Benedict pushes traditional values

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL —  As his strong comments against abortion and Catholic politicians who vote to legalize it continued to provoke debate, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday urged Latin America’s youth to lead lives of prayer and faith and to resist “the snares of evil” that deprive them of true Christian happiness.

Tens of thousands of young people, traveling here from across South America, greeted the pope at Sao Paulo’s Pacaembu soccer stadium. He sat on a red and gold throne and watched a parade of samba dancers and musicians offering a display of Brazilian culture.

Benedict is on the second day of his first pilgrimage to the Americas, where he hopes to shore up the declining Roman Catholic Church and its traditional family values on a continent with a more relaxed interpretation of those values.

The pope told his youthful audience to eschew premarital sex, remain monogamous in marriage, care for the elderly and serve as examples of Christian conduct in social and professional relationships.

“Be men and women who are free and responsible. Make the family a center that radiates peace and joy. Be promoters of life, from its beginning to its natural end,” he said.

“Above all, have great respect for the institution of the sacrament of matrimony.... Build your future hopes upon chastity.”

The encounter featured some of the more energetic, folkloric elements associated with the church here -- and less common in the more subdued formalities of Rome.

At one point, a young Brazilian priest grabbed a mike and led the crowd in chants like a cheerleader.

Benedict smiled at the entertainment, and drew boisterous applause and squeals when he saluted his audience with “um grande abraco bem brasileiro” (a warm Brazilian embrace).

But soon his tone turned serious. Delivering a long speech in Portuguese, the pope implored the assembled youths to become missionaries and “builders of a new society” based on Christian moral values.

“The church needs you, as young people, to manifest to the world the face of Jesus Christ, visible in the Christian community,” he said.

“Without this young face, the church would appear disfigured.”

It was what some in the audience wanted to hear.

“The problem is the world has lost its values, and the pope is trying to bring them back,” said Luigi Marson, a 19-year-old engineering student. “It’s the world that has everything backward, not the pope.”

Others, however, had trouble relating to Benedict’s conservative message on morality. Casual sex, out-of-wedlock births and illegal abortions are commonplace in Brazil.

Watching the pope on large screens outside the stadium, Cristiani Valeska de Albuquerque, 21, said she hoped his presence would help Sao Paulo bring down its high levels of prostitution and murderous violence. But much of what the pope said was simply not realistic, she added.

“Well, I have a lot of respect for the pope, but if he wants us to not have sex before getting married, then that will never work,” Albuquerque said. “In fact, I’m living in sin. Everyone knows that men will never wait for that.”

Her friend Valdinette Olveira had a different thought.

“Maybe if the young men would listen to the pope, they will learn to respect women more,” said the 25-year-old. “Because right now, men don’t really respect women.”

Lidio Pereira da Silva, 17, a member of a Catholic youth group from Maua, an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo, said that living according to the church’s rules was complicated.

“The problem is, especially for the young, that temptation is everywhere,” he said.

Veronica Fattore, 17, also a member of the group, agreed.

“The pope is correct about only having relations in marriage,” she said. “We know that, but that can be a very hard thing to do.”

She added that the pope was absolutely right about abortion, “the worst thing in the world.”

Some in the crowd waved signs saying, “Religion, not modernism!” and others chanted, “Life, yes! Abortion, no!”

Abortion became the focus of renewed debate after the pope began his trip here this week by condemning Catholic politicians who legalize the practice. The Vatican has attempted to tone down the pope’s initial comments, which seemed to endorse excommunication for politicians who support abortion rights, but the reaction has been lively nonetheless.

There is mounting pressure here and in much of Latin America to loosen some of the restrictions on abortion, and the Vatican is determined to stop it.

“One cannot prescribe dogmas and principles of a certain religion for a whole society,” said Jose Gomes Temporao, Brazil’s health minister, who has been pushing for a referendum on liberalizing abortion laws.

Polls have shown that a majority of Brazilians oppose abortion, but Temporao said he believed sexism prevented a meaningful debate.

“Men won’t get pregnant,” he said. “If they did, I’m sure the issue would have been solved a long time ago.”

Women’s groups favoring the decriminalization of abortion were planning demonstrations during the pope’s five-day visit to Brazil.

By some estimates, there are up to a million illegal abortions in the country every year, with botched procedures making abortion the fourth-leading cause of women’s deaths.

“There’s a great distance between what the church proposes and what society does,” said Iuri Puello Orozco, one of the organizers.

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patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

wilkinson@latimes.com