoke of the attacks on the US bringing the world’s attention to “another kind of subtle, hidden, little-spoken-of terrorism … the terrorism of an unjust
economic system that grinds to death thousands of people every day”.
Nigeria’s Archbishop John Olorunfemi of Ajuba said that following the attacks the world had discovered the need to have a dialogue with
Islam – a need long recognised by Africa’s bishops.
There had long been top-level dialogue, but this needed to be balanced by similar dialogue at a local level, he said.
Nigeria’s population is split
almost exactly between Christian and Moslems, but good dialogue had fostered peace between the two religious groups, except when “the utterances and activities of fanatics, sometimes on both sides, and the
manipulation of politicians” caused difficulties, said Archbishop Olorunfemi.
There has been considerable blood-letting in violence between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria over the past few months.
At least 200 people have been killed in clashes in northern areas where Islamic fundamentalist adminis trations have introduced Islamic law or Shariah.
The world synod has drawn 250 bishops from 110
countries, including Pope John Paul II.
There will be another week of speech-making before the bishops break into 12 discussion groups. These will prepare a list of proposals to give to the Pope, as well as
a general message for the world.
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