“It is vital that your commitment be imbued continually by [the Church’s] moral and social teachings, in order to build a more human and just society.” said Pope Francis.
Pope Francis encouraged the participants in the Conference of the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN), receiving them in the Vatican after praying the Angelus on August 27, 2017.
With his “warm” welcome to Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn and to the president of this network of Catholic parliamentarians from around the world, Christiaan Alting von Gesau, the Bishop of Rome pointed out the longing they had in their meeting this year to stress “the Christian vision of the human person,” Vatican Radio reports in Spanish.
“When you return to your respective nations, I encourage you to make reference to the fruits of your reflections on how the Catholic faith leads to a correct understanding of the person, which must be applied according to all the aspects of the government and of the decisional processes,” said Pope Francis.
Vatican Radio said that Pope Francis “stressed the teachings of the Church and the commitment that unites them to build a more human and just society, with laws that foster bridges and dialogue, sheltering the neediest and migrants”.
“While the contribution of the Church in the great questions of the society of our time can often be called into question, it is vital that your commitment be imbued continually by its moral and social teachings, in order to build a more human and just society,” said the Pope. And he added, according to the same source: “The laws you promulgate and implement should build bridges of dialogue between different political points of view, also when they respond to specific ends in order to promote greater care towards the vulnerable and the marginalized, especially towards the many that are obliged to leave their homeland, as well as to foster a correct human and natural ecology.”
The Pope concluded his greeting with his exhortation “to witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world and entrusting all peoples to the Mother of God”, Vatican Radio reported. “In the midst of peoples’ sufferings, I exhort you to look at Christ, whose love will inspire you so that the Spirit, through an exchange of gifts, can lead you ever more to truth and goodness.
“May you always take the news of Jesus, in your professional work, that no one is insignificant, no one must be discarded in any phase of his life. I entrust you and the peoples of whom you are servants to the protection of the Virgin, Mother of the Church, and I gladly impart to you the Apostolic Blessing.”
The Pope had already received this group in previous years, on the occasion of the meetings organized at Frascati, near Rome.
It is a Network of International Catholic Legislators, which was born in 2010 under the patronage of the Archbishop of Vienna, and of David Alton, Catholic member of the House of Lords of Great Britain.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
