Chilean bishop urges defense of life in order to end 'culture of death'

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 16, 2010 / 12:00 pm

While in Mexico attending an event organized by the Latin American Bishops’ Conference, Auxiliary Bishop Fernando Chomali of Santiago in Chile, who is an expert in bioethics, stressed the urgent need to defend life, marriage and the family, both in pastoral work and in the political world.

Bishop Chomali said that in science and medicine, “the centrality of the human person, and not economic, political or social interests, must be prioritized.  Also important is the unrestricted defense of human life, which involves the prohibition of any attack against life, health care and access to it for all human beings according to their needs.”

The right to health care must include access to basic care and must not be understood as permitting euthanasia or abortion, according to the logic that the “quality of life should prevail over the sacredness of life,” the bishop said.

After referring to the need to promote a more humane culture, Bishop Chomali said the proclamation of the Gospel of Life is needed at the pastoral level. “This requires that we recognize each attack on life as a sin against God.  This implies bringing all men to recognize God as the only owner of life and death and that men merely exercise … a service towards it.”

Regarding action in the political sphere, Bishop Chomali underscored the urgency of “inviting Catholic politicians to obey God first before men” and demanding that the State not impose a particular ethical or anthropological understanding on the country.  Politicians must promote a policy that assures the common good through the recognition and defense of the fundamental rights of the person, “beginning with the right to life,” he said.