Pope vows Church will not sit on the sidelines

POPE BENEDICT XVI yesterday vowed the Catholic Church would openly fight for justice and could not remain silent when its charity is needed to ease suffering.

He also railed against a world that sometimes associates God with vengeance.

In a first encyclical that sets the tone for his pontificate, the Pope said it was up to the Church to provide the moral force and the “spiritual energy” without which justice could not prevail.