Pope Reminds New Zealand of Sunday's Sanctity

The Pope addressed eight Catholic leaders from New Zealand and told them that they were not keeping the sabbath sacred but were giving in to a tide of "unrestrained secularism."

According to the New Zealand Herald:

But this country's Catholic football players seem unlikely to hang up their boots on the sabbath on the basis of the papal scolding, as a spokesman for the Marist Rugby Federation indicated yesterday there was time for both prayer and sports.

Pope John Paul II told an eight-strong delegation of New Zealand Catholic leaders on a five-yearly visit to the Vatican that their supreme day of faith must not be unduly dominated by entertainment and sport.

When Sunday became subordinate to a popular concept of weekend, people remained trapped in a relentless and often meaningless pursuit of novelty, the 84-year-old pontiff and occasional rugby fan said in a partly-read address on Tuesday to Cardinal Tom Williams and his New Zealand bishops.

Read more: Pope: Too much fun and games in NZ