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Archbishop urges care for planet Cardinal makes plea on immigrants
(about 7 hours later)
The Archbishop of Canterbury will use his Christmas sermon to call for people to treat the world around them with greater "reverence". People should do more to welcome immigrants, the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales says.
Dr Rowan Williams will say human greed distorts the "fragile" balance between mankind and the environment. In his Christmas address at Midnight Mass, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said he understood the need for immigration to be controlled.
Once that balance is threatened, "spiritual sensitivity" and "material survival" are at risk, he will say. However, immigrants must feel "simply excluded because they are outsiders", the Archbishop of Westminster said.
Meanwhile, in his own Christmas message Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said immigrants should be made more welcome. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury will call for people to look after the planet in his Christmas sermon.
In a Christmas morning sermon, Dr Williams will tell his congregation that more effort is "clearly required of us" to live side by side. 'Comfort and joy'
"The whole point of creation is that there should be persons... capable of intimacy with God - not so that God can gain something, but so that these created beings may live in joy. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said in his Christmas Homily, broadcast live on BBC Radio 4, that the celebration of the birth of Christ was for everyone.
The delight and reverence we should have towards the things of creation is intensified many times where human relationships are concerned Archbishop of Canterbury Many of these people are trying, for perfectly good reasons, to enter Britain and they need to be welcomed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
"God's way of making sure that this joy is fully available is to join humanity on Earth so that human beings may recognise what they are and what they are for," he will say at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. He urged Christians to ensure that "nothing and nobody remains untouched by the tidings of comfort and joy that came from heaven on the first Christmas night."
'Amazed reverence' The cardinal said: "A theme which is much in the news in Britain at the moment is the question of the many immigrant peoples who come to our country.
Dr Williams, 57, is to warn that if people threaten the planet there will be repercussions. "Most immigrants come to our country because they wish to have a better life and work so as to provide for their families.
"When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk; more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk - the possibility of being opened up to endless wonder by the world around us." "What concerns me at the moment is our attitude as a nation to these many immigrants," he continued.
Respect for fellow people was also necessary, he will say. "Many of these people are trying, for perfectly good reasons, to enter Britain and they need to be welcomed.
"The delight and reverence we should have towards the things of creation is intensified many times where human relationships are concerned. "I understand that immigration needs to be controlled. However, sometimes they must feel like Joseph when he returned to Bethlehem after exile in Egypt, simply excluded because they are outsiders."
'Survival at risk'
In a Christmas morning sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury will tell his congregation that more effort is "clearly required of us" to live side by side.
Dr Rowan Williams will say: "The whole point of creation is that there should be persons... capable of intimacy with God - not so that God can gain something, but so that these created beings may live in joy.
We don't just put our material survival at risk, more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk Dr Rowan Williams
"God's way of making sure that this joy is fully available is to join humanity on Earth so that human beings may recognise what they are and what they are for."
Dr Williams will warn that if people threaten the planet there will be repercussions.
"When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk, more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk - the possibility of being opened up to endless wonder by the world around us."
Respect for fellow people is also necessary, he will say.
"The delight and reverence we should have towards the things of creation is intensified many times where human relationships are concerned," he will say at Canterbury Cathedral.
"And if peace is to be more than a pause in open conflict, it must be grounded in this passionate amazed reverence for others.""And if peace is to be more than a pause in open conflict, it must be grounded in this passionate amazed reverence for others."
Immigration
Meanwhile the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, has said people should do more to welcome immigrants.
In his Christmas sermon at Midnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral in London, he said: "Many of these people are trying for perfectly good reasons to enter Britain, and they need to be welcomed.
"Of course I understand that immigration needs to be controlled.
"However, sometimes, these newcomers must feel like Joseph, when he returned to Bethlehem after exile in Egypt, simply excluded because they are outsiders."