Shalom Online

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI said Asia offers “vast scenarios of evangelization” for the church, but currently faces difficulties and “true persecution” in some places. The pope made the comments Nov. 25 to members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, who were meeting in a plenary assembly at the Vatican. He noted that, last year, an important meeting of Catholic laypeople was organized in South Korea, and it became an occasion for strengthening the missionary commitment throughout Asia. “The vast Asian continent is home to diverse populations, cultures and religions of ancient origin, but until now the Christian announcement has reached only a small minority. Not rarely, they live the faith in a difficult context, and sometimes under true persecution,” the pope said. His remarks appeared aimed at China, which has sharply limited church freedoms and in recent months has imposed the ordination of bishops without papal approval. Looking ahead to next October’s Synod of Bishops on the theme of “new evangelization,” the pope said lay Catholics should take the lead in reawakening an awareness of God. The tendency to shut God out of people’s lives and society is common today, he said, and “the spread of this mentality has generated the crisis that we are experiencing today, which is a crisis of meaning and values even before it is an economic and social crisis.”