
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 6, 1993                   TAG: 9310060333
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VATICAN CITY                                LENGTH: Medium

POPE TO BISHOPS: TOE THE LINE

Declaring that certain acts are always evil, Pope John Paul II asserted that morality is not a matter of opinion and told his bishops in an encyclical issued Tuesday to enforce the church's teachings.

The 180-page document, in preparation for six years, reflects the pope's view that the world faces a deep moral crisis. He made clear he expects Roman Catholic theologians and church institutions to toe the line.

He denounced the "overall and systematic calling into question of traditional moral doctrine" and lamented that "the individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment."

\ "SPLENDOR OF THE TRUTH"\ MAIN POINTS OF PAPAL ENCYCLICAL ON MORALITY:

DISSENT: Links questioning of the church's traditional doctrine to the moral crisis afflicting modern society.

BISHOPS: Were exhorted to ensure faithful dissemination of teaching on morality. They were made responsible for stripping the title "Catholic" from facilities and services if there is "serious failure" to follow moral teaching.

THEOLOGIANS: Were cautioned that moral principles are timeless and "not dependent on the historical moment in which they are discovered."

SEXUALITY: Repeats church's condemnation of contraception, premarital sex, homosexuality, smasturbation and artificial insemination.

MORAL NORMS: Called "the unshakeable foundation and solid guarantee of a just and peaceful human coexistence."

by CNB