Pope Benedict XVI: Family is the divine institution and indispensable teacher of peace
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2007 (CINS/CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI called upon the international community yesterday to protect the family at all costs because it is “the first and indispensable teacher of peace.” He also insisted that whoever undermines the family, attacks peace in the entire community.
The Holy Father’s message was made public in preparation for the upcoming 41st World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on January 1, 2008.
Before launching into his explanation of why the family must be protected, the Pope defined the family saying that it is “’a divine institution that stands at the foundation of life of the human person as the prototype of every social order'."
Benedict XVI insisted that, "the family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace," and it is also, "the foundation of society ... because it enables its members in decisive ways to experience peace. It follows that the human community cannot do without the service provided by the family," the Pope emphasized.
Referencing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pope Benedict reminded everyone that the family is entitled to protection from society and the State.
“Consequently,” the Pope said, "whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community, national and international, since he weakens what is in effect the primary agency of peace.”
The Holy Father also stressed that “[e]verything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life, everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children, constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace."
While some people live with the attitude that mankind lives alongside one another purely by chance, the Pope explained that the Christian worldview is one in which society is “progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as brothers and sisters.” Without the family, Benedict said, “society is a mere aggregation of neighbors, not a community of brothers and sisters called to form one great family."
Needs of the Family Must be Protected
The earth is the home of the human family, says the Holy Father, highlighting the need "to care for the environment" which "has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion.”
The Pope was careful to explain that, contrary to the attitude of some environmentalists, “[h]uman beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-a-vis creation as a whole.” “Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man," the Holy Father said.
Out of concern for those countries that struggle to afford protecting the environment, Pope Benedict said, “[i]f the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations."
Critiquing unbridled capitalism, the Holy Father said that “the moral obligation to ensure that the economy is not governed solely by the ruthless laws of instant profit,” must be noted.
Natural Law Must Become the International Norm
Benedict XVI writes: "A family lives in peace if all its members submit to a common standard: this is what prevents selfish individualism and brings individuals together, fostering their harmonious coexistence and giving direction to their work. ... For the sake of peace, a common law is needed, one which would foster true freedom rather than blind caprice, and protect the weak from oppression by the strong. ... Power must always be disciplined by law, and this applies also to relations between sovereign States."
This law, the Pope suggested, should be “the moral norm grounded in nature itself." He also insisted that knowledge of this natural moral norm is possible if men strive to reflect on the “deepest inclinations present in their being.”
Pope Benedict XVI explained that in the increasingly globalized society of today, establishing an international moral law depends on “a constant commitment to strengthen the profound human content of international norms, lest they be reduced to mere procedures, easily subject to manipulation for selfish or ideological reasons."
We Must Respond to Difficult Times
"Humanity today is unfortunately experiencing great division and sharp conflicts which cast dark shadows on its future," the Pope observed.
In this context, the Pope underlined how "the danger of an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons causes well-founded apprehension," while in Africa there are still "many civil wars" and "the Middle East is still a theatre of conflict and violence, which also affects neighboring nations and regions and risks drawing them into the spiral of violence. On a broader scale, one must acknowledge with regret the growing number of States engaged in the arms race."
"In difficult times such as these…At a time when the process of nuclear non-proliferation is at a stand-still, I feel bound to entreat those in authority to resume with greater determination negotiations for a progressive and mutually agreed dismantling of existing nuclear weapons," Benedict XVI exhorted.
Pope Benedict concluded his message by recalling three special anniversaries: "Sixty years ago the United Nations Organization solemnly issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ... This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the Holy See's adoption of the Charter of the Rights of the Family and the 40th anniversary of the celebration of the first World Day of Peace."
"In the light of these significant anniversaries, I invite every man and woman to have a more lively sense of belonging to the one human family, and to strive to make human coexistence increasingly reflect this conviction, which is essential for the establishment of true and lasting peace. I likewise invite believers to implore tirelessly from God the great gift of peace," the Holy Father said.
Patriarch Alexei, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church to meet with Pope
Top Russian ecumenical official to meet with Pope Vatican City, Dec. 6, 2007 (CINS /CWN) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet on December 7 with the top ecumenical-affairs official of the Russian Orthodox Church, L'Osservatore Romano reports. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk-- who is in Rome this week for festivities marking the feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the patron of Rome's Russian Orthodox Church-- met on December 6 with Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. Informed sources said that Cardinal Kasper would convey an invitation for Patriarch Alexei II to attend the next meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, which is scheduled to take place in 2009. Metropolitan Kirill-- who is regarded as a likely eventuall successor to Patriarch Alexei as leader of the Russian Orthodox Church-- has praised Pope Benedict for his commitment to ecumenism. But earlier this week he criticized the Catholic Church for establishing new dioceses in Russia. The Orthodox prelate said that the four Catholic dioceses of Russia, established in 2002, should be downgraded to their previous status as apostolic administrations. Catholic dioceses in Russia are an affront to the Orthodox claim that the country is the "canonical territory" of the Orthodox Church, he said, and "we shall never recognize them." The Vatican does not accept the Russian argument regarding "canonical territory." In related news, in an interview with the KAI news agency, the general secretary of the Russian Bishops Conference, Father Igor Kowalewski, said the country’s Catholic bishops are ready to discuss the Moscow patriarchate's claims to special canonical status in Russia. He said that the recent remarks by Metropolitan Kirill upset many Russian Catholics, and the country's bishops will bring up the subject at a meeting with Orthodox leaders in January.Pope's prayer intentions for December
VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 2007 (VIS) - Benedict XVI's general prayer intention for December is: "That human society may be solicitous in the care of all those stricken with AIDS, especially children and women, and that the Church may make them feel the Lord's love."
His mission intention is: "That the incarnation of the Son of God, which the Church celebrates solemnly at Christmas, may help the peoples of the Asiatic Continent to recognize God's Envoy, the only Savior of the world, in Jesus."
Pope:Christians must "respond with a united voice and with conviction"
Vatican City, Dec.03, 2007 (CINS /CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI told Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople that Christians must "respond with a united voice and with conviction" to the challenges modern men and women are facing. "Our work toward unity is according to the will of Christ Our Lord," the pope said in the letter, released at the Vatican Nov. 30, the feast of St. Andrew, the Constantinople patriarchate's patron. The letter was delivered to the patriarch and read during the feast day celebration by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Pope Benedict said his visit to Turkey last year to participate in the feast day celebration and the tradition of the pope and patriarchate sending delegations to each other's celebrations "represent authentic signs of the commitment of our churches to an ever-deeper communion, strengthened through cordial personal relations, prayer and the dialogue of charity and truth."
Pope's new encyclical 'Spe Salvi' rejects atheism
Vatican City, Dec.03, 2007 (CINS /CNEWS) - In his encyclical released on Friday, Pope Benedict states atheism is responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history.The 75 page encyclical – the second written by Benedict – urges Christians to put their faith for the future in God, and not in materialism, political ideologies or technology.
Reuters reports that in the encyclical, the Pope writes that ideologies, such as Marxism, left behind a “trail of appalling destruction” because of its failure to recognise that man could not exist without God.
The Pope begins the text by explaining “the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey.”
“The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life,” he writes.
“To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope.”
Affirming that faith is hope, the Holy Father states that prayer is without question a “school for hope”.
"When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me.”
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