To the participants in the European
Congress organized by "The Movement for Life"
On 26 February the Holy Father received in
audience those taking part in the European Congress organized by “The Movement
for Life”, which was then being held in
Gentlemen!
Welcome to the Pope’s house! I willingly
accepted the desire you expressed for a special Audience on the occasion of
your second European Congress, because this meeting offers me the opportunity
to say to you, and to all the members of the Movements for Life, a word of
praise and encouragement to persevere in the noble task which you have assumed
in defence of man and
of his fundamental rights. You are struggling in order that every man may be recognized
as having the right to be born, to grow, to develop his own capacities
harmoniously, to construct his own transcendent destiny freely and in a
dignified way.
These are very noble purposes and I
am happy to see that not only the sons of the Catholic Church but also members
of other religious confessions and persons of different ideological trend are
united in pursuing them, because I consider that the expression of that
“agreement in supporting one another on some elementary but firm principles”,
“principles of humanity”, which “every man of good will can find in his own
conscience”, to which I referred in my recent Message for the World Day of
Peace.
Faithful to the mission received from her
divine Founder, the Church has always affirmed the sacredness of human life,
and did so with particular forcefulness at the Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council. Who does not remember those solemn words? “God, the Lord of Life, has entrusted to men the
noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it our in a manner
worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the
moment of conception (Past. Const. Gaudium et
Spes, n.51). Strong
in this conviction, the Council Fathers did not hesitate to condemn bluntly
“all offences against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion,
euthanasia and willful suicide; all violations of the integrity of the human
person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological
pressures; all offences against human dignity, such as sub-human living
conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the
selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where men are
treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons” (Ibid. 2. 27).
This is the context in which your commitment is
set. It consists in the first place in an intelligent and assiduous action to
make consciences become aware of the
inviolability of human life at all its stages, so that the right to it will be
effectively recognized in morals and in laws, as a basic value of every society
that wants to call itself civil. It is expressed, furthermore, in the courageous stand against every form of
attack on life, from whatever quarter it may come. Finally, it takes the form of a
disinterested and respectful offer of concrete
help for persons who are up against difficulties in making their behaviour
conform with the dictates of conscience.
It is a work of great
humanity and generous charity, which cannot but meet with the approval of every
person aware of the possibilities and the risks which are in store for this
society of ours.
Do not be discouraged by the difficulties,
opposition, and failure you may meet with on your way. It is a question of man
and with such a stake, no one can shut himself up in
an attitude of resigned passivity without thereby abdicating as a human being.
As Vicar of Christ the Word of God Incarnate, I say to you: have faith in God, the Creator
and Father of every human being: have confidence in man, created in the image
and likeness of God and called to be his son, in the Son. In Christ, who died
and rose again, man’s cause has already had its definitive verdict: life will overcome death!
With this hope in my heart, I willingly grant
you all my Apostolic Blessing, as a token of divine assistance.