Pope Francis Advocates for Non-Negotiable Values with Temperance

During the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis explicitly encouraged Christians to 'claim non-negotiable values' as well as 'absolute principles' but only through temperance. A virtue that, he explained, 'helps to control our words and actions to avoid unnecessary conflicts and promote peace in our society.'

ABORTION

The issue of non-negotiable values in an increasingly divided Catholic world remains a hot topic also because, compared to previous pontificates, Pope Francis seems to have somewhat obscured them for many years, except in this last period when he seems to have brought them out of mothballs, speaking out strongly against abortion, surrogacy, and same-sex marriage.

Pope Francis alarmed by the euthanasia and abortion drift affecting the sick elderly and unborn children with disabilities

The category of non-negotiable values first appeared in a doctrinal note about questions concerning the commitment and behavior of Catholics in political life. Dated November 24, 2002, and signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of John Paul II. The document stated that the Christian is called 'to dissent from a conception of pluralism in terms of moral relativism, harmful to democratic life itself, which needs true and solid foundations, that is, ethical principles that by their nature and for their role as the foundation of social life are not negotiable.' This means always defending life issues, especially when laws against abortion and euthanasia emerge in civil laws, defending the monogamous family founded by a man and a woman without any equivalence to forms of union between same-sex people. Similarly, the Note called for the protection of minors, victims of slavery, always defending the right to religious freedom, developing an economy with a human face, respecting social justice and the principle of human solidarity and that of subsidiarity.

SURROGACY

During the catechesis, the Pope repeated that 'the temperate person knows that nothing is more uncomfortable than correcting another, but also knows that it is necessary: otherwise, free rein would be given to evil. In certain cases, the temperate person manages to hold together the extremes: affirms the absolute principles, claims the non-negotiable values, but also knows how to understand people and shows empathy for them.' This implies a correction made with grace, moderation, without provoking reactions. Temperance, he added, is 'the gift of emotional maturity, social maturity.'

France is the first country in the world to include the right to abortion in the Constitution.