“A regression in the understanding of a human being”

That was part of the address Pope Benedict gave the new Candian ambassador to the Holy See about the drift of the culture from its religious moorings.

In his address, the Holy Father noted his concern for Canada’s growing lack of respect for life and family, despite the fact that Canadian culture has Catholicism as one of its cornerstones and has been recognized as a champion of human rights and dignity. 

“Nevertheless, profound changes can be noticed today, which are seen in different sectors and at times cause concern to the point of asking ourselves if it does not mean a regression in the understanding of the human being,” he said.  “These changes mainly concern the areas of defense and the promotion of life and the family based on natural marriage.”

Which is a glimpse of what America faces next week in the general election. Which has shaped up to be a great battle between forces informed by religious values and conversely, by secular values. It is, some argue, matter of freedom of conscience. Yes, others argue, but it must be the free exercise of a morally informed conscience.

“To help,” said the Holy Father, “it seems necessary to redefine the meaning of freedom of expression too often invoked to justify certain excesses.” He noted that freedom is often wrongly perceived as an absolute value, disregarding its divine origin and its communal dimension.  In such an interpretation of freedom, he suggested, “only the individual can decide and choose the form, characteristics, and ends of life, death, and marriage.”
 
“True freedom,” he observed, “is ultimately based on and develops in God.”  He added: “It is a gift that can be accepted as the seed from which the person and society can grow responsibly and be enriched. The exercise of this freedom implies reference to a natural moral law that is universal, which precedes and unifies all rights and duties…”

This ‘natural law’ is still a new concept to some people. It’s the law ‘written on the human heart’. Or….what you can’t not know.

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