Moral mandates designed to help people, not limit them, says pope

Published: 2006-04-27

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Ten Commandments and other biblical moral mandates are not designed to limit human freedom, but to help people behave in ways that will lead to their full freedom and happiness, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope met April 27 with members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, which is continuing its work on a document about the relationship between the Bible and morality. "The law of God does not diminish or, even less, eliminate human freedom, but on the contrary guarantees and promotes it" because freedom reaches its perfection when it is exercised in accordance with the intent of God, who created human beings and gave them free will, the pope said. Many people today, he said, think that the only way to reach happiness and fulfillment is by relying own their own reason and pursuing their own desires. "This erroneous conviction is based on a presumed conflict between human freedom and every form of law," he said.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .