Pope warns US against 'radical secularism'

pope Benedict XVI warned against the grave dangers that "radical secularism" posed to the Catholic Church and society in general during a meeting Thursday with US bishops. The United States was founded "on certain ethical principles" that have "eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents...," he said. These trends, the pontiff continued, "are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such." That was especially important with regard to "the great moral issues of our time: respect for God's gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights," he said