12 Quotes about Life, Marriage and Family from Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI left a great legacy of theological understanding.  He had profound insight into the dangers of the dictatorship of relativism that plagues our age.  Central to his message was the dignity of the human person who is made in the image of God.  Benedict XVI believed ardently that love and truth go hand in hand leading to true human flourishment and joy.

Presented here are twelve powerful quotes about life, marriage and family from Benedict XVI.

one

The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right – it is the very opposite.

Meeting with the Authorities and the Diplomatic Corps
Austria, Friday 7 September 2007

two

[T]o acknowledge the beauty and goodness of marriage is to realize that only a setting of fidelity and indissolubility, along with openness to God’s gift of life, is adequate to the grandeur and dignity of marital love.

World Youth Day
Madrid, Saturday 20 August 2011

three

It is thus becoming a social and even economic necessity once more to hold up to future generations the beauty of marriage and the family, and the fact that these institutions correspond to the deepest needs and dignity of the person. In view of this, States are called to enact policies promoting the centrality and the integrity of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, the primary vital cell of society, and to assume responsibility for its economic and fiscal needs, while respecting its essentially relational character.

Caritas in Veritate
(Truth in Love) n. 44

four

The family is also a school which enables men and women to grow to the full measure of their humanity. The experience of being loved by their parents helps children to become aware of their dignity as children.

Children need to be brought up in the faith, to be loved and protected. Along with their basic right to be born and to be raised in the faith, children also have the right to a home which takes as its model the home of Nazareth, and to be shielded from all dangers and threats.

Fifth World Meeting of Families
Valencia, Spain, July 8, 2006

five

Openness to life is at the centre of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away. The acceptance of life strengthens moral fibre and makes people capable of mutual help.

Caritas in Veritate
(Truth in Love) n. 28

six

The freedom to kill is not true freedom, but a tyranny that reduces the human being to slavery.

Mass of Possession of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome
Saturday 7, May, 2005

seven

Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger then Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

eight

We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.

Homily at Mass on the Occasion of the Beginning of his Petrine Ministry
April 25, 2005

nine

The Church, in her concern for man’s authentic development, urges him to have full respect for human values in the exercise of his sexuality. It cannot be reduced merely to pleasure or entertainment, nor can sex education be reduced to technical instruction aimed solely at protecting the interested parties from possible disease or the “risk” of procreation. This would be to impoverish and disregard the deeper meaning of sexuality, a meaning which needs to be acknowledged and responsibly appropriated not only by individuals but also by the community. It is irresponsible to view sexuality merely as a source of pleasure, and likewise to regulate it through strategies of mandatory birth control. In either case materialistic ideas and policies are at work, and individuals are ultimately subjected to various forms of violence. Against such policies, there is a need to defend the primary competence of the family in the area of sexuality, as opposed to the State and its restrictive policies, and to ensure that parents are suitably prepared to undertake their responsibilities.

Caritas in Veritate
(Truth in Love) n. 44

ten

How can it be that the most Wondrous and Sacred Human Space – the Womb – has become a place of unutterable violence?

Address at the Welcoming Celebration for World Youth Day
Sydney, Australia, Thursday 17 July 2008

eleven

May you find the courage to proclaim Christ, ‘the same, yesterday, and today and for ever’ and the unchanging truths which have their foundation in him. These are the truths that set us free! They are the truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world – including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother’s womb.

Homily at Yankee Stadium
New York, Sunday 20 April, 2008

twelve

[W]e must not underestimate the disturbing scenarios that threaten our future, or the powerful new instruments that the “culture of death” has at its disposal. To the tragic and widespread scourge of abortion we may well have to add in the future – indeed it is already surreptiously present – the systematic eugenic programming of births. At the other end of the spectrum, a pro-euthanasia mindset is making inroads as an equally damaging assertion of control over life that under certain circumstances is deemed no longer worth living. Underlying these scenarios are cultural viewpoints that deny human dignity. These practices in turn foster a materialistic and mechanistic understanding of human life.

Caritas in Veritate
(Truth in Love) n. 44

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