The theme chosen by POPE BENEDICT XVI in his very timely
message for the celebration of WORLD DAY OF PEACE January 1st 2013
is “blessed are the peacemakers”
and he says very directly that those who are pro-life are the ‘true peacemakers’
and that those who support abortion promote a “false peace.”
“Anyone who
loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.” And goes on to
say that “Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence,
support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not
realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace.”
Pope Benedict also defends marriage as being between a man
and a woman and says, “serious harm to justice and peace” comes from denying
the true principles of respect for life and promotion of the “natural structure
of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”
The Pope addresses very directly the use of underhand
methods of inserting phrases into legislation, which are ambiguous and subject
to different interpretations.
“Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into
legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and
relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions
aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat
to the fundamental right to life.”
The statement is so powerful we would encourage reading it
in full.
The full text can be found on this link.
We focus here on the aspects in which he deals with
protection of human life, marriage and the importance of conscientious
objection to the passing of unjust laws.
“Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness”.The path to the attainment of the common good and to peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions, personal, communitarian and transcendent. Life in its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence, support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenceless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat to the fundamental right to life.There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union; such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity. The Church’s efforts to promote them are not therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation. Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, since this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace.Consequently, another important way of helping to build peace is for legal systems and the administration of justice to recognize the right to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia.
