Vatican City, Apr 7, 2008 / 09:37 am
On Saturday, the Holy Father received 300 participants in an international congress entitled: "Oil on the wounds. A response to the blight of abortion and divorce". In his address of the two topics, he stated that though abortion and divorce are separate decisions, they both “leave wounds that mark life indelibly.”
At the event, which was promoted by the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in collaboration with the Knights of Columbus, Pope Benedict stated that the effects of individualism and hedonism have left the world without adequate social support. This leads people to make, “decisions that contrast with the indissolubility of the conjugal bond and with the respect due to human life freshly conceived and still guarded in the maternal womb."
The Pope continued by explaining the impact of divorce and abortion on the human person. “The Church's ethical judgment concerning abortion and divorce is clear and well-known to everyone: they are grave sins which - in various ways and with due evaluation of subjective responsibilities - injure the dignity of the human person, involve a profound injustice in human and social relationships, and offend God Himself, the guarantor of the marital bond and the architect of life."
Those who have struggled with divorce or abortion are still loved by the Church, the Pope explained. “The Church has the primary duty to approach these people with love and delicacy, with kindness and maternal concern, in order to announce the merciful closeness of God and Jesus Christ. ... Yes, the gospel of love and of life is also always the gospel of mercy" and, "on the basis of this mercy, the Church cultivates an indomitable faith in mankind and its capacity for recovery.”