CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) Catholics must know the Bible and meditate on the Scriptures in order to live fully Christian lives, Pope Benedict XVI told the bishops of Uruguay. Bishops, priests and catechists must help Catholics learn to read, understand and pray with the Bible so that "they can live their Christian vocation in a way that is more conscientious, firm and secure," the pope said Sept. 26.
Meeting at his summer residence with the bishops, who were making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican, the pope told them that the Bible must also be the source and content of their own preaching and action. Heads of dioceses are required to make such visits every five years to report on the status of their dioceses.
Preaching the Gospel, the pope said, "is more necessary than ever at a time when many other voices are trying to silence God in personal and social life, taking people on detours that undermine the authentic hope and strong interest in the truth that lie within the human heart."
The pope told the bishops to teach the faith of the Catholic Church "in its integrity with the bravery and persuasion proper to one who lives by the faith and for the faith without hesitating to proclaim explicitly the moral values of Catholic doctrine."
The church’s moral teachings — particularly on family life, sexuality, abortion and euthanasia — must be defended even though they often are the subject of debate in the media and in the political, cultural and social arenas, he said.
Pope Benedict particularly praised the Uruguayan bishops for their efforts "to defend human life from conception until its natural end," and he prayed that each person in the country would come to a clear understanding of "the inviolable dignity of every person and (to) a firm commitment to respect and safeguard it without reservation."
Bishop Carlos Collazzi Irazabal of Mercedes, president of the Uruguayan bishops’ conference, told Vatican Radio Sept. 22 that efforts continue in his country to decriminalize abortion.
"The church has made its voice heard loud and clear," he said. "We also trust in the commitment made by the president of the republic, who is a physician by profession and has said on several occasions that if the parliament passes pro-abortion laws he would veto them."
