The situation of the subject of Catholic Religion and that of the teaching staff was already uncertain and judicialized last year. Now, after the arrival of the new government, the situation is even more problematic. In the meantime, several authors propose to vindicate the subject of Religion and to attend to the demands of parents, who have the right to choose the religious and moral formation they want for their children.

Text - Francisco Javier Hernández Varas 

If in previous courses we started with judicial appeals, different and disparate situations in each Autonomous Community, reduction of timetables, loss of jobs, etc., this 2018-19 academic year is also joined by the declarations and intentions of the Ministry of Education to "urgent"modifications to the LOMCE.

One of these modifications clearly affects the subject of Religion, which would cease to be computable and will not have any other alternative subject. This means, in short, that Religion will no longer count for the average, nor will it count for the transcript, nor will it be taken into account for access to scholarships. It will be voluntary enrollment for students.

In addition, a compulsory subject of Civic and Ethical Values will be introduced, focused on the treatment and analysis of human rights and civic-democratic virtues. With this background, Religion teachers are living a situation of uncertainty and helplessness that the change of Government has increased.

It is the 50th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, published by Blessed Paul VI on July 25, 1968. The Pope dealt with love and sexuality in marriage, and announced with prophetic vision the consequences if conjugal love was distorted by separating the unitive and procreative dimensions.

Text - Stéphane Seminckx, Brussels
Doctor of Medicine from the University of Louvain and Doctor of Moral Theology from the University of the Holy Cross.

We all dream of a great love. We all aspire to the ideal of founding a united family (or of responding to God's call with the total gift of celibacy). We all think that therein lies the key to happiness. But, as Pope Francis says in Amoris laetitia, "the word 'love,' one of the most frequently used words, often appears disfigured" (89). Many people speak of love without knowing what it is. This is why it is essential to get a true idea of love, through experience and also through prayer and reflection.

The encyclical Humanae Vitae, published in 1968 by Pope Paul VI, said no less when it stated in n. 9 that "it is of the utmost importance to have an accurate idea of conjugal love. We cannot spoil our life - or mortgage the future of the people entrusted to our care - by being mistaken about true love: "To deceive oneself in love is the most dreadful thing that can happen; it constitutes an eternal loss, for which one is not compensated either in time or in eternity" (Sören Kierkegaard).

Current message

For this reason, fifty years later, the message of Humanae Vitae is still very timely. This encyclical does not simply deal with contraception; it is above all an occasion to affirm in a decisive way the sublime grandeur of human love, image and likeness of divine Love. At the time of its appearance, this document gave rise to a long series of debates and numerous tensions. For many Christians, it caused perplexity and incomprehension. Some then broke with the Church, either because they explicitly rejected its teaching, or because they abandoned religious practice, or because they tried to live their faith with their backs turned to the Church.
Since then, much water has flowed under the bridges. Spirits have calmed down, often paying the price of indifference. Today we can examine the question with more serenity and, in my opinion, we have a duty to do so: the coherence of our human and Christian vocation is at stake.

Pope Francis invites us to do so when he speaks of "rediscovering the message of Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae" (Amoris laetitia, 82 and 222). St. John Paul II had already encouraged theologians to "to go deeper into the reasons for this teaching [of Humanae Vitae] is one of the most urgent duties of anyone engaged in the teaching of ethics or in the pastoral care of the family. In fact, it is not enough to propose this teaching faithfully and in its entirety, but it is also necessary to show the deeper reasons for it." (Speech, 17-09-1983).

This deepening is particularly necessary since the ideology of free sex, born in the 1960s, does not seem to have liberated sexuality. A growing number of women are tired of the pill and its many side effects on their body and psyche. They increasingly see contraception as an imposition from the male world.

Counterconception

At the level of international relations, birth control has become a weapon in the hands of the rich countries, which impose it on disadvantaged nations in exchange for their economic aid. At the same time, in these same developed countries, deeply marked by the contraceptive mentality, demography is experiencing a dramatic decline, which is confronting the West with immense challenges. Finally, many moralists believe that "contraceptive language" distorts communication between spouses to the point of encouraging an explosion in the number of divorces.

Parallel to this evolution, since 1968, many philosophers and theologians have worked on a better understanding of the doctrine of Humanae Vitae. Moreover, the magisterium of St. John Paul II has made an essential contribution to this reflection, as have Benedict XVI and Francis.

Why such lively reactions?

The mitigated reception that Humanae Vitae received can be explained in part by the historical context in which the encyclical appeared. The Church was then at the beginning of the so-called post-conciliar period. Civil society was going through the revolt of May '68, and the world was living in the psychosis of overpopulation.

The document was long overdue. Its recommendations challenged the conclusions of a group of renowned specialists (the so-called "majority" group, which broke away from the rest of the Pontifical Commission for Problems of the Family, Birth and Population, created by St. John XXIII in 1962), whose report would be leaked to many newspapers in April 1967.

But this context does not explain everything. It is above all the problems addressed by Humanae Vitae that are at issue. For it is a question of fundamental issues that concern everyone: human love, the meaning of sexuality, the meaning of freedom and morality, marriage.

In the Church, contraception has been reprobated since the first centuries of Christianity (in the 1930 encyclical Casti Connubii, Pius XI speaks of "a Christian doctrine handed down from the beginning and never interrupted"). However, until the end of the 1950s, it had always been identified - in a more or less confused way - with onanism (coitus interruptus) or with mechanical means that prevent the normal development of the sexual act (condom, diaphragm, etc.). For progestogens, discovered in 1956, make women infertile without interfering - at least apparently - in the development of the sexual act. Considered from the outside, a sexual act performed with or without the pill is exactly the same.

The precise question posed in 1968 was the following: does the pill deserve to be called "contraception"? For a certain number of theologians, the answer was and remains negative, because the pill does not disturb the conjugal act in its "natural" development. Moreover, they see in hormonal contraception a confirmation of human dignity, called to take advantage of the laws of "nature" by means of its intelligence. But what do "natural" and "nature" mean when speaking of the human person?

What has changed since 1968?

Blessed Paul VI wrote a rather short encyclical whose content is centered on a kind of axiom, which rests on a simple fact: by its nature, by the will of the Creator, the conjugal act possesses a unitive dimension and a procreative dimension, which cannot be separated. Like all axioms, this one is not subject to demonstration. The arguments supporting it will come later, essentially during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.

It has often been said that Humanae Vitae was a prophetic document, because of its number 17, where Pope Paul VI announces the possible consequences of the rejection of the vision of love proclaimed by the Church. It is striking to reread this number 17 today: the announcement of the increase in marital infidelity, of the general decline in morality, of the growing domination of men over women, of the pressures of rich countries on poor countries in terms of the birth rate... All this has come to pass.

Prophetic

But Humanae Vitae is prophetic, in my opinion, above all because of the axiom that the encyclical has placed as the foundation of its entire reflection: the unitive and procreative dimensions of the conjugal act cannot be separated without denaturalizing the love between spouses. This principle had already been evoked by Pius XI, but it was Paul VI who placed it at the root of his vision of conjugal love.

The thought of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II has contributed much to explaining and enriching this vision. Since 1960, with his famous book Love and Responsibility, he focused the debate on the human person and his dignity, in particular on his vocation to make of himself a disinterested gift. The "law of gift" is for the Polish Pope the whole foundation of the ethics of marriage, of its unity, of its indissolubility, of the requirement of fidelity and of the necessary truth of every conjugal act.

Karol Wojtyla, as a conciliar father, contributed to the drafting of the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, especially to the part dealing with marriage. With a group of Polish theologians, he sent a memorandum on the question of birth control to Pope Paul VI in February 1968, a few months before the encyclical was published.

Between September 1979 and November 1984, while he was Pope, he dedicated 129 Wednesday catecheses to what has been called the "theology of the body", a set of "theology of the body".reflections which [...] are intended to constitute a comprehensive commentary on the doctrine contained [...] in the encyclical Humanae Vitae."(St. John Paul II, Audience 28-02-1984).

He also took the initiative for numerous documents that deal extensively with or make important references to conjugal morality and the defense of life: the apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981), the instruction Donum Vitae (1987) on respect for nascent human life and on the dignity of procreation, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), the encyclical Veritatis splendor (1993) on fundamental morality, the Letter to Families (1994), the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (1995), etc.

Chastity is freedom

This magisterium of John Paul II has helped to clarify a number of essential points in the debate on Humanae Vitae.

In the first place, we can point to the notion of the person as a "unified whole" (Familiaris Consortio, 11): the Christian vision of marriage cannot be understood with a dualistic vision of man, where the spirit would represent the person while the body would be nothing more than an appendage, an "instrument" at the service of the spirit. We are one body and marriage is the vocation to give the "unified whole" that we are, so as to form "one flesh".

Then we can indicate the notion of chastity, understood as the integration of sexuality in the person, as the integrity of the person in view of the integrality of the gift (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2337): the conjugal act is not morally good just because it conforms to certain physiological characteristics of the woman; it is good when it is virtuous, when reason orders the sexual tendency to the service of love. Chastity is freedom, self-mastery, mastery over one's own personality in view of the gift of self, with the richness of its physiological, psychological and affective dimensions.

The role of Veritatis Splendor

The contribution of St. John Paul II's encyclical Veritatis Splendor, which Benedict XVI considered one of the Polish Pope's most important documents, cannot be overemphasized.

Veritatis Splendor reminds us that conscience is not the creator of the norm, which would lead to arbitrariness and subjectivism, to the postulate of "autonomy" that prevails in most bioethical debates today, where the simple fact of desiring something is enough to justify it. Veritatis Splendor reminds us that conscience is a herald, that is, it proclaims a law, fully assumed, even if it comes from Someone else. True freedom consists in moving towards the good for its own sake, a good that conscience shows us, in the same way that a compass indicates the north. Conscience is like a free and responsible participation in God's vision of good and evil.

The conjugal act: total gift

The question of the object of the act is equally fundamental for understanding what the conjugal act is. It is not a simple sexual act, because in this sense adultery and fornication are also sexual acts, as is the contraceptive sexual act. If language uses different terms for an act that is at first sight identical, it is because, from the moral point of view, an act can have a different meaning, a different "object", and this object is the first element to be considered when judging the goodness of that act.

The conjugal act is defined by the will to signify, consummate or celebrate the total gift of one person to another. The contraceptive sexual act is the negation of this definition, because the person, by not giving his procreative potentiality, does not give himself entirely. This point is essential for understanding the doctrine of Humanae Vitae.

And it is, moreover, linked to the notions of human nature and natural law, which are at the heart of the great current philosophical debates. Many of our contemporaries reject the very idea of "nature" in the name of autonomy and a certain conception of freedom. John Paul II spoke of the rejection of "of the notion of what most profoundly constitutes us as human beings, namely the notion of 'human nature' as a 'real datum', and in its place has been put a freely formed 'product of thought' freely modifiable according to circumstances"(Memory and identity). Gender theory is an extreme manifestation of this rejection.

Respecting the nature of man

Benedict XVI asked himself: why demand respect for ecological nature and at the same time reject the innermost nature of man? The answer: "The importance of ecology is indisputable today. We must listen to the language of nature and respond to it coherently. However, I would like to seriously address a point that seems to me to have been forgotten as much today as yesterday: there is also an ecology of man. Man also possesses a nature which he must respect and which he cannot manipulate at will. Man is not only a freedom that he creates for himself. Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will, but also nature, and his will is just when he respects nature, listens to it, and when he accepts himself for what he is, and admits that he has not created himself. In this way, and only in this way, true human freedom is realized." (Speech in the Bundestag, 22-9-11).

We are creatures

The "true human freedom" is a created freedom, received incarnated, finite, inscribed in a being configured by a nature, a project, some tendencies: "...".Let us not fall into the sin of pretending to replace the Creator. We are creatures, we are not omnipotent. What has been created precedes us and must be received as a gift."(Amoris laetitia, 56). To be free will never consist in wanting to free ourselves from our nature, but rather in assuming personally, consciously and voluntarily, the tendencies inscribed in it. A freedom directed against our nature "would be reduced to the effort to free oneself" (Albert Chapelle).

Behind this objection, we can glimpse the questioning of our origin. The rejection of our own nature would be understandable if each of us were the consequence of a simple contest of circumstances, of a random collision of molecules, of a mutation or of a blind destiny, for then our existence would be absurd, without project or destiny. There would be reasons to revolt, to want to ignore or transform this nature, instead of receiving it as a gift.

But the reality is quite different. At the origin of our life there is a creative Love, that of a God who, from all eternity, has conceived us and brought us into being at a given moment in the history of mankind. We are a fruit of Love, we are a gift of the overabundance of infinite Love of a God who, so to speak, creates beings for the sole purpose of pouring his Love into them. "In him (Christ) he (God the Father) chose us (God the Father) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his presence, for the sake of love" (Eph 1:4).

Rediscovering freedom

It is about rediscovering true freedom. The proper act of freedom is love. But if, in the face of love, the first act of our freedom consists in refusing the gift of our nature, in refusing what we are, how can we possess this "I" that we refuse to assume? And if we do not possess ourselves, how will we be able to give ourselves? And if we are incapable of giving ourselves, where is conjugal love?

The conversion of the intellect presupposes the conversion of the heart: to learn to love, one must accept Love. Certain reactions to Humanae Vitae recall passages in the Gospel where Jesus' discourse on love clashes with people's lack of understanding. When Jesus speaks of the indissolubility of marriage, his disciples react harshly: "If that is the condition of a man's relationship with his wife, it is of no account to marry" (Mt 19:10).

"God always puts us first."

In these two Gospel passages, Jesus speaks of indissoluble marriage and the gift of his Body in the Eucharist; Humanae Vitae refers to the integrity of the gift in the conjugal covenant. All three themes correspond to fundamental features of the covenant love that God reveals to us. And this revelation baffles us. It surpasses us. It even surprises us because, beyond the demands, our myopia sometimes makes it difficult for us to see God's gifts.

God loved us first. As Pope Francis says, "God always puts us first". And this love gives the grace to live the gift of self, fidelity, generous openness to life; it is mercy and gives understanding of God, his patience and forgiveness in the face of our weaknesses and our mistakes. Christ alone brings to the challenge of love the decisive response of "the love of God".hope (which) does not deceive, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us"(Rom 5:5). n

"Everything is ready for Dublin to become the capital of families". Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who has been at the head of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life for almost two years, tells in this interview for Word the latest preparations for the World Meeting of Families, to be held in Dublin from August 21-26 with the participation of Pope Francis.

Text - Giovanni Tridente, Rome

He also offers us a calm and reasoned reflection on various aspects of the Exhortation Amoris laetitia, on how families have an impact on today's world and on what contribution can and should come from the "feminine gaze" in the Church. Of Irish origin, she studied at the University of Salamanca, in Spain, and at the Gregorian and the Angelicum in Rome, obtaining a Master's degree in Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame (United States).

In 1966 he joined the Legionaries of Christ and carried out his pastoral activity in Mexico and Washington, in whose diocese he was incardinated in 1984. In 2001 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Washington, and in 2007, before being called to the Vatican, he was promoted to bishop of Dallas. Pope Francis created him a cardinal on November 19, 2016, during the closing of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

Your Eminence, the big World Meeting of Families in Dublin is already two months away. How are the preparations progressing?
-The World Meeting is always an occasion of grace. A time to proclaim and celebrate the joy of the Gospel of the family. Work is proceeding at great speed in this final stretch. Registrations are still open and many people continue to register. Official delegations from many countries of the five continents have confirmed their participation and are preparing for the Meeting by receiving and imparting the preparatory catecheses that were prepared for the occasion. Everything is practically ready for Dublin to become the capital of families.

With the August meeting, these meetings are celebrating their "silver jubilee", 24 years after the first convocation desired in 1994 by St. John Paul II. In your opinion, what has changed since then?
-It is evident that the situation of families has changed in recent years. For this reason Pope Francis wanted two synods to be held, preceded by a 360-degree consultation on the family. Although there are many situations in contemporary culture that do not favor the stability and solidity of families, the original vocation of people to love and the desire for family remain unchanged. This is precisely why Pope Francis' post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which so strongly emphasizes the via caritatis and the pulchrum, is having such a resonance and helping the Church to renew her pastoral commitment to all families, without excluding any.

Thinking precisely about Amoris laetitia, what, in your opinion, is the true secret of a Gospel of the family that is joy for the world?
-The key is to proclaim the joy of love that loves the other for what he or she is and seeks his or her true good (cf. AL 127). Amoris Laetitia sees authentic human and Christian love as the only force capable of saving marriage and the family. Hence the Pope places love at the center of the family (cf. AL 67), giving it great importance throughout the Apostolic Exhortation, especially in chapters IV and V, where he describes some characteristics of true love and applies them to family life on the basis of St. Paul's hymn to charity from 1 Cor 13:4-7 (cf. AL 90-119).

As we know, many libertarian initiatives obscure the "prophecy" embedded in the first cell of society. How to overcome these serious world crises, and what attitude to adopt towards the world?
-Christians must be open to listen to the questions that our contemporaries ask about fundamental questions of existence. Our attitude cannot be that of those who condemn "a priori" any new proposal or those who, in seeking solutions, make mistakes. The Pope invites us to be attentive to the action of the Holy Spirit who, in his own neologism, "precedes us". We must be attentive to offer doctrine, but above all the witness of charity and the joy of Christian family life. Thus, for example, it cannot be denied that people always seek love, even if, given our fallen nature, we can be mistaken in the object and in the way we love. The Pope reminds us that conjugal love is authentic when it is an oblative and spiritual love, which includes at the same time affection, tenderness, intimacy, passion, erotic desire, pleasure that is given and received (cf. AL 120; 123), openness to procreation and to the education of children (cf. AL 80-85).

On the other hand, in social dialogue it is important to know how to offer valid reasons from the point of view of the common interest and not always repeat the "should be". It is necessary to show the reasons that advise in view of the common good, of the general interest, and to support families so that they can carry out their important social task, distinguishing what belongs to the private sphere of affection from what also has an irreducible social function. This is especially the task of the laity, of the families themselves, united with others who, while not sharing their faith, share the same concern for the well-being of society and of families.

Continuing with Amoris laetitia, the fruit of two important synodal discussions, it is well known that in some circles it has not been well digested. From your point of view, what are the most relevant points of this document, which are worth assimilating well?
-Amoris Laetitia is a document of great pastoral richness. Pope Francis offers us a pedagogy, understanding that the couple's relationship is a journey that lasts a lifetime (cfr. AL 325) and that, therefore, it is a journey that knows both the beauty and joy of being loved and of loving as well as the defects and sins, the difficulties and sufferings. It must therefore be considered with realism and confidence, as a progressive growth and development that is carried out together, step by step, with practical, patient and persevering exercise (cfr. AL 266-267). The Pope uses a very eloquent expression to refer to this reality, he says that "love is a craft" (AL 221). This is also true for the education of children (cf. AL 16; 271; 273).

This whole journey needs the accompaniment of the Church. I am referring to the Christian community, not only to the clergy. I believe that this accompaniment is one of the most original things in the pastoral proposal of Amoris Laetitia, and something that we must strive to understand better and to find adequate ways to carry out.

Within the local Churches many initiatives have been born in the field of accompaniment of families in the various stages, from the wedding to the arrival of children and up to the age of maturity, as requested by the Exhortation. What role has the Dicastery played in this field, and what is it doing to continue to promote new initiatives?
-The Dicastery's mission is to collaborate with the Holy Father's ministry of communion. Therefore, we are fundamentally at the service of the particular Churches, listening to their experiences and concerns. In this sense, we are a great observatory that gathers valuable experiences and tries to circulate them so that the whole Church can benefit from them. We also encourage the reflection of university family institutes and take advantage of their work. Another field to which the Dicastery is especially dedicated is the reception of Amoris Laetitia and its catechetical translation.

We are also interested in the development of an adequate premarital pastoral that, in a catechumenal way, prepares our young people to live spousal love. This is why we are working on a platform that brings together a community of people from all over the world who work to support parents in the emotional formation of their children, through courses, didactic materials and pedagogical resources of various kinds.

Pope Francis speaks in various tones of a Church going out. Can we say that there are also "families going out", according to this logic of the Pope, and what would that mean?
-The Pope's invitation to be a "Church going forth" is an invitation addressed to each and every one of the baptized, since by reason of baptism all the faithful are called to the apostolate, to extend the Kingdom of God according to the ecclesial position that each one occupies in accordance with his or her specific vocation and personal circumstances. A "Church going forth" is thus a Church in a permanent state of mission. Therefore, families are also called not to be closed in on themselves. This is inherent in the Christian vocation. They must remain open to the needs of others, especially to those persons and families who find themselves in difficulty for various reasons, both existential and material. Families that contribute in solidarity to the building up of the common good.

Also as active and co-responsible subjects of the mission, Christian families are called to participate according to their possibilities in the different pastoral services they can perform, from the mission "ad gentes", to the catechesis of Christian initiation, the accompaniment of young couples, family consultancies, etc.

With regard to life, what initiatives is the Dicastery working on, and how does it collaborate with the Pontifical Academy of the same name?
-Our Dicastery has the task of promoting respect for the dignity of the life of every human person and of all human life, from conception to natural death, with a transcendent perspective that looks at the human person integrally destined for eternal communion with God. In this sense, our greatest commitment is to promote an integral and transversal pastoral care of human life, which is not reduced only to the necessary pro-life commitment and its legislative, political and cultural implications.

It is necessary to develop a holistic perspective of pastoral care, with its formative (catechesis, formation of consciences, bioethics), celebratory (days of prayer, rosaries, vigils, feasts of life) and service (centers for the support of life, accompaniment of women with unplanned pregnancies, accompaniment of post-abortion trauma syndrome, accompaniment of bereavement, etc.), and taking care of the different ages of man. Hence, we are concerned with the care of the elderly, the integral promotion of fertility, not only in terms of openness to procreation, but also in terms of spiritual, moral and solidary fertility in the care of the less favored, in adoption, in the custody of children, etc.

By the will of Pope Francis, there are two women at your side as Undersecretaries of the Dicastery. How important is the role of women in the Church and in society?
-We are becoming more and more aware of how much energy we lose when the contribution of the feminine genius is not recognized and promoted, on a par with the contribution of men. Jesus Christ, our Lord, was in his historical existence one of the greatest promoters of the dignity and equality of women; then, for historical reasons whose analysis exceeds the scope of this conversation, perhaps the Church has lacked the "parresia" to draw all the consequences of Christian Revelation about women. However, at this time there is much reflection on this.

I am pleased to recall here, for example, the interesting reflection that the Pontifical Commission for Latin America carried out in its last Plenary Assembly. It is a reflection that recognizes the richness, complementarity and reciprocity of sexual difference, thus going beyond certain feminisms and fully vindicating the equality and difference of men and women. Our office, besides counting on the contribution of these two new Undersecretaries, also counts on several officers, married and single, consecrated and lay, who day by day contribute their richness and feminine charism to our mission, and we also count on a department that is in charge of promoting women, so that they can contribute their feminine approach to the different situations and choices that must be made to encourage the mission and build communion at the different levels of decision making.

The feminine gaze is necessary today more than ever to develop a Church with maternal attitudes, as the Pope continually invites us to do: the revolution of tenderness, the bowels of mercy and the pastoral approach of care and accompaniment, which takes charge of the concrete situations of people.

The patterns of behavior with people who are suffering from this violence can be summarized as follows:

1.  Immediate support. Support him first. Do not question the veracity of his story, his experience or his feelings. It is not up to you to judge, the judge will judge. You have the opportunity to be supportive, to help and validate the emotions. This is already an essential help to become aware of the problem, not to minimize it and to intervene as soon as possible.
2. Do not interfere. It is very necessary to maintain boundaries in the relationship with that person, allow him/her the necessary time to make decisions, and respect the decisions he/she makes. Listen, without pressuring them to answer or reveal information. She may have told you only part of what is happening. You do not have to decide anything for her unless she explicitly asks you to or unless there are people at serious risk.
3. Listen to what they want to tell you. It is not necessary for you to know all the details of the story, the corresponding professionals will listen to them. Listen to how they feel, how they have experienced it, how they are feeling. Offer comfort and help relieve or reduce their anxiety.
4. Provide information. Specific information on services to which he can turn to and information on resources and social support: 016, duty court, specialized doctors, shelters, foster homes, etc. If he/she wishes, you can accompany him/her to facilitate the procedures and help him/her. Do not do what corresponds to the health professional.
5.  Assess whether she or others are at risk of being violently assaulted or abused. There will be cases in which it will be necessary to intervene urgently to avoid very probable damages, with much more necessity if they are minors. It will be necessary to make urgent reports, and at the same time seek sufficient means to ensure that people are safe and that the attempt to help does not promote even more violent situations. Prioritize safety and do not cause more damage: assess the risk-benefit balance of each step to be taken.
6. Confidentiality. Assure him/her that you will be discreet, that if you discuss it with someone you will tell him/her, that you will be prudent in the use of the information, so that the person will be protected and so that you do not spoil any plans he/she may have.
7. Support. Ensure that the relationship is supportive, collaborative, and promotes the woman's autonomy. Even if she needs help, do not annul her or repeat the pattern of making her feel incapable. Try to let her make the decisions, to make her the protagonist of her recovery.
8.  Action plan. If you are going to accompany him/her in the process of resolving the situation, try to design an effective plan, with realistic short-term goals and expectations, with the hope of long-term freedom.
9. Follow-up. Keep asking the person about what she told you, so she has a chance to move forward. Make them feel really cared for. It is not pleasant and we may tend to ignore or give up unconsciously.
10.  Pay special attention. Especially to people with disabilities or low economic means, who may be being assaulted. It also occurs in high social classes, with sufficient economic means and education; do not rule it out for these reasons.
11. Ask in the absence of the aggressor. If you attend to couples and suspect violence, give them the opportunity to be able to talk about it alone, perhaps with another person who accompanies you and serves as a witness, so that they can talk without suffering bad consequences.

Text - Inés Bárcenas, María Martín-Vivar and Carlos Chiclana

The events of 1968 have become a myth, for which various interpretations are offered: was it a "revolution" or just another phenomenon in a broader crisis?

TEXT - Onésimo Díaz
Researcher and professor of "History, culture and Christianity in the 20th century" at the University of Navarra.

The 68th has been the subject of all kinds of interpretations. The events have become a myth, and it does not seem easy to analyze coldly what happened and why what happened around May '68.

In the 1960s, Western youth were uncomfortable with their parents' way of life. The baby boom generation, born in the post-World War II era, rebelled against a dull and outdated value system. These young people, educated in the economic welfare and with access to the University, declared themselves anti-conformist and contesting against all power and authority. The boys abandoned blazers and ties, and dressed in jeans and military-style jackets, while the girls exchanged high heels and long dresses for pants and miniskirts.

This generation was attracted by leftist and anti-capitalist ideas. Their main points of reference were Marx, Freud, Mao and Marcuse. Of these four, the most influential was the Jewish philosopher Herbert Marcuse, who had left the Frankfurt School after Hitler's rise to power. This professor, expelled from several American universities on charges of being a philo-communist, urged students, racial minorities and workers to fight against the established power. In 1967, he received applause and praise during lectures in Germany and France. His message, in favor of sexual liberation, found an echo in a restless sector of university students around the world. From the spring of 1968 onwards, demonstrations against the imperialist, warmongering and capitalist society followed one after the other in various Western universities. Marcuse's ideas had spread and popularized to the point of coining the slogan: sex, drugs and rock and roll. In those days, countercultural movements (hippies and rockers) incited a rebellious stance against traditional culture. Young people identified with Marcuse's nonconformist message and wanted to change everything, driven by a desire to experiment without barriers or rules.