To the
participants in a Meeting for midwives
YOU ARE THE GUARDIANS OF HUMAN LIFE
On Sunday, 26 January, John Paul II received in
audience participants in the specialized Meeting for midwives, organized by the
Catholic Medical Operators Association. The meeting, attended by over
two hundred midwives, was dedicated to the subject ‘in defence
of life and the family’. The Holy Father delivered the following address:
Beloved Sisters,
1. I willingly granted the desire expressed
by you, for a special meeting, in which you could bear witness to the devotion
that unites you with
the Pope, and receive from him a word of comfort and guidance in carrying out
the delicate tasks connected with your
profession.
I know the high purposes by which Your Association is inspired and I am acquainted too , with
the courageous choices it has made in these years, to remain faithful to the
dictates of conscience illuminated by faith. I am glad, therefore, to be able
to express to you personally my cordial
appreciation and to bring you, at the
same time, my fatherly exhortation to persevere in the resolution of consistent adherence to the ethical norms of your profession, which is not infrequently subjected
to strong pressure on the part of
those who would like to force it to
carry out acts which are in direct
contrast with the purposes for which it was created and operates.
‘Service for life and the family ‘ was and is, in fact, the essential raison d’ètre of this profession, as you opportunely stressed
in the very subject of your Meeting: and
it is precisely in this noble service that
the secret of its greatness must be sought. It is up to you to watch solicitously
over the marvellous and mysterious process of
generation which takes place in the mother’s womb, in order to follow its
normal development and to facilitate its happy outcome, with the birth of the
new creature. You are, therefore, the guardians of human life, which is renewed
in the world, bringing to it, with the infant’s fresh smile, the joy (cf. Jn
Cultivate an awareness
2. It is necessary, therefore, that you
should each cultivate within yourself a clear awareness of the very high value
of human life: it is a unique value in the whole of visible creation. The Lord,
in fact, created everything on earth for man; man, on the other hand – as the
Second Vatican council stressed – is “the only creature that God wanted for his own sake” (Const. Gaudium et Spes, n.24).
This means that, as regards his
being and his essence, man cannot be ordained to any creature, but only to
God. This is the deep content of the well-known passage in the Bible according to which “God created
man in his own image … male and female He created them” (Gen. 1,27). And this is also what it is desired to recall
when it is
affirmed that human life is sacred .
Man, as a being supplied with intelligence and free will, takes his right to life directly from
God, whose image he is, not from his
parents, or from any society or human authority. Only God, therefore, can
“dispose” of this extraordinary gift of his: “I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me. I kill and I
make alive: I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my
hand” (Deut. 32,39).
Man, therefore, possesses life as a gift, of
which he cannot consider himself the owner, however, for this reason, he cannot
feel he is the arbiter of life, whether his own or that of others. The Old
Testament formulates this conclusion in one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall
not kill” (Ex. 20,13), with the clarification that
follows immediately afterwards: “Do not slay the innocent and righteous, for I
will not acquit the wicked” (Ex. 23,7). Christ, in the New Testament, confirms
this commandment as the condition “to enter life” (cf. Mt 19:18), but –
significantly – he follows it with the mention of the commandment that sums up
every aspect of moral law, bringing it
to completion, that is, the commandment of love (cf. 19:19). Only he who loves
can accept completely
the requirements that spring from respect for the life of one’s neighbour.
In this connection, you certainly remember
the words of
Christ in the ‘Sermon on the mount’. On this occasion Jesus refers almost polemically to the “you shall not kill” of the Old
Testament, seeing in it an expression of the “insufficient” justice of the
scribes and Pharisees (cf. Mt 5:20) and inviting people to look more deeply
into themselves, to detect the wicked roots, from which all violence against
life springs: not only he who kills is
guilty, but also he who harbours malevolent
sentiments and speaks offensive words
to his neighbour (cf. Mt. 5:21) There is a
verbal violence which prepares the ground
and helps to produce the
psychological conditions that
trigger off physical violence.
He who wishes to respect life and in fact, put himself generously in its
service, must cultivate in himself feelings of
understanding for the other, participation in its affairs, human solidarity,
in a word feelings of sincere love. ‘The
believer can do so more easily, because he recognizes in every man a brother
(cf. Mt 23:8) in whom Christ identifies himself to the extent of considering
what is done to him as done to himself (cf. Mt 25: 40-45).
Bearing witness for your esteem of life
3. Also the unborn child is a man, and in
fact, if a special title of identification with Christ is being among “the
least” of his brethren (cf. Mt 25,40), how can we
fail to see a particular presence of Christ in the human being in gestation
who among other human beings, is really the most little and helpless,
deprived as he is of all means of defence, even of a voice to protest against the blows
struck at his most elementary rights?
It is your task to bear witness before
everyone, of the esteem and respect you cherish in your hearts for human life, to take up its defence boldly, when necessary: to refuse to cooperate in its direct suppression. There is no human regulation that can make legitimate
an action that is intrinsically wicked, far less oblige anyone to consent to it. The law, in
fact, takes its
binding value from the function it carries out – in faithfulness to divine Law
– in the service of common good; and this, in its turn, is such to the extent
to which it promotes the well-being of the person. So before a Law that puts
itself in direct conflict with the good of the person, which, in fact,
denies the person in himself, suppressing his right to life, the Christian, mindful of the words of the apostle Peter
before the …, “We must obey God rather than
Men”, (Acts 5,29), cannot but refuse, politely but firmly.
Your commitment, however, is not limited to
this, so to speak, limited
function. It extends to a whole set of positive tasks of
great importance. It is up to you to strengthen in the hearts of parents the
desire and joy in the new life, which
has sprung from their love, it is up to you to suggest the Christian view of it, showing with your attitude that
you recognize in the child, formed in the mother’s womb, a gift and a blessing
of God (cf. Ps. 126,3; 127,3); it is up to you, further, to be close to the
mother to make her aware of the nobility of her mission and to strengthen her
resistance to the promptings of human faint-heartedness. It is up to you,
finally, to do everything in your power to ensure the baby a healthy and happy
birth.
And how could I fail to recall also,
in a broader view of your service for life, the important contribution
of advice and practical guidance you can offer to individual married couples,
who wish to carry out responsible procreation, in respect of the order
established by God? To you, too, are addressed
the words of my predecessor Paul VI, exhorting members of the medical
personnel to persevere “in prompting on every occasion solutions inspired by faith and upright
reason” and to endeavour to “bring forth conviction
and respect for them in their environment” [Encyclical Humanae Vitae, n.°27].
It is obvious that, to carry out all these
complex and delicate tasks properly, you must seek to acquire a professional
competence beyond criticism, continually updated in the light of the most
recent progress of science. It will be this proved competence which, in
addition to enabling you to carry out timely and adequate interventions at the strictly
professional level, will win for you
among those who have recourse to you the consideration and the credit
which will make them ready to accept your advice in the moral questions
connected with your office.
Some guidelines
4.Here there are
some guidelines by which you are
exhorted to direct your civil and
Christian commitment which presupposes a deep sense of duty and generous
adherence to moral values, human
understanding and tireless patience, courageous firmness, and motherly
tenderness. Gifts that are not easy, as experience
teaches you. Gifts, however, that are demanded by a profession which, by its nature,
is placed at the level of the mission. Gifts, however, which are normally rewarded by the
testimony of esteem and affectionate gratitude which reach you from those who
have benefited from your assistance.
In the light of Mary I invoke on you and on
your activity the copious gifts of divine Goodness, while, as a token of
special benevolence, I grant you all the propitiating Apostolic Blessing.