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Lima, May. 31 (FIDES/CWNews.com) - There exists a sort of “international club” which aims to promote social aberrations, hedonist sex as a life style, a new sort of feminism which fails to realize that maternity is God’s most valuable gift to women and upholds homosexuality as a sexual option. Those were among the opinions expressed by Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, of Lima in a lengthy interview with the Fides news service.
In view of repeated attempts by certain Latin American governments to approve laws which attack human life and the family, Fides asked the opinion of Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima and Primate of Argentina. Cardinal Cipriani said the present situation is due to the moral relativism of our day, which must be countered with the formation of minds and hearts from childhood to old age, so that every baptized person-- and in particular those with influence in society-- may recognize and shoulder the Christian duty to protect life and truth.
[The following is a transcript of the Fides interview.]
Your Eminence, for some years in various parts of the world governments have sought to approve laws which attack life and the family, the nucleus of society. In your opinion what are the causes and aims of this policy?
Cardinal Cipriani: We must go back to the beginning. We see profound, rapid, continual and at times imperceptible changes in attitudes and behavior. Reductive ideas and concepts of the human person are launched intermittently and being new they are mistaken for the truth. In other words we see a mal-information with regard to the human person and human freedom. Rather than freedom to choose good from evil, freedom is seen as freedom to do what is evil, ever present and always easier and more attractive.
We see ideological current ranging from Marxism to liberalism, collectivism to radical individualism, agnosticism to syncretism… We are presented with a new sort of feminism which fails to recognize maternity as God’s most valuable gift to women and upholds homosexuality as a sexual option rather than the disordered inclination which it is.
We see this new current in which everything is relative and nothing is definitive because the ultimate measure is always I, myself, and my personal whims. We are entering what the future Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) called the “dictatorship of relativism.” In this way the weight of public opinion, so often manipulated by the media, allows the presentation of situations of unquestionable immorality to be considered instead normal, undermining sensitivity to moral values and measuring ethics with statistics.
If for example certain situations are accepted by the majority according to statistics, legislators aiming to govern a country will make laws which suit those whom they consider the majority of the people. The cause of all this moral relativism in our day is the finality to please people whose vote is necessary to be popular. But “the Church following Christ seeks the truth which does not always coincide with the opinion of the majority.”
How does the Church in Peru intervene to protect life and the family?
Cardinal Cipriani: Faithful to the Gospel the Church always intervenes with truth and firmness, denouncing attacks on life and the family. This can be seen in the countless statements issued by the bishops of Peru on these matters in recent years.
The prestige of the Church as “watchman of the Peruvian soul” emerges also from surveys: it is the institution most highly esteemed for preaching the faith and defending the sacred right to life and it could not be otherwise. Continually and in many different activities in parishes, schools, and church movements the Church in Peru strives to promote the Gospel of life and the family. We have an annual Day for Life for promoting greater awareness of Church teaching and the contents of the Evangelium Vitae (doc) encyclical. In September we have National Family Week with various activities to promote reflection on the family, the teaching of the Church and the situation of families today.
We see the family being destroyed in various parts-- Spain for example-- by laws which intend to give a union between persons of same sex equal recognition as a marriage. What is your opinion of the situation?
Cardinal Cipriani: First of all I thank God that in Peru we still have many, many families based on fidelity and in which parents welcome children and build solid families, real “domestic churches.” The picture is not so bleak. These married couples live according to natural law and also according to the grace received in the sacrament of Matrimony to which they respond with generosity. They are authentic witnesses to the Gospel. . . .
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In view of repeated attempts by certain Latin American governments to approve laws which attack human life and the family, Fides asked the opinion of Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima and Primate of Argentina. Cardinal Cipriani said the present situation is due to the moral relativism of our day, which must be countered with the formation of minds and hearts from childhood to old age, so that every baptized person-- and in particular those with influence in society-- may recognize and shoulder the Christian duty to protect life and truth.
[The following is a transcript of the Fides interview.]
Your Eminence, for some years in various parts of the world governments have sought to approve laws which attack life and the family, the nucleus of society. In your opinion what are the causes and aims of this policy?
Cardinal Cipriani: We must go back to the beginning. We see profound, rapid, continual and at times imperceptible changes in attitudes and behavior. Reductive ideas and concepts of the human person are launched intermittently and being new they are mistaken for the truth. In other words we see a mal-information with regard to the human person and human freedom. Rather than freedom to choose good from evil, freedom is seen as freedom to do what is evil, ever present and always easier and more attractive.
We see ideological current ranging from Marxism to liberalism, collectivism to radical individualism, agnosticism to syncretism… We are presented with a new sort of feminism which fails to recognize maternity as God’s most valuable gift to women and upholds homosexuality as a sexual option rather than the disordered inclination which it is.
We see this new current in which everything is relative and nothing is definitive because the ultimate measure is always I, myself, and my personal whims. We are entering what the future Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) called the “dictatorship of relativism.” In this way the weight of public opinion, so often manipulated by the media, allows the presentation of situations of unquestionable immorality to be considered instead normal, undermining sensitivity to moral values and measuring ethics with statistics.
If for example certain situations are accepted by the majority according to statistics, legislators aiming to govern a country will make laws which suit those whom they consider the majority of the people. The cause of all this moral relativism in our day is the finality to please people whose vote is necessary to be popular. But “the Church following Christ seeks the truth which does not always coincide with the opinion of the majority.”
How does the Church in Peru intervene to protect life and the family?
Cardinal Cipriani: Faithful to the Gospel the Church always intervenes with truth and firmness, denouncing attacks on life and the family. This can be seen in the countless statements issued by the bishops of Peru on these matters in recent years.
The prestige of the Church as “watchman of the Peruvian soul” emerges also from surveys: it is the institution most highly esteemed for preaching the faith and defending the sacred right to life and it could not be otherwise. Continually and in many different activities in parishes, schools, and church movements the Church in Peru strives to promote the Gospel of life and the family. We have an annual Day for Life for promoting greater awareness of Church teaching and the contents of the Evangelium Vitae (doc) encyclical. In September we have National Family Week with various activities to promote reflection on the family, the teaching of the Church and the situation of families today.
We see the family being destroyed in various parts-- Spain for example-- by laws which intend to give a union between persons of same sex equal recognition as a marriage. What is your opinion of the situation?
Cardinal Cipriani: First of all I thank God that in Peru we still have many, many families based on fidelity and in which parents welcome children and build solid families, real “domestic churches.” The picture is not so bleak. These married couples live according to natural law and also according to the grace received in the sacrament of Matrimony to which they respond with generosity. They are authentic witnesses to the Gospel. . . .
Full article