Pope Benedict XVI called for those attending World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, to be "prophets for a new age." One imagines that to be the Age of Aquarius. The pope decried the spreading of the spiritual desert brought on by material prosperity. Apparently there is no word for irony in Latin as 350,000 Catholics from 170 countries attended mass in the Randwick horse racing track. The pope noted that "The world needs this renewal" and people confront "an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair." Attendees did rise to the occasion, repeatedly turning the other cheek when confronted by activists of one sort or another.
But the Catholic Church's head vicar isn't the only facing a challenge. The Dalai Lama faces one as well over a group of Tibetans who may be facing a bit of religious discrimination: the followers of Dorje Shugden, or Shugdenpas. It's a problem that may rise to the human rights level. Even Hinduism is facing a historical challenge as the rise of tourists is having serious consequences for Angkor Wat in Cambodia, a religious historic site likely to fall to the forces of materialism. It's all enough to make one wonder if the flesh has become so weak as to be impervious to the spirit, no matter how willing.
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