Which country did Pope Benedict XVI speak in this Sunday?
Pope Benedict XVI called on Europeans to “usher in a new beginning” in the “struggle for freedom and the search for truth” as he helped celebrate the 20th anniversary of the end of Communism during a three-day visit to the Czech Republic. “Freedom seeks purpose, it requires conviction,’ the pontiff said in an address today at Prague’s Hradcany Castle. The end of totalitarian regimes in central and eastern Europe in 1989 had ushered in a “renewal of hope. Is it not precisely that spirit that contemporary Europe needs?” The Catholic leader, who speaks out often about the risk of secular Europe losing its Christian roots, is marking the first visit by a pontiff to the Czech nation since 1997. The central European nation, a former Warsaw Pact member with a centuries- long history of religious and ideological conflict, is one of the few European countries yet to ratify a treaty on relations with the Vatican. A generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall, “the process of healing and rebuild
Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that all of Europe — and not only this ex-communist country — must acknowledge its Christian heritage as it copes with rising immigration from other cultures and religions. The second day of Benedict’s pilgrimage to this highly secular country was marked by a joyous open-air Mass that drew tens of thousands of pilgrims and a sober message for the entire continent. Church organizers estimated that 120,000 people packed a field beside an airport in the southern city of Brno for what was expected to be the biggest turnout of his trip. Cheering crowd members from the Czech Republic and neighboring countries including Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia sang and waved Czech and Vatican flags. Sources: http://www.google.
