By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
KRAKOW, Poland, April 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – During his Good Friday homily at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a Marian pilgrimage site near Krakow and home to a live dramatization of the Passion of Christ, Archbishop of Krakow Stanis?aw Cardinal Dziwisz called on the over 150,000 faithful present to show courage and speak the truth in defense of the dignity of human life.
The Cardinal condemned abortion, euthanasia, common-law marriage, homosexual unions and in vitro fertilization.
Speaking to the thousands gathered for the Good Friday service around the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska monastery, Cardinal Dziwisz said that the attitude of Pilate, who knew the truth, but still condemned an innocent man, is still present in the political and social life of Poland.
“Self-interested politicians are like Pilate,” the Cardinal said.
“They kill the truth, fearing the loss of their jobs. They kill the truth about the conceived life of the child in the womb, supposedly claiming it was not even human life. They kill the truth about the sanctity of human life and dignity of the sick and old, saying it was no longer human life. They kill the truth about marriage as an indissoluble communion of man and woman, allowing for divorce and so-called free partnership unions,” Cardinal Dziwisz said.
The Archbishop of Krakow stressed that the family should be the natural environment for new life and the development of children.
“The child has the right to be conceived as a fruit of love in the family, in marriage, not in a test tube.
“Let us be honest and courageous people. Let us not betray the truth about life for any price. Even at the cost of losing power, or places in parliament. Let us be defenders of life, which today is under threat, even in our own country,” Cardinal Dziwisz emphasized.
The Cardinal noted that the Good Friday retelling of the Passion of Christ is a living and unchangeable history, a narrative in which every person must find their place.
“We must place ourselves on every page. We cannot be passive observers,” the prelate concluded.
Cardinal Dziwisz was personal secretary to Pope John Paul II. After the Pope’s death he was appointed Archbishop of Krakow in 2005, and in 2006 was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.