Pope Benedict: 'Save the humans'

It's not simply an outdated metaphysics if the church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inside Catholic) - Pope Benedict delivered his annual address to the Roman Curia yesterday -- summed up by John Allen Jr. as a "Year in Review" speech that "give[s] the pope a chance to frame how he'd like the year to be remembered" and "to subtly defend aspects of his activity or teaching over the last 12 months which may have raised eyebrows, or set tongues wagging, in his own house."

Though he talked about issues as varied as World Youth Day and environmental movements, what has set media tongues wagging was his likening of environmental concerns to the Church's teaching on human sexuality:

"[The church] must defend not only the earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to all," he said. "It must also defend the human person against its own destruction. What's needed is something like a 'human ecology,' understood in the right sense. It's not simply an outdated metaphysics if the church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected."

"Here it's a question of faith in creation, in listening to the language of creation, disregard of which would mean self-destruction of the human person and hence destruction of the very work of God," the pope said. "That which is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender' in the end amounts to the self-emancipation of the human person from creation and from the Creator. Human beings want to do everything by themselves, and to control exclusively everything that regards them. But in this way, the human person lives against the truth, against the Creator Spirit."

"Yes, the tropical forests merit our protection, but the human being as a creature merits no less protection - a creature in which a message is written which does not imply a contradiction of our liberty, but the condition for it," the pope said.

If you're looking to read the whole thing for yourself, go here and scroll down to "The Pope's Christmas Message to the Roman Curia" for the full translation. There's much more there than the few lines that we can expect to see hotly debated and protested over the next few days -- including an interesting defense of World Youth Day, from the man many thought would end that tradition. John Allen has an excellent summary at NCR as well.

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