VATICAN - Pope at the Angelus reminds faithful that "euthanasia is a false solution to the drama of suffering...The true answer cannot be putting someone to death, however "kindly," but to bear witness to the love that helps us to face pain and agony in a human way."
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On Sunday, February 1, before reciting the Angelus with faithful gathered in Saint Peter's Square, the Holy Father Benedict XVI recalled that in the Sunday celebrations of this liturgical year, the liturgy presents the Gospel of Saint Mark. One of the characteristic marks of this "Messianic secret," the fact that for the moment, Jesus does not want anyone outside the restricted group of his disciples to know that he is the Christ, the Son of God. "He knows in fact that to liberate humanity from the dominion of sin he must be sacrificed on the cross as the true paschal lamb. The devil, for his part, tries to divert his attention and direct it instead toward a human logic of a powerful and successful messiah. The cross of Christ will be the demon's ruin, and this is why Jesus does not cease to teach his disciples that in order to enter into his glory he must suffer much, be rejected, condemned and crucified. Suffering is an integral part of his mission."
In suffering and dying on the cross for love, Jesus has given meaning to our suffering, "a meaning that many men and women of every age understood and made their own, experiencing profound serenity even in the bitterness of difficult physical and moral trials." Recalling the Message from the Italian Bishops, on the Day for Life (celebrated in Italy on the first Sunday of February), on the theme: "The strength of life in suffering," Benedict XVI affirmed: "I wholeheartedly join in their message in which we see the love of pastors for their people, and the courage to proclaim the truth, the courage to state with clarity, for example, that euthanasia is a false solution to the drama of suffering, a solution unworthy of man. The true answer cannot be putting someone to death, however 'kindly,' but to bear witness to the love that helps us to face pain and agony in a human way. We are certain: No tear, whether it be of those who suffer or those who stand by them, goes unnoticed before God."
After the Angelus, the Holy Father spoke on the liturgical feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, on February 2. "In this event Jesus' consecration to God the Father is manifested and, linked to it, that of the Virgin Mary." John Paul II desired that this feast, in which many consecrated persons take or renew their vows, be the Day of Consecrated Life. In the afternoon of February 2, there will be an encounter with the Pope, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, with the consecrated men and women of Rome.
After announcing this event, the Pope invited everyone "to thank the Lord for the precious gift of these brothers and sisters, and to ask him, through the intercession of the Madonna, for many new vocations, in the variety of charisms with which the Church is rich." (SL) (Agenzia Fides 2/2/2009)
Links:
Complete text of the Holy Father's address, in various languages
http://www.fides.org/ita/magistero/bxvi/angelus_010209.html
