Rapid Response for SATURDAY, November 17, 2018

"THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE". (John - Acts, 8:32).

This statement by Jesus Christ and enshrined in the Bible was a bedrock pronouncement of Pope John Paul ll (now canonized) as he declared Human Dignity to be the possession of every human being during  his life-long fight to free humanity from the slavery of Communism.
This fact was clearly in evidence as I viewed an excellent documentary on his life offered on NetFlix. Always a favorite of mine - and especially of my wife Therese Pahutski Sprecace, who with her mother had visited his childhood home, I am conflicted regarding some of this holy man's positions during his papacy.
How can one have Human Dignity when he or she is forced as a loyal Roman Catholic to choose between this Pope's stand against "Liberation Theology" and the Truth that over 90% of citizens in Latin America lack the dignity of earning an honest living on their own land?
How can committed married couples have Human Dignity when they are forced by circumstances and by conscience to use non-abortifacient contraception in direct opposition to the positions of this Pope and of the Church, often living outside the Church for decades until fertility has passed? And how can these couples practise the intimacy vital to their married bond and to their personal integrity only by ignoring the pronouncement about "the Unitive function of sex? Where is the Truth in that?
How can loyal members of the Laity, the Body of the Church, accept the Church positions on Homosexuality, on the prohibition against divorced persons taking Holy Communion unless remaining celibate for the rest of their lives, and on seeing some base results of Clergy being forced to remain unmarried and celibate - while they may have their own family members or friends severely affected by these unmerciful positions? Where is the Human Dignity and Truth in that?
I hope and pray that the Popes who have passed will assist the present Pope and the current Magisterium to see the need to restore Human Dignity to life in the Church.
"THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE".

GS