Presidential election: the bishops enter the arena

Bioethics, ecology, freedom, inclusion ... three months from the presidential election, the bishops of France publish a declaration to help Catholics discern the challenges of the electoral campaign.They do not give any voting instructions.Analysis and extracts.

As during each electoral year, the permanent council of bishops of France publishes a declaration, the fruit of their reflection, on the social and societal issues of the.

It is an almost ritual but always perilous exercise.Before each presidential election, it is customary that the bishops make their priorities known to the Catholic faithful, but also, in hollow, to candidates likely to receive their votes.If the tone used by the Permanent Bishops Council remains cautious at the antipodes of prophetic injunctions, the fact remains that a few "non -negotiable points" emerge to use a (sometimes misunderstood) from Cardinal Ratzinger.

Against political messianism

It is obviously not a question of being dissenting, but rather of looking for the "best possible" by resisting the temptation of "discouragement and bitterness".First point therefore, that of the defense of life."How not to be surprised, wonder the bishops, and deeply saddened to see sometimes, in a completely contradictory way, the temptation of euthanasia with a certain health overbidding?"The refusal to liberalize euthanasia is clearly expressed as well as that of" lengthening the time for authorization for voluntary pregnancy interruption "ever more..

Second point: a warning against a displaced political messianism."Christians are not waiting for politics," insist the editors by asking policies "not to outbid in promises".Third point: ecology, which should not be limited to a marketing attempt to green politics: "We, Catholics, add that ecology must be integral [...]].How to claim the precautionary principle without taking care not to destabilize the human condition by legal special effects or biological manipulations?»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

We will also note a final point concerning the need to transmit to future generations something other than a public debt or even a feeling of guilt: "Our relationship to history cannot be transformed into unilaterally negative anachronistic gaze on the past.The bishops invoke the virtue of "hope".

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Extraits de la déclaration des évêques « L'Espérance ne déçoit pas»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

No voting instructions

"The bishops that we are do not come out of their role by encouraging Christians to fully exercise their responsibilities of citizens, that is to say of voters and actors of the good.However, we will not give or give voting instructions, encouraging everyone to vote in conscience in the light of the criteria of discernment that the magisterium of the Church teaches and that we recall in this text.We cross harsh and perilous times.The approaching deadlines will be crucial.But fear is always a bad adviser.It is hope that opens the path of courageous and salutary choices.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

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The temptation of euthanasia

« Le premier confinement a été scandé par le souci de « sauver des vies»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»», au risque d’oublier parfois que toute personne humaine a besoin de relations d’amitié et d’affection mais également de nourrir la dimension spirituelle de sa vie.For Christians, the greatness of a society is to help all its members to respect the life and dignity of all and in particular the most fragile.How not to be surprised and deeply saddened to see sometimes, in a completely contradictory way, the temptation of euthanasia with a certain health overbidding.The authentically human way, that which contributes in depth to peace, cannot consist neither in therapy nor in the use of euthanasia: it requires respect and attentive and benevolent accompaniment of each person at all stagesfrom its existence.We must wish a more ambitious development of palliative care in our country: it will be a clear sign that will speak to all.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

The violence of the elongation of abortion period

« Sauver des vies»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»», comme notre société en a éprouvé le réflexe à approfondir à la faveur de la crise sanitaire, c’est aussi accueillir la vie naissante avec respect et émerveillement.The desire to further extend the time to authorize voluntary termination of pregnancy constitutes violence in addition to society as a whole, in particular with regard to the most fragile or disabled people.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

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For the inclusion of disabled people

"Conversely, all the initiatives to include people with disabilities in the school world or the world of work contribute to the health of the whole of our society. Le mot d’ordre biblique : « choisis la vie»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» (Deutéronome 30, 19) constitue également une salutaire maxime politique.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

Freedom

« Le débat sur la « loi confortant le respect des principes de la République»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» a mis en évidence une tentation : celle de porter atteinte, par souci de la sécurité, à la liberté d’expression, d’association, d’éducation, voire de culte, et à l’égalité des citoyens, qu’ils soient ou non croyants.In addition, the omnipresence of digital means poses new questions of respect for freedoms.There will be no authentic egalite and fraternity or even true and sustainable security without scrupulous respect for the freedom of people.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

Relations between the State and cults

"The systematic denigration of cults only manages to arouse repressed religious, potentially violent.It is sometimes easier for legislators to debate religions with a cookie-cutting formulas than to fully assume the functions first of all and social of the public power.Religions can always be instrumentalized by the violence which inhabits the human heart and the fundamental movement of religion cannot be reduced to a quest for particular identity: it must be aroused by the search for God, the good, the true and thebeautiful.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

Ecological conversion

"The climate crisis that threatens life on our planet calls for an ecological transformation.The Western world has created since the industrial revolution a society of abundance, even overabundance, whose engine has become consumption.The containment of spring 2020 made us discover not only the urgency of an evolution of our production system and our consumption methods, but also the possibility of another lifestyle, more sober, less focused on consumptionBut giving their place to interpersonal relationships.As the elections offer the possibility of defining a new collective project, it must be clear that it is not enough to improve our production system and our way of consuming: it is a question of working to transform them deeply to seekHow to produce what we need without cluttering the land with waste or exhausting its resources at the risk of depriving their generations to come.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

A full ecology

« Nous, catholiques, ajoutons que l’écologie doit être « intégrale»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»».She does not only understand the environment of humanity, but also the way in which humanity is treated itself. Comme l’affirme le pape Francois, « l’écologie intégrale est inséparable de la notion de bien commun, un principe qui joue un rôle central et unificateur dans l’éthique sociale»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» (Laudato si’, 56).Among the social conditions that contribute to the common good and therefore to integral ecology, we must cite: respect for family structure and the truth of parentage, the fight against misery, unworthy habitat and living conditionsdegrading, the refusal of everything that undermines human dignity, including slavery whose practice continues in certain countries.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

The temptation of withdrawal and migrants

"European construction, so emblematic of a fight won against temptations of confrontation and war, must be constantly revised not to fall into impotence, libertarian drift, technocratic excess, the renunciation of promoting realmoral values, at the risk of helping to arouse nationalist folds.Pope Francois' prophetic calls in favor of migrants engage the most developed societies to adopt behaviors of humanity and generosity.It is not a question of denying the legitimacy of the legal regulation of migratory flows, but of ensuring that nobody takes their side of the humanitarian dramas which constantly occur before our eyes or a stone's throw from our coasts.»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

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