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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER 3, 1982
PAGE 9
motives." He said he hoped the new holy year would bring a "gust of spirit
ual renewal at all levels."
Vatican sources also said holy year pilgrimages to Rome could give a boost
to the Vatican's economy which, as John Paul noted earlier in his speech,
now has "extremely limited" funds. The Vatican is embroiled in a scandal
involving its bank as well.
Holy years have been celebrated for nearly seven centuries. The first holy
year, proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII, was in 1300. Beginning in 1450, the
special jubilee years have been celebrated every twenty-five years, The
last, proclaimed by Pope Paul VI a year-and-a-half ahead of time, was cele
brated in 1975. It brought more than five million pilgrims to Rome from
some 58 nations around the globe.
Also, on Sunday November 28, in his noon "Angelus message," the� prayed
� again for future unity between Roman Catholics and members of the
Orthodox churches. The pontiff's call came two days before November 30,
feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle, patron of the Orthodox Church. "The
bond of fraternity between Peter and Andrew impels us to move without
pause, and with love and wisdom along the road towards unity," the pope said
to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. The president of the Vatican's
Secretariat of Christian Unity, Dutch Cardinal Jan Willebrands, headed the
delegation sent to Istanbul to attend the Orthodox celebration of the
feast.
Meanwhile, in a separate talk to 150 delegates to an Italian congress, as
reported in the RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE, the pope said public morality was
in "grave danger ••.not only in Italy but in many nations." He denounced
violence, delinquency and "uncontrolled irrational impulses," saying that
Catholics had a special duty to promote public morality. He said countries
with democratic governments in particular � especiallythreatened
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growing atheism, permissiveness and corruption that can "wrap human society
in a cloud of thrck fog. More than all other forms of regime, democracy
calls for a strong sense of responsibility, self-discipline and rectitude,"
the pope said.
Pope John Paul II has been speaking out a great deal lately against the
corrupting influences in contemporary Western society. The modern demo
cratic world, he said while in Spain, is "driven by materialism and
hedonism" that has eroded morality and family values. The pope's solution,
of course, is for the western world and especially Europe, to return to its
Christian (meaning Roman Catholic) roots.
Thus the pope's call for
"spiritual renewal" is bound to strike responsive cords in many who indeed
see the same problem he does, but whose eyes have not been opened to the
truth of God's Word.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau