Pope denounces Marxism and capitalism

APARECIDA, Brazil — Pope Benedict XVI concluded his visit to the world's biggest Roman Catholic country Sunday by warning against "authoritarian forms of government" and calling on Catholics to reinvigorate the church.

Speaking in Spanish to more than 160 Latin American and Caribbean bishops, the 80-year-old pontiff denounced both Marxism and capitalism.

And in comment likely to generate controversy in Latin America, the pope said indigenous peoples, "silently longing" for Christianity, had welcomed the arrival of European priests who "purified" them. Many indigenous-rights groups believe the conquest ushered in a period of disease, mass murder, enslavement and the shattering of their cultures.

His hourlong speech contained the lengthiest and most pointed remarks of the pope's five-day visit, and it was meant as a guide to the region's bishops as they begin a 19-day conference on the church's future in the region.

At the top of their agenda will be halting the exodus of millions of Catholics from the church over the past two decades, a challenge the pope referred to while urging the bishops to fight "secularism, hedonism, indifferentism and proselytism by numerous sects."

Benedict's most political remarks appeared to be aimed at the region's new generation of leftist leaders, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, who've been accused of ruling autocratically.

Echoing the words of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, Benedict said "the Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit."

The pope appeared to criticize indigenous leaders such as Morales, an Aymara Indian, by denouncing the revival of native religions.

Since he took office early last year, Morales has given native beliefs a higher public profile and threatened to eliminate Catholic instruction from the country's schools.

The pope also assailed modern "ethical relativism" and "civil legislation opposed to marriage which, by supporting contraception and abortion, is threatening the future of peoples." Governments from Mexico to Chile have recently gone against church strictures on subjects including abortion and contraceptives.

But while praising "the phenomenon of globalization" as a sign of people's "profound aspiration towards unity," Benedict warned that "it also undoubtedly brings with it the risk of vast monopolies and of treating profit as the supreme value."

The pope did not focus on poverty to any great extent during this trip, nor did he orchestrate any of the grand gestures that endeared John Paul to his followers.

When John Paul visited Brazil in 1980, he gave his gold cardinal's ring to the residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum.

Benedict did not go to a slum nor did he meet with poor people, save for the briefest of accidental encounters outside the São Paulo cathedral.

According to religious scholars, Benedict's solution for the decline of Catholic influence in Latin America and Europe is a return to church orthodoxy.

While Brazil claims more Roman Catholics — about 125 million — than any other country, surveys have found that millions are leaving the church.

On Sunday morning, only a third of the 500,000 people anticipated by church officials attended an open-air Mass led by the pope.

Information from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.