Aid to the Church in Need: After the outcry - A prayer for Pope Benedict

After the outcry - A prayer for Pope Benedict

Posted by ACN News on 23/2/2009, 8:11 am
Board Administrator

AFTER THE OUTCRY -- A PRAYER FOR BENEDICT

This coming Sunday, 22 February, coincides with the liturgical feast of the Chair of Peter. In it we remember the particular mission entrusted by Christ to the first Bishop of Rome. The international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is calling on all Catholics to make this day a day of fervent prayer for the Holy Father.
Pope Benedict XVI has been unjustly attacked. There has been a resurgence of the unsavoury and aggressive attitudes that many thought belonged to the past. There have been serious errors on the part of certain bodies within the Holy See, as was recognized by its press spokesman, Father Lombardi, S.J. These acknowledged mistakes have been seized upon to launch an astonishing avalanche of attacks. The dignity of the papacy and the person of Benedict XVI himself have been crudely insulted. Many people have manipulated the facts, while others have frivolously abandoned the important fundamentals of our humanist tradition. This unworthy dealing with the truth does grave damage to the dialogue between civil society and the great religions. It is a sign of cultural degeneration. Thus we are seeing old sectarian emotions being revived. There has been an attempt to undermine an irreproachable moral figure, one of the great beacons of hope for coming generations.
In the midst of these strident attacks, the historical personality of Benedict XVI emerges untouched, as a figure who incarnates rationality, lucid wisdom and courteous kindness. That is why many young people find in him a living image of the Good Shepherd.
For next Sunday we are inviting all those who believe in a God of truth and love to join us in a day of special prayer. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may enlighten and strengthen Pope Benedict XVI as a prophetic witness of the Gospel of Jesus and a guide for a humanity that longs for peace.

Fr. Joaquín Alliende, International President
Aid to the Church in Need

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: [url=http://www.aidtochurch.org ]www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org