DEACON FOR LIFE

Were there to be no support in the whole history of ethical and moral thought, were there no acknowledged confirmation from medical science, were the history of legal opinion to the contrary, we would still have to conclude on the basis of God's Holy Word that the unborn child is a person in the sight of God. He is protected by the sanctity of life graciously given to each individual by the Creator, Who alone places His image upon man and grants them any right to life which they have.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Pope States the Family is one of the "Fundamental Objectives of New Evangelization"

Refers to difficulties facing families such as "the drama of divorce and pressures to legalize abortion"

By Elizabeth O'Brien

VATICAN CITY, July 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an address to bishops from the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate today, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the vital role of the family as one of the "fundamental objectives of new evangelization".

In the Dominican Republic, the Pope noted, there are evident "symptoms of a process of secularization in which, for many people, God does not represent the source, the goal, or the ultimate meaning of life." Despite this fact, he added, "this people has a profoundly Christian soul."

He stated, "Another of the fundamental objectives of new evangelization is the family." The Church supports the family against "the great challenges they have to face," and "encourages them in their faith, safeguarding their perseverance in a Christian project for life, often subject to so many vicissitudes and dangers."

He next indicated how the Church strives to help the family maintain its true spirit and integrity, ensuring that "the family remains a real environment in which a person is born, grows up and is educated for life, and in which parents, in their tender love for their children, prepare them for healthy interpersonal relationships that incarnate human and moral values in the midst of a society so marked by hedonism and religious indifference."

In addition, state authorities need to "collaborate still more in the indispensable task of working in favor of families." The Pope then specifically noted "the difficulties facing the institution of the family in the country, especially with the drama of divorce and pressures to legalize abortion, as well as the spread of unions not in accordance with the Creator's design for marriage." The Dominican Republic has maintained (like most of Latin America) strict laws regarding abortion and same-sex "marriage". Only last year, for example, parliament refused to adopt a bill that would have allowed abortion in the case of rape. The Dominican Republic also joined other countries worldwide in recognizing March 25 as the Official Day for the Unborn, saying that it is "appropriate and necessary to assign a day to the unborn child, for the purpose of encouraging reflection on the important role of a pregnant woman in the destiny of humanity, and the value of the human life she carries in her womb." The Catholic Church has strongly resisted anti-family and anti-life pressure on the country. In 2002 Santo Domingo hosted a gathering of bishops from 25 Central and South American countries who condemned the UN and EU for attempting to pressure Latin America into accepting abortion, homosexuality and divorce (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/sep/02090503.html ). (with files from the Vatican Information Service) Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage: Dominican Republic Refuses to Legalize Abortion for Rape Victims http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072704.html More and More Countries Declare 'Day of the Unborn' http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/mar/03032609.html Santo Domingo Cardinal Says no Gays in Seminaries http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/mar/05030109.html -- "In Cordibus Jesu et Mariae"

LIFE IS SACRED

An example of the traditional magisterial teaching which indicates that it is never morally licit to intentionally kill a child through abortion in order to “save the life of its mother” comes from the teaching of Pope Pius XII:

“Every human being, even the infant in the mother's womb, has the right to life immediately from God, not from the parent or any human society or authority. Therefore, there is no man, no human authority, no science, no medical, eugenic, social, economic or moral ‘indication’ that can show or give valid juridical title for direct deliberate disposition concerning an innocent human life-which is to say, a disposition that aims at its destruction either as an end in itself or as the means of attaining another end that is perhaps in no way illicit itself. Thus, for example, to save the life of the mother is a most noble end, but the direct killing of the child as a means to this end is not licit.”