FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rev. Christopher Pollard212-370-7885 Ext. 30cpollard@holyseemission.orgNew York, NY, Feb. 16 – Yesterday afternoon Pope Benedict XVI, during his visit to the Major Seminary of Rome, made, inter alia, the following off-the-cuff remarks, as part of his comments on the passage from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans in which the Apostle invites the faithful not to conform to this world but to transform themselves and renew their minds in order to discern the will of God, "the good and acceptable and perfect".  On this topic, the Pope made reference to the force of evil which, in today's world, also emerges "in two great powers which are good and useful in themselves but easily open to abuse: the power of finance and the power of the media. Both are necessary, both are useful, but so subject to misuse that they often go against their true goals". Today – he said - "we see how the world of finance can dominate mankind. Possession and appearance dominate and enslave the world. ... Finance is no longer a tool to promote well being and to support the life of man, but a force that oppresses him, one which almost has to be worshipped". The Pontiff called on his audience not to conform to this power. "Be non conformists. What counts is not possession but existence". Christians must not bow to this power, but use it as "as a means, with the freedom of the children of God". Turning then to consider the question of public opinion, Benedict XVI highlighted how "we have a great need of information, knowledge about the truth of the world; but there is a power of appearance which in the end counts even more than reality itself". Appearance "overlies the truth and becomes more important. Man no longer pursues the truth but wants above all to appear". Here too "there is a Christian non conformism. ... We want not appearance but truth, and this will give us true freedom. Christian non conformism redeems us and restores us to truth”.For more information about the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations,please visit www.holyseemission.org, which contains also links to the Holy See Press Office.###