Pope Benedict XVI suffers from "Foot in Mouth Disease"

During the "General Audience" given by the Pope a few days ago, he is quoted as having said that:

"Technical advances and great discoveries do not make mankind freer or more humane".

Does he really believe this? ..or did this thought just slip out of his mouth before having made a stop at his brain?
There is not space enough on my Blog to list all the medical discoveries alone, which have freed mankind from disease and pain..
Did the first pain free surgical intervention, performed in 1846 not free man from untold pain and suffering?
Did the discovery of "blood transfusion" not also free mankind from untimely deaths?
Did the discoveries made by Louis Pasteur not prolong healthy lives?
Did Dr. Banting's discovery that  Insulin was a treatment against diabetes  not save untold lives ?
What about Roentgen's recognition that Xrays had a medical use?

I could go on and on and on, listing all the great discoveries which have made mankind freer.
Freer from untold suffering, freer from crippling diseases, yes, freer from untimely death.
The above is obviously a most inadequate listing of the Great Discoveries in Medicine.
And is it not true that a man or woman, free from pain and disease is more readily capable to care for his/her fellow humans, because the worry about their own survival has been removed from them?
Thereby it could be said that it enabled them to become "more humane"

I am certain that I could list an equal number of "Technical Advances" which have contributed in equal measure  to longer and better lives, and thereby  having made mankind "freer and more humane."

In the Pope's defence I can only assume that he looked at the many areas of our world where warfare and killing are daily occurrences. He probably looked at the Middle East, at Africa where one could despair about the lack of humane relationships between peoples and people.

An influential man, such as the Pontiff, should, however, express himself more carefully and not issue such generalisations which cannot survive even a cursory examination.

Oh well, he is only infallible in matters of Faith.

In other areas he is obviously not much smarter than you or I....

Bertstravels