VATICAN, Dec 17 (LSN) – Speaking at the reception of the diplomatic credentials of the new US Ambassador to the Holy See, Lindy Boggs, Pope John Paul II warned the United States to protect the right to life. Recalling that the “United States of America was founded on the conviction that an inalienable right to life was a self-evident moral truth,” the pope said that, “Whenever a certain category of people—the unborn or the sick and old—are excluded from that protection, a deadly anarchy subverts the original understanding of justice.”
Sensing the perilous trends in US policy aimed at excluding opinions which go contrary to conventional opinion on moral issues, the pope noted, “It would truly be a sad thing if the religious and moral convictions upon which the American experiment was founded could now somehow be considered a danger to free society, such that those who would bring these convictions to bear upon your nation’s public life would be denied a voice in debating and resolving issues of public policy.” John Paul stressed that the “credibility of the United States will depend more and more on its promotion of a genuine culture of life.”