Public policies must reflect ethical values, pope says

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Ethical values can and must inform government policies for the good of a nation's own citizens and for the good of the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Welcoming Timothy Fischer as Australia's new ambassador to the Vatican Feb. 12, Pope Benedict first offered his condolences for the February bush fires that left more than 180 people dead in Victoria state.

The pope also praised the way Australia values cultural diversity, is working to address historic discrimination against the Aboriginal peoples, facilitates interreligious dialogue, promotes peace throughout the Pacific region and Asia, and defends the environment.

"I note with interest the Australian government's determination to establish relations of cooperation based on the values of fairness, good governance and the sense of a regional neighborhood," the pope said.

"A genuinely ethical stance is at the heart of every responsible, respectful and socially inclusive development policy," he said.

Ethics make responses to poverty more compassionate and generous, the pope said. And an ethical approach makes governments of the most developed nations see how excessive measures to protect their own industries locks producers in poor countries out of the global market, he said.

In providing health care around the world, the Catholic Church places ethical concerns and the good of the person at the heart of its policies, the pope said.

"Of particular concern is the provision of medical care for families, including high-quality obstetrical care for women," Pope Benedict said.

"How ironic it is, however, when some groups, through aid programs, promote abortion as a form of 'maternal' health care: taking a life, purportedly to improve the quality of life," the pope said.

Pope Benedict praised the Australian government's efforts to respond in an ethical way to the challenge of the global financial crisis and to "the menacing threats to God's creation" caused by global warming and environmental damage.

"Perhaps more than ever before in our human history the fundamental relationship among the Creator, creation and creature needs to be pondered and respected," he said. "From this recognition we can discover a common code of ethics, consisting of norms rooted in the natural law inscribed by the Creator on the heart of every human being."

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POPE-AUSTRALIA Feb-12-2009 (370 words) xxxi