euro|topics - Pope Benedict XVI in France

Main focus of Monday, September 15, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI in France

During his first official visit to France, Pope Benedict XVI has called on Europe not to neglect its Christian heritage. After talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy on the concept of "positive laicism", his visit culminated in an address to around 100,000 faithful at the Christian pilgrimage site Lourdes. Europe's press takes stock of the visit of the leader of the Catholic Church.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Germany

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung draws a positive balance of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to France: "Seldom has there been as much unity in Paris between the dynamic Sarkozy and the smart Benedict. This has been a rare meeting between a French president obliged by the constitution to a strict separation of church and state and a Pope who must hold to the word of the Bible, yet who may interpret it as he sees fit. ... In the three and a half years of his pontificate, Benedict XVI has gone about his rallying work in a calm and patient manner, eager not to leave the field of reason solely to modern proponents of the Enlightenment. ... In this way, the intellectual at the Holy See revealed the folly of the prominent French laicists, former presidents and much vaunted professors who will hear nothing of the Christian roots of Europe. ... And in the end he made a bid for a return to the well-proven Christian foundation of European values, where one may find better and more human treasures than in any other culture. In all Christian modesty, of course." (15/09/2008)

Cotidianul - Romania

Pope Benedict XVI has two goals with his visit to France, Cotidianul newspaper writes. "On the one hand the Pope is attempting to revive Catholicism in Europe, and here France represents a major hurdle. Of the 65 percent of the French who tick the 'Catholic' box in population censuses, only one fifth go to church at least once a month. The French crusade seemed like an 'unattainable mission' from the word go, not just because of French secularism, but also because of the new Pope, who is less popular and more dogmatic than John Paul II. ... By contrast, Nicolas Sarkozy had hoped the Pope's visit would be a boon to him in the next elections. ... Sarkozy is no adamant Christian. With three marriages behind him he makes no bones about only visiting the church 'from time to time'. Now he is trying to restore the culture of the religious wars in France." (15/09/2008)

La Repubblica - Italy

Aldo Schiavone comments in the daily La Repubblica on the asymmetry between the principle of freedom and the principle of unity evident in the speech Pope Benedict XVI delivered at the Collège des Bernadins in Paris on Sunday. "The Pope has revealed the true mission of his term in office: to appeal to people's reason before appealing to their hearts, to engineer a great theological concept that reconciles the Church with modernity and faith with reason. ... The path to salvation is to link up the principles of freedom and unity. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Church sees specific manifestations of these principles - such as those to do with the family, life, death, the role of women - as direct consequences of the absolute, as direct and irrevocable echoes of the Word of God. This results in an irreparable asymmetry that compromises the possibility of a new alliance between reason and faith: while the concept of freedom has had a defining influence on the history of mankind and can always be called into question, the concept of unity that the Church claims for its own is of supernatural origin, and one must submit to it." (15/09/2008)

Le Figaro - France

In its leading article French daily Le Figaro describes the Pope's visit to France as a success: "A smile comes to one's face on reading the dramatic remarks with which Pope Benedict XVI was received in France last week: Does he have the right profile? Is he the one our society has been waiting for? ... He referred to laicism ... in the presence of the President of the Republic. He presented the intellectuals with a brilliant doctrine on history and theology. ... On Sunday he spent a lot of time addressing the bishops - in a brotherly manner but also with resoluteness. ... His argument is simple: ... Catholics must assume an active role, they must intervene 'promptly and in unison' ... This lecture on courage delivered by Benedict XVI was not only addressed to the members of the clergy ... but to all those who want to do good." (15/09/2008)

» To the complete press review of Monday, September 15, 2008

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