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POPE-LAW Feb-12-2007 (460 words) xxxi
Pope: Weak are at mercy of others when laws not based on morality
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When laws are based on compromise or consensus instead of moral values, anyone too weak or without a voice to participate in the debate is left at the mercy of others, Pope Benedict XVI said.
The pope decried the loss of a firm moral foundation in law and scientific research when he met Feb. 12 with participants in a Feb. 12-14 conference on natural law and morality.
Natural law refers to a common human code of right and wrong, a code that people access through use of their consciences and reason.
The most basic expression of natural law, he said, is "to do good and avoid evil" and from that flows a recognition of other values, such as respect for human life and dignity, freedom, justice and solidarity.
Those values, the pope said, are "norms that precede any human law" and not simply rights granted by a legislature or an international agreement.
In fact, he said, "every legal order -- internal or international -- draws its ultimate legitimacy from being rooted in natural law."
Natural law "is the only valid bastion" against the whims of the powerful or the deceit of those who try to manipulate public opinion, the pope said.
When natural law and ethical norms disappear from public debate and discourse, "legislation becomes increasingly just a compromise between different interests" or an attempt "to transform into rights private interests or desires."
Pope Benedict said that one of the most important areas where natural law is being attacked today regards the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman open to having children.
"No human law can subvert the norm written by the Creator without dramatically wounding society in that which constitutes its basic foundation," he said. "To forget this would mean weakening the family, penalizing children and making the future of society precarious."
The pope said biomedical research is another area of great concern because many people seem to think that scientists should be free to pursue any project that is scientifically feasible.
"When it reduces a human being to an object of experimentation, technology abandons the weak to the will of the strong," he said.
"To blindly entrust ourselves to technology" without insisting that scientists observe a moral code, he said, leaves humanity open to all sorts of manipulation and violence "with devastating results for all."
Pope Benedict called for greater efforts to promote a dialogue on ethics and morality among scientists, theologians and lawmakers and urged educators at all levels to help strengthen people's moral consciences.
"Without this, no progress is real progress," he said.
END
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