Cardinal Bagnasco in a lecture on CIV:
'Ecological awareness is good
but defense of human life more important'
by Salvatore Izzo
GENOA, Sept. 19 (Translated from AGI) - For Pope Benedict XVI, "eugenics is of greater concern than the loss of biodiversity in the ecosystem", while "abortion and euthanasia corrode the sense of the law and hinder from the start the acceptance in society of weaker human beings, resulting in a wound to the human community with enormous consequences in human degradation".
The observation - which seems to respond to not a few emphases in the media on the 'greenness' of the Ratzinger Pontificate - came in a
lectio magistralis delivered this morning by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishops conference (CEI), at a conference on practical illustrations of Benedict XVI's third encyclical,
Caritas in veritate.
Cardinal Bagnasco pointed out that the Holy Father forcefully underscores that "if personal and social sensitivity to the acceptance of new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance useful to social life will also dry up".
According to the cardinal, the fact that the Pope's attention to ecological concerns has caught public opinion "could be seen as an experimental confirmation of the validity of the 'integral human development' that Benedict XVI proposes to all men of goodwill, following the great intuition in Paul Vi's
Populorum progressio", with the exhortation to "defend not only the land, water and air as gifts of creation belonging to everyone" but "to protect man above all against his own self-destruction".
"It is necessary," said Bagnasco, "to have something like a human ecology that is understood in the right sense. The degradation of nature is, in fact, closely connected to the culture that shapes human coexistence".
In the encyclical, he notes, Benedict XVI affirms that "when human ecology is respected within society, it benefits environmental ecology itself".
Thus, concluded Bagnasco, "the ecological crisis cannot be interpreted as a purely technical fact, but rather as something that points to a deeper crisis, because 'exterior deserts' correspond to 'interior deserts'."
I hope a full text of Bagnasco's lecture will be available soon. Meanwhile, Vatican press director Fr. Federico Lombardi tackled the 'green Pope' image differently in his editorial this week for Octava Dies, the weekly newsmagazine of CTV. I still imagine Kermit the Frog when I hear that phrase 'green Pope' - it's a secular label that is very reductive and superficial when applied to the Vicar of Christ!
The 'green' Pope
by Fr. Federico Lombardi
Translated from
the Italian service of
The Holy See continues to follow the environmental crisis closely. In his last encyclical, the Pope called on everyone to take greater responsibility for safeguarding Creation, along the principles of justice and solidarity. Here is Fr. Lombardi's editorial this week:
They have started to call him 'the green Pope'. In fact, in the Magisterium of Benedict XVI, statements on the protection of the environment and the safeguarding of creation have been frequent, and we can even say, continual.
Mankind is becoming ever more conscious and concerned over the effects of his activities on the fragile equilibriums of the planet. The United Nations has scheduled a summit in New York in the next few days on climate changes in preparation for the World Conference on the subject to be held in Copenhagen next month.
For this, the Pope offers a framework of solid religious, rational and moral references for effective action programs and for new lifestyles more appropriate for responsible development.
His last encyclical deals with the theme substantially: the exploitation of non-renewable resources and justice towards poorer populations, questions of power consumption, the responsibility towards future generations, the relationship between ecology and respect for human life.
But above all, the Pope points out, man should "learn to see in Creation much more than just a source of wealth to be exploited" and see it as it really is, namely "the expression of a design of love and truth which speaks to us of the Creator and his love for mankind".
Agreements and compromises among political leaders can achieve this purpose only on the basis of motivations and attitudes that are shared and understood by their respective populations.
We need an orientation for the march forward and the development of mankind. The 'green' Pope and the Church know this well and offer their service to that end.
Further on Cardinal Bagnasco, who met with the Holy Father in Castel Gandolfo yesterday, on the eve of the autumn meeting of the CEI"s Permament Council which starts Monday in Rome. It underlines the fact that the Italian bishops report directly to the Pope as Primate of Italy, not to the Secretariat of State.
Cardinal Bagnasco to open
Italian bishops' Permanent Council
meeting next week - the first
since the Boffo-Berlusconi case
Translated from
The Permanent Council of the Italian bishops' conference (CEI) will meet in Fome from Sept. 21-24. The meeting will start with Eucharistic Adoration at the CEI chapel followed by the opening address of Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, CEI president.
The agenda includes the program for the General Assembly which will be held in Assisi Nov 9-12. They will review two documents which the General Assembly will vote on - a revised funeral liturgy to be used in Italy, and a pastoral plan for the Church in southern Italy.
They will also examine the first draft of the Pastoral Orientations for the decade 2010-2020. They will consider a proposed pastoral manual for Italian parishes, as well as national initiatives of the Church of Italy for the current Year of the Priests.
They will also approve the bishops' message for the 2010 Day of Life.
P.S.
Tomorrow's issue (9/20, Sunday) of L'Osservatore Romano carries the full text of Cardinal Bagnasco's lecture on CIV. Will translate later.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/04/2010 23:43]