Politics
Thursday May 4, 2006
Chilean Bishops Say Human Progress Dependent on Respect for Life, Family and Education
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By Gudrun Schultz
CHILE, May 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The bishops of Chile identified the protection of life, the recognition of the family founded on marriage, and the right of parents to education their children as three essential principles for the future of human progress, reported Fides news agency yesterday.
“With Pope Benedict XVI we reaffirm three principles indispensable for authentic human and social progress: protection of human life from conception to natural death, recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, [and the] protection of parent’s rights to educate their children,” the bishops said in a message entitled “New Life in Christ,” issued at the end of the Chilean Bishops Conference. These principles are “inscribed in human nature and are common to all humanity.”
The Conference reflected on four priorities for the development of the country, including commitment to authentic integral humanism, agricultural considerations, the challenge of the indigenous peoples, and building a country of peace and justice.
The bishops emphasise the need to “promote sustainable rural development while not losing sight of cultural and Christian roots, basic elements of the national identity.” Despite improvements to the agricultural situation, the bishops say problems still remain.
“[Y]oung people still tend to move to cities in search of better prospects, crops are abandoned, families move and separate and lose their ability to educate and hand on the faith, small farmers are ever weaker, deeper in debt, [there is] excessive concentration of land ownership.”
The bishops close with a word of encouragement, saying, “ Although very complex, the challenges of history…can never be greater than the good we are called to do or overshadow the beauty of life.”
See statement in Spanish:
http://www.evangelizatio.org/portale/adgentes/chieselocali/chieselocali.php?id=2...
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