Vatican Secretary of State sends a message to Organization of American States on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI

(09 June 06) : “The American continent has a tradition of respect for life which is now being threatened by the pressure of currents foreign to its nature," said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in a message sent in Pope Benedict XVI's name to the representatives of 34 countries of the Organization of American States. The message was presented to the organization’s General Assembly, which closed Tuesday in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. It focused on "the dignity of the human person, the absolute value of human life from conception until its natural end.” The Vatican Secretary of state, warned against the new threats to human life in the Western Hemisphere. In several countries of Latin America, pressure groups are promoting the legalization of abortion, even though in most of those nations the constitutions defend human life in all its phases. “In the area of safeguarding the dignity of the human person,” Cardinal Sodano said, “it is also a priority to favour the conditions that will decrease violence in its diverse forms, such as terrorism, attacks against innocent civilians, kidnappings, threats, and drug trafficking." Cardinal Sodano also wrote in the message to promote the family as an essential task for the development of society of the whole continent. “The family is the place of learning, of knowledge and of basic formation of the future protagonist of social life,” he said. “The role carried out by parents is fundamental and cannot be substituted by the state or another institution. Their competence is required to choose the type of education they want for their children,” the Cardinal added.