The Pope has criticized Axis of Good member Australia, attacking the country’s secularism.
Addressing more than 30 Australian bishops in Rome on a pilgrimage to the Vatican, the Pope warned that Australia was straying from the Roman Catholic fold.
“The pernicious ideology of secularism has found fertile ground in Australia,” John Paul II told the 35 bishops on their five-yearly ad limina visit where church leaders give the pontiff a detailed account of the state of their dioceses.
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Warming to what has become a regular Vatican theme – that Australia is an increasingly secular and hedonistic playground – the Pope said it was time for the nation’s Catholics to get back to church.
“When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of ‘weekend’ dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they no longer see the heavens,” he said.
This is not the Pope’s first criticism of Australia.
At the last ad limina pilgrimage in 1998, the Pope attacked “Australia’s sense of equality”, saying it should not be used to diminish the authority of the church.
Wow…sport and equality are two of the things I love most about Australia.
In any event, while many may not agree with the Pope’s sentiments, it is a welcome change to see criticism that does not involve airplane hijackings or suicide bombings.