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NRL News
Pope
Benedict’s Pastoral Advice for America Our intellectually inch-deep media could not really have been expected to report the thoughtful messages Pope Benedict XVI conveyed to the U.S. public during his April visit. It’s far easier for reporters to speak of enthusiastic crowds (but falling Mass attendance!) or to speak about this “surprisingly” humble, gentle man (but a Church riven by dissent!). And that’s a shame, because Pope Benedict did not come bearing platitudes. He sought to recall Americans, and the global community at the United Nations, to the roots of our professed beliefs about human life, human rights, and human dignity. He spoke to Catholic bishops in the United States about the moral relativism and secularization that have so dominated public and private attitudes, even in America, that “[f]aith becomes a passive acceptance that certain things ‘out there’ are true, but without practical relevance for everyday life.” While America may express a majoritarian belief in the inestimable value of every human life, if that expression lacks deep foundations rooted in God’s personal love for every human being, it is at risk of standing like a storefront on a stage set. It may easily be toppled under the pressure of personal suffering or appeals to alleviate the suffering of others. Many churchgoing Americans, observed Benedict, are “living as if God did not exist.” And the temptation to conform “to the spirit of the age,” he adds, can be seen “in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion.” Note that there is nothing sectarian about Benedict’s remarks. We are overwhelmingly a nation of “believers” and few of us would dispute his statement to children with disabilities and their caregivers at St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York: “Faith helps us to break open the horizon beyond our own selves in order to see life as God does. God’s unconditional love ... points to a meaning and purpose for all human life.” As many have noted, today Pope Benedict is the preeminent defender of reason as a path to truth—notably, the truth about the human person. Reason can lead us to see the societal value in defending the lives of the elderly, the dying, and those of any age with severe disabilities. Reason (even enlightened self-interest) can show us why vulnerable persons should be treated with respect and love. But human reason is often clouded by economic considerations, and our desire to avoid personal inconvenience and personal sacrifice blot out our obligations to the most vulnerable among us. And so many today readily abandon the truth about the inherent value of every human being to avoid appearing “judgmental” of others who may be unwilling, for example, to shoulder the burden of caring for a loved one who is no longer productive or communicative. So much for the sanctity of all human life! Pope Benedict encourages us, therefore, to be coherent in our beliefs. The truth about the priceless and inalienable dignity of every human being, no matter what his or her circumstances, must be served not only by our words. It must inform our every action, every day of our lives. Likewise, in this 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pope Benedict called on the diplomatic community of the United Nations to rediscover the enduring truths contained in that watershed declaration, which was “motivated by the common desire to place the human person at the heart of institutions, laws and the workings of society.” Its recognition of universal and interdependent human rights, of unchanging justice “based on natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations” is being supplanted today by a relativistic concept of human rights which claims its source in state laws. Prominent examples of human rights relativism are population control programs, include the notoriously coercive programs of abortion and sterilization to which much of the world turns a blind eye. Benedict noted that as early as the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo taught: “Do not do unto others what you would not want done to you ‘cannot in any way vary according to different understandings that have arisen in the world.’ ... Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of legislators.” The right to life and other fundamental human rights transcend legal systems, he explained. For this reason, laws which confer “rights” to kill innocent human beings by abortion or assisted suicide are invalid, unjust, and must be opposed. In a homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Pope Benedict explained that “The heart of the new evangelization,” must be the “proclamation of life, life in abundance. ... For true life—our salvation—can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom, and love which are God’s gracious gift.” |