Bishop Joseph E. Strickland: Comments on the Address of the Holy Father to the Spanish Parliament

I am grateful for the important truths that were reaffirmed by the Holy Father in his address to the Spanish Parliament.

In a time when human dignity is often reduced to utility, productivity, or personal preference, it is encouraging to hear a clear defense of the inherent dignity of every human person, created by God and possessing rights that do not come from the State. Particularly noteworthy is the Holy Father’s affirmation that every human life must be protected from conception until natural death, and his reminder that the moral greatness of a nation is measured by how it treats the most vulnerable among us.

I am also grateful for his defense of the family as the natural foundation of society, his affirmation of the primary rights of parents in the education of their children, his support for religious liberty, and his insistence upon the inviolability of the sacramental seal of confession. These are truths deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture, Catholic tradition, and the Church’s social doctrine. …