Cardinal Parolin: Church ‘cannot compromise’ on drug abuse
December 23, 2015
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, celebrated Mass at a drug treatment facility on December 22 and said that “the Church cannot remain silent” and “cannot compromise” on drug abuse.
“Drugs cannot be defeated with drugs,” he said at the Italian Center of Solidarity of Don Mario Picchi in Rome “Drugs are an evil, and with an evil there can be no retreat or compromise.”
The use of psychotropic drugs to treat drug abusers thus “does not solve the problem,” he said, and “replacement drugs are not sufficient therapy, but a veiled way of surrendering to the phenomenon.”
Stating that the “questionable” legalization of “so-called soft drugs” has not had positive consequences, the prelate told those in treatment that “your lives, with scars that speak of suffering and pain … also recount the resurrection of Christ that takes place within you.”
He added:
You are now resurrected with Jesus to new life, and you agree, like the disciples of Emmaus, to walk forever with the Master along the roads of your lives not falling into the same mistakes. In doing this you are not alone, and you can count on the help of the Lord and the closeness of so many friends and fellow travelers.
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Further information:
- Parolin: la droga non si vince con la droga, serve prevenzione (Vatican Radio)
- Cardinal Parolin: Church cannot remain silent about drug addiction (Vatican Radio)
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Posted by: Thomas429 -
Dec. 24, 2015 12:57 AM ET USA
I understand your problem with "drugs". But, the Church's support for the current legal framework is not helping. You discount efforts at legalization of marijuana as no solution. You are part right. It is not solution but it is not a problem either. It maybe part of the solution because it would help delineate the harmful from the deadly. The Church would not support a return to the prohibition on alcohol because the first attempt was a failure. The current prohibition is as effective.
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Posted by: loumiamo -
Dec. 23, 2015 4:01 PM ET USA
I agree entirely with the Cardinal's sentiment. We must be unfeeling, even harsh, in dealing with the suppliers of illegal drugs. We must rip away all their profits, for their own good and for the good of society. And more than 80 years of experience since Prohibition has proven that the best way to do that is legalization. No other way will lead to saving the souls of suppliers trapped in their current circumstances. We can bow to political correctness, or save their souls. We can't do both.
