Pope: ever-younger children led by adults into consumerism

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict has said today that kids at ever younger ages are in danger of being deceived by adults leading them down "the dead-end streets of consumerism."

Benedict appealed to young people to be on guard about consumerism just as the Christmas holiday shopping season gears up.

December 8, which the Catholic Church celebrates as the Immaculate Conception of Mary, is a national holiday in predominantly Roman Catholic Italy.

Thousands of tourists and Romans took a break from shopping later in the day to watch the Pope pray before a statue of Mary in the heart of Rome's expensive boutique district.

The Pope waved to the crowds as his popemobile navigated narrow Via Condotti, lined with swank shops, on his way to the square at the foot of the Spanish Steps.

The Pope told pilgrims and tourists that he thinks about today's young people, raised in an environment saturated with messages proposing false models of happiness.

In a twist on the Vatican's concern about unbridled consumerism, the annual papal visit to the 150-year-old statue of Mary coincides with the start of the holiday shopping frenzy in Rome.

"The pope launches the Christmas shopping season" every year, said Gianni Battistini, a menswear shop owner and head of the Via Condotti merchants association who welcomed Benedict during the pontiff's brief stop on the street.

The popemobile appeared to have a new, curved top resembling a slender bubble, to protect Benedict from the rain.
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What do you think about consumerism at Christmas?

Do you think that the idea of Santa Claus forces parents to buy things at Christmas?

Do you agree with the Pope’s that young people are getting the false idea that “things” and being able to buy things will bring them happiness?
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