Pope Benedict XVI Warns Against Secularization

Vatican City: December 23, 2009, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Pope Benedict XVI is urging Finland,and all of Europe, to cling to values promoted by religious groups lestthey disappear through secularization.

The Pope stated this Thursday when he met with the new ambassador fromFinland to the Holy See, Alpo Rusi.

"A vital contribution that all religious groups can offer in your country,as elsewhere in Europe, is to draw attention to certain values that are indanger of being eroded through the process of secularization," the Pontiffaffirmed.

He acknowledged the "pressures that governments face when presented withinsistent demands from some quarters, in the name of tolerance, foracceptance of an ever wider range of viewpoints and lifestyles."

However, the Holy Father stated that "the virtue of tolerance is notserved by the sacrifice of truth, particularly the truth concerning thedignity of the human person."

He urged the Finnish authorities to "continue to take note of the ethicalperspectives based upon the natural law indelibly inscribed in our commonhumanity."

In this way, Benedict XVI said, "Finland's long-standing esteem for thefamily and respect for life may shape its response to delicate socialissues with long-term implications for the health of any human society."

Better world

That same day, the Pope met with the envoys of seven other nations,including Hans Klingenberg, the new ambassador from Denmark to the HolySee.

In his address to the Danish representative, the Pontiff acknowledged thetwo-week U.N. summit on climate change that took place this month inDenmark.

"Courage and sacrifice, fruits of an ethical awakening, enable us toenvisage a better world and embolden us to pursue with hope all that isnecessary to ensure that future generations are bequeathed the whole ofcreation in such a condition that they too can call it home," he said.

Recalling a recent address he gave to the Food and AgricultureOrganization, the Holy Father stated that "development plans, investmentsand legislation are not enough;" rather, "individuals and communities mustchange their behavior."

He continued, "For states themselves this includes a redefining of theconcepts and principles that have hitherto governed international relationsto include the principle of altruism and the resolve to seek out newparameters -- ethical as well as juridical and economic -- capable ofbuilding relationships of greater fairness and balance between developingand developed countries."

Benedict XVI highlighted a "holistic understanding of the health ofsociety" in which "our duties toward the environment are never detachedfrom our duties toward the human person."

In this model, he added, "a moral critique of the cultural norms shapinghuman coexistence, with particular concern for the young, is consideredcentral to the well-being of society."

The Pope observed that "often efforts to promote an integral understandingof the environment have had to sit alongside a reductionist understandingof the person."

This understanding of the person, he said, typically "is lacking inrespect for the spiritual dimension of individuals."

As well, the Pontiff said, it is sometimes "hostile toward the family,pitting spouses against each other through a distorted portrayal of thecomplementarity of men and women, and pitting mother and unborn childagainst each other through a misconstrued portrayal of 'reproductivehealth.'"

He affirmed that "responsibility in relationships, including theresponsibility of careful parenting, can never be truly nurtured withoutprofound respect for the unity of family life according to the lovingdesign of our Creator."

News source: www.zenit.org