risk would be for pregnant women. Some authorities have proposed abortion, or   
   avoiding pregnancy. With regard to avoiding pregnancy, on this issue, can the   
   Church take into consideration the concept of 'the lesser of two evils?'"   
    Pope Francis: "Abortion is not the lesser of two evils. It is a crime, an   
   absolute evil. On the ‘lesser evil,' avoiding pregnancy, we speak in terms of a   
   conflict between the fifth and sixth commandments. Paul VI, a great man, in a   
   difficult situation in Africa, permitted nuns to use contraceptives in cases of   
   rape. Do not confuse the evil of avoiding pregnancy by itself, with abortion.   
   ...   
   On the other hand, avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. In certain   
   cases,   
   as in this one, or in the one I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear. I   
   also urge doctors to do their utmost to find vaccines against ... this disease.   
   Work needs to be done on this".   
    Question: "You will soon receive the Charlemagne Prize, one of the most   
   prestigious awards in the European Community. ... Do you have a word for us in   
   this situation of crisis in Europe?"   
    Pope Francis: "First, about the Charlemagne Prize. I had the habit of not   
   accepting prizes or honours, not out of humility, but because I do not like   
   these things. ... But in this case, I would not say I was 'forced', but   
   convinced   
   by the holy and theological stubbornness of Cardinal Kasper. ... I accepted and   
   said 'yes, but in the Vatican'. And I offer it to Europe, as a co-decoration   
   for   
   Europe, a prize so that Europe may do as I said at Strasbourg; that it may no   
   longer be 'grandmother Europe' but 'mother Europe'. Secondly, reading the news   
   the other day about this crisis and so on ... there was one word that I liked   
   ...   
   the 're-foundation' of the European Union. I thought of the great fathers, but   
   today where is there a Schuman, an Adenauer, the great statesmen who after the   
   war founded the European Union. I like this idea of the re-foundation of the   
   European Union, maybe it can be done, because Europe - I do not say is unique,   
   but it has a strength, a culture, a history that cannot be lost, and we must do   
   everything so that the European Union has the strength and also the inspiration   
   to go forward".   
    Question: "Holy Father, you have spoken much about families and the Year of   
   Mercy in this trip. Some wonder how a Church that claims to be merciful can   
   forgive a murderer more easily than someone who has divorced and remarried?"   
    Pope Francis: "On the family, two synods have spoken. The Pope has spoken on   
   this all year in the Wednesday Catechisms. The question is true, you posed it   
   very well. The post-Synod document ... reviews everything the Synod has said on   
   conflicts, wounded families and the pastoral (care) of wounded families. It is   
   one of our concerns. Another is the preparation for marriage. ... Preparation   
   for   
   marriage is very important. ... I believe it is something that in the Church,   
   in   
   common pastoral ministry, at least in my country, in South America, the Church   
   has not valued much. For example, it does not happen so much now, but some   
   years   
   ago in my homeland there was a habit, something called ‘casamiento de apuro', a   
   marriage in haste because of an unplanned pregnancy, to protect the honour of   
   the family. There, the spouses were not free and often this type of marriage is   
   null. As a bishop I forbade my priests to celebrate this type of marriage. ...   
   I   
   would say, let the baby come, let them continue as fiancées, and when they feel   
   like they can continue for the rest of their lives, then they could go ahead.   
   ...   
   Another very interesting chapter is the education of children: the victims of   
   family problems are the children. ... Another interesting thing from the   
   meeting   
   with families in Tuxtla - there was a couple, married again in second union,   
   and   
   'integrated' in the pastoral ministry of the Church. The key phrase used by the   
   synod, which I'll take up again, is to ‘integrate' wounded families, remarried   
   couples and so on in the life of the Church. But the children who in the middle   
   must not be forgotten. They are the primary victims, both of these wounds, and   
   of conditions of poverty, work, and so on".   
    Question: "Does that mean they can receive Communion?"   
    Pope Francis: "This is the last thing. Integrating in the Church does not mean   
   receiving communion. ... It is a path towards integration, all doors are open,   
   but   
   we cannot say, ‘from here on they can have communion.' This would be an injury   
   also to marriage, to the couple, because it would not allow them to proceed on   
   this path of integration. And the couple in Tuxtla were happy. They used a very   
   beautiful expression: we do not receive Eucharistic communion, but we receive   
   communion when we visit hospitals, in this service, and so forth. Their   
   integration has remained there. If there is something more, the Lord will tell   
   them, but it is a path, a road".   
    Question: "The media have referred to the intense correspondence John Paul II   
   and the American philosopher, Ana Teresa Tymieniecka. ... According to His   
   Holiness, can a Pope have such an intimate relationship with a woman?"   
    Pope Francis: "I would say that a man who does not know how to have a   
   relationship of friendship with a woman ... well, he is a man who is missing   
   something. ... A friendship with a woman is not a sin. It is a friendship. ...   
   But   
   the Pope is a man. The Pope needs the input of women, too. And the Pope, too,   
   has a heart that can have a healthy, holy friendship with a woman. There are   
   saint-friends - Francis and Clare, Teresa and John of the Cross. ... But women   
   are still not well considered; we have not understood the good a woman can do   
   for the life of a priest and of the church in the sense of counsel, help and   
   healthy friendship".   
    Question: "On the topic of the law that is being considered in the Italian   
   parliament: it is a law that in some ways is about other countries, because   
   other countries have laws about unions among people of the same sex. There is a   
   document from the Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith from 2003 that   
   dedicates ... a chapter to the position of Catholic parliamentarians in   
   relation   
   this question. It says expressly that Catholic parliamentarians must not vote   
   for these laws. I wanted to ask, first of all, is this document of 2003 still   
   in   
   effect? What is the position a Catholic parliamentarian must take? Also, after   
   Moscow, Cairo: is there another 'thawing' on the horizon? I refer to the   
   audience His Holiness hopes for with the 'Pope of the Sunnis', if we may call   
   him thus: the Imam of Al Azhar".   
    Pope Francis: "On this second issue, Msgr. Ayuso, secretary of the Pontifical   
   Council for Interreligious Dialogue presided by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran,   
   went   
   to meet the deputy to the Imam, and to greet the Imam. ... I want to meet him.   
   I   
   know that he would like it. We are looking for a way, always through Cardinal   
   Tauran because that is the way. But we we achieve this. Regarding the first   
   theme: I do not remember that 2003 document from the Congregation of the   
   Doctrine of the Faith, but every Catholic parliamentarian must vote according   
   their well-formed conscience. I would say only this. I think it is sufficient.   
   ...   
   With regard to persons of the same sex, I repeat what I said on the trip to Rio   
   di Janeiro. It is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church".   
    Question: "Thank you for this trip to Mexico. ... And we are already thinking   
   about future trips. When are you going to go to Argentina, where they have been   
   waiting for you for a long time? When will you return to Latin America, or will   
   you go to China?"   
    Pope Francis: "I would love to go to China! ... I would like to say something   
   just about the Mexican people. It is a population that has a great wealth ... a   
   culture that goes back millennia. ... It is a people of great faith. They have   
   also suffered religious persecution. There are martyrs, and I will now canonize   
   two of them. It is a people that you cannot easily explain, because the word   
   ‘people' is not a logical category, it's a mythical category. The Mexican   
   people   
   cannot be explained: you cannot explain this wealth, this history, this joy,   
   the   
   capacity to celebrate amid tragedy. ... A nation that nevertheless still has   
   this   
   vitality can be explained only by Guadalupe. And I invite you to seriously   
   study   
   the facts of Guadalupe. The Madonna is there. I cannot find another   
   explanation.   
   ... There are good books that explain it, that also explain the painting and   
   its   
   meaning. In this way you can understand better this great and beautiful   
   people".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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