World Day of Peace Message Encourages Abandoning Western Culture
VATICAN, Dec 14, 2000 (LSN.ca) – In his message for World Day of Peace January 1, 2001, released today, Pope John Paul II reminded the world that “there can be no peace” with abortion. The pope said “Human life cannot be seen as an object to do with as we please … It is not possible to invoke peace and despise life.” He clarified that he was speaking about the “tragic spiral of death which includes murder, suicide, abortion, euthanasia” torture and other human tragedies. “To this list we must add irresponsible practices of genetic engineering, such as the cloning and use of human embryos for research, which are justified by an illegitimate appeal to freedom, to cultural progress, to the advancement of mankind,” he added. Speaking of experimentation involving human embryos he said, “A civilization based on love and peace must oppose these experiments, which are unworthy of man.”
The Pope also warned against the harmful influence of Western cultural models. “Detached from their Christians origins, these models are often inspired by an approach to life marked by secularism and practical atheism and by patterns of radical individualism,” he said. He noted that the harmful Western cultural model is “sustained by powerful media campaigns and designed to propagate lifestyles, social and economic programmes and, in the last analysis, a comprehensive world-view which erodes from within other estimable cultures and civilizations.” While “alluring because of their remarkable scientific and technical” advances, the Pope warned, “there is growing evidence of their deepening human, spiritual and moral impoverishment.”
Speaking of the West, the Pope added “The culture which produces such models is marked by the fatal attempt to secure the good of humanity by eliminating God, the Supreme Good,” and warned, quoting Vatican Council II, that “without the Creator the creature comes to nothing!” Emphasizing his point he made a dire forecast: “A culture which no longer has a point of reference in God loses its soul and loses its way, becoming a culture of death.”
For his complete address see: https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20001208_xxxiv-world-day-for-peace_en.html