November 2, 2009
All Souls Day
Caritas in Veritate
When God, at the exactly perfect moment in human history, wanted to take man’s development to the final level, He did so, and continues to do so, by a selfless act of gift. While we were yet sinners he came to us, became one of us, and died for us. He rose for us, so that by being in solidarity with Him we could rise body and soul on the last day to be one with Him forever. That, I submit, is the ultimate human development. This All Souls’ Day is our annual commemoration of our hope in that resurrection, and our prayer for those who have died in faith and charity is that they be more swiftly united with their Lord–our Lord–in everlasting joy, endless life in Christ.
The Holy Father, too, turns to the relationship of life, death, and human development. Let me reach into paragraph 29 in order to help us understand what he says about the right to life: “Violence puts the brakes on authentic development and impedes the evolution of peoples towards greater socio-economic and spiritual well-being. This applies especially to terrorism motivated by fundamentalism[69], which generates grief, destruction and death, obstructs dialogue between nations and diverts extensive resources from their peaceful and civil uses.”
It is a violent and terroristic act to kill in the holy name of God, but it is also a violent and terroristic act to kill in the name of human development. Pope Benedict decries in the same breath high rates of infant mortality and government practices of demographic control. Moral attitudes have changed because of legislation contrary to life, like Roe v Wade, and our government promotes the anti-birth mentality both in the U.S. and overseas. In his words, the U.S. exports “this mentality to other States as if it were a form of cultural progress.
He goes on: “Some non-governmental Organizations work actively to spread abortion, at times promoting the practice of sterilization in poor countries, in some cases not even informing the women concerned. Moreover, there is reason to suspect that development aid is sometimes linked to specific health-care policies which de facto involve the imposition of strong birth control measures. Further grounds for concern are laws permitting euthanasia as well as pressure from lobby groups, nationally and internationally, in favour of its juridical recognition.”
In this light, I have asked and will continue to ask why we do not consider the UN Family Planning organization, Planned Parenthood International, and similar groups to be misanthropic and terroristic organizations. With the enthusiastic support of the wealthy, who generations ago stopped having exemplary families, they have ruined the moral lives of multiple generations, aborted hundreds of millions, especially by force in China, ruined the economic base of Social Security, and brought on by demographic collapse the current worldwide recession. Our prayers should be with young people, who are surrounded by the propaganda of the death crowd. Lord, give them the courage to believe the truth, and raise up godly and large families so that the Day of the Dead may be a day to pray for our ancestors, not a day to mourn the victory of death.
