On Sunday 8 May, Pope Benedict XVI declared his hard-line stand against abortion and Euthanasia on the very last official ceremony to mark his papacy. The Pope emphasised that he would defend the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings on these issues, just as his predecessor John Paul II did, according to the Associated Press.

Pope Benedict XVI stated in his homily, "The pope must not proclaim his own ideas, but ever link himself and the church to obedience to the word of God, when faced with all attempts of adaptation or of watering down, as with all opportunism."

As a strong applause was given by the congregation, the Pope continued, "That’s what Pope John Paul II did, when...faced with erroneous interpretations of freedom, underlined in an unequivocal way, the inviolability of human beings, the inviolability of human life from conception to natural death."

Before the installation of Pope Benedict XVI, many had already addressed the challenges that the Pope would have to overcome in this era of ethical chaos. Two major issues in Europe currently are abortion and Euthanasia, both are about life and family, on which the Roman Catholic Church holds traditional biblical values.

Last year, Spain, one of the traditionally strong Catholic countries in Europe, proposed a broadening of the depenalisation of abortion. Recently, the Spanish Parliament has also approved the gay marriage bill.

An increasingly liberal movement on the euthanasia issue is spreading across Europe as well. While Britain has passed legislation that allows mentally incapable patients to appoint a friend or relative to make a "life or death" decision, the French Senate adopted the law allowing terminally ill patients or those with no hope of recovery the right to refuse treatment in favour of death.

The late Pope John Paul II was aware of this worrying trend. He urged Catholics in Europe to rediscover their Christian heritage and teachings of the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI, who used to serve as the leader for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is known as a strong enforcer and defender for Catholic orthodox values. He said yesterday, "The pope isn't an absolute sovereign, whose thoughts and desires are law...On the contrary, the ministry of the pope is the guarantor of the obedience toward Christ and his word."

In response to those who are claiming that abortion and euthanasia are simply portions of human rights, the Pope said, "Freedom to kill is not a true freedom, but a tyranny that reduces the human being into slavery."

In Vatican teaching, the phrase in defense of life "from conception to natural death" refers to the church's bans on abortion and euthanasia.

Yesterday’s ceremony took place in the ancient Roman basilica of St. John in Lateran, where Pope Benedict XVI was installed as bishop of Rome. The bishop of Rome is described as the "mother and head of all the churches of the city of Rome and of the world." His installation at St. John's symbolises the care that the pope has for all the Roman Catholic churches. A pope leads the entire church in his role as bishop of Rome and as a successor to St. Peter, the first pope.