“The death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI have brought a kind of new Pentecost to the Church”, said the pastoral theologian Paul Zulehner, in addressing the “Weizer Pfingstereignis”, a meeting held at Weiz, in Austria, from 4 to 15 May. In his intervention focused on the main theme of the meeting the story of Cain and Abel the Viennese theologian mentioned the current debate on euthanasia. He also pointed out that the two Popes share the characteristic as “passionate defenders of Abel’s right to life”, a right defended by both pontiffs without the recourse to violence. Zulehner said he could observe a global “revolution from above”, accompanied by “local revolutions from below”. The new Church is characterized by the fact “that her life is becoming elementary, simple, transparent and true. It is crucial he said to keep together the love for God and the love for our neighbour”, since “the love of God without the love for the poor becomes a self-consoling spirituality of affluence, while love for our fellowmen without love for God ends up by being quenched”.
