Pope Benedict XVI: Catholic voters, know your duty!

THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE (JOHN 8:23)

"Pope slams Canuck 'folly'" read the headline of the Toronto Sun, September 9, reporting on Pope Benedict's address to the Ontario bishops in Rome. "Canada turning its back on God, Pope says," read the Globe & Mail's front page. "Pope blasts Canada over gay marriage" was the heading in the National Post, page 2, and "Pope asks bishop to lobby our MPs," the Toronto Star, page 15.

Together, these four headlines summarize Pope Benedict's message, except for the fact that he was addressing Catholics, and that he did not "blast" Canada. Instead of "slamming," "blasting" and "lobbying," the Holy Father spoke of giving "joyful witness to the Gospel that is Jesus Christ himself."

Beginning with the lead theme of his 2005 Encyclical Deus Caritas est, "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (I John 4:16)," Pope Benedict welcomed the bishops of Ontario on their five-year ad limina visit to the Holy See (Sept. 2-11). It is an occasion to re-affirm, he said, "your commitment to make Christ increasingly more visible within the Church and society."

"We know and believe the love God has for us (I John 4:16)," he continued; these words reveal our faith "as personal adherence to God" and therefore demand "assent to the whole truth that God reveals (my emphasis)." In other words, as spelled out in the document Dominus Iesus (Jan. 2000), the revelation of Jesus allows no room for a "cafeteria style" Catholicism where one chooses only what is agreeable. "Numerous men and women continue to distance themselves from dwelling with God," Benedict said, "in favour of living in a desert of individual isolation, a fractured society, and the loss of cultural identity."

The sentences which directly refer to Canada read as follows:

"Today, the impediments to the spread of Christ's Kingdom are experienced most dramatically in the split between the Gospel and culture, with the exclusion of God from the public sphere.

"Canada has a well-earned reputation for a generous and practical commitment to justice and peace, and there is an enticing sense of vibrancy and opportunity in your multicultural cities. At the same time, however, certain values detached from their moral roots and full significance found in Christ have evolved in the most disturbing of ways. In the name of 'tolerance' your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of marriage, and in the name of 'freedom of choice' it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children.

"When the Creator's divine plan is ignored the truth of human nature is lost.

"False dichotomies are not unknown within the Christian community itself. They are particularly damaging when Christian civic leaders sacrifice the unity of faith and sanction the disintegration of reason and the principles of natural ethics, by yielding to ephemeral social trends and the spurious demands of opinion polls.

"Democracy succeeds only to the extent that it is based on truth and a correct understanding of the human person. Catholic involvement in political life cannot compromise on this principle; otherwise Christian witness to the splendour of truth in the public sphere would be silenced and an autonomy from morality proclaimed.

"In your discussions with politicians and civic leaders I encourage you to demonstrate that our Christian faith, far from being an impediment to dialogue, is a bridge, precisely because it brings together reason and culture."

The five points he makes, simplified, are:

1. Do not allow God to be excluded from public life. That is what the secularists want.

2. Do not allow "rights" to be cut off from their Christian roots: this will lead to false "rights"-demonstrated in Canada by legislators and the judiciary led by the Supreme Court,

3. Civic leaders must not surrender their Christian convictions for ephemeral political advantages. Many Catholic MPs voted for abortion and same-sex "marriage."

4. Democracy cannot survive unless God's truth is accepted, and moral relativism rejected. Witness increasing intolerance and attacks in Canada on civic and religious freedoms.

5. Bishops should lead the intellectual and moral &fence of Christian principles in public society.

There is one difficulty: many will not listen. As St. Paul puts it, "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's spirit, for they are foolishness to them ... (I Cot. 2:14)." That is why faithful Catholic voters must bestir themselves, know where their MPs stand, and vote to defeat secular and Catholic MPs who betray reason and the natural law.

The Pope's text is available from Zenit as well as the CCCB and Vatican websites.

FATHER ALPHONSE DE VALK, C.S.B.

EDITOR