2023-07-09 18:10:00
July 9, 2023 / 11:10 a.m.
On the occasion of the next general elections in Spain, several civic entities are promoting a manifesto that vindicates the non-negotiable principles enunciated by Pope Benedict XVI.
Headed by the Rooted in Christ Association, numerous platforms and public figures have signed the text based on the exhortation The Sacrament of Charity published in 2007 by the German Pope.
In it, addressing the question of Eucharistic coherence, the Pontiff specifies that “worship pleasing to God is never a merely private act, without consequences in our social relationships; on the contrary, it demands the public testimony of one’s own faith”.
This “has a particular importance for those who, because of the social or political position they occupy” have to make decisions on essential issues.
Benedict XVI enunciates them as follows: “Respect and defense of human life, from its conception to its natural end, the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom of education for children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms”.
“These values are not negotiable”, and “Catholic politicians and legislators, aware of their serious social responsibility, should feel particularly challenged”, stressed the Pontiff.
Christian resurgence of Spain
The president of Raizados, José Castro, pointed out in a statement that “there is no point in having a change of government if it fails to bring to the fore the ideological reforms carried out by Pedro Sánchez in order to repeal them. If it were not so… what good is political alternation for us?
For Castro, “Spain must re-emerge from its most basic Christian foundations if it wants to respond to these values and improve the society in which we live. Principles that one day made it great by taking the Spanish to the ends of the Earth”.
The Manifesto has been signed, among others, by entities such as the platform We will always be Family, the Catholic Confederation of Parents of Students (CONCAPA), Professionals for Ethics, Christian Lawyers y Hear me.
Jaime Mayor Oreja, promoter of numerous initiatives such as One of Us o NEOSor Fr. Juan Manuel Góngora, a priest of the Diocese of Almería with tens of thousands of followers in what he calls his “parish” on Twitter.
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I have signed this manifesto in defense of the non-negotiable principles of Benedict XVI before the next general elections. There is no greater useful vote than defending the Truth.
— Fr. Juan Manuel Góngora (@patergongora) July 3, 2023
Catholics in politics and not “Catholic politicians”
Speaking to ACI Prensa, Fr. Góngora considers it “very important” that Catholics keep these principles in mind.
In his opinion, “one of the keys to the new evangelization, so necessary in these times of nihilism, is to live in coherence our full adherence to the deposit of faith with public presence.”
This incontrovertible position would materialize, for example, in “the defense of life against the culture of death; of the family against gender ideology; and of the common good in the face of the failed secular multicultural coexistence, as we see in France”.
The value of these principles is demonstrated because they are “reviled for the sake of an alleged general interest dominated by the political, social and media engineering of those who want to continue legislating in an ideological way with their backs to God and natural law.”
Fr. Góngora stresses that “as faithful Catholics we must understand democratic participation conscientiously” and with the sense of “vindicating the proposals emanating from the Gospel”, knowing that “there are electoral programs formulated from a total opposition to what we defend”.
This implies “asking the laity, present in the different candidacies, to be Catholics in politics and not ‘Catholic politicians’ who make doctrine and the Magisterium a reductionist à la carte menu at the service of partisan interest.”
Nicolás de Cárdenas is a Spanish journalist specialized in socio-religious information. Since July 2022 he is a correspondent for ACI Prensa in Spain.
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