Rome, Italy, Jun 23, 2009 / 10:18 am
The Pope’s Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, has deplored the decision of the Provincial Council of the Italian capital for installing condom machines in the city’s schools, calling it an attack on the sexuality and emotional wellbeing of young people.
This decision, the cardinal said in a statement published by L’Osservatore Romano, “has no consensus among the ecclesial community of Rome or in Christian families who are seriously concerned about the education of their children.”
It is surprising, he added, “that an initiative of this type conceived for schools, which by their nature are intended to promote the comprehensive formation of the person, could be considered as something good, in the name of so-called information and prevention.”
“Reading thus the sense of many parents,” the cardinal continued, “we deplore that this initiative is defined as a courageous action. We think that the only value this has is to banalize yet again the issues of affectivity, sexuality and the education of youth, at a time in which a so-called ‘crisis in education’ is at the center of attention.”
Cardinal Vallini recalled later that last January, the Pope invited those involved in education in Italy “to devote themselves seriously to young people, to not leave them to their fate, that they are of great concern to the Cardinal Vicar, to the other pastors and to the entire ecclesial community of Rome.”
“Therefore we need to reaffirm that it is best to teach people, especially young people, that sexuality must be used as a gift of God’s love and that their bodies must be valued,” the cardinal stressed.
“We continue to be convinced that schools and other educational institutions must strive to enlighten young people and alert them of the paths that only lead to the devaluing of life,” he said.