Cardinal Lopez Trujillo: no room for improvisation in defense of life

Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 15, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo warned last week that “current circumstances in the world do not allow for improvisation” on issues such as the defense of life and the family, which demand intense preparation for the laity and religious.

During the inauguration of the Institute for Marriage and Family of the Catholic University of Argentina, the cardinal noted that “it is not just rhetoric to say that the future of humanity and evangelization passes through the family,” and that therefore bishops, priests, and the laity should constantly seek out “adequate information and formation.”

“In the cause of family and life the baggage of good will is not enough; there must be an anterior preparation,” he underscored.  The cardinal added that “the future requires a mature, solid and dialogue-based Church that will engage the builders of society.”

Cardinal Lopez Trujillo noted as well that the new institute is of great importance for the “cause of family and life,” because a society that neglects them “and permits the cruelty of abortion has no future.”

The rector of the Catholic University of Argentina, Msgr. Alfredo Zecca, said the new institute for marriage and the family would be fundamental for “recommitting ourselves with renewed strength” because “sooner or later (in Argentina) various current issues in society will have to be discussed, as has taken place in Europe.”

During the ceremony, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo presented the new institute a copy of the Lexicon, a work prepared by the Pontifical Council for the Family that provides definitions of certain “ambiguous” terms regarding the defense of life and the family.