Pope holds up Italy’s
assassinated anti-mafia judge as model for jurists
 |
| Pope meeting members of the Centro Studi Rosario Livatino (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis on Friday received in audience a group of
Italian lawyers, judges, notaries and law professors and academics who are
members of the Centro Studio Rosario Livatino. The group is named after an
Italian judge who was assassinated by the mafia in 1990 and whose cause of
beatification and canonization is proceeding.
By Robin Gomes
“Livatino is an example not only for magistrates, but for
all those who work in the field of law: for the coherence between his faith and
his commitment to work, and for the relevance of his reflections.”
Pope Francis made the remark to members of the Centro Studio Rosario Livatino,
that is in Rome for a conference on the theme, “Judiciary in Crisis. Paths to
Regain Justice”.
Martyr of justice, faith
Pope Francis recalled his predecessor, Pope Saint John Paul
II, who on May 9, 1993, met the parents of Livatino, who was killed on
September 21, 1990, at the age of 38, on his way to work. On that
occasion, the Pope called him "martyr of justice and indirectly of
faith".
Pope Francis said the mafia did away with him because he was
dealing with confiscating their illegal property.
The Holy Father commented on the convictions and reflections
of Livatino on issues, on issues such as human life, euthanasia, “new rights”,
human dignity, dispensing of justice and man’s relationship to God.
Speaking about the role of those administering justice,
Livatino said that they are nothing more than employees of the state, specially
tasked with applying the laws that society gives itself.
Euthanasia
Regarding the proposal of a bill on the right to euthanasia,
Livatino said that the believer's opposition to this law is based on the
conviction that human life a divine gift that man is not allowed
interrupt. Likewise, a non-believer opposes it on the conviction that
life is protected by natural law because it belongs to the sphere of
"unavailable" goods.
The Pope lamented that such considerations seem far from the
sentences pronounced in the courtrooms, in Italy and in many democratic systems
on the subject of the right to life. The main interest of such pronouncements
would be to die or not being treated, according to a law that creatively
invents the term the “right to die”.
“New rights”
Speaking about the role of those administering justice,
Livatino said that they are nothing more than employees of the state, specially
tasked with applying the laws that society gives itself.
Pope Francis pointed to the relevance of Livatino, saying he
saw decades ahead of his time what would emerge as the justification of the
encroachment of the judges in areas that don’t belong to them, especially
regarding the so-called "new rights" that satisfy new desires without
any objectivity.
Faith and society
Livatino is also a witness to how much wisdom and humility
is needed in dispensing justice, keeping in mind always the "transcendent
dignity of man".
Pope Francis said that with these convictions, Rosario
Livatino has left us all a shining example of how faith can fully express
itself in the service of the civil community and its laws; and how obedience to
the Church can be combined with obedience to the state, especially in the
delicate and important ministry of enforcing and applying the law.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét