'Technology does not make man all-powerful'

Man can't defy gravity or prevent world disasters, and Pope Benedict XVI is using such examples to warn that technology does not make man all-powerful.

Technology was the theme of Pope Benedict's message while celebrating his sixth Easter season as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

The sermon was given on Palm Sunday as 40,000 people filled St. Peter's Square. .

During his sermon, Pope Benedict praised technology for improving the life of man but warned that while it's wonderful, it does not make man all-powerful.

Regarding man's power struggle with technology, the pope said that if man wanted a relationship with God, he had to first "abandon the pride of wanting to become God."

And before he warned that technology had great potential for evil, he lauded technology for all of its accomplishments.

Back in January, Pope Benedict praised technology, saying, "If used wisely, they can contribute to the satisfaction of the desire for meaning, truth and unity which remain the most profound aspirations of each human being."

But he also warned "that online friendships are no substitute for real human contact."

Last year the pope said that the Internet can exacerbate tensions and lead to "intellectual and moral relativism," not to mention the "pollution of the spirit," which most likely ranks higher than environmental pollution in his list of dangers.

Similar warnings have been given in the past by Pope John Paul II, too.

Anchorage Daily News on June 2, 1980, reported that the pope indicated that "science and technological progress now threaten to enslave and destroy mankind." The Milwaukee Sentinel on Sept. 13, 1983, said Pope John Paul II warned of the dangers of using technology to destroy the world.