Here and Now with Francis 1/29/16 (Christianity, magnanimity, witness, Jesus, bioethics, Church, realism, conscience)

By Anonymous

From the homily
And this is one of the traits of a Christian who has received the light in Baptism and must give it. That is, the Christian is a witness. Testimony. One of the peculiarities of Christian behavior. [...] “Another trait of the Christian,”  says the Pope, “is magnanimity, because he is the child of a magnanimous father, of great heart. The Christian heart is magnanimous.  It is open, always. It is not a heart that is closed in on its own selfishness. Or one that’s calculating: up to this point, up to here. When you enter this light of Jesus, when you enter into Jesus’ friendship, when you let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit, the heart becomes open, magnanimous... The Christian, then, does not gain, but loses. But he loses to gain something else, and in this (between quotation marks) 'defeat' of interests, he gains Jesus; he gains by becoming Jesus’ witness.” [link]
From an address
Noted by all is how sensitive the Church is to ethical subjects, but perhaps it is not as clear to all that the Church does not claim any privileged space in this field, rather, she is satisfied when the civil conscience is able to reflect, discern and work, at various levels, on the basis of free and open rationality and of the constitutive values of the person and of society. [...] In essence, it is about serving man, the whole man, all men and women, with particular attention and care – as was recalled – for the weakest and most disadvantaged subjects, that with difficulty try to make their voice heard, or still cannot or no longer can have it heard. [...] You are aware that such research on complex bioethical problems is not easy and does not always reach speedily a harmonious conclusion; that it always requires humility and realism, and does not fear confrontation with different positions and that, finally, the witness given to truth contributes to the maturation of the conscience. [full text]

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