Pope Benedict prays that the Church courageously fights the culture of death

The following comes from the Catholic News Agency:

As the Church begins a new liturgical year with the start of Advent, Pope Benedict XVI has published his prayer intentions for the month of December. He mentions in particular taking up the fight against the culture of death and that Christ may be made known as the hope of the world.

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for December is: "That, faced by the growing expansion of the culture of violence and death, the Church may courageously promote the culture of life through all her apostolic and missionary activities."

His mission intention is: "That, especially in mission countries, Christians may show through gestures of brotherliness that the Child born in the grotto in Bethlehem is the luminous Hope of the world."