Pope laments 'amnesia' about God during Spain trip

[August 19, 2011]  MADRID (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI lamented Friday what he called modern society's "amnesia" about God as he traveled to a famed Spanish monastery on the second day of his four-day visit for the church's world youth festival.

Several hundred young nuns cheered, waved flags and performed the "wave" at El Escorial monastery as they waited for Benedict inside a courtyard of the 16th-century complex, a UNESCO world heritage site about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of the capital.

Benedict told them their decisions to dedicate their lives to their faith was a potent message in today's increasingly secular world.

"This is all the more important today when we see a certain eclipse of God taking place, a kind of amnesia which albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity," he said.

Benedict's main priority as pope has been to try to reawaken Christianity in places like Spain, a once staunchly Catholic country that has drifted far from its pious roots.

He has traveled here three times as pope, an indication that he views it as the key battleground as he tries to remind Europe of its Christian heritage and the place he believes God should still have in everyday life.

Despite Benedict's oft-repeated lament, he has no better evidence that Catholicism is alive and well in Europe than the World Youth Day celebrations under way in Madrid, the focus of his visit. Over 1 million young people from 193 countries are expected to take part in the weeklong prayer fest, which the church sees as a way to spread the faith to new generations.

That Benedict chose to deliver his message in El Escorial is significant: The massive granite structure constructed by King Philip II in 1559 was his seat of power over a vast empire whose overwhelming international concern was defending the Catholic faith from what it considered the threat of Protestantism and the Reformation.

The building acted much like the White House and the Pentagon at the height of Spain's international power, throwing its weight and organizational ability behind the Vatican.

"This is a moment for unity and reflection, it's a spiritual awakening," said Sister Maria Sandoval, a 58-year-old nun who traveled from Medellin, Colombia for the event.

Benedict later met with university professors at El Escorial, saying he was reminded of his own days as a young theologian at the University of Bonn in the years after World War II.

"At the time, the wounds of war were still deeply felt and we had many material needs," the 84-year-old German pontiff recalled. But he said those needs were taken care of by the "passion" he and his colleagues felt to respond to the heady questions about life and the search for truth posed by their students.

He urged the professors to not just educate today's young in the "technical ability" they may need to enter the workforce, but to guide them in pondering those loftier questions which he said embrace "the full measure of what it is to be human."

"We know that when mere utility and pure pragmatism become the principal criteria, much is lost and the results can be tragic," he said, adding: "From abuses associated with a science which acknowledges no limits beyond itself, to the political totalitarianism which easily arises when one eliminates any higher reference than the mere calculus of power."

His speech, dense and professorial as befits both speaker and audience, received a thunderous applause from the academics, who were decked out in their colorful tasseled caps and gowns in El Escorial's basilica.

Benedict's meetings, and a private audience with members of Spain's royal family Friday morning, came after a second relatively minor night of clashes between riot police and protesters opposed to his visit.

Four protesters suffered light injuries after riot police wielding truncheons forced several hundred people to leave Madrid's central Sol plaza. No arrests were made, said a police spokeswoman who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy.

The demonstration was much smaller than a protest by 5,000 people on the eve of the pope's visit. It also ended in violence when a smaller group clashed with police in Sol, resulting in more injuries and detentions.

Protesters have used Sol since May as the epicenter of their rage against Spain's political establishment, the government's anti-austerity measures and unemployment of nearly 21 percent, a eurozone high.

They also are angry about the euro50-million ($72-million) tab for staging World Youth Day as Spain struggles economically.

As he arrived Thursday, Benedict offered words of encouragement to young people facing precarious futures because of the economic crisis, calling for policy makers to take ethical considerations that look out for the common good into account when formulating economic policy.

Later Friday, he will lunch with a dozen young volunteers of World Youth Day, meet with the prime minister and then participate in the Way of the Cross procession re-enacting Christ's crucifixion and death -- a staple of the Catholic youth fests that were inaugurated over a quarter century ago by Pope John Paul II.

[Associated Press; By NICOLE WINFIELD]

Al Clendenning and Harold Heckle in Madrid and Elsa Fraile in El Escorial contributed.

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