Pope hits out at consumer culture and condemns sex and violence in the media
- added July 17, 2008
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- JanaPokana
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Pope Benedict XVI has attacked popular culture and consumerism in a formal address to tens of thousands of young Roman Catholics. The pontiff also warned that natural resources were being squandered, in the speech in Sydney, Australia.
The pope is visiting the city for World Youth Day, a five-day gathering of young Catholics from across the globe.
"Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises," he told the crowd. There were numerous signs something was amiss in modern society, the pontiff said. He highlighted drug and alcohol abuse as examples of modern woes, and hit out at television and the internet for promoting sex and violence as entertainment. "I ask myself, could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer violence and sexual exploitation explain that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely entertainment?" he said.
The 81-year-old pontiff also called for greater protection of the environment for future generations. He spoke of "scars which mark the surface of our earth - erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption".
(Excerpts / BBC News)
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Is the Pope right in addressing these non-religious issues and do you give him credit for using his voice to talk about important problems? Or do you think it is slightly hypocritical of him to talk about consumer culture given his own plush lifestyle and to attack sexual exploitation and violence considering the fact that Catholic priests have repeatedly been blamed for sexually abusing children?
The pope is visiting the city for World Youth Day, a five-day gathering of young Catholics from across the globe.
"Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises," he told the crowd. There were numerous signs something was amiss in modern society, the pontiff said. He highlighted drug and alcohol abuse as examples of modern woes, and hit out at television and the internet for promoting sex and violence as entertainment. "I ask myself, could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer violence and sexual exploitation explain that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely entertainment?" he said.
The 81-year-old pontiff also called for greater protection of the environment for future generations. He spoke of "scars which mark the surface of our earth - erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption".
(Excerpts / BBC News)
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Is the Pope right in addressing these non-religious issues and do you give him credit for using his voice to talk about important problems? Or do you think it is slightly hypocritical of him to talk about consumer culture given his own plush lifestyle and to attack sexual exploitation and violence considering the fact that Catholic priests have repeatedly been blamed for sexually abusing children?
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- JanaPokana
- 1 month ago
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