Secularisation, the crisis of the family, the liturgy, the sacrament of reconciliation, the relation between priests and lay people, vocations, ecumenism: it was a far-ranging reflection, the one offered by Benedict XVI to the Swiss Bishops received in audience in the Vatican on November 7th. The meeting with the Pontiff and some delegates from the Curia marks the end of the visit ad limina of the Swiss Bishops of February 2005, which was not completed due to the hospitalisation of John Paul II to Policlinico Gemelli. In thanking the outgoing president of the Bishops Conference, mgr. Amédée Grab, and the newly-elected one, mgr. Kurt Koch, who will take office next January, Benedict XVI lingered on the secularisation which is affecting Switzerland and causing “a decrease in the frequency of the sacraments” and to “endangering the moral values”. Hence “the deep crisis of marriage and the family”, the rise in the number of divorces and abortions, same-sex de facto marriages: “a clear sign of de-Christianisation”, noted the Pope. “In such a society – he went on – your voice as Bishops is now more needed than ever, provided you take care, he warned, “that there is unity and unanimity among you when taking the necessary positions on the theological and moral issues”.
