God must find a place in the public sphere, Pope tells Brazil’s Bishops
A social and political system that does not protect life and human dignity is based
on a "false and illusory" right. Christians therefore, have the right - and duty -
to use their electoral vote to defend the common good. This was Pope Benedict XVI
's message Thursday morning to a group of bishops from Northeast Brazil, who are in
Rome on their ad Limina visit. The Pope also called for freedom of Catholic religious
education in State schools and the defence of religious symbols in public life.
“Christ
the Redeemer, with open arms, which dominates the Bay of Guanabara in Rio de Janeiro,
is the truest symbol of the soul of Brazil”, said the Pope, adding that if the faith
of the Brazilian people is "a sign of hope for the present and the future of the country”,
there are however, "shadows" cast by forces that want to spread values that are morally
unacceptable and offensive to the sacred nature of the human being. Thus pastors "have
a grave duty to pronounce moral judgments" on political issues.
Even so, he
said “any human right, be it political, economic or social that does not comprise
the vehement defence of the right to life from conception to natural death is completely
false and illusory (see Christifideles laici, 38). As part of efforts in favour of
the weakest and most defenceless, who is more defenceless than an unborn child or
a sick person in a vegetative or terminal state?".
“When political projects
include aspects, overtly or covertly, such as the decriminalization of abortion or
euthanasia, the democratic ideal - that is truly such when it acknowledges and safeguards
the dignity of every human person - has betrayed its origins. Therefore, dear Brother
Bishops, to defend life 'we must not fear hostility or unpopularity, and refuse any
compromise or ambiguity which might conform to this world'. "
Pastors should
remind all citizens of the right, which is also a duty, “to freely use their vote
to promote the common good ". Pope Benedict reiterated that, God must "find a place
in the public sphere, in the cultural, social, economic and particularly the political
sphere." "I join my voice to yours in an appeal on behalf of religious education,
and more specifically the teaching of pluralistic and confessional religion in public
state schools”.
Pope Benedict XVI also defended the presence of religious symbols
in public life which, he asserted, is both "memory of man's transcendence and his
guarantee of respect." These signs, the Pope concluded, take on a "special value"
in Brazil, "where the Catholic religion is an integral part of its history". Emer
McCarthy reports: