Vatican City, Dec 5, 2008 / 12:12 pm
A commission of theologians is wrapping up a five-year study on the ability of natural law to serve as a set of universal ethics for mankind. With relativism gaining prominence in the modern world, Pope Benedict asserted that natural law is "the authentic guarantee" of freedom and the defense against "any form of ideological manipulation."
Pope Benedict delivered his address on natural law to participants in the plenary session of the International Theological Commission at the Vatican on Friday morning. The meeting coincided with the conclusion of the commission's five-year mandate, the seventh since it was created.
Referring in his remarks to a soon-to-be-approved draft document on the ability of natural law to serve as a form of universal ethics, the Holy Father pointed out "the urgent need, in the current situation of culture and of civil and political society, to create the conditions necessary to raise awareness of the indispensable value of natural moral law."
In a culture where a "survival of the fittest" mentality often holds sway, Pope Benedict praised the natural law as "the authentic guarantee everyone has to live free and respected in their dignity as human beings." Moreover, the natural law helps people "feel they are defended from any form of ideological manipulation and all abuses perpetrated on the basis of the law of the strongest," the Holy Father said.