Say 'yes' to feminine genius, delegates urge at conference

Rome, Italy, Mar 30, 2009 / 19:02 pm

During a recent gathering on the role of women in promoting human rights, Cardinal Renato Martino and some 100 delegates from organizations that work for the rights of women expressed the urgent need to say “yes” to the feminine genius, to life and to the family, in order to adequately promote the defense of human rights.

During the event, which took place in Rome the weekend of March 20-21 and was organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, representatives spoke of the need to build a culture of peace through education and fighting poverty.  They also denounced the confusing language that is used in laws that claim to be for the good of women but are in fact detrimental.

Invoking the call by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to develop and empower the “feminine genius,” Cardinal Martino reiterated the urgency of saying “‘yes’ to God and to life, above all in response to the threat of poverty, the violence of war, abortion and euthanasia, genetic manipulation, in sum, the old and new slaveries.”

In response to the challenges facing women, the cardinal encouraged a “new feminism nourished by the liberating strength of the Gospel” capable of courageously confronting the “cultural potholes” in the underdeveloped and overdeveloped world that endanger the dignity of women and their fundamental rights as persons.

For this reason, he explained, “There will be no new feminism without God, if there is no discovery of this God as Love.”