Monday, April 7, 2008 at 12:12am
Pope calls abortion, divorce 'grave sins'
Pope Benedict XVI called abortion and divorce "grave sins" that "injure the dignity of the human person" at an audience of 300 participants in an international congress titled "Oil on the wounds—A response to the blight of abortion and divorce," VIS news service reported Friday.
In a culture "marked by increasing individualism, hedonism and, all too often, by a lack of solidarity and adequate social support," people make "decisions that contrast with the indissolubility of the conjugal bond and with the respect due to human life freshly conceived and still guarded in the maternal womb," he said.
"The Church's ethical judgement concerning abortion and divorce is clear and well-known to everyone: they are grave sins which - in various ways and with due evaluation of subjective responsibilities - injure the dignity of the human person, involve a profound injustice in human and social relationships, and offend God Himself, the guarantor of the marital bond and the architect of life," he said.
"The Church has the primary duty to approach these people with love and delicacy, with kindness and maternal concern, in order to announce the merciful closeness of God and Jesus Christ. ... Yes, the gospel of love and of life is also always the gospel of mercy" and, "on the basis of this mercy, the Church cultivates an indomitable faith in mankind and its capacity for recovery," he said.
In a culture "marked by increasing individualism, hedonism and, all too often, by a lack of solidarity and adequate social support," people make "decisions that contrast with the indissolubility of the conjugal bond and with the respect due to human life freshly conceived and still guarded in the maternal womb," he said.
"The Church's ethical judgement concerning abortion and divorce is clear and well-known to everyone: they are grave sins which - in various ways and with due evaluation of subjective responsibilities - injure the dignity of the human person, involve a profound injustice in human and social relationships, and offend God Himself, the guarantor of the marital bond and the architect of life," he said.
"The Church has the primary duty to approach these people with love and delicacy, with kindness and maternal concern, in order to announce the merciful closeness of God and Jesus Christ. ... Yes, the gospel of love and of life is also always the gospel of mercy" and, "on the basis of this mercy, the Church cultivates an indomitable faith in mankind and its capacity for recovery," he said.