Today's world is far from what Christ envisioned, cardinal says

Published: 2004-02-24

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- Today's world is a complete reversal of what Jesus envisioned, largely because history has had too many bad leaders, a Vatican official said. Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said during a Feb. 23 homily in Nairobi that the world Jesus proposed in the beatitudes "is an upside-down world, one that is foreign to us." He made his remarks during Mass at a congress marking the 10th anniversary of Africa's institute for social ministers at the Nairobi-based Catholic University of Eastern Africa. "If one consults the statistics on hunger in the world, what does he see? More than a billion starved human beings living in abject poverty," Cardinal Martino said. The cardinal said that because of the state of the world in 2002 he composed a prayer to Mary, Queen of Peace. He said that in that prayer he requested wisdom and discernment for rulers, so that they use science and technology to promote a human development respectful of creation and works of justice, solidarity and peace.

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