Pope Francis said the West is going down the “wrong paths” with respect to social values.
The Pope made comments whole speaking aboard the papal airplane from Kazakhstan to Italy on Thursday.
Pope Francis lamented the way which the West “degenerates” and loses its morality.
“It is true that the West degenerates,” the pope said in response to a question about the loss of values in the West, and in particular to the push for legal euthanasia in France, Italy, and Belgium.
“It is not, at this moment, at the highest level of exemplariness … The West has taken the wrong paths.”
“I think we Westerners are not at the highest level to help other peoples, are we a little decadent? Maybe, yes, but we have to take back the values, the values of Europe.
The comments comes as western politics is dominated by abortion, assisted suicide, LGBTQ and immigration.
“To kill is not human, period. If you kill — with motivation yes — in the end you will kill more. It’s not human. Let’s leave killing to the beasts,” Pope Francis added, when pressed further on euthanasia.
Pope Francis visited Kazakhstan Sept. 13–15, participating in the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, an interreligious summit. He also visited the Catholics and public officials of the Central Asian state.
The pope previously expressed concern for the laity and clergy of Germany if their leaders break with established church teaching, saying Catholics would be negatively affected by the many proposed changes to the church pushed by Cardinal Reinhard Marx and other liberal German leaders in their “Synodal Path.”
Synodal Path” — sometimes called the “Synodal Way” — is a controversial church committee in Germany. The synod, organized by the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics, aims at discussing and addressing four loose topics: sexual ethics, the structure of church governance, women’s role in the church and the vocation of the priesthood.
“Prior to an agreed understanding at the level of the universal church, it would not be permissible to initiate new official structures or doctrines in the dioceses, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church,” Pope Francis warned the synod.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
