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| Pope's call for China to "open to Gospel" echoes worldwide
August 14th, 2008 |
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VATICAN CITY, August 11,2008 (MISNA) ... A call made yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI – during a visit in Val Badia, after a long stay in the home of St. Joseph Freinademetz (1852-1908), for three decades a missionary in China – for the People’s Republic of China to “open itself to the Gospel” echoed rapidly worldwide, in many languages and all continents. Speaking to thousands of faithful gathered in Oies, a small fraction of San Leonardo, epicentre of the Veneration of the missionary St. Freinademetz, Benedict XVI added: “Let us thank the Lord for giving us this great saint that shows us the path of life and a sign for the future of the Church […] He is a saint of tremendous relevance, because we know that China is becoming increasingly important in political, economic, and intellectual life. It is important that this great country should open itself to the Gospel […] Saint Josef Freinademetz shows us that faith is not an alienation for any culture or any people, because all cultures are waiting for Christ, and are not destroyed by the Lord, but rather come to their maturity”. The Pontiff added that the Divine Word missionary of Oies “not only wanted to live and die as a Chinese, but wanted to remain Chinese even in heaven”. Most of the international media underline the repeated appeals of Pope Benedict XVI to China, from a letter addressed to the Chinese population to last Sunday’s call, always in the Alto Adige, for the Olympics to be an occasion of progress for cooperation and peace.
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