JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: My comment on Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

My comment on Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium

In "Evangelii Gaudium" (also see my blogpost earlier today) Pope Francis calls for a bold self-examination by Catholics of how consistent are their lives with the Gospel and with the Church's mission. This need was identified by Pope John Paul II in the context of the Gospel of Life, when he taught in Evangelium Vitae 95:

"With great openness and courage, we need to question how widespread is the culture of life today among individual Christians, families, groups and communities in our Dioceses."

In September, Pope Francis told Catholic doctors that promoting the sanctity of human life is

"a commitment of the New Evangelization".

So it is incumbent upon Catholics to both believe and spread those messages which are contingent on the Gospel of Life, such as the injustice of all abortions, the wrongness of euthanasia, and what Pope John Paul II called

"authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection".

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About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.