Ringrazio di cuore la Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane per questo premio, ed anche l’Istituto Nazionale di Bioetica, ed in particolar modo la professoressa Luisella Battaglia, per l’ospitalità in questa bellissima città.
Per me è un grande privilegio ricevere un premio intitolato ad un santo, San Francesco, le cui predicazioni tanto hanno influito sul mio modo di vedere le cose. Ed invero, ho frequentato le scuole elementari in un istituto francescano, ed ogni anno la gita scolastica era ad Assisi, anche se cercavano di camuffare questa ripetitività, inserendo ogni volta una meta ulteriore, come le cascate delle Marmore, Gubbio, ecc.
Ma in questo modo ho imparato ad apprezzare gli insegnamenti di questo Santo che oggi ricordiamo come il protettore degli animali.
San Francesco e il lupo, San Francesco ed il fratello sole, la sorella luna, i fratelli animali. San Francesco is the saint reconciles the thought that so-called animal rights with the Christian. And it is a pity that in the history of the Church on earth so few figures that have been taught to love nature and animals, because I am convinced that, in fact, Christian thought is permeated by this love for all, not only for men.
Often I hear people say that animals are not covered within the Western religious culture, especially Christianity, is characterized by a strong anthropocentrism. I hear, for example, that the commandment to observe the animals does not fall in the ten commandments.
If I tell the truth, I do not agree. I believe that Christianity, as ultimately all religions of the world tends to affirm a non-violent approach to life on earth.
Non-violence is not just refraining from the use of brute force, but it is a way of life trying to escape the natural law that leads us instinctively to our success on prosssimo Nature is our mother, but also our stepmother, said Leopardi. As we strive, we can not sottratrci abide by a law of violence. The very act of breathing involves, at every moment, the killing of millions of bacteria. Because this is the law of nature, which is neither good nor bad, but it is what it is. And our spirit, which is irretito (per usare una espressione cara a Schopenauer) in questa dimensione corporale e terrena, nel seguire le proprie leggi non può far altro che tentare di superare le norme che la nostra stessa natura ci impone. Questa è la non violenza.
Si tratta, in fin dei conti, della stessa legge che porta Cristo a chiederci di porgere l’altra guancia quando qualcuno ci schiaffeggia. Il porgere l’altra guancia costituisce una risposta sublime ad un atto di violenza, che va contro la più basilare legge di natura che ci porta all’autoconservazione. Amare gli altri come noi stessi, ecco il fondamento del precetto cristiano. Dove gli altri non sono solo gli uomini, ma sono tutti gli esseri viventi. Certo, è facile a dirsi, ma difficile to be realized. And echo in my ears the words of a song by Paolo Conte, Luxury Bond, where he says: "Nobody loves me as I love myself, nobody loves me like I love myself. Why is nature itself that leads us to this self-assertion.
Ultimately, the Christian law is a law of non-violence, which is already contained in the most succinctly as possible, in the fifth commandment: Thou shalt not kill. A commandment that was passed down in Christian tradition, and we have been taught in the sense of: "Do not kill other men." But I think the point of the precept is a little 'longer, do not you think?
You are a lawyer, and I studied the principle "sufficient certainty of the criminal case", so you can be punished only if the incriminating rule is sufficiently clear and certain, but I think that even in the eyes of those unfamiliar with this principle, penal, the fifth commandment provides for a flow enormous: not to kill. Do not kill people, not kill animals, do not kill living things. This, obviously, the rule says. Other than the paschal lamb. Thou shalt not kill. Try to follow, with the limitations that there are no data on the needs of self-preservation, this principle means to live under the laws of nonviolence and love. And St. Francis is the saint who has given us more than all this wonderful teaching.
Per me è un grande privilegio ricevere un premio intitolato ad un santo, San Francesco, le cui predicazioni tanto hanno influito sul mio modo di vedere le cose. Ed invero, ho frequentato le scuole elementari in un istituto francescano, ed ogni anno la gita scolastica era ad Assisi, anche se cercavano di camuffare questa ripetitività, inserendo ogni volta una meta ulteriore, come le cascate delle Marmore, Gubbio, ecc.
Ma in questo modo ho imparato ad apprezzare gli insegnamenti di questo Santo che oggi ricordiamo come il protettore degli animali.
San Francesco e il lupo, San Francesco ed il fratello sole, la sorella luna, i fratelli animali. San Francesco is the saint reconciles the thought that so-called animal rights with the Christian. And it is a pity that in the history of the Church on earth so few figures that have been taught to love nature and animals, because I am convinced that, in fact, Christian thought is permeated by this love for all, not only for men.
Often I hear people say that animals are not covered within the Western religious culture, especially Christianity, is characterized by a strong anthropocentrism. I hear, for example, that the commandment to observe the animals does not fall in the ten commandments.
If I tell the truth, I do not agree. I believe that Christianity, as ultimately all religions of the world tends to affirm a non-violent approach to life on earth.
Non-violence is not just refraining from the use of brute force, but it is a way of life trying to escape the natural law that leads us instinctively to our success on prosssimo Nature is our mother, but also our stepmother, said Leopardi. As we strive, we can not sottratrci abide by a law of violence. The very act of breathing involves, at every moment, the killing of millions of bacteria. Because this is the law of nature, which is neither good nor bad, but it is what it is. And our spirit, which is irretito (per usare una espressione cara a Schopenauer) in questa dimensione corporale e terrena, nel seguire le proprie leggi non può far altro che tentare di superare le norme che la nostra stessa natura ci impone. Questa è la non violenza.
Si tratta, in fin dei conti, della stessa legge che porta Cristo a chiederci di porgere l’altra guancia quando qualcuno ci schiaffeggia. Il porgere l’altra guancia costituisce una risposta sublime ad un atto di violenza, che va contro la più basilare legge di natura che ci porta all’autoconservazione. Amare gli altri come noi stessi, ecco il fondamento del precetto cristiano. Dove gli altri non sono solo gli uomini, ma sono tutti gli esseri viventi. Certo, è facile a dirsi, ma difficile to be realized. And echo in my ears the words of a song by Paolo Conte, Luxury Bond, where he says: "Nobody loves me as I love myself, nobody loves me like I love myself. Why is nature itself that leads us to this self-assertion.
Ultimately, the Christian law is a law of non-violence, which is already contained in the most succinctly as possible, in the fifth commandment: Thou shalt not kill. A commandment that was passed down in Christian tradition, and we have been taught in the sense of: "Do not kill other men." But I think the point of the precept is a little 'longer, do not you think?
You are a lawyer, and I studied the principle "sufficient certainty of the criminal case", so you can be punished only if the incriminating rule is sufficiently clear and certain, but I think that even in the eyes of those unfamiliar with this principle, penal, the fifth commandment provides for a flow enormous: not to kill. Do not kill people, not kill animals, do not kill living things. This, obviously, the rule says. Other than the paschal lamb. Thou shalt not kill. Try to follow, with the limitations that there are no data on the needs of self-preservation, this principle means to live under the laws of nonviolence and love. And St. Francis is the saint who has given us more than all this wonderful teaching.