ROME, SEPT. 13, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The editor of the Vatican’s semi-official daily newspaper says that Benedict XVI went to the root of unemployment during his one-day trip to Ancona on Sunday.
The Pope was at the Italian seaport town to close the 25th National Eucharistic Congress. He gave two full-length addresses and a homily.
“In reporting Benedict XVI’s visit to Ancona, the Italian media reflected on the anxiety of the Pope, Bishop of Rome and Primate of Italy, concerning the lack of employment and job security. It was an informative choice, understandable above all in this time of crisis, and one which stressed the Pontiff’s closeness,” Gian Maria Vian reflected.
But, the L’Osservatore editor continued, “Benedict XVI’s journey and discourses reached further.”
He said the Pope went to the “root of the matter,” urging people “to think about the historical consequences of attempts to organize society on the part of ideologies which ‘have aimed at organizing society with the force of power and of the economy.'”
The Holy Father called for re-establishing the primacy of of God, Vian said, because “man needs bread in order to live. He needs his daily bread of course, but above all he needs the true bread which is Christ himself.”
The consequences of the Eucharist, the editor suggested, are political: “In fact, from the sacrament which is at the heart of the Christian faith — the Pope said — a new assumption of community responsibility comes into being and ‘a new positive social development is born which is centered on the person, especially the person who is poor, sick or in need.'”
Vian noted that Benedict XVI added to his reflection on bread a reflection on wine, the other sign of the Eucharist.
In his address to engaged couples, the Pope spoke about the wine of celebration, which had run out at Cana.
“Today too,” Vian said, “this wine has run short, but even today, as on that day, Christ wants it to be poured out for everyone: in the friendship he offers to every human being.”
