Election of Pope Benedict XVI
Welcomed with Delight by Pro-Lifers
By Kathleen Sweeney, Outreach Department

On April 19, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the papal name Benedict XVI. The brilliant, but humble, German theologian is most known for his guardianship of orthodox Catholic belief, but he revealed himself also as a gentle and loving pastor when handed the enormous responsibility of leading the world's Catholics and interfacing with the world's religious and political leaders.

Pro-lifers were especially encouraged when they recalled the strong statements he has made in defense of the dignity of human life.

Pro-life Catholics in the U.S. were encouraged last fall when then-Cardinal Ratzinger sent a memo to the U.S. Catholic bishops stating that Catholics are obligated to oppose laws that permit abortion and euthanasia, and that a Catholic politician publicly and "consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" is guilty of formal cooperation with these evils.

Furthermore, he wrote, if a Catholic "were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of a candidate's permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia" he would as well be "guilty of formal cooperation in evil."

The then-cardinal also clarified the priority that opposing abortion and euthanasia have over other issues: "Not all moral issues have the same weight as abortion and euthanasia. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion, even among Catholics, about waging war or applying the death penalty, but not, however, with regard to abortion and euthanasia."

He emphasized the Church's opposition to euthanasia in the following words: "Scripture, in fact, clearly excludes every form of the kind of self-determination of human existence that is presupposed in the theory and practice of euthanasia."

Pope Benedict XVI can also be expected to take a strong stance against human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.

Last October, he stated that human cloning is more dangerous to the sanctity of life than weapons of mass destruction: "Man is capable of producing another man in the laboratory who, therefore is no longer a gift of God or of nature. He can be fabricated and, just as he can be fabricated, he can be destroyed," he declared.

Killing embryos and fetuses to be used for research purposes was also condemned when he was a cardinal at the Vatican: "When, as today, there is a market in human organs, when fetuses are produced to make spare organs available, or to make progress in research and preventive medicine, many regard the human content of these practices as implicit. But the contempt for man that underlies it, when man is used and abused, leads - - like it or not - - to a descent into hell."

Emphasizing the dignity of all human life, he commented, "Where man is no longer seen as one who is under the particular protection of God, there begins the barbarism which tramples on humanity. Where the sense of the singular dignity of each person, in the light of God's design, is lost, there the project of mankind is horribly deformed, and his freedom, devoid of rule, becomes monstrous."

The newly elected Pope Benedict XVI has been a highly respected theologian ever since he was sent as an expert to the Second Vatican Council where he played an influential role. His quick election indicates the desire to continue the legacy of Pope John Paul II through one of his closest associates and friends.