Pope Indicates He'll Follow John Paul's Tough Stands on Abortion,Euthanasia [View All]

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBY3EFIG8E.html

ROME (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI indicated Saturday he will stick to Pope John Paul II's unwavering stands against abortion and euthanasia, saying pontiffs must resist attempts to "water down" Roman Catholic teaching.

Benedict outlined his vision of his papacy in a homily during a ceremony in which he took his place on a marble-and-mosaic throne in the ancient Roman basilica of St. John in Lateran. The ceremony is the last to formally mark Benedict's assumption of the papacy.

The pope "must not proclaim his own ideas, but ever link himself and the church to obedience to the word of God, when faced with all attempts of adaptation or of watering down, as with all opportunism," Benedict said.

That's what Pope John Paul II did when he "underlined in an unequivocal way, the inviolability of human beings, the inviolability of human life from conception to natural death," Benedict said to ringing applause from the congregation.

more

How does he discuss abortion and euthanasia without discussing the death penalty and over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians killed in the same breath? Oh, thats right. The Republicans are all for the death penalty and killing Iraqi innocents so naturally he won't mention that.