The following are excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI’s messages, which throws light on his views on humanity…

Pope seeks ‘bridges of friendship’ with Muslims

“I assure you that the church wants to continue building bridges of friendship with the followers of all religions, in order to seek the true good of every person and of society as a whole,” Benedict said. “I express my appreciation for the growth of dialogue between Muslims and Christians, both at the local and international level,” he said.

The world is marked by conflicts but longs for peace

“Yet peace is also a duty to which all people must be committed, especially those who profess to belong to religious traditions,” he said. “Our efforts to come together and foster dialogue are a valuable contribution to building peace on solid foundations.

“It is therefore imperative to engage in authentic and sincere dialogue, built on respect for the dignity of every human person, created as we Christians firmly believe, in the image and likeness of God,” he said.

Humanity in a spiritual perspective
“The human race - every one of us - is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all - he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.”

The role of the Church

The pastor must be inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.