Posted on 05/11/2007 9:47:00 AM PDT by NYer
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Pope Benedict gave Brazil its first native-born saint on Friday and called on Roman Catholics to spurn media portrayals of life that glamorise pre-marital sex and undermine the traditional family.
The Pope said a mass for hundreds of thousands of joyful, flower-waving faithful to canonise Friar Antonio Galvao, a Franciscan who lived in the 18th century and founded an order of nuns.
"The world needs transparent lives, clear souls, pure minds that refuse to be perceived as mere objects of pleasure," he said in his sermon on a military airfield outside Brazil's largest city on the third day of his first visit to Latin America.
"It is necessary to oppose those elements of the media that ridicule the sanctity of marriage and virginity before marriage," he said to applause from the crowd.
Faithful flocked to the open-air mass from across Brazil, the world's largest Catholic country, and elsewhere in Latin America. Many camped out overnight in chilly weather although the crowd was smaller than the more than one million people organisers had expected.
Pope Benedict's canonisation of Friar Galvao was an important part of his mission on this trip to revitalise the Church in Latin America, home to nearly half the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
Brazilians hoping for a miracle often swallow so-called Friar Galvao Pills, tiny pieces of rice paper with prayers written on them.
He is considered a guardian of women in labour and the Vatican has attributed two miracles to him -- the curing of a 4-year-old girl who was believed to have an incurable disease and the survival of a mother and child in a high-risk pregnancy.
The mother, Sandra Grossi de Almeida, and her 7-year-old son Enzo went on the stage to hug the Pope during the canonisation ceremony.
Benedict praised Galvao for helping the poor and the sick, and for trying to be a peacemaker in his times.
During his trip so far, the 80-year-old Pontiff has firmly reinforced the Church's opposition to abortion and called for a return to traditional family values.
But in a country where sex outside marriage is common, birth control is widely used, and divorce is not frowned upon, his message has had a mixed reception.
"TOO RIGID"
"This pope is a little too rigid, especially when it comes to issues like marriage," said Elisangela do Nascimento, 33-year-old divorced housewife from Sao Paulo in the crowd.
The trip, his first to Latin America since he was elected two years ago, is also a test of the Pope's personal appeal as he tries to staunch the flow of followers away from the Catholic church to Protestant groups, a huge concern for the Vatican.
A conservative theologian who has spent nearly 25 years of his life in the Vatican's corridors of power, some faithful have seen him as lacking the warmth and charisma that made his predecessor Pope John Paul so beloved.
However, Vatican officials have insisted from the start of his Pontificate that Benedict is his own man and he appeared to be winning some hearts and minds.
"We thought he was going to be a disappointment but he surprised us. People say he's authoritarian, but he's just a bit shy and sweet," said Lucilene Gutierres, a 21-year-old student, who spent the night at the airfield waiting to see him.
Francisco Fortes, 60, said he was a direct descendent of Friar Galvao and lived in his hometown Guaratingueta.
"This Pope has turned out to be a surprise. He seemed to be more reserved. But he's coming out of his shell here in Brazil," he said.
The Pope will meet Brazilian bishops in Sao Paulo's Se Cathedral later on Friday and then travel to the holy shrine city of Aparecida, where he will deliver the opening address to a conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops.
Catholic Ping
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Perhaps she will read one of the books he wrote before he became Pope and discover something about the man.
The whole 'Vatican Rottweiler' image was always calumny fostered by those opposed to Christian morality in general and particularly anything to do with the Catholic Church.
I have a friend who’s wife is from Brazil. She says it’s pretty much the hedonism capital of the world. There’s a holiday of some sort every other week, and everybody gets drunk and has sex nonstop.
This one was mild by comparison to those published by some of the other media.
Nice! Next, I look forward to his statements on the inhumanism of communism, perhaps castro’s hellhole will provide a convenient news peg.
Where have you been? The Catholic Church has been against communism for about 160 years now.
The Pope's response: "Elisangela do Nascimento, the 33-year-old divorced housewife from Sao Paulo is a perhaps a little too lax when it comes to her views on marriage"
Headline: Brazilian Killed in Landslide!
Blond: Oh! All those people!!!
Rio goes on the list.....
L
I'd have more respect for my former Church on economic questions when they stop lobbying for public funding in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Then again, everybody seems to have a hand in the trough, with feed provided by the taxpayer, since WWII.
BTW: This is one hedonist who has alot of respect for the Pope. I will give him kudos for condemning hedonism, rather than hedonists.
Liberation theology was condemned by both John Paul and Benedict when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. Pope Pius XI wrote about the incompatibility of socialism and Catholicism. I don't know about the "worker priests," but I would guess they're the typical left-wing nuts that have infiltrated the Church.
why are they so mysteriously silent, then? That is what i don’t get. i know the pope knows how bad hugo chavez is, i wish he’d say something to make hugo realize what a maggot he is.
Please say a Rosary for the protection of Pope Benedict in Brazil.
If you can’t say a Rosary — say an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for him.
Also add a Memorare for the his protection.
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