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Pope Benedict's First Year: An Impressive Defense of Life and Family

Has stated categorically that the Catholic Church's "principal focus" in the public arena is life and family

By John-Henry Westen

VATICAN CITY, April 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life and pro-family leaders the world over could not be happier with the leadership on issues of life and family which Pope Benedict XVI has given during the first year of his pontificate.  Following in the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, has been an outspoken warrior in the culture wars. 

Progressing from his role as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, where then Cardinal Ratzinger had already developed a very impressive repertoire of teachings concerning abortion and homosexuality (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05041905.html), Pope Benedict has since used every opportunity to promote the culture of life. 

Just after his election to the pontificate, Pope Benedict seized the teaching moment on the papacy to note that even popes may not change the Church's constant teaching against abortion (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06013102.html).  During the first baptisms which he performed as Pope, Benedict spoke passionately against the "culture of death" (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06013102.html).  And even in his first ever visit as Pope to a Jewish synagogue, the Pope encouraged Jews and Christians to work together to defend life and family.  "Our rich common heritage and our fraternal and more trusting relations call upon us to join in giving an ever more harmonious witness and to work together on the practical level for the defence and promotion of human rights and the sacredness of human life, for family values, for social justice and for peace in the world," he said. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/aug/05081901.html)

In the first book he published as Pope, Benedict emphasized that the fight against abortion must continue.  Significantly he wrote, "There is no such thing as 'small murders'" http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022702.html).

His statements on these matters have been issued with a clarity and precision which does not allow for confusion and misinterpretation.

While many Catholic religious leaders in the West seem confused about the role of the Church in political life (some suggesting by their actions that support for affirmative action may be equivalent or more important than the right to life), the Pope has stated categorically that the Catholic Church's "principal focus" in the public arena is life and family.  On March 30, this year he stated "As far as the Catholic Church is concerned the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable." He then named specifically the right to life, the safeguarding of the traditional family and parents' right to educate their children. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06033008.html)

Moreover, on March 20, the Pope noted that attacks on preborn children which include abortion and destructive research on embryos are "today's gravest injustice" (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111603.html).

He was also crystal clear in December when he told Latin American bishops "it is necessary to help everyone to realize the intrinsic evil of the crime of abortion which, in attacking human life at its beginnings, is also an act of aggression against society itself" (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022702.html).  And with the precision of a theologian, Benedict XVI answered the nagging question about the right to life of embryos created by in vitro fertilization.  "The Magisterium of the Church has constantly proclaimed the sacred and inviolable nature of each human life, from conception to natural end," he said. "This moral judgement also holds at the beginning of an embryo's life, even before it is implanted in the mother's womb." (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022702.html)

And despite vehement criticisms which included his being named, "Anti-Gay Person of the Year" (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111603.html) and being compared to Hitler by an Irish Senator (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111603.html), the Pope has not shied away from using clear language in his teachings. 

Homosexual activists were outraged last November when the Pope issued a letter stating that marriage is between a man and a woman and can "admit no alternatives" (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111603.html).  They were even more upset in June, when he referred to "legitimate families".  He said, "It is a grave error to obscure the value and the functions of the legitimate family based on marriage, attributing to other forms of union inappropriate forms of legal recognition, for which there is no real social need" (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05112105.html).

Also raising eyebrows in June, the Holy Father noted that the Church with its teachings on sex within marriage and fidelity has "the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS"  (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05061001.html).  And in August he committed the unimaginably politically incorrect act of encouraging Catholics to have large families (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022702.html).

The Pope also ensured through his appointments that the life and family concerns will remain a top priority for Church leaders.  Shortly after being elected Pope, Benedict XVI made a bishop of a U.S. priest who made headlines for saying he would deny communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians including presidential candidate John Kerry (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05112105.html).  Likewise, the fifteen men the Pope elevated to the College of Cardinals in March have themselves had much to say in defense of life and family (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/060224a.html).

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