Benedict XVI Denounces Threatening Euthanasia
Recalling that the Church had always recognized grandparents as important from a social and spiritual viewpoint, the pope observed that “the economic and social evolution has brought profound transformations to the life of families. The elderly, including many grandparents, find themselves in a sort of ‘parking area’: some realize they are a burden to their family and prefer to live alone or in retirement homes with all the consequences that such decisions entail.”
“Unfortunately, it seems that the ‘culture of death’ is advancing on many fronts and is also threatening the season of old-age. With growing insistence, people are even proposing euthanasia as a solution for resolving certain difficult situations. (…) It is always necessary to react strongly to what dehumanizes society. (…) It is necessary to join forces to defeat together all forms of marginalization, for it is not only they - grandfathers, grandmothers, senior citizens - who are being injured by the individualistic mindset, but everyone. If grandparents, as is said often and on many sides, are a precious resource, it is necessary to put into practice coherent choices that allow them to be better valued. (…) May grandparents return to being a living presence in the family, in the Church and in society. With regard to the family, may grandparents continue to be witnesses of unity, of values founded on fidelity and of a unique love that gives rise to faith and the joy of living. The so-called new models of the family and a spreading relativism have weakened these fundamental values of the family nucleus.”
“In the face of the crisis of the family, might it not be possible to set out anew precisely from the presence and witness of these people - grandparents - whose values and projects are more resilient? Indeed, it is impossible to plan the future without referring to a past full of significant experiences and spiritual and moral reference points,” the pope concluded. (Sources: vatican.va)
