VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday that the post-modern age needed a saviour all the more because of "insidious threats to personal and moral integrity," in his 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world) Christmas message.
"In this post-modern age, perhaps he needs a saviour all the more, since the society in which he lives has become more complex and the threats to his personal and moral integrity have become more insidious," the pope said from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica.
Benedict asked rhetorically whether "humanity which has reached the moon and Mars and is prepared to conquer the universe" still had need of a savior.
"This humanity of the 21st century appears as a sure and self-sufficient master of its own destiny," he said. He added, "So it would seem, yet this is not the case. People continue to die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty, in this age of plenty and of unbridled consumerism," he lamented.
The 79-year-old pontiff mentioned those subjected to enslavement and exploitation, victims of racial and religious hatred or discrimination, terrorism and other violence "at a time when everyone invokes and acclaims progress, solidarity and peace for all."
He asked: "And what of those who, bereft of hope, are forced to leave their homes and countries in order to find humane living conditions elsewhere?"
Progress has not altered the need for a saviour, Benedict said. "Despite humanity's many advances, man has always been the same: A freedom poised between good and evil, between life and death. It is there, in the very depths of his being that man always needs to be 'saved'."
