Defending life crucial to new evangelization - Vatican official

Sacredness of human life

A Vatican official has told a major Philippine Catholic conference that promoting and defending the dignity of human life cannot be separated from the new evangelization.  Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Promotion of New Evangelization, said the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision of society.   “For us, life is important because life for us is a gift from the Lord. So we should defend and promote life,” he said.

He was addressing a press briefing during the 4th Philippine Congress on New Evangelization at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila on Saturday. “Of One Heart and Soul” was the theme of the July 28-30 congress, that came during the 2017 Year of the Parish as Communion of Communities of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Arch. Fisichella was responding to a question on how new evangelization is relevant to a society amid drug-related killings, a strong push for artificial contraception, among others.  Catholic teaching, he said, also calls on the faithful to work towards the protection of the right to life by finding effective and peaceful means to do so.   

Stress on ethics

The prelate noted that the world today faces an “unreasonable movement” in the business sector that lacks ethics.  Morality, Arch. Fisichella pointed out, comes from a religious perspective while ethics from a reasonable understanding.  He urged for stressing on reasoning and ethics, saying “reason can reach action.”

Evangelizing cultures and societies

The 4th Philippine Congress on New Evangelization ‎brought together more than 7,000 lay people people, clergy, religious men and women, and the youth not just from the Philippines but also from other countries.  The Congress seeks to introduce new methods to evangelize cultures and societies effectively.  The various session of the congress explored different themes of new evangelization such as the new media, new movements, the environment, interreligious dialogue, and the youth-oriented approaches.  It also dealt with families, schools, catechists, parishes, and social justice. (Source: CBCPNews)