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Skriven 2006-01-28 16:22:52 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
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                               VIS-Press releases

SEEKING TRUTH, AN ESSENTIAL CONDITION FOR REAL DEMOCRACY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 27, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, the Pope received the
president and leaders of ACLI, the Christian Associations of Italian Workers,
which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its foundation.

In his address to them, the Pope recalled the three "directives" the
association is historically committed to put into effect. The first of these,
he said, is "faithfulness to workers," affirming in this context how the
Magisterium has always highlighted the human dimension of work, without
overlooking "the commandment of rest. To insist, then, that Sunday does not
become like all the other days of the week, is to take a stand in favor of
civilization."

The Holy Father went on: "From the primacy of the ethical dimension of human
work arise other priorities: that of man over work, of work over capital, of
the universal destination of wealth over the right to private property; in
brief, the priority of being over having."

Benedict XVI highlighted how, in our time, science and technology "present huge
possibilities for improving everyone's lives," but warned that "the misguided
use of such power can provoke grave and irreparable threats to the future of
life itself."

"The defense of life - from conception to natural end - wherever it is
threatened, offended or trampled underfoot, is the primary duty of an authentic
ethic of responsibility, and this may be coherently extended to all other forms
of poverty, injustice and exclusion," he said.

The Pope then identified "faithfulness to democracy" as the second directive.
"It alone can guarantee equality of rights for all. ...Justice is the testing
ground of true democracy. That said, it should not be forgotten that the search
for truth constitutes the essential condition for a real, not merely an
apparent, democracy. 'As history demonstrates, a democracy without values
easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism'."

The association's third directive, said the Holy Father, is "faithfulness to
the Church. Only a willing and passionate adherence to the [Church] can
guarantee the identity necessary to ensure a presence in all areas of society
and the world, without losing the flavor and fragrance of the Gospel."

"As lay people and associated Christian workers," the Pope concluded, "always
take care over the formation of your members and leaders, with a view to the
special service to which you are called. ... Remain courageously present in all
crucial areas of social life."
AC/WORK/ACLI VIS 060127 (410)

SUMMARY

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