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| Pope condemns LatAm 'autocrats' |
| Pope Benedict XVI has criticised "authoritarian governments" in Latin America as he opened a major bishops' conference in the region.
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 14-May-2007
0:57:0 AM |
| He also condemned the growing gap between rich and poor in the region.
The conference will discuss ways to extend the Church's reach in Latin America, which has lost millions of faithful to evangelical churches.
Earlier, the Pope led an open-air Mass for thousands of Catholics on the final day of his five-day visit to Brazil.
He has now left the country to fly back to Rome.
"The demonstrations of enthusiasm and deep piety of this generous people will remain forever etched in my memory," he said, before boarding an Alitalia plane.
'Illusions of happiness'
In his opening address to the two-week bishops' conference, the Pope attacked unnamed governments in Latin America that he said were "wedded to old-fashioned ideologies which do not correspond to the Christian vision of man and society".
He blamed both Marxism and capitalism for social problems in the region, and warned that the worsening gap between rich and poor was causing a loss of dignity through drugs, alcohol "and deceptive illusions of happiness".
The people of Latin America and the Caribbean have the right to ... conditions that are human, free from the threat of hunger and from every form of violence," the Pope said.
Benedict urged the bishops to do more to confront the challenges facing the Catholic Church in the region.
The issue of attracting or keeping faithful, and the shortage of priests in the region, will be high on the agenda at the conference, which brings together 169 bishops from across Latin America.
Returning to a theme he had raised earlier in his Brazil visit, he also warned of the threat posed by legalised contraception and abortion.
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