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Pope Benedict ends visit with call for holiness
Benedict XVI tells believers in Czech Republic to learn from martyred patron saint.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:02 September 28, 2009
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- At an open-air mass for at least 40,000 people, Benedict issued a call for holiness as he wrapped up his three-day visit.
Stara Boleslav: Pope Benedict XVI on Monday held up the Czech Republic's martyred patron saint as a model for leaders, saying the world needs God-fearing people prepared to follow the ethical principles of Christianity.
At an open-air mass for at least 40,000 people, Benedict issued a call for holiness as he wrapped up his three-day visit.
"The last century - as this land of yours can bear witness - saw the fall of a number of powerful figures who had apparently risen to almost unattainable heights," Benedict said, speaking in Italian. "Suddenly they found themselves stripped of their power."
Benedict said that those who deny God and appear to lead a comfortable life are in reality "sad and unfulfilled" people.
His visit came as the country prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which ousted a communist regime that had ruthlessly persecuted believers and confiscated church property.
The 82-year-old pope told believers that they could learn from patron St Wenceslas, who was murdered here by his pagan brother in 935 AD.
Wenceslas, the pope said, was "a model of holiness for all people".
"We ask ourselves: In our day, is holiness still relevant? Or is it now considered unattractive and unimportant? Do we not place more value today on worldly success and glory? Yet how long does earthly success last, and what value does it have?"
Although his overall reception has been tepid, with no posters or billboards announcing the trip, the faithful - some from nearby Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia - streamed into Stara Boleslav, 25 kilometres northeast of Prague, before dawn.
The Vatican said 40,000 people turned out. Czech organisers put the crowd estimate at 50,000.
"It's important for us to show that we're not just an atheist nation and that there are believers here," said Lukas Jasa, 21, who travelled with friends from the eastern Czech Republic - more than 300 kilometres - to glimpse the pope.
Czechs are among Europe's most secular people.
Recent surveys suggest the number of believers remains low - about one in two respondents to a poll conducted by the agency STEM said they don't believe in God.
Benedict has used his pilgrimage to recall the evils of communist-era religious repression and to coax indifferent Czechs back to the church.
Before yesterday's mass, Benedict stopped at a shrine to St Wenceslas, where he blessed the martyr's skull and other relics.
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