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Bishops of the Americas Put Life as Top Priority

Synod's Special Council Sets Goals for Continent

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 24, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Defending life from conception to natural death is a top priority for the Church in the Americas, reports a special council of the Synod of Bishops.

This conclusion was reached by the 11th meeting of the Special Council for America of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, held Oct. 2-3, reported the Vatican press office Saturday.

The meeting in the Vatican discussed the 1999 apostolic exhortation "Ecclesia in America."

The document summarizes the conclusions of the first Synod of Bishops for America in 1997: "Encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: the Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America."

Participants included cardinals, archbishops and bishops from the Americas and from the Roman Curia, under the guidance of Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops.

According to the communiquй, the council concluded that the "social and ecclesial situation in the continent shows signs of hope, but also of concern."

Life and death

The statement said that on discussing the culture of death, the synod fathers considered that the victims most affected "are the poor and the weak: unborn children, defenseless victims of abortion; the elderly and incurably sick, at times the object of euthanasia; and many other human beings who are on the margin of consumerism and materialism."

The note continued: "The defense of life imposes itself as an extremely timely task given the direct attempts to introduce abortion.

"In some nations, there is also a lack of precise laws on abortion and genetic experimentation. The abortion issue is much debated and, unfortunately, has caused polarization among Catholics."

The bishops also recalled the opposition to the death penalty in "Ecclesia in America," a topic which is again prominent in some American nations.

Quoting "Ecclesia in America," the Vatican communiquй commented on the "challenges for the family" in the continent, especially due to the "increase in divorce and the spread of abortion, infanticide and the contraceptive mentality."

The bishops encouraged "a determined reaction to this mentality, with the increase of pastoral initiatives oriented to families."

"In a proper catechesis one must not cease to underline that the foundation of human life is the conjugal relationship between husband and wife, a relationship which between Christians is sacramental," added the communiquй.

Politics

The special council said regarding politics that in America "the crisis of democratic structures favors populist and demagogic forms of government, often of a neo-Marxist character, oriented to manipulate social promotion for ideological reasons."

"In the nations of Central and South America there are acute problems of poverty, emigration and violence along with drug trafficking and arms trade," it stated.

The council also said that the "draft law that provides for the extension of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border will not solve the problem of the migratory flow between the two countries, and will not help us to implement a coordinated and humanitarian policy of migration."

Among the positive signs, said the statement, the "most striking" is the "increase of vocations, in particular among the diocesan clergy."

The bishops said that it is "a gift of divine Providence, the result of prayer and vocational pastoral care."

From 1978 to 2004 the number of diocesan priests increased by 17.6%, going from 66,084 to 77,756.

The number of candidates to the priesthood has increased by two-thirds, rising to 36,681 candidates in 2004, up from 22,011 in 1978.

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  Словарь Яндекс.Лингво

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