“Oil on the wounds”

“A response to the blight of abortion and divorce.” Pope Benedict addressed the international congress of that evocative title at the Vatican over the weekend.

Benedict XVI expressed his satisfaction at the participants’ focus on the parable of the Good Samaritan in studying questions “which bring so much suffering to the lives of people, families and society”. He also recalled how in debating such matters, “often purely ideologically, a kind of conspiracy of silence is created. Only through an attitude of merciful love can we … bring help and enable victims to rise up again and resume the course of their lives.

Conspiracy of silence.

Benedict has such a gift for the exquisite expression of global and cultural truths that just can’t be refuted. At least honestly.

He continues teaching, as John Paul II did, about the power of mercy. And the need for it in solving crises, whether in the individual, the family, society or the world.

In closing, Benedict XVI expressed his appreciation for “all those social and pastoral initiatives which seek the reconciliation and cure of people affected by the drama of abortion and divorce”. They are, he concluded, “essential elements in building the civilisation of love of which humanity today has more need than ever”.