Church is learning to live in global world, says Pope

LISBON - Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday declared the Catholic Church was in a process of learning how to live with “other truths” while continuing to proclaim the Christian faith.

“The church, in her adherence to the eternal character of truth, is in the process of learning how to live with respect for other ‘truths’ and for the truth of others,” the pope told about 1,500 Portuguese luminaries from the worlds of culture, science and politics.

Benedict met the film directors, writers, academics, doctors, representatives of non-Catholic faiths and other personalities in Lisbon on the second day of his four-day visit to Portugal.

Through a respect which is “open to dialogue, new doors can be opened to the transmission of truth,” Benedict said.

The pope then went to meet Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who has been a driving force behind liberalizing Portugal’s abortion law and plans to authorize same-sex marriage.

Parliament has approved same-sex marriage. If conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva vetoes it, parliament was expected to override the veto.

Later in the day, Benedict was due to travel to the pilgrimage site of Fatima at about 120 km north of Lisbon.

This is the highlight of the trip, marking the 93th anniversary of alleged apparitions in Fatima of the Virgin Mary to three Portuguese shepherd children.

Tuesday evening, the pontiff presided over an open-air mass which brought nearly 280,000 people to the banks of the river Tagus in Lisbon, according to turnout figures given by police.

The pope was due to celebrate other masses in Fatima and in Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city, which will be his last stop.

At the start of his journey, the pope condemned sex abuse within the church in exceptionally strong terms, saying that “forgiveness” did not replace “justice.”

His trip came after the Vatican has been convulsed by months of paedophile and abuse scandals in many of its most staunchly Catholic heartlands - from Ireland to Germany.

In all his speeches or homilies delivered in Portugal so far, Benedict has stressed the importance of the country’s Christian identity in the past and present.

Nearly 90 percent of the Portuguese identify themselves as Catholics, but church attendance continues to decline.