Vatican official says church must be committed to life at all stages

Published: 2005-03-18

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church's commitment to justice must include a commitment to protecting human dignity at every stage of human life, said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The church rightly is praised for its work on behalf of the poor, but when it comes to protecting the life of the unborn, it often is ridiculed, said the cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Ratzinger was the main celebrant and homilist at a March 18 Mass for participants in a Vatican conference marking the 40th anniversary of "Gaudium et Spes," the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.

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