While conceding that “the word ‘commandment’ isn’t fashionable”, Pope Francis said the Ten Commandments expand, rather than limit, human freedom.
He was speaking by video link during an activity in Milan’s Cathedral Square organised by the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation for the Year of Faith.
The Pope said: “The Ten Commandments show us a path to travel and also constitute a sort of ‘moral code’ for building just societies that are made for men and women”
Far from limiting mankind, he said they “teach us how to avoid the slavery to which we are reduced by the many idols we ourselves build”.
Legal protection for same-sex unions
Retired Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels recently spoke in favour of the granting legal recognition of same-sex unions. Other Church leaders have taken a similar position. These include Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna.
Meanwhile, the UK House of Lords rejected an amendment tabled by Lord Dear, a cross-bench peer and former West Midlands chief constable, opposing the Bill.
A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said “the Church’s aim is to ensure the Bill is amended so that it effectively delivers the protections that the Government promised to provide for schools, religious organisations and individuals.”
Pope angers Turkey
The reference Pope Francis made to the massacre of Armenians between 1915 and 1918 as “the first genocide of the 20th century” brought about the ire of the Turkish government. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry protested with the Vatican, expressing its disappointment over the remarks.
The Pope referred to the Armenian genocide during a meeting with Armenian Catholic Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni of Cilicia. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had described the massacre as “the gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey against the Armenian people and all humanity”.
An estimated one to 1.5 million Armenians died between 1915 and 1918 in massacres, in concentration camps, and on forced marches.
Bishops lobby for immigration Bill
American bishops are lobbying in favour of the passage of the Bill on immigration reform legislation. They warned against amending a Senate Bill in ways that would block the path to legalisation for undocumented immigrants.
“Families are separated, migrant workers are exploited, and our fellow human beings die in the desert,” said Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. “Each day, our parishes, social service programmes, hospitals and schools witness the human consequences of a broken immigration system,” said Mgr Gomez. He called the status quo morally unacceptable.
Religious freedom violation lamented
During an audience with Italian President Giorgio Napoletano, Pope Francis lamented that in many countries, religious liberty is talked about more than it is protected.
“The serious violations inflicted on this basic right are causes of serious concern,” and the world’s nations must act together to uphold “the intangible dignity of the human person against every attack,” he said.
Pope Francis noted that 2013 marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan. This proclamation of tolerance of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire is seen by many, he said, “as a symbol of the first affirmation of the principle of religious freedom”.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)