Catholic World News News Feature
Christ's Kingdom vs. man's ideology: Pope's Sunday audience November 24, 2008
"The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world," Pope Benedict XVI reminded his midday audience on Sunday, November 23: the feast of Christ the King. Nevertheless, he continued, that Kingdom "accomplishes all the good that-- thanks to God-- exists in man and in history."
The Holy Father went on to say that the Christian faith and the work of Christians motivated by love for God provide the greatest impetus for good in the world. Later, after leading the Angelus prayer, the Pope contrasted Christian charity with the horror of totalitarian ideology, as he remembered the victims of the Ukraine famine.
Pope Benedict remarked that the Gospel reading for the day, recounting the story of the Last Judgment, is a "stupendous parable," which challenges anyone who hears it. "It is the truth of our final destiny and of the criteria by which we will be judged," he said-- alluding to the words: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
Christians inspired by their faith, by serving their neighbors, help to bring the Kingdom of God alive on earth, the Pope continued. For that reason, the faith-- looking forward to the Kingdom in heaven-- has helped to build civilization. Yet by the same token, civilization is undermined when people act from selfish motives, he said. "If each thinks only of his own interests, the world cannot but fall into ruin."
Later in his Sunday audience the Pontiff recognized a group of pilgrims from Ukraine who had joined the crowd in St. Peter's Square. He took note of the commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian famine, brought about in the early 1930s by Soviet policies. The Pope promised his prayers for the victims, saying that it was his "fervent hope that no political system may ever again, in the name of an ideology, deny human beings their rights, freedom, and dignity."
The Ukrainian famine-- in which several million people died amid draconian agricultural policies that collectivized farms and exported food-- remains a topic of heated debate in Ukraine and Russia today. Ukraine sees the famine as an act of genocide, intended by Stalin to crush Ukrainian nationalism; Russia has resisted the idea that the mass starvation was deliberately engineered.
In Moscow this weekend, the Russian Orthodox Church organized a memorial services for "all who died of famine in the years of godless government." The service was suggested by the Ukraine embassy in Moscow, and celebrated with the approval of Patriarch Alexei II. The Moscow Patriarchate made a point of reminding reporters that Patriarch Alexei celebrates the Divine Liturgy once each year for famine victims. But this weekend's service, held in collaboration with Ukrainian diplomats, went beyond previous ceremonies in acknowledging Russian culpability for the disaster.
As he concluded his Sunday audience, Pope Benedict called attention to two beatification ceremonies planned for the coming week: for 188 Japanese martyrs on November 24 and for Brother José Olallo Valdes in Cuba on November 29. Of the latter, the Pontiff said that he hoped "the intercession of the new blessed may help the Church in her evangelizing mission, and bring renewed apostolic vitality to all Cubans who glory in being disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ."
