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Pope Benedict NAILED it with his statement that we are suffering from moral relativism.

Like Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae, the «PRO ELIGENDO ROMANO PONTIFICE» homily delivered by (then) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, was PROPHETIC. I happened to wake up at 3 in the morning, remembered the mass was being televised live by EWTN, turned on the tv just as he was at this point in his homily.

How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.
Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.

I was at work with the live coverage of the conclave muted on my computer. When Pope Benedict XVI emerged on the balcony, I could not help but shout out my joy. I wanted to grab someone and give them a hug but my co-workers could have cared less.

We have truly been blessed by these great shepherds who, against defiant odds, have held their ground to guide us in the right direction. Those who choose to scoff or ignore their warnings, are preyed upon by secularist norms.

Choosing to follow the Church instead of secularism can often be a great struggle for many, especially youth. I am reminded of St. Faustina's vision of Hell.

"...I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings" (Diary 153).

How easy to follow the broad road; how beautiful to follow the narrow one.