From the Vatican Information Service:
Vatican City, 20 December 2012 (VIS) - The "Financial Times" daily
newspaper has today published an article by Benedict XVI entitled "A
time for Christians to engage with the world". According to an
introductory note from the Holy See Press Office, "The Pope's article
for the Financial Times originates from a request from the editorial
office of the Financial Times itself which, taking as a cue the recent
publication of the Pope's book on Jesus' infancy, asked for his comments
on the occasion of Christmas. Despite the unusual nature of the
request, the Holy Father accepted willingly.
"It is perhaps appropriate to recall the Pope's willingness to
respond to other unusual requests in the past, such as the interview
given for the BBC, again at Christmas a few months after his visit to
the United Kingdom, or the television interview for the programme 'A sua
immagine' produced by the RAI, the Italian state broadcasting company,
to mark the occasion of Good Friday. These too have been opportunities
to speak about Jesus Christ and to bring his message to a wide forum at
salient moments during the Christian liturgical year".
Below is the full text of the Pope's article:
A time for Christians to engage with the world
"'Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs
to God,' was the response of Jesus when asked about paying taxes. His
questioners, of course, were laying a trap for him. They wanted to force
Him to take sides in the highly-charged political debate about Roman
rule in the land of Israel. Yet there was more at stake here: if Jesus
really was the long-awaited Messiah, then surely He would oppose the
Roman overlords. So the question was calculated to expose Him either as a
threat to the regime, or a fraud.
"Jesus’ answer deftly moves the argument to a higher plane, gently
cautioning against both the politicisation of religion and the
deification of temporal power, along with the relentless pursuit of
wealth. His audience needed to be reminded that the Messiah was not
Caesar, and Caesar was not God. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish
was of an altogether higher order. As He told Pontius Pilate, 'My
kingship is not of this world.'
"The Christmas stories in the New Testament are intended to convey a
similar message. Jesus was born during a “census of the whole world”
taken by Caesar Augustus, the Emperor renowned for bringing the Pax
Romana to all the lands under Roman rule. Yet this infant, born in an
obscure and far-flung corner of the Empire, was to offer the world a far
greater peace, truly universal in scope and transcending all
limitations of space and time.
"Jesus is presented to us as King David’s heir, but the liberation He
brought to His people was not about holding hostile armies at bay; it
was about conquering sin and death forever.
"The birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our
values, our very way of life. While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of
great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an
examination of conscience. At the end of a year that has meant economic
hardship for many, what can we learn from the humility, the poverty, the
simplicity of the crib scene?
"Christmas can be the time in which we learn to read the Gospel, to
get to know Jesus not only as the Child in the manger, but as the one in
Whom we recognize God made Man.
"It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily
lives and their involvement in worldly affairs – be it in the Houses of
Parliament or the Stock Exchange. Christians shouldn’t shun the world;
they should engage with it. But their involvement in politics and
economics should transcend every form of ideology.
"Christians fight poverty out of a recognition of the supreme dignity
of every human being, created in God’s image and destined for eternal
life. Christians work for more equitable sharing of the earth’s
resources out of a belief that, as stewards of God’s creation, we have a
duty to care for the weakest and most vulnerable. Christians oppose
greed and exploitation out of a conviction that generosity and selfless
love, as taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth, are the way that leads
to fullness of life. Christian belief in the transcendent destiny of
every human being gives urgency to the task of promoting peace and
justice for all.
"Because these goals are shared by so many, much fruitful cooperation
is possible between Christians and others. Yet Christians render to
Caesar only what belongs to Caesar, not what belongs to God. Christians
have at times throughout history been unable to comply with demands made
by Caesar. From the Emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian
regimes of the last century, Caesar has tried to take the place of God.
When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today,
it is not because of an antiquated world-view. Rather, it is because
they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a
noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything
that undermines it.
"In Italy, many crib scenes feature the ruins of ancient Roman
buildings in the background. This shows that the birth of the child
Jesus marks the end of the old order, the pagan world, in which Caesar’s
claims went virtually unchallenged. Now there is a new king, who relies
not on the force of arms, but on the power of love. He brings hope to
all those who, like himself, live on the margins of society. He brings
hope to all who are vulnerable to the changing fortunes of a precarious
world. From the manger, Christ calls us to live as citizens of his
heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that all people of good will can help to
build here on earth".