Despite evil, God's plan leads toward people's redemption, says pope

Published: 2004-09-15

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- No matter what destruction is brought about by evil in today's world, God's plan leads toward humanity's redemption, said Pope John Paul II. "The Lord has established his reign, intervening in history with supreme authority," he said in his Sept. 15 weekly general audience. Though God has entrusted mankind to be free "to generate good and evil," history "has as its ultimate seal the choice of divine providence," said the pope. No matter what "storms, wounds and devastation" are wrought by evil, "the book of the Apocalypse celebrates the end toward which history is guided through the efficacious work of God," he said. For the first time since mid-June, the pope's weekly general audience returned to St. Peter's Square, where some 10,000 pilgrims gathered under dark clouds and a sprinkling of rain.

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