(Photo: Catholic News Agency) |
Peace
can only be attained by respecting “human life in all its many aspects,
beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural
end,” the pope said in a New Year message titled “Blessed are the Peacemakers”.
Read
January 1 during the celebration of the 46th World Day of Peace, the
pope’s message dwelt on wide-ranging topics essential in the achievement of
true and lasting peace in the world.
In
a section that considers the value of human life, he said “peacemakers are
those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness.”
“Life
in its fullness is the height of peace,” he said. “Anyone who loves peace
cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.”
He
said it is a pursuit of false peace when life is devalued, such as in support
for the liberalization of abortion.
“The
flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the
killing of a defenceless and innocent being, will never be able to produce
happiness or peace,” he said.
“Indeed
how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples
or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those
who are weakest, beginning with the unborn,” the pope further said.
He
noted that “every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably
causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment.”
The
pontiff also lamented that some laws are being crafted covertly including
“false rights and freedoms” using euphemisms to promote “a supposed right to
abortion and euthanasia, [which] pose a threat to the fundamental right to
life.”
Sanctity of marriage
The threat on the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman in the growing clamor from various countries to legalize same sex unions did not lost on the Holy Father, either.
He
said the attempts by many to legalize same sex unions may destroy the very
essence of marriage itself, “obscuring its specific nature and its
indispensable role in society.”
“These
principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the
right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself,
accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity,” the pope said.
The
Holy Father said it is essential to promote these principles to all regardless
of religious affiliation, the more these are denied and misunderstood, “since
this constitute an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious
harm to justice and peace.”
Another
path to building peace, he said, is for legal systems to acknowledge the right
of people “to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of
laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion
and euthanasia.”
Role of family
The
pope also singled out the role of the family in promoting life, saying it has
“a natural vocation to promote life” as it “accompanies individuals as they
mature and it encourages mutual growth and enrichment through caring and
sharing.”
“The
Christian family in particular serves as a seedbed for personal maturation
according to the standards of divine love,” he said. “The family is one of the
indispensable social subjects for the achievement of a culture of peace.”
He
also pointed out the rights of parents and their primary role in educating
their children in the areas of morality and religion.
“It
is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrow’s promoters of a culture of life
and love, are born and nurtured,” he said.
The
pope also touched on other issues essential in the attainment of peace, like integral
human development, religious freedom, people’s right to work and food security
for all. (CBCPNews)
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