POPE Encourages Priests to Teach Justice and Charity
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging priests to face the economic crisis by speaking out against avarice on a large scale, and forming justice in the hearts of all people. The Pope affirmed this in a meeting Feb. 26 with parish priests of the Diocese of Rome, a Lenten tradition, in which he answered their questions and concerns.He addressed a pastor's question about how to help people deal with the present economic crisis. On the level of macroeconomics, he said, it "is a duty of the Church" to "denounce" the "underlying errors.""We must do so with courage," he asserted, "but also by being specific." He explained that "great morality is not helpful if it is not based on knowledge of the reality, which also helps to understand what can be done concretely to change the situation gradually."The Pontiff noted the central point of the existence of original sin. "If it did not exist," he sai...