Faith, not politics

Pope Benedict XVI left a very important message not only to Brazil but for America as well.
Faith, not politics, will save Latin America...

Pope Benedict began his address by noting that the culture of Latin America is thoroughly permeated by Christianity. The Pope rejected the argument that Christianity came to the region through the suppression of an existing culture. The evangelization of the continent, he argued, "did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbian cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture." Quite the contrary, he said, "The wisdom of the indigenous peoples fortunately led them to form a synthesis between their cultures and the Christian faith." (Father Serra comes to mind)

The same materialism that characterizes Marxism, he said, can also be seen in secular societies based on consumerism (plenty of that here...), "where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness."

Assessing the religious life of the continent, Pope Benedict praised the "notable degree of maturity in faith" among lay evangelists. But he added that "one can detect a certain weakening of Christian life in society overall and of participation in the life of the Catholic Church, due to secularism, hedonism, indifference and proselytism by numerous sects, animist religions and new pseudo-religious phenomena." (Bingo!... nail on the head) He later added his concern about "a flight toward emotionalism, toward religious individualism." READ MORE...

Lot's of comparisons to Latin America.