Pope warns of threat freedom of religion, conscience in US
BY FRANCIS X. ROCCA & SARAH DELANEY (CNS)
Pope Benedict XVI warned visiting US bishops that “radical secularism” threatens the core values of American culture, and he called on the Church in America, including politicians and other laypeople, to render “public moral witness” on crucial social issues. The Pope spoke Jan. 19 to a group of US bishops who were in Rome for their periodic “ad limina” visits, which included meetings with the Pope and Vatican officials, covering a wide range of pastoral matters.
Opening with a dire assessment of the state of American society, the Pope said that “powerful new cultural currents” have worn away the country’s traditional moral consensus, which was originally based on religious faith as well as ethical principles derived from natural law. Whether they claim the authority of science or democracy, the Pope said, militant secularists seek to stifle the Church’s proclamation of these “unchanging moral truths.” Such a movement inevitably leads to the prevalence of “reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society.”
The Pope drew an opposition between current “notions of freedom detached from moral truth” and Catholicism’s “rational perspective” on morality, founded on the conviction that the “cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning.” Using the “language” of natural law, he said, the Church should promote social justice by “proposing rational arguments in the public square.” Pope Benedict’s words were clearly relevant to American politics, a connection he made explicit by mentioning threats to “that most cherished of American freedoms: the freedom of religion.”
Leper as a Brother
FR MICHAEL FERNANDES, OFM CAP
On January 29, 2012, we celebrate World Leprosy Day, and on this occasion, I would like to share about the attitude of St Francis of Assisi towards lepers. The lepers brought a new dimension to the life of Francis and the Franciscan spirituality.
One day, while Francis was praying fervently to God, he received an answer: “O Francis, if you want to know my will, you must hate and despise all that which hitherto your body has loved and desired to possess. Once you begin to do this, all that formerly seemed sweet and pleasant to you will become bitter and unbearable, and instead, the things that formerly made you shudder will bring you great sweetness and contentment.” Francis was divinely comforted and greatly encouraged by these words.
Then one day, as he was riding near Assisi, he met a leper. He used to run away at the sight of them, as they were shunned by everyone and would smell dirty. That day, he had a different attitude towards these suffering human beings who had no identity. With great holy effort, he dismounted from the horse and gave the leper a coin, kissed and embraced him. The leper then gave him the kiss of peace, after which Francis remounted his horse and rode on his way. From that day onwards, he mortified himself increasingly, until, through God’s grace, he won a complete victory. His earlier aversion to lepers made him take a different route to avoid their dwellings outside the town. But, strengthened by God’s grace, he was now enabled to obey the command and to love what he had hated. In consequence of this, he became such a friend to the lepers that, as he himself declared in his Testament, he lived with them and served them with loving eagerness.
