Sunday June 22nd. 2008
Pope Benedict - “The Family, the Living Image of the Love of God”
The British Government has lost its moral compass on the
institution of marriage and family life
The recent votes in the House of Commons on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill produced a dark image of the family. MPs effectively endorsed the end of the traditional family by voting to remove the requirement for fertility clinics to consider a child's need for a father.
This vote, together with those in favour of allowing the creation of hybrid embryos for medical research and the creation of saviour siblings, as well as against further restricting abortion, indicates that the Catholic Church's thinking on fundamentals - on the family, and the beginnings of life - is increasingly in marked contrast with that of the Government. The secular state's provision of contraceptives and divorce, will be gravely concerned with the shape that British society is taking.
The most vocal critics have gone so far
as to attack the Church for speaking out at all on the HFE Bill, arguing that religion should be something essentially private.
The unborn child in its mother’s womb is the most vulnerable of all God’s creatures. Perfectly formed children are being legally aborted at 24 weeks, in most cases for social reasons. There is now unease among good people that 200,000 abortions are taking place in Britain every year. Our nation has become a slaughter house by killing our unborn!
Homosexuals and lesbians are demanding rights to adopt children,
and Catholic adoption societies are prepared to close down after years of wonderful service of placing children with good and loving fathers and mothers.
Marriage is being undermined by the Government in legally permitting civil “marriages” with same sex couples.
The unborn child in its mother’s womb is the most vulnerable of all God’s creatures. Perfectly formed children are being legally aborted at 24 weeks, in most cases for social reasons. There is now unease among good people that 200,000 abortions are taking place in Britain every year. Our nation has become a slaughter house by killing our unborn!
Homosexuals and lesbians are demanding rights to adopt children,
and Catholic adoption societies are prepared to close down after years of wonderful service of placing children with good and loving fathers and mothers.
Marriage is being undermined by the Government in legally permitting civil “marriages” with same sex couples.
Pope John Paul 11 told us that we have a created a Culture of Death in our society.
Sadly, two of the sons of the manse, David Steel and Gordon Brown, have been instrumental in helping to destroy family life– Steele with his vehement promotion of abortion, supported by Brown, who also has been so enthusiastic about the Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
They have the support of a vast number of MPS who are hell-bent on destroying family life in our country. The next item will be to attempt to pass a Bill on euthanasia.
Our country is becoming more evil and secular every day. Let us pray earnestly for God to intervene that all this may be overturned by the prayers and efforts of good people.
Sadly, two of the sons of the manse, David Steel and Gordon Brown, have been instrumental in helping to destroy family life– Steele with his vehement promotion of abortion, supported by Brown, who also has been so enthusiastic about the Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
They have the support of a vast number of MPS who are hell-bent on destroying family life in our country. The next item will be to attempt to pass a Bill on euthanasia.
Our country is becoming more evil and secular every day. Let us pray earnestly for God to intervene that all this may be overturned by the prayers and efforts of good people.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I address with joy all the families of the world, wishing them the peace and love that Jesus brought us in coming among us at Christmas.
In the Gospel we do not find discourses on the family but an event which is worth more than any words: God wanted to be born and to grow up in a human family. In this way he consecrated the family as the first and ordinary means of his encounter with humanity.
In his life spent at Nazareth, Jesus honoured the Virgin Mary and the righteous Joseph, remaining under their authority throughout the period of his childhood and his adolescence (cf. Lk 2:41-52). In this way he shed light on the primary value of the family in the education of the person.
Jesus was introduced by Mary and Joseph into the religious community
I address with joy all the families of the world, wishing them the peace and love that Jesus brought us in coming among us at Christmas.
In the Gospel we do not find discourses on the family but an event which is worth more than any words: God wanted to be born and to grow up in a human family. In this way he consecrated the family as the first and ordinary means of his encounter with humanity.
In his life spent at Nazareth, Jesus honoured the Virgin Mary and the righteous Joseph, remaining under their authority throughout the period of his childhood and his adolescence (cf. Lk 2:41-52). In this way he shed light on the primary value of the family in the education of the person.
Jesus was introduced by Mary and Joseph into the religious community
and frequented the synagogue of Nazareth. With them, he learned to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as the Gospel tells us.
When he was 12 years old, he stayed behind in the Temple and it took his parents all of three days to find him. With this act he made them understand that he "had to see to his Father's affairs", in other words, to the mission that God had entrusted to him (cf. Lk 2:41-52).This Gospel episode reveals the most authentic and profound vocation of the family: that is, to accompany each of its members on the path of the discovery of God and of the plan that he has prepared for him or her.
Mary and Joseph taught Jesus primarily by their example: in his parents he came to know the full beauty of faith, of love for God and for his Law, as well as the demands of justice, which is totally fulfilled in love (cf. Rom 13:10).
When he was 12 years old, he stayed behind in the Temple and it took his parents all of three days to find him. With this act he made them understand that he "had to see to his Father's affairs", in other words, to the mission that God had entrusted to him (cf. Lk 2:41-52).This Gospel episode reveals the most authentic and profound vocation of the family: that is, to accompany each of its members on the path of the discovery of God and of the plan that he has prepared for him or her.
Mary and Joseph taught Jesus primarily by their example: in his parents he came to know the full beauty of faith, of love for God and for his Law, as well as the demands of justice, which is totally fulfilled in love (cf. Rom 13:10).
From them he learned that it is necessary first of all to do God's will, and that the spiritual bond is worth more than the bond of kinship.
The Holy Family of Nazareth is truly an inspiration for every Christian family which, united in the Sacrament of Marriage and nourished by the Word and the Eucharist, is called to carry out the wonderful vocation and mission of being the living cell not only of society but also of the Church, a sign and instrument of unity for the entire human race.
Let us now invoke for every family, especially families in difficulty, the protection of Mary Most Holy and of St Joseph. May they sustain such families so that they can resist the disintegrating forces of a certain contemporary culture which undermines the very foundations of the family institution.
Pope Benedict
The Holy Family of Nazareth is truly an inspiration for every Christian family which, united in the Sacrament of Marriage and nourished by the Word and the Eucharist, is called to carry out the wonderful vocation and mission of being the living cell not only of society but also of the Church, a sign and instrument of unity for the entire human race.
Let us now invoke for every family, especially families in difficulty, the protection of Mary Most Holy and of St Joseph. May they sustain such families so that they can resist the disintegrating forces of a certain contemporary culture which undermines the very foundations of the family institution.
Pope Benedict