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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
______________________HUNGARY____________________
Attacks on religion and morality
“Alarming” rise in abortion
Greeting a group of bishops from Hungary who were making their ad limina visit, Pope John Paul II called their attention to an “alarming” number of abortions, a general religious indifference, and hostility to the faith that is expressed in sometimes subtle and occasionally violent ways.
The Pope said that he is concerned by a rapid rise in the number of abortions in Hungary. The Church must defend life with “clarity” at a time when “the culture of death is spreading across all of Europe,” he said. The Pontiff also decried the spread of religious indifference, and the “great silence about God.” He suggested that one possible remedy might be ecumenical work, in which different church groups united to call greater attention to the human need for spiritual sustenance.
The attacks against religion in Hungary, the Pope continued, include some indirect methods, such as the preoccupation with exclusively economic interests, and the lack of respect for the Sabbath. The “shock” that came with the fall of Communism is still being felt, he said, and many Hungarians have fallen subject to “the society of consumption” and “the idolatry of profits.”
The Pope urged the bishops to be “ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ,” and not simply “managers” of their dioceses. He encouraged them to make special efforts to attract young people, through renewal of Catholic schools and perhaps the establishment of a Catholic university.