Conservative pope sets out 'non-negotiable values' in key document

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2007

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday set out "non-negotiable values" as he urged Catholic lawmakers to oppose laws favouring divorce, abortion and euthanasia and dashed any hope for a relaxation of the requirement of celibacy for Roman Catholic priests.

In a long-awaited text, the pope exhorted "Catholic politicians and legislators... to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature."

"These values are not negotiable," he wrote, listing "respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death (and) the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman."

Benedict's first such apostolic exhortation came as draft legislation is before Italy's parliament that would give legal status to unmarried couples...