Dives in Misericordia: “Mercy . . . from Generation to Generation” (12, continued)

Chapter 6 of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “Mercy . . . from Generation to Generation.” It concludes as follows:

“12. . . . The Church, having before her eyes the picture of the generation to which we belong, shares the uneasiness of so many of the people of our time. Moreover, one cannot fail to be worried by the decline of many fundamental values, which constitute an unquestionable good not only for Christian morality but simply for human morality, for moral culture: these values include respect for human life from the moment of conception, respect for marriage in its indissoluble unity, and respect for the stability of the family. Moral permissiveness strikes especially at this most sensitive sphere of life and society. Hand in hand with this go the crisis of truth in human relationships, lack of responsibility for what one says, the purely utilitarian relationship between individual and individual, the loss of a sense of the authentic common good and the ease with which this good is alienated. Finally, there is the ‘desacralization’ that often turns into ‘dehumanization’: the individual and the society for whom nothing is ‘sacred’ suffer moral decay, in spite of appearances.”

 

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Pope John Paul II: “Dives in Misericordia”