Church in the World

Pope condemns ?assault of the secular?

Rome

BENEDICT XVI has issued a stinging condemnation of abortion, same-sex unions and embryonic research in an uncharacteristically long speech to a group of Latin American bishops attending a meeting sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family.

At an audience last Saturday in the Vatican with bishops in charge of national family life offices, the Pope listed a series of problems he saw as connected to secularisation that he said were threatening ?the fundamental values of marriage and the family?.

He said that the ?current phenomenon? of secularisation had obscured the ?identity and mission? of the family and had led to ?unjust laws? that ignore the fundamental rights of the family.

There are ?false concepts of the family that do not respect the original plan of God?, he said, and noted that some ?new forms of marriage? were actually previously unknown.

?Children have a right to be born and to grow up in the bosom of a family, founded on marriage, where the parents are the primary educators of their children?s faith,? the Pope said.

?It is necessary to help people become aware of the intrinsic evil of the crime of abortion,? Pope Benedict told the bishops. He said abortion was ?also an aggression against society itself?.

On the issue of embryonic research, the Pope?s words were perhaps the harshest. He said the legalisation of abortion had led to ?the elimination of the embryo or its arbitrary use in the name of scientific progress, which ? becomes a threat to the very human being?. Pope Benedict cryptically warned that this could lead to other social ills ?When you reach such levels, society resents it and all sorts of risks can shake its foundations.?

The Bavarian Pope warned ?politicians and legislators? that they had a ?duty to defend the fundamental right to life, the fruit of the love of God?. And he said priests had to be given ?solid preparation in this field that [would] allow them to address the issue in their pastoral activity with competence and conviction?.

It was unclear whether the Pope?s longer and more severe message was an indication that he was beginning to change the overall tone of his pontificate. However, it is believed that officials at the Pontifical Council of the Family, and not the Pope, had actually written the lengthier text.

Meanwhile, the Vatican?s newspaper, L?Osservatore Romano, condemned the proposed legalisation of same-sex unions put forward in the manifesto of L?Unione, the coalition of left-wing opposition parties headed by Romano Prodi.

?Once again, we feel obliged to reiterate our absolute opposition to these false conceptions of marriage and of family which do not respect God?s plan,? said the Vatican daily.

?The reality of these projects is always the same to destroy the family,? it added. Romano Prodi, a practising Catholic, is currently drawing up the coalition?s manifesto for the legislative elections due in the spring.

On Monday, L?Unione adopted a measure to recognise juridically the rights of gay couples by according them civil partnerships.
Robert Mickens, Rome