CWN - September 10, 2012
The Ten Commandments "can be understood by everyone, precisely because they translate fundamental values into concrete norms and rules," Pope Benedict XVI said in a video message to participants in a new Italian program for evangelization. The "Ten City Squares for Ten Commandments" program, which will sponsor meetings in Italian cities during the coming year, rallied in Rome's Piazza del Popolo on September 9. The Pope's message was shown a giant video screen.
The Ten Commandments, the Pope said, are "a sign of love of God the Father, of his desire to teach us true discernment of good from evil, of truth from falsehood, of justice from injustice." However, while they are best understood by believers, they "can be understood by everyone, precisely because they translate fundamental values into concrete norms and rules."
These fundamental moral laws are now under attack, the Pope continued, in a culture "in which secularism and relativism risk becoming the criteria for all choices, and in our society which seems to live as if God did not exist." It is vital to regain a proper sense of natural morality, the Pope said, because when man ignores moral laws, "not only does he alienate himself from God and abandon the covenant with Him, but he also abandons life and lasting happiness."
"The sad experience of history, especially last century, stands as a warning for all humankind," the Pope reminded the participants in the initiative.
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