Mark 6, 14-20 + CSDC and CV

Mark 6, 14-20 + CSDC and CV

CV 73c. Just because social communications increase the possibilities of interconnection and the dissemination of ideas, it does not follow that they promote freedom or internationalize development and democracy for all. To achieve goals of this kind, they need to focus on promoting the dignity of persons and peoples, they need to be clearly inspired by charity and placed at the service of truth, of the good, and of natural and supernatural fraternity. In fact, human freedom is intrinsically linked with these higher values. The media can make an important contribution towards the growth in communion of the human family and the ethos of society when they are used to promote universal participation in the common search for what is just.

Discernment is particularly demanding

CSDC 569b. In such circumstances, discernment is particularly demanding when it is exercised with regard to the objectivity and accuracy of information, scientific research and economic decisions that affect the life of the poorest people. It is likewise demanding when dealing with realities that involve fundamental and unavoidable moral duties, such as the sacredness of life, the indissolubility of marriage, the promotion of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman.

(Mk 6, 14-20)  It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife

[14] King Herod heard about it, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him." [15] Others were saying, "He is Elijah"; still others, "He is a prophet like any of the prophets." [16] But when Herod learned of it, he said, "It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up." [17] Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. [18] John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." [19] Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. [20] Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

CSDC 33. The commandment of mutual love, which represents the law of life for God's people[32], must inspire, purify and elevate all human relationships in society and in politics. “To be human means to be called to interpersonal communion”[33], because the image and the likeness of the Trinitarian God are the basis of the whole of “human ‘ethos', which reaches its apex in the commandment of love”[34]. The modern cultural, social, economic and political phenomenon of interdependence, which intensifies and makes particularly evident the bonds that unite the human family, accentuates once more, in the light of Revelation, “a new model of the unity of the human race, which must ultimately inspire our solidarity. This supreme model of unity, which is a reflection of the intimate life of God, one God in three Persons, is what we Christians mean by the word 'communion'”[35].

Notes: [32] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 9: AAS 57 (1965), 12-14. [33] John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 7: AAS 80 (1988), 1666. [34] John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 7: AAS 80 (1988), 1665-1666. [35] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 40: AAS 80 (1988), 569.

 
[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)].