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Pope Praying for Uruguayans to Respect Life
27-09-2008
Urges Bishops to Courage and Persuasiveness in Preaching
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is praying that through the preaching of Uruguay's bishops, the faithful of that country may come to a clear awareness that all people have an inviolable dignity.
The Pope said this today when he received in audience at Castel Gandolfo bishops from the South American country, in Rome for their five-yearly visit.
The Holy Father encouraged the prelates to "teach the faith of the Church in its integrity, with the courage and persuasion proper to those who live from it and for it, without foregoing an explicit proclamation of the moral values of Catholic doctrine -- sometimes the object of debate in the political and cultural realm and in the press -- such as those that refer to the family, sexuality and life."
The Pontiff acknowledged that he is already aware of the bishops' efforts to protect the dignity of human life. The Uruguayan Senate moved last year to approve abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, though the nation's president -- an obstetrician -- repeatedly promised a veto.
Nevertheless, polls the year before the Senate vote showed most Uruguayans in favor of making abortion legal.
In that context, the Bishop of Rome told the bishops that he asks God to give "the fruit of establishing a clear awareness in every Uruguayan of the inviolable dignity of every person and a firm commitment to respect and safeguard it without reservations."
Indifference
Benedict XVI further urged the bishops not to yield to discouragement in face of "religious indifference or apathy," and to serve the poor "through the charitable works of ecclesial communities."
Uruguay, which has some 3.5 million inhabitants, is one of the Latin American nations with the lowest rate of religious practice. Although the number of baptized persons exceeds 72%, according to some statistics only 47.1% consider themselves Catholic. Some sources report that 23.2% of the population does not identify with any religious confession.
The Pope thus emphasized the importance of the work of priests "who must be encouraged constantly so that they will not conform to the environment prevailing in the world."
Today, people "yearn, above all, for words learned from the Spirit, more than purely human knowledge," he said.
"What must prevail [in priestly formation] is what distinguishes, above all, a minister of the Church: love of Christ, serious theological competence fully in tune with the magisterium and the Tradition of the Church, constant and personal meditation on his saving mission and an irreproachable life in accord with the service he gives to the People of God," the Pontiff said. "In this way [priests] will give faithful witness of what they preach and will help their brothers to flee from superficial religiosity that has little influence on the ethical commitments that the faith entails."
Benedict XVI also encouraged the prelates to cultivate the "effective and affective unity of the episcopal college."
This unity, the Pope pointed out, must be a "visible example to promote the spirit of brotherhood and concord in your faithful and also in present-day society, so often dominated by individualism and exasperated rivalry."
