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Catholic World News News Feature

Challenge secular culture, Pontiff asks Japanese bishops December 17, 2007

At a meeting on December 15 with visiting bishops from Japan, Pope Benedict XVI said that "the faith is a treasure that needs to be shared with the whole of Japanese society."

The Holy Father told the Japanese bishops, who were finishing their ad limina visits, that "the world is hungry" for the Christian message. That hunger is evident, he continued, especially in economically advanced societies such as Japan, where material progress has not been enough to satisfy deeper human needs. "Remind people that there is more to life than professional success and profit," he challenged them.

The Pope remarked that most Japanese Catholics are immigrants to that country, and this trend illustrates "the true catholicity of God's people." But he also argued that Christian belief "is not foreign to Japanese culture," but reaffirms the best elements of that culture.