(LifeSiteNews) — Some time ago I published an article in which I expressed a social concern reflected in the media. Regarding the cause of “child thieves” I wrote, “There is no family, no school, and no Church.” In other words, what does not come from a “normal” family – for lack of a better term – is a boy who is willing to steal other people’s property. Experience also shows they generally lack a complete education, good catechesis, and the closeness of a Christian community. What is missing in these cases is a sense of justice and the value and legitimacy of private property.
Nowadays astonishment, indignation, and even sorrow is expressed in “the media.” The newspaper (which is also read on the internet), television, and “social media” show minors killing and dying with an undeniable thoughtlessness, almost with a kind of naivety. These are children as young as 14 or 15 years old – which is why some are proposing to lower the age of criminal liability to 12. Will it be necessary to multiply the number of juvenile detention centers?
The meaning of life is facing a crisis in today’s world. Wars have always made us painfully perceive this meaning; the two great wars of the 20th century have left a tremendous imprint. A child possesses the meaning of life without the need for reflection, as a kind of instinct of nature. Later on, education illustrates the value of human life, and its meaning is assumed as a social reality. Some professions exercise it as something unavoidable, professing it as something that identifies them – as in the case of doctors and policemen, for example. It is interesting to note that juvenile murderers are precisely the ones who rage against the police; behind the hatred that leads to crime is a distrust of society and its role for the police.
Christian faith and culture present human life as a gift of God the Creator, who made man in His image. In the case of minors who kill, the lack of the meaning of life – their own and that of others – shows the obscuring of faith, even if they are baptized and have made their First (and only?) Communion.
Life is a very broad reality, which also encompasses the plant and animal kingdoms, as well as a source of beauty. We can therefore speak of the mystery of life; only stones are lifeless. Sanctifying grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which has its origin in the risen Christ, is a participation in the divine life and a foretaste of eternal life. “For me, Christ is life,” wrote the Apostle Paul (Phil. 1:21). The preaching of the risen Christ and the exposition of the mystery of life, synthesized in the sign of the Cross, will diminish and almost even disappear in the lamentable case of murderous minors.
I will say in conclusion that there is a political problem: the meaning of life must be learned in the family. The government must favor the family, both spiritually and materially; it is going extinct in Argentina thanks to a dramatic collapse in the birth rate and the disastrous laws of the last four decades. According to the Social Doctrine of the Church, “the family is the sanctuary of life.”
+ Héctor Aguer
Archbishop Emeritus of La Plata
Buenos Aires, Monday June 30, 2025
First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church
