Fatima, Portugal, May 13, 2010 / 11:22 am
In an audience with social workers in Fatima on Thursday afternoon, the Holy Father urged them to apply the wisdom of the Church's teachings to their causes. Among those initiatives he praised for helping build a "civilization of love" were those aimed at combating abortion—legalized in 2007—and the expected approval of same-sex "marriage."
Pope Benedict met with members of a variety of organizations dedicated to social causes at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Fatima on Thursday afternoon. The Catholic and non-Catholic partipants were also accompanied by employees and collaborators from the Fatima shrine.
After exhorting those working in "the vast world of charity" to be like the Good Samaritan and like Christ himself in considering love as the foundation for their actions, the Holy Father told the diverse group that discernment of how to address the crises of today should be guided by "a creative proposal of the Church's social message."
Amidst the current socio-economic, cultural and spiritual context, he said, studying the Church's social doctrine "will make possible a process of integral human development capable of engaging the depths of the human heart and achieving a greater humanization of society."