Santiago, Chile, Mar 13, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Duringhis Te Deum homily at the Cathedral of Santiago for the installation of Chile’s new president, Michelle Bachelet, Cardinal Javier Errazuriz said that “With trust we pray to God that our leaders and legislators will always protect the sacred gift of life, and that we all may learn to properly respect each human existence.”
The cardinal said respect for life must always be extended, particularly to the sick, the handicapped and the defenseless, “so that each human life maybe desired and loved.”
“Considering that the right to life is the foundation of all other human rights,” Cardinal Errazuriz said, “how can we show scorn for a life? How can we not allow it to be born? How can we cut it off when it is defenseless?” Likewise he wondered aloud how it was possible for one person to determine whether or not another has the right to live or whether or not their life would be of value.
“How can we ignore some lives and even mistreat them, as if some deserved respect and others didn’t,” he asked. “The 20th century is, among other things, a painful documentary of the terrible injustices which provoked such discrimination.”