Pope: defend the rights of the child to life, not to be exploited, not to become the subject of "educational experiments"
Vatican City (
AsiaNews) - Reaffirming and defending the rights of the child, from the right
to life - "abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes" - to the
right to "grow up in a family," not to be exploited in any way and not
become the object of "educational experiments" . This
was repeated forcefully today by Pope Francis, who received, a delegation of
the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) and the Italian Movement for Life
in separate audiences.
"Human
life - he told the Italian Movement - is sacred and inviolable. Every civil law
is based on the recognition of the first and most fundamental right, the right
to life, which is not subject to any condition, be it qualitative, economic or
ideological". Just
as the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" sets a clear limit in order to
safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say "thou shalt not"
to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills.... Human beings are themselves considered consumer
goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a "throw away" culture
which is now spreading"(ibid.,
n. Evangelii gaudium, 53) . Thus, even life is discarded."
"One of the
most serious risks it is exposed to this modern age, the divorce
between economics and morality, so that as the market gives us every technical
innovation, it neglects more and more elementary ethical standards. It is must be
therefore reiterated the strongest opposition to any direct attack on life,
especially innocent and defenseless life, and the unborn child in the womb is
the most concrete example of innocence," said Pope Francis. "Let us remember
the words of the Second Vatican Council: From the moment of its conception,
life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are
unspeakable crimes." ( Gaudium et Spes, 51)".
Turning
instead to the International Catholic childhood Bureau the Pope stressed the
importance of "carrying out projects against the slave - labor, against
the recruitment of child soldiers and all forms of violence against children".
"On
a positive note, we must reaffirm the right of children to grow up in a family
with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the
child's development and emotional maturity. At the same time, this implies
supporting the right of parents to decide the moral and religious education of
their children. And in this regard I would like to express my rejection of any
kind of educational experimentation with children. We cannot experiment with
children and young people. The horrors of the manipulation of education that we
experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the twentieth century have
not disappeared; they have retained a current relevance under various guises
and proposals and, with the pretense of modernity, push children and young
people to walk on the dictatorial path of "only one form of thought".
"Working for human rights - he concluded - presupposes the aim of fostering anthropological formation, of being well prepared on the reality of the human person, and knowing how to respond to the problems and challenges posed by contemporary culture and widespread mentality propagated by the mass media. For you, this means offering your managers and operators continuing formation on the anthropology of the child, because that is where the rights and obligations have their foundation. It is upon this that the formation of educational projects rest..
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