Vatican City, May 29, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Receiving a group of bishops from the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Pope Benedict XVI voiced his energetic support for the efforts of the Italian bishops to defend life, especially in regards to an upcoming referendum on assisted reproduction.
“The relationship between Italy and the Christian faith is today profound and alive. Certainly that form of culture, which is based on purely functional rationality and which contradicts and tends to exclude Christianity and the religions and moral traditions of humanity in general, is present and operative in Italy just as in all of Europe,” the Pontiff noted.
Nevertheless, he added, in Italy, “the Church maintains a primary presence among peoples of all ages and conditions, and therefore in the most diverse situations she can propose the message of salvation that the Lord has entrusted to her.”
The Holy Father spoke extensively about the centrality of the Eucharist, “the soul and secret energy of the Church, the source of efficacy for our apostolates.”