Signs of the Times

Pope’s New Encyclical, ‘Spe Salvi,’ Addresses Modern Crisis of Hope

In an encyclical on Christian hope, Pope Benedict XVI said that without faith in God, humanity lies at the mercy of ideologies that can lead to “the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice.” The pope warned that the modern age has replaced belief in eternal salvation with faith in progress and technology, which offer opportunities for good but also open up “appalling possibilities for evil.” “Let us put it very simply: Man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope,” he said in the encyclical, This article appears in December 17 2007.