THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD


World’s moral collapse ‘echoes decline of Roman Empire’


Robert Mickens In Rome


POPE BENEDICT XVI has warned that the world’s future is at stake due to the collapse of a global moral consensus, a situation he compared to the decline of the Roman Empire and the insecurity and end to peaceful co - existence that its collapse initiated. In his annual Christmas address to top offi- cials of the Roman Curia, the Pope argued that society’s moral crisis was caused by many contemporary problems including the lack of “respect for what others hold sacred”, the mistaken notion of conscience as “subjective intuition” and the horrifying phenomenon of clergy sexual abuse of minors. “We are aware of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and of our cor- responding responsibility. But neither can we remain silent regarding the context of these times in which these events have come to light,” the Pope said on 20 December in the six-page address. He contended that the “ideological foundations” of the abuse arose “in the 1970s”, claiming it was then that “paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with chil- dren”. In his letter to Irish Catholics last year, the Pope located the genesis of the Church’s sex-abuse crisis in the 1960s – even though many of the most notorious cases such as that of the late founder of the Legion of Christ, Fr Marcial Maciel, actually began earlier. Pope Benedict argued that a main catalyst


of the sexual-abuse phenomenon was a “fun- damental perversion” of moral reasoning which maintains that “nothing is good or bad in itself”. The Pope noted that this type of rea- soning was most recently condemned in John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical, Veritatis Splendor, which insisted there are actions that are always intrinsically good or evil, despite the intentions of the actor. “It is our responsibility to make these criteria audible and intelligible once more for people today,” Pope Benedict said. The commentary on sexual abuse was only one part of a longer annual address that cus- tomarily looks back at the past year in the life of the Church. In the dense speech, Pope Benedict also focused on “Christianophobia” in the Middle East and Cardinal John Henry Newman’s notion of conscience. “Christians


THE CONGREGATION for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has sought to clarify Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments on the use of condoms to stop the spread of Aids, saying his words did “not signify a change in Catholic moral teaching or in the pastoral practice of the Church”, writes Robert Mickens. In a two-page note issued on 21 December 2010, the CDF denounced “a number of erroneous interpretations” that have “manipulated” the Pope’s comments in a recent book “for ends and interests which are entirely foreign to the meaning of his words”. In the book of interviews with Peter Seewald


are the most oppressed and tormented minor- ity,” he said, recalling the Middle East Synod last October. He lamented the breakdown of peaceful coexistence between Christians, Muslims and Jews in the region and said vio- lence was proving that “there is no longer any respect for what the other holds sacred”. In recalling his visit to Britain last September, Pope Benedict again argued that the West had to salvage the moral consensus that had long girded it. He then argued that Cardinal Newman’s concept of conscience was “diametrically opposed” to the idea that “only the individual, with his intuitions and experiences” was the final arbiter of correct moral action. Rather, he believed the con- science enabled a person to recognise the truth and then be obedient to it.


CDF clarifies Pope’s comments on condoms


published in November 2010, Pope Benedict said an HIV-infected prostitute who used a condom “with the intention of reducing the risk of infection” could be taking “a first step in … a more human way of living sexuality”. The CDF stressed that the Pope was not speaking about “conjugal morality” or “the moral norm concerning contraception” and that he had not softened the Church’s condemnation of prostitution. “The intention of the Holy Father is clear: to rediscover the beauty of the divine gift of human sexuality and, in this way, to avoid the cheapening of sexuality which is common today,” the 1,000-word note said.


Threats to religious freedom ‘offend human dignity’


GREATER RESPECT for religious freedom was at the centre of the opening New Year message of Pope Benedict XVI. In a message for the annual 1 January World Day of Peace, he expressed concern that Christians are cur- rently “the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith”, writes Robert Mickens.


When people cannot profess their faith, “human dignity is offended with a resulting threat to justice and peace”, the Pope said. In the 23-page message, he prays for Christians who are suffering from anti-religious violence in the Middle East, parts of Asia and Africa. He also decries the “more subtle and sophis- ticated forms of prejudice and hostility towards believers and religious symbols” in


places such as Europe, which he says consti- tutes a “denial of history” and the deprivation of a “priceless spiritual heritage” for future generations. “Religious fundamentalism and secularism” are equally “extreme forms of the legitimate pluralism and the principle of secu - larity”, the Pope says, noting that tolerating either extreme can give rise to “political and ideological totalitarianism”. He argues that the Christian search for God, in particular, has “contributed much” to awareness of human dignity, the establishment of democ- racy and the recognition of human rights. Pope Benedict also made the theme of reli- gion persecuted, especially the Christian faith, a significant part of his Christmas Day message. “May the love of ‘God-with-us’ grant


perseverance to all Christian communities enduring discrimination and persecution, and inspire political and religious leaders to be committed to full respect for the religious freedom for all,” the Pope said before giving his Urbi et Orbi blessing to thousands of peo- ple gathered in a cold and rainy St Peter’s Square. He prayed especially for Christians in Iraq, the Middle East and mainland China. While celebrating the Christmas Mass in the Night some hours earlier, the Pope prayed that God might fulfil his promise for a time of peace. “Break the rods of the oppressors. Burn the trampling boots. Let the time of the garments rolled in blood come to an end,” he said. “We thank you for your goodness, but we also ask you to show forth your power.”


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