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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With deep pleasure I welcome you today and I offer each one of you my
cordial greeting. In the first place, I greet Bishop Michele Pennisi of
Piazza Armerina, and the priests present. I address a special greeting to
Hon. Carlo Carsini, President of the Pro-Life Movement and I warmly thank
him for his kind words to me on your behalf. I greet the members of the
National Management Committee and the Executive Board of the Pro-Life
Movement, the Presidents of the Centres for Help to Life and those in charge
of the various services, the "Progetto Gemma", the "Telefono Verde", "SOS
Vita" and "Telefono Rosso". I also greet the representatives of the Pope
John XXIII Association and several European pro-life movements. Through you
who are present here I extend my affectionate thoughts to those who,
although they are unable to be here in person are united with us in spirit.
I am thinking in particular of the many volunteers who, with self-denial and
generosity share with you the noble ideal of promoting and defending human
life from its conception.
Your visit is taking place 30 years since the legalization of abortion in
Italy and you are intending to suggest a profound reflection on the human
and social effects this law has produced in the civil and Christian
communities during this period. Looking at the past three decades and
considering the current situation, it is impossible not to recognize that in
practice defending human life today has become more difficult because a
mindset has developed, entrusted to the opinion of the individual, which has
gradually debased its value. One result of this has been the decrease in
respect for the human person, a value at the root of all civil coexistence,
over and above the faith professed.
The causes that lead to such painful decisions as abortion are of course
many and complex. If, on the one hand, faithful to her Lord's commandment,
the Church never tires of reaffirming that the sacred value of every human
being's life originates in the Creator's plan, on the other hand, she
encourages the promotion of every initiative in support of women and
families in order to create the favourable conditions in which to welcome
life, and the protection of the family institution founded on the marriage
between a man and a woman. Not only has permitting recourse to the
termination of pregnancy not solved the problems that afflict many women and
a fair number of families, but it has also made another wound in our
society, unfortunately, already burdened by deep suffering.
In recent years, there has been great dedication, and not only on the
Church's part, in order to meet the needs and difficulties of families.
However, we cannot conceal from ourselves that various problems continue to
gnaw at today's society, preventing space from being given to the desire of
so many young people to marry and to form a family, because of the
unfavourable situation in which they live. The lack of steady employment,
legislation that frequently does not provide for the protection of
motherhood, the impossibility of guaranteeing adequate support for children,
are some of the obstacles that seem to stifle the requirement of fertile
love, while they open the door to a growing sense of distrust in the future.
It is necessary, therefore, to join forces so that different Institutions
may once again focus their action on the defence of human life and give
priority attention to the family, in whose heart life is born and develops.
It is necessary to help the family with every legislative means to
facilitate its formation and its task of education in the difficult social
context of today.
For Christians, in this fundamental context of society, an urgent and
indispensable field for the apostolate and for Gospel witness is always
open: to protect life with courage and love in all its stages. For this,
dear brothers and sisters, I ask the Lord to bless the activity which, as
the Centro di Aiuto alla Vita and the Movimento per la Vita,
you carry out to prevent abortion, also in the case of difficult
pregnancies, working at the same time in the contexts of education, culture
and political debate. It is necessary to witness concretely that respect for
life is the first form of justice to apply. For those who have the gift of
faith this becomes a mandatory imperative, because the disciple of Christ is
called to be increasingly a "prophet" of a truth that can never be
eliminated: God alone is the Lord of life. Every person is known and loved,
wanted and guided by him. Here alone lies the deepest and greatest unity of
humanity: in the fact that every human being puts into practice God's one
plan, originates in God's same creative idea. One thus understands why the
Bible says: whoever profanes man, profanes the property of God (cf. Gn 9:
5).
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights
whose merit is to have enabled different cultures, juridical forms and
institutional models to converge around a fundamental nucleus of values, and
hence, of rights. As I recently recalled
during my Visit to the United Nations Organization to the members of the
U.N., "Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of
justice, and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of the
legislators.... The promotion of human rights remains the most effective
strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups,
and for increasing security" (Address
to U.N. General Assembly, New York, 18 April 2008). For this reason
your commitment in the political arena, as a help and an incentive for
Institutions so that proper recognition be given to the words "human
dignity", is truly laudable. Your initiative with the Commission for
Petitions of the European Parliament, in which you assert the fundamental
values of the right to life from conception, of the family founded on the
marriage of a man and a woman, of the right of every human being conceived
to be born and brought up in a family by his parents, further confirms the
solidity of your commitment and your full communion with the Magisterium of
the Church, which has always proclaimed and defended these values as
"non-negotiable".
Dear brothers and sisters, in
meeting you on 22 May 1998, John Paul II urged you to persevere in your
commitment of love and the defence of human life, and recalled that thanks
to you, numerous children were able to experience the joy of the most
precious gift of life. Ten years later, it is I who thank you for the
service you have rendered to the Church and to society. How many human lives
you have saved from death! Continue on this path and, in order that the
smile of life may triumph on the lips of all children and their mothers, do
not be afraid. I entrust each one of you, and the many people whom you meet
at the Centres of help for life, to the motherly protection of the Virgin
Mary, Queen of the family, and while I assure you of my remembrance in
prayer, I warmly bless you and all those who belong to the Pro-Life
Movements in Italy, in Europe and throughout the world.
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