Pope Reminds Bishops, Faithful, Right to Life First

The Pope's message is vital for American Catholics who will go to the polls to cast their vote in just a few days.  There are many issues before us - the economy, housing crisis, healthcare concerns, and others - but we are first called to protect the fundamental truths that must be realized in any healthy and just society. First among all of them is the foundational Right to Life.  

WASHINGTON DC (Catholic Online) - The Holy Father spoke yesterday to the prelates of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil.  He echoed the Church's permanent teaching regarding the sanctity of life and the role faithful Catholics having in ensuring that all of God's children are treated with respect and dignity, especially those that are the most vulnerable.

"I wish to speak to you today", the Pope said, "about how the Church's mission to serve as the leavening of human society through the Gospel teaches human beings their dignity as children of God, and their vocation to the unity of all mankind, whence derive the need for justice and social peace in accordance with divine wisdom."
 
Pope Benedict explained that the laity must "strive to contribute to the just configuration of social life, while respecting legitimate autonomy and natural moral law." 

In speaking directly to the Bishops, he said, "Your duty as bishops, together with your clergy, is indirect because you must contribute to the purification of reason, and to the moral awakening of the forces necessary to build a just and fraternal society. Nonetheless, when required by the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls, pastors have the binding duty to emit moral judgments, even on political themes."

Here the Pope rejected the notion that the Church is supposed to stay out of the "dirty" business of politics, as it is often referred.  Rather than stay away, the Church is called to "purify" our rational and moral intuitions--which are tools with which we vote--so that the public policy to which we are called to follow is in alignment with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"Thus it would be completely false and illusory to defend, political, economic or social rights which do not comprehend a vigorous defense of the right to life from conception to natural end. When it comes to defending the weakest, who is more defenseless than an unborn child or a patient in a vegetative or comatose state?"

This message is vital for American Catholics who will go to the polls to cast their vote in just a few days.  There are many issues before us--the economy, housing crisis, healthcare concerns, and others--but we are first called to protect the fundamental truths that must be realized in any health society.  In a question similar to Pope Benedict's, what is more fundamental than protecting the unborn and the sick, who depend on a society that believes they are worthy of existence?
 
"When political projects openly or covertly contemplate the depenalisation of abortion or euthanasia, the democratic ideal (which is truly democratic when it recognizes and protects the dignity of all human beings) is betrayed at its very foundations. For this reason, dear brothers in the episcopate, when defending life we must not fear hostility or unpopularity, rejecting all compromise and ambiguity which would conform us to the mentality of this world."

Help Keep Catholic Online Free

In addition to the Holy Father's words, which recognize the conflict we face for our faith, all Christians should be comforted by John 15:18, which says, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you."  By voting in agreement with the mind of Christ and a heart of love, we are joining ourselves to the suffering of Christ.  In this suffering, we will find grace and comfort.

To assist the lay faithful in their commitment to societal and political change, the Holy Father said the Bishops must ensure the laity is given quality "social catechesis and an adequate formulation of Church Social Doctrine."  "This also means that on some occasions, pastors must reminds all citizens of the right, which is also a duty, freely to use their vote to promote the common good."
 
Concluding with a quote from his encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father said, "God has a place in the public realm, specifically in regard to its cultural, social, economic, and particularly its political dimensions."

American Catholics who are able to vote, have a moral obligation to do so.  They must vote for the candidates who best represent the Judeo-Christian heritage and principles in which we believe.They are the foundation for a truly just society.  

Parents should bring their children along.  To be taught from an early age that voting does more than place candidates in political office, but that it offers an opportunity for a baby to be born that otherwise might have been aborted, and for a sick person to die naturally and in the dignity of God's grace is an incredible gift that they will not forget. 
-----
Billy Atwell contributes to Catholic Online, and blogs for The Point and the Manhattan Declaration. As a young lay Catholic and two-time cancer survivor he offers commentary on faith, culture, and politics. You can find all of his writings at For the Greater Glory.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'