By Gudrun Schultz
VATICAN CITY, April 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI said there is a need to teach young people about the holiness of marriage, and to educate them within a Christian context, in two addresses over the past three days.
Speaking to the Bishops of the Ivory Coast Monday, the Holy Father said young people must be better taught about the holiness of the marriage vocation and the great potential it offers for sanctity.
“You must continue your efforts to make it better accepted among young people that, for Christians, marriage is a route to holiness,” he said.
Benedict said marriage was especially important in places where couples commonly live together without marriage, and where polygamy is practiced and supported by religious sects, reported the Italian news source Ansa yesterday.
He also emphasised the importance of faithfulness to celibacy among priests. Celibacy and chastity are central to a priest’s mission, he said, and the lives of priests should be an example to the whole community. Priests need to understand this more fully through a deepening of their faith.
In an address to university professors and administrators last Saturday, at a seminar by the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pope said human beings must not be sacrificed for the sake of science and that European universities must draw on Europe’s Christian roots to educate coming generations.
“We must say strongly that human beings can never be sacrificed to the successes of science and technology,” he said, reported the Associated Press. In February, Pope Benedict specified that embryos in the very earliest stages of life are fully human and of no less value than a more developed child.
Benedict said universities must not merely teach but must “educate” the new generations by “appealing to the heritage of ideals and values that have marked the past millenniums. Universities can therefore help Europe conserve its soul and revitalize the Christian roots that gave birth to it.”