Pope Benedict XVI has called on Christian-Democratic parties to defend marriage “at all costs”, urging family “must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature.”
Saturday 22 September 2012 - 13:41 by Karl Stagno-Navarra
Pope Benedict XVI
Addressing an audience from the International Christian-Democrat Union, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that Christian inspired political parties must "defend and promote" marriage, family and life.
"Society and communities cannot progress unless politicians defend the basic elements of marriage, family and life," the Pontiff said, adding on the need for politicians to stand firm to "pressures" urging them to legislate on gay marriage, euthanasia and abortion.
Against the backdrop of an effort to recognise "gay marriage" in France, Pope Benedict XVI also told a group of French bishops that the truth about marriage and the family is vital to society and must be promoted in bold and creative ways.
He said marriage and the family "must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is in fact injurious to human coexistence as such."
The family is the "foundation of social life" but it is "threatened in many places by a faulty conception of human nature," the Pope said.
The defence of the family and of human life promotes "values that allow the full development of the human person created in the image and likeness of God." It is "not at all backward-looking but prophetic."
While the Maltese government is set to introduce a cohabitation bill granting gay unions, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said his government will introduce a bill next month to recognise same-sex "marriages" and to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
President François Hollande promised to push the issue during his campaign. Many French religious authorities oppose redefining marriage, as does former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Meanwhile the Pontiff stressed on the need to meet the expectations of younger generations who need "proper catechesis so that they might find their place within the community of believers."
Speaking about the current economic crisis, the Pope said that the origins of such a crisis lays in tahe "absence of a solid and fundamental ethic" to economics.
He appealed for a more ethical approach to the common good and defence of human dignity.
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