POPE: ALL POLITICAL ACTIONS MUST BE EVALUATED BY THEIR IMPACT ON FAMILY

Wednesday October 17, 2001

POPE: ALL POLITICAL ACTIONS MUST BE EVALUATED BY THEIR IMPACT ON FAMILY

VATICAN, October 17, 2001 (LSN.ca) - In a message to the head of the Italian Bishops Conference on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the publication of the apostolic exhortation "Familiaris Consortio," Pope John Paul II called for politicians to consider the importance of the family.

In the letter the pope wrote the "cultural, social and political initiatives" must consider "first of all, the protection of human life, marriage and the family." He said the family must be the "measure of all political action" and denounced measures which focus solely "on individuals neglecting or worse still, penalizing the family." The pope called for a "radical change" to bring "the value of marriage and family" back to central importance. The pope stressed that the legal institution of marriage should be used by governments to discern between "the authentic family with its inalienable rights and other types of cohabitation."

A copy of the pope's letter is available (In Italian) at:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2001/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20011016_ruini-cei_it.html

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/oct/01101705.html

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.