Papal nuncio urges ‘respect for life in all its stages’

Having "absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions" is among the norms limiting the individual's freedom to act as they might wish, the papal nuncio to Ireland has told a legal congregation in Dublin.

Archbishop Charles J Brown, in a homily at a mass at St Michan's Roman Catholic Church marking the opening of a new legal year, said letting each person define their own concepts of existence and meaning represents "an enormous abdication of our responsibility to seek some meaningful communality among human beings, based on our shared human nature".

“It also leads easily to the kind of atomistic, individualistic and deracinated existence which has become increasingly prevalent in many parts of the Western world today.”

While there are difficulties in "proposing and identifying the norms which govern how we are to live, norms which necessarily at times limit our freedom to act as we might wish", those norms, as Pope Francis had said, include things like "the natural difference between men and women" and "absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions", he said.

These principles, and others like them, “are important, not simply because they protect certain values and certain groups of vulnerable people but also because, on a deeper level, they imply that all human beings, simply because they are human, are required to respect them”.

The recognition of a natural law, and of obligations flowing from that law, “strengthens human solidarity and communality”.

Archbishop Brown said the gift to be prayed for was “an enlightenment of mind and hearts” that will “help us see more clearly the implications of our common humanity”.

Senior members

He was addressing a congregation comprising senior members of the Irish judiciary, including the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns; Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell and Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman of the Supreme Court; Mr Justice Peter Kelly and Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan of the Court of Appeal and several High Court judges including Mr Justice Brian McGovern, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and Ms Justice Caroline Costello.

The congregation also included visiting members of the judiciary from Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales; barristers, solicitors and members of the Courts Service.

In his sermon to mark the new law term at St Michan's Church of Ireland, Church Street, the Very Rev Gregory Dunstan, Dean of Armagh, made reference to migration into Europe and how St Paul might have dealt with it.

“If we address with Paul’s reasoning a Europe fearful of Muslim immigration, Christian compassion compels our welcome.

“But those whom we welcome are also enjoined to ‘welcome’ the societies into which they come – to make their home in them, play their part in them, and contribute to them.”