Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan 14, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Archbishop Domingo Castagna of Corrientes, Argentina, is warning that militant atheism “has theoretically and practically infected a growing number of Argentineans.”
In the midst of the controversy caused by the nomination to the Supreme Court of an atheist and pro-abortion judge, Archbishop Castagna said the lack of belief “is for some a crusade against the faith, Catholic or otherwise. For others, the great majority, it is manifested in apparent indifference, even with some religious formality, but without any significant existential aspect.”
In today’s society, “profoundly affected by irresponsibility and hypocrisy,” there is a contradiction: “the innocent become the penitents and the guilty declare themselves free of faults and, with presumptuous moral authority, pass judgment on others,” the Archbishop added.
Likewise, he continued, significant numbers of the baptized do not practice their faith or are in complete opposition to its demands. “It is absurd that the baptized support abortion, divorce, same-sex unions, torture, the death penalty, and racial, religious or ideological discrimination. It is incomprehensible that the baptized engage in pedophilia, drug trafficking and prostitution,” denounced the Archbishop.
“We could come up with a macabre list of true crimes committed in a large measure by the baptized,” Archbishop Castagna said. “They are the way they are despite baptism.” He said the recovery of a “baptismal conscience is the necessary step toward recovering the values that baptism encompasses. In order to achieve this, the Church must renew her evangelical action to awaken a baptismal conscience that has been lost or never obtained.”
Finally the Archbishop said that “the transparency demanded by a society that is fed up with hypocrisy, corruption, and deceit, involves every one of the baptized. People do not ask infallibility of our leaders, but rather honesty and the capacity to serve. They are forgiving of involuntary mistakes when leaders are humbly open to dialogue and are willing to respond to their complaints.”