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                             Vatican Information Service.   
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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   MAY SOCIETY, PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS REDISCOVER MORAL ROOTS   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 21 JAN 2011 (VIS) - At midday today, Benedict XVI received   
   directors and officers of the Police Headquarters in Rome.   
      
   The Pope began his address by referring to the current age, marked, he said,   
   "by profound changes" which "sometimes generate feelings of insecurity,   
   primarily due to the precarious social and economic situation, but sharpened   
   also by a certain diminution in the perception of ethical principles,   
   principles which are the foundation of law and of the individual moral   
   behaviour which gives strength to that law".   
      
   He went on: "Our world, with all its new hopes and possibilities, is at the   
   same time affected by the impression that moral consensus is breaking down and   
   that, as a consequence, the basic structures of coexistence are no longer able   
   to function fully. Thus, many people are tempted to think that the forces   
   mobilised to defend civil society are, in the end, destined to fail. Faced with   
   this temptation we - Christians in particular - have the responsibility to   
   rediscover a new resolve in professing our faith and doing good".   
      
   The Pope highlighted how "in our day great importance is given to the   
   subjective dimension of existence", noting that this involves "a serious risk   
   because modern thought has developed a reductive view of conscience, according   
   to which there are no objective references in determining what has value and   
   what is true; rather, each individual provides his own measure through his own   
   intuitions and experiences, each possesses his own truth and his own morals.   
   The most evident consequence is that religion and morals tend to be confined to   
   the subjective and private sphere; and faith with its values and its modes of   
   behaviour no longer merits a place in public and civil life. Thus, if on the   
   one hand society gives great importance to pluralism and tolerance, on the   
   other religion tends to become progressively marginalised, considered   
   irrelevant and, in a certain sense, foreign to the public sphere, almost as if   
   it had to limit its influence on the life of man.   
      
   "Yet on the contrary", he added, "for us as Christians the true meaning of   
   'conscience' is man's capacity to recognise truth and, even more so, the   
   possibility he has to hear its call, to seek it and to find it".   
      
   "The new challenges emerging on our horizon impose the need for a renewed   
   encounter between God and man. May society and public institutions rediscover   
   their 'soul', their spiritual and moral roots, so as to give a new consistency   
   to their ethical and juridical reference values, and hence to their practical   
   actions. ... The provision of religious and spiritual services which, in   
   accordance with current norms, State and Church ensure is offered to the   
   Police, bears witness to the perennial fruitfulness of this encounter".   
      
   The Holy Father concluded his remarks: "The unique vocation of the city of Rome   
   requires that today you, as public officials, should show a good example of   
   positive and profitable interaction between a healthy secularism and the   
   Christian faith. ... Always consider man as an end in himslef, so that everyone   
   may live in an authentically human way. As the bishop of this city of ours, I   
   would like to invite you to read and mediate upon the Word of God, in order to   
   find therein the source and criterion of inspiration for all your actions".   
   AC/VIS 20110121 (570)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)