Pope says he wants to help reinforce Christian values, counter threats

Published: 2007-05-09

SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) -- Arriving in Brazil on his first papal trip to Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI said he wanted to help reinforce Christian values and counter new threats to the poor, the abandoned and the unborn. "I am well aware that the soul of this people, as of all Latin America, safeguards values that are radically Christian, which will never be eradicated," the pope said May 9. The pope addressed several hundred civil and church dignitaries at an airport welcoming ceremony outside Sao Paulo, where his plane touched down after a 12-hour flight from Rome. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greeted the pope warmly as he descended from the aircraft. The pope said he had come with an essentially religious message that reflected the goals of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, which he was to open May 13. The pope said he expected the conference to strengthen the subcontinent's Christian identity "through the promotion of respect for life from the moment of conception until natural death as an integral requirement of human nature."

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