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Vatican City, 5th December 2005 (CNA) - On
Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI met with representatives of Latin American family
and life groups, to whom he stressed the value of human life in the face of new
ethical issues, and the need for faithfulness, and openness to life within
marriage.
The group was made up of
presidents of the Latin American Episcopal
Commissions for the Family and Life, meeting in
Rome over the weekend. The meeting was promoted
by the Pontifical Council for the Family, headed
by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo.
Recalling the great interest of
his predecessor, John Paul II, on the pastoral
care of the family, Benedict said that "for my
part, I share this same concern which to a large
extent affects the future of the Church and of
peoples."
"Your duty as pastors," he
said, "is to present the extraordinary value of
marriage in all its richness; as a natural
institution, it is 'the heritage of humanity.'“
“At the same time,” he added,
“its elevation to the great dignity of Sacrament
must be contemplated with gratitude and wonder,
as I myself recently pointed out when I said
that 'the value of Sacrament that marriage
assumes in Christ means that the gift of
creation was raised to the grace of redemption.”
The grace of Christ is not
external to man's nature, it causes it no harm,
but, in elevating it beyond its own limits,
liberates and restores it'."
The Holy Father went on, saying
that “the total commitment of husband and wife,
with its particular characteristics of
exclusivity, faithfulness, duration in time and
openness to life, lies at the basis of that
community of love and life that is marriage.”
“Today,” he said, “we must
announce with renewed enthusiasm that the gospel
of the family is a way to human and spiritual
fulfillment, in the certainty that the Lord is
always present, in His grace."
‘Children express wealth of a
family’
The Pope then went on to
address a number of life-related issues,
including embryonic stem cell research and
abortion, noting that new attitudes are putting
the fundamental right to life into question.
“The elimination of the
embryo”, he said, “is being facilitated, as is
its use in the name of scientific progress
which, in not recognizing its own limits and not
accepting all the moral principles that enable
the dignity of the person to be protected,
becomes a threat to human beings themselves."
Benedict also noted that "in
Latin America, as elsewhere, children have the
right to be born and to grow up in the bosom of
a family founded on marriage," and emphasized
that children are an expression of the wealth of
a family.
"For this reason," he said, "it
is necessary to help everyone to realize the
intrinsic evil of the crime of abortion which,
in attacking human life at its beginnings, is
also an act of aggression against society
itself.”
“Consequently,” he pointed out,
“politicians and lawmakers, as servants of the
social good, have the duty to defend the
fundamental right to life, the fruit of God's
love."
Concluding his address, the
Pope said that "there can be no doubt that
pastoral work in such a delicate and complex
field involving so many different disciplines
and dealing with such fundamental questions,
calls for the careful training of" those who
administer it, as well as of the lay people who
"dedicate their energies to serving families." |
