Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 4:37am

Voting, the Pope and What Really Matters

Hattip to Rich Leonardi at his blog Ten Reasons, a blog I read every day.  Pope Benedict in his current visit to Brazil gives all the Faithful in the US food for thought as we go to the polls next Tuesday:

“First, the duty of direct action to ensure a just ordering of society falls to the lay faithful who, as free and responsible citizens, strive to contribute to the just configuration of social life, while respecting legitimate autonomy and natural moral law”, the Holy Father explained. “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”.

“When forming these judgements, pastors must bear in mind the absolute value of those … precepts which make it morally unacceptable to chose a particular action which is intrinsically evil and incompatible with human dignity. This decision cannot be justified by the merit of some specific goal, intention, consequence or circumstance, Thus it would be completely false and illusory to defend, political, economic or social rights which do not comprehend a vigorous defence of the right to life from conception to natural end. When it comes to defending the weakest, who is more defenceless than an unborn child or a patient in a vegetative or comatose state?”

“When political projects openly or covertly contemplate the depenalisation of abortion or euthanasia, the democratic ideal (which is truly democratic when it recognises 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”.

In order to help lay people live their Christian, social and political commitments in a unified and coherent fashion it is necessary, said the Holy Father, to ensure appropriate “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”.

Go here to read the complete statement of the Pope.  I have a great many views on a great many issues, but for me the paramount issue is always abortion, and I agree with the Pope that the legalization of that crime against God and Man strikes at the heart of our democracy.   It is additionally a betrayal of the immortal words of Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

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Confused
Confused
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 8:29am

So confusing. On one hand we have the pope telling us one thing and on the other we have a bunch of genuinely pro-life commentators on the Internet along with groups having important sounding names like Catholic Alliance for the Common Good telling us otherwise. I don’t know who to believe. The pope has high rank but he’s way over there in Rome and may be out of touch or infected with Calvinism. Whereas we have a lot of bright grad students and political operatives who are well versed in true Catholic morality.

Pinky
Pinky
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 9:26am

If I were pope, I’d have ad hominem meetings with bishops.

Jay Anderson
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 9:26am

If there were a Facebook-style “Like” button on this blog, I would have clicked on it for Confused’s comment.

In lieu thereof, I’ll just add: yeah, what Confused said.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 10:45am

Yes. Confused lays it down.

trackback
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 12:04pm

[…] Facebook […]

Bill Sr.
Bill Sr.
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 2:55pm

You’re only confused if you have not come to realize that Satan, unlike Christ, has never ascended anywhere and in fact has and will continue to use the church especially today as a very effective sounding board for his deceptive dialog with us. There is but one Pope and no other can claim his “position” or speak with the authority of Christ, or have you forgotten?

Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Friday, October 29, AD 2010 3:02pm

“Confused” was being sarcastic Bill.

Bill Sr.
Bill Sr.
Saturday, October 30, AD 2010 7:25am

Of course, and I was only trying to use the truth to return the discussion to “…the Pope and What Really Matters” Don.

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