Pope visits Brazilian drug clinic

[fnord]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6649927.stm

Pope Benedict XVI
Some 6,000 people gathered to see the Pope at the drug clinic
Pope Benedict XVI has visited a drug treatment centre near the shrine city of Aparecida in Brazil on the third day of his five-day tour of the country.

On Friday the Pope canonised Brazil's first native-born saint, Saint Antonio Galvao, at a huge open-air Mass.

He used the occasion to decry "an age so full of hedonism".

The Catholic Church is trying to reinvigorate itself in Latin America. It has lost millions of faithful in recent years to evangelical churches.

'Ambassadors of hope'

About 6,000 people gathered outside the Fazenda da la Esperanza (Farm of Hope) drug centre near Aparecida, east of Sao Paulo, to greet the Pope.

He urged recovered addicts to be "ambassadors of hope" and said the clinic bore testament "to the Gospel of Christ amid a consumer society far removed from God".


No effort should be spared in seeking out those Catholics who have fallen away
Pope Benedict XVI

Pope's Brazil tour: Diary

At the clinic, which claims to have an 80% success rate and is run by Franciscan friars, patients receive spiritual guidance while working on a farm as beekeepers, milking cows or tending apple orchards.

Aparecida is also home to Our Lady of Aparecida - a statue of a black Virgin Mary and the patron saint of Brazil.

The Pope will recite the Rosary and meet Catholic officials at the Basilica of Aparecida later on Saturday before opening a Latin American bishops' conference in the shrine city on Sunday.

'Difficult times'

On Friday, in Sao Paulo, the Pope met Brazil's 430 bishops to discuss ways to reverse the church's decline in the country, the world's most populous Catholic nation.

He acknowledged that the Church was experiencing "difficult times".

"No effort should be spared in seeking out those Catholics who have fallen away," he said.

In 2000, 74% of Brazilians were Catholics, compared to 89% in 1980. Many have turned to evangelical Protestant faiths, which now make up 15% of the population.

The Pope said people who were most vulnerable to the "evangelical sects" were "easily influenced because their faith is weak, confused, easily shaken and naive, despite their innate religiosity".

Earlier, as he canonised the new Saint Antonio Galvao, Pope Benedict urged the gathered to follow the example set by the new saint by helping the needy "in an age so full of hedonism".

He lauded Saint Galvao as a model of rectitude and humility, and criticised elements of the media that ridiculed the sanctity of marriage and virginity before marriage.

[stoneinfocus]

What a dick! He´s killing thousands of lives, by misleading them, for not allowing condoms and creates hate and muder in south-america, for raped women, aborting her inzest children, by categorizing it a death sin.

Then again, what´s the best way to preach indendency and self-responsibility and achieving peace in living your true nature among those of all th others?

Pain, war, slavery and blind faith until it all collapses for a better, freer world (or maybe not fro you, if you die because of this system)?

Isn´t there the possibility of a better, freer, more gentle, righteous and patient way?

[stoneinfocus]

Hedonism is actually a great thing, if anyone could please explain what´s bad about it?

Take it to the extrem, hedonism, taken to its extrme in a social enviroment will most likely yield the essential nature of life itself, probabyl with excellent tradings, liberty, tolerance and compromising, it´ll be then, in perfection not be true hedonism but an successful approach, which will become uneecessary to hold on to as the ultimate thesis, as it is with all things in life, especially religion!

[The Doors]

Originally Posted by fnord

The Pope said people who were most vulnerable to the "evangelical sects" were "easily influenced because their faith is weak, confused, easily shaken and naive, despite their innate religiosity".

Right there is a statement that has caused countless amounts of wars and misguidance for centuries now, again made by an individual in a position of authority/power or has certain influences . Who is he to say that one's faith or religious/spiritual beliefs are true or wrong; it is all a matter of what the person decides to believe in. He is completely dismissing the integrity that any individuals who don't follow the Catholic church; this has been a problem for thousands of years and its trying to tell people how to live their lives through various mediums (religion, government, laws, etc...). I think those who are weak are those who aren't open minded enough to open up to new concepts in fear of destroying what they know and hold so preciously onto it.

[Nagognog2]

Before his translater was fired: "Oh Bend Over my Children! Drugs are BAD! You must drink alcohol and FORGET! FORGET! FORGET!" said the Pope - swinging his watch back and forth..."I wear this big robe to fit you underneath me! I want to fuck you! Drugs are bad! Drugs are bad!"...

The Brazilian Polizei chased the laughing crowd down the streets - machine-guns blazing...

"Sancto Domeni! Sancto!".... A tired looking bag-lady was left there. Dead. Can of glue stuck tightly to her hand...

<EDIT> For further support of the Pope, please email him: The Pope = benedictxvi@vatican.va>