POPE BENEDICT has offered a challenge to people in the United Kingdom to play a greater role in society and to live by their conscience, prime minister David Cameron told the pontiff as he prepared to leave the country.
Mr Cameron said in Birmingham that the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman “brings to a close an incredibly moving four days for our country”, where Pope Benedict had urged all to examine their obligations to society, not just their rights.
The tenor of the pope’s speeches has been greeted warmly by the Conservative Party, which sees them as supporting Mr Cameron’s determination to create a “Big Society”, where voluntary organisations play a greater role in providing public services.
“It’s at the heart of the new culture of social responsibility we want to build in Britain,” Mr Cameron said. “People of faith – including our 30,000 faith-based charities – are great architects of that new culture. For many, faith is a spur to action. It shapes their beliefs and behaviour and it gives them a sense of purpose. Crucially, it is their faith that inspires them to help others and we should celebrate that. Faith is part of the fabric of our country, it always has been and it always will be.”
Religious faith “is not a problem for legislators to solve, but rather a vital part of our national conversation”, Mr Cameron added, but “people do not have to share a religious faith or agree with religion on everything”.
Referring to some criticisms of British society by the pope and Cardinal Walter Kasper, Mr Cameron said: “When you think of our country, think of it as one that not only cherishes faith, but one that is deeply but quietly compassionate.”
Separately, the six north Africans who were arrested on Friday over an alleged plot to harm the pope have been released without charge.
