To the
Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Men and Women religious, lay Faithful
and all
People of Good Will on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life
25 March 1995
1. The Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus'
message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached
with dauntless fidelity as "good news" to the people of every age and
culture. At the dawn of salvation, it is the Birth of a Child which is
proclaimed as joyful news: "I bring you good news of a great joy which
will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10-11). The source of this
"great joy" is the Birth of the Saviour; but Christmas also reveals the
full meaning of every human birth, and the joy which accompanies the Birth of
the Messiah is thus seen to be the foundation and fulfilment of joy at every
child born into the world (cf. Jn 16:21).When he presents the heart of his
redemptive mission, Jesus says: "I came that they may have life, and have
it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). In truth, he is referring to that
"new" and "eternal" life which consists in communion with
the Father, to which every person is freely called in the Son by the power of
the Sanctifying Spirit. It is precisely in this "life" that all the
aspects and stages of human life achieve their full significance.
The incomparable worth of the human person
2. Man is called to a fullness of life which
far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in
sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation
reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its
temporal phase. Life in time, in fact, is the fundamental condition, the
initial stage and an integral part of the entire unified process of human
existence. It is a process which, unexpectedly and undeservedly, is enlightened
by the promise and renewed by the gift of divine life, which will reach its
full realization in eternity (cf. 1 Jn 3:1-2). At the same time, it is
precisely this supernatural calling which highlights the relative character of
each individual's earthly life. After all, life on earth is not an
"ultimate" but a "penultimate" reality; even so, it remains
a sacred reality entrusted to us, to be preserved with a sense of
responsibility and brought to perfection in love and in the gift of ourselves
to God and to our brothers and sisters. The Church knows that this Gospel of
life, which she has received from her Lord, 1 has a profound and persuasive
echo in the heart of every person-believer and non-believer alike-because it
marvellously fulfils all the heart's expectations while infinitely surpassing
them. Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, every person sincerely
open to truth and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of
grace, come to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom
2:14-15) the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end,
and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good
respected to the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every
human community and the political community itself are founded. In a special
way, believers in Christ must defend and promote this right, aware as they are
of the wonderful truth recalled by the Second Vatican Council: "By his
incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human
being".2
This saving event reveals to humanity not only
the boundless love of God who "so loved the world that he gave his only
Son" (Jn 3:16), but also the incomparable value of every human person.The
Church, faithfully contemplating the mystery of the Redemption, acknowledges
this value with ever new wonder.3 She feels called to proclaim to the people of
all times this "Gospel", the source of invincible hope and true joy
for every period of history. The Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel of
the dignity of the person and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible
Gospel.For this reason, man-living man-represents the primary and fundamental
way for the Church. 4
3. Every individual, precisely by reason of the
mystery of the Word of God who was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14), is entrusted to
the maternal care of the Church. Therefore every threat to human dignity and
life must necessarily be felt in the Church's very heart; it cannot but affect
her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God,
and engage her in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of life in all the
world and to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15).Today this proclamation is
especially pressing because of the extraordinary increase and gravity of
threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak
and defenceless. In addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger,
endemic diseases, violence and war, new threats are emerging on an alarmingly
vast scale. The Second Vatican Council, in a passage which retains all its
relevance today, forcefully condemned a number of crimes and attacks against
human life. Thirty years later, taking up the words of the Council and with the
same forcefulness I repeat that condemnation in the name of the whole Church,
certain that I am interpreting the genuine sentiment of every upright
conscience: "Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of
murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction, whatever
violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted
on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human
dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment,
deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well
as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments
of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and
others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do
more harm to those who practise them than to those who suffer from the injury.
Moreover, they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator".5
4. Unfortunately, this disturbing state of
affairs, far from decreasing, is expanding: with the new prospects opened up by
scientific and technological progress there arise new forms of attacks on the
dignity of the human being. At the same time a new cultural climate is
developing and taking hold, which gives crimes against life a new and-if
possible-even more sinister character, giving rise to further grave concern:
broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name
of the rights of individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only
exemption from punishment but even authorization by the State, so that these
things can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of
health-care systems. All this is causing
a profound change in the way in which life and relationships between people are
considered. The fact that legislation in many countries, perhaps even departing
from basic principles of their Constitutions, has determined not to punish
these practices against life, and even to make them altogether legal, is both a
disturbing symptom and a significant cause of grave moral decline. Choices once
unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are
gradually becoming socially acceptable. Even certain sectors of the medical
profession, which by its calling is directed to the defence and care of human
life, are increasingly willing to carry out these acts against the person. In
this way the very nature of the medical profession is distorted and
contradicted, and the dignity of those who practise it is degraded. In such a
cultural and legislative situation, the serious demographic, social and family
problems which weigh upon many of the world's peoples and which require
responsible and effective attention from national and international bodies, are
left open to false and deceptive solutions, opposed to the truth and the good
of persons and nations. The end result of this is tragic: not only is the fact
of the destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in their final
stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the
fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread
conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good
and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life.
5. The Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals
held in Rome on 4-7 April 1991 was devoted to the problem of the threats to
human life in our day. After a thorough and detailed discussion of the problem
and of the challenges it poses to the entire human family and in particular to
the Christian community, the Cardinals unanimously asked me to reaffirm with
the authority of the Successor of Peter the value of human life and its
inviolability, in the light of present circumstances and attacks threatening it
today. In response to this request, at Pentecost in 1991 I wrote a personal
letter to each of my Brother Bishops asking them, in the spirit of episcopal
collegiality, to offer me their cooperation in drawing up a specific document 6
I am deeply grateful to all the Bishops who replied and provided me with
valuable facts, suggestions and proposals. In so doing they bore witness to
their unanimous desire to share in the doctrinal and pastoral mission of the
Church with regard to the Gospel of life. In that same letter, written shortly
after the celebration of the centenary of the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, I drew
everyone's attention to this striking analogy: "Just as a century ago it
was the working classes which were oppressed in their fundamental rights, and
the Church very courageously came to their defence by proclaiming the
sacrosanct rights of the worker as a person, so now, when another category of
persons is being oppressed in the fundamental right to life, the Church feels
in duty bound to speak out with the same courage on behalf of those who have no
voice. Hers is always the evangelical cry in defence of the world's poor, those
who are threatened and despised and whose human rights are violated" 7
Today there exists a great multitude of weak and defenceless human beings,
unborn children in particular, whose fundamental right to life is being
trampled upon. If, at the end of the last century, the Church could not be
silent about the injustices of those times, still less can she be silent today,
when the social injustices of the past, unfortunately not yet overcome, are
being compounded in many regions of the world by still more grievous forms of
injustice and oppression, even if these are being presented as elements of
progress in view of a new world order. he present Encyclical, the fruit of the
cooperation of the Episcopate of every country of the world, is therefore meant
to be a precise and vigorous reaffirmation of the value of human life and its
inviolability, and at the same time a pressing appeal addressed to each and
every person, in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every
human life! Only in this direction will you find justice, development, true
freedom, peace and happiness! May these words reach all the sons and daughters
of the Church! May they reach all people of good will who are concerned for the
good of every man and woman and for the destiny of the whole of society!
6. In profound communion with all my brothers
and sisters in the faith, and inspired by genuine friendship towards all, I
wish to meditate upon once more and proclaim the Gospel of life, the splendour
of truth which enlightens consciences, the clear light which corrects the
darkened gaze, and the unfailing source of faithfulness and steadfastness in
facing the ever new challenges which we meet along our path. As I recall the
powerful experience of the Year of the Family, as if to complete the Letter
which I wrote "to every particular family in every part of the
world",8 I look with renewed confidence to every household and I pray that
at every level a general commitment to support the family will reappear and be
strengthened, so that today too-even amid so many difficulties and serious
threats-the family will always remain, in accordance with God's plan, the
"sanctuary of life".9To all the members of the Church, the people of
life and for life, I make this most urgent appeal, that together we may offer
this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and
solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed,
for the building of an authentic civilization of truth and love.
CHAPTER I
The voice of your brother's blood cries to me
from the ground
Present-day threats to human life
"Cain rose up against his brother Abel,
and killed him" (Gen 4:8):
the roots of violence against life
7.God did not make death, and he does not
delight in the death of the living. For he has created all things that they
might exist ... God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of
his own eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and
those who belong to his party experience it" (Wis 1:13-14; 2:23-24).The
Gospel of life, proclaimed in the beginning when man was created in the image
of God for a destiny of full and perfect life (cf. Gen 2:7; Wis 9:2-3), is contradicted
by the painful experience of death which enters the world and casts its shadow
of meaninglessness over man's entire existence. Death came into the world as a
result of the devil's envy (cf. Gen 3:1,4-5) and the sin of our first parents
(cf. Gen 2:17, 3:17-19). And death entered it in a violent way, through the
killing of Abel by his brother Cain: "And when they were in the field,
Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him" (Gen 4:8).This
first murder is presented with singular eloquence in a page of the Book of
Genesis which has universal significance: it is a page rewritten daily, with
inexorable and degrading frequency, in the book of human history. Let us
re-read together this biblical account which, despite its archaic structure and
its extreme simplicity, has much to teach us. "Now Abel was a keeper of
sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to
the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for
Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had not regard. So Cain
was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, ?Why are you
angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be
accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; its desire
is for you, but you must master it'.
"Cain said to Abel his brother, ?Let us go
out to the field'. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his
brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, ?Where is Abel your
brother?' He said, ? I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?' And the Lord
said, ?What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me
from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its
mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground,
it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a
wanderer on the earth'. Cain said to the Lord, ?My punishment is greater than I
can bear. Behold, you have driven me this day away from the ground; and from
your face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the
earth, and whoever finds me will slay me'. Then the Lord said to him, ?Not so!
If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold'. And the Lord
put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. Then Cain went
away from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of
Eden" (Gen 4:2-16).
8. Cain was "very angry" and his
countenance "fell" because "the Lord had regard for Abel and his
offering" (Gen 4:4-5). The biblical text does not reveal the reason why
God prefers Abel's sacrifice to Cain's. It clearly shows however that God,
although preferring Abel's gift, does not interrupt his dialogue with Cain. He
admonishes him, reminding him of his freedom in the face of evil: man is in no
way predestined to evil. Certainly, like Adam, he is tempted by the malevolent
force of sin which, like a wild beast, lies in wait at the door of his heart,
ready to leap on its prey. But Cain remains free in the face of sin. He can and
must overcome it: "Its desire is for you, but you must master it"
(Gen 4:7).Envy and anger have the upper hand over the Lord's warning, and so
Cain attacks his own brother and kills him. As we read in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church: "In the account of Abel's murder by his brother Cain,
Scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy in man, consequences of
original sin, from the beginning of human history. Man has become the enemy of
his fellow man".10 Brother kills brother. Like the first fratricide, every
murder is a violation of the "spiritual" kinship uniting mankind in
one great family, 11 in which all share the same fundamental good: equal
personal dignity. Not infrequently the kinship "of flesh and blood"
is also violated; for example when threats to life arise within the
relationship between parents and children, such as happens in abortion or when,
in the wider context of family or kinship, euthanasia is encouraged or
practised. At the root of every act of violence against one's neighbour there
is a concession to the "thinking" of the evil one, the one who
"was a murderer from the beginning" (Jn 8:44). As the Apostle John
reminds us: "For this is the message which you have heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the
evil one and murdered his brother" (1 Jn 3:11-12). Cain's killing of his
brother at the very dawn of history is thus a sad witness of how evil spreads
with amazing speed: man's revolt against God in the earthly paradise is
followed by the deadly combat of man against man. After the crime, God
intervenes to avenge the one killed. Before God, who asks him about the fate of
Abel, Cain, instead of showing remorse and apologizing, arrogantly eludes the
question: "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9).
"I do not know": Cain tries to cover up his crime with a lie. This
was and still is the case, when all kinds of ideologies try to justify and
disguise the most atrocious crimes against human beings. "Am I my
brother's keeper?": Cain does not wish to think about his brother and
refuses to accept the responsibility which every person has towards others. We
cannot but think of today's tendency for people to refuse to accept
responsibility for their brothers and sisters. Symptoms of this trend include
the lack of solidarity towards society's weakest members-such as the elderly,
the infirm, immigrants, children- and the indifference frequently found in
relations between the world's peoples even when basic values such as survival,
freedom and peace are involved.
9. But God cannot leave the crime unpunished:
from the ground on which it has been spilt, the blood of the one murdered
demands that God should render justice (cf. Gen 37:26; Is 26:21; Ez 24:7-8).
From this text the Church has taken the name of the "sins which cry to God
for justice", and, first among them, she has included wilful murder. 12
For the Jewish people, as for many peoples of antiquity, blood is the source of
life. Indeed "the blood is the life" (Dt 12:23), and life, especially
human life, belongs only to God: for this reason whoever attacks human life, in
some way attacks God himself. Cain is cursed by God and also by the earth,
which will deny him its fruit (cf. Gen 4:11-12). He is punished: he will live
in the wilderness and the desert. Murderous violence profoundly changes man's
environment. From being the "garden of Eden" (Gen 2:15), a place of
plenty, of harmonious interpersonal relationships and of friendship with God,
the earth becomes "the land of Nod" (Gen 4:16), a place of scarcity,
loneliness and separation from God. Cain will be "a fugitive and a
wanderer on the earth" (Gen 4:14): uncertainty and restlessness will
follow him forever. And yet God, who is always merciful even when he punishes,
"put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him" (Gen
4:15). He thus gave him a distinctive sign, not to condemn him to the hatred of
others, but to protect and defend him from those wishing to kill him, even out
of a desire to avenge Abel's death. Not even a murderer loses his personal
dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this. And it is precisely here
that the paradoxical mystery of the merciful justice of God is shown forth. As
Saint Ambrose writes: "Once the crime is admitted at the very inception of
this sinful act of parricide, then the divine law of God's mercy should be
immediately extended. If punishment is forthwith inflicted on the accused, then
men in the exercise of justice would in no way observe patience and moderation,
but would straightaway condemn the defendant to punishment. ... God drove Cain
out of his presence and sent him into exile far away from his native land, so
that he passed from a life of human kindness to one which was more akin to the
rude existence of a wild beast. God, who preferred the correction rather than
the death of a sinner, did not desire that a homicide be punished by the
exaction of another act of homicide".13
"What have you done?" (Gen 4:10): the
eclipse of the value of life
10. The Lord said to Cain: "What have you
done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground"
(Gen 4:10).The voice of the blood shed by men continues to cry out, from
generation to generation, in ever new and different ways. The Lord's question:
"What have you done?", which Cain cannot escape, is addressed also to
the people of today, to make them realize the extent and gravity of the attacks
against life which continue to mark human history; to make them discover what
causes these attacks and feeds them; and to make them ponder seriously the
consequences which derive from these attacks for the existence of individuals
and peoples.
Some threats come from nature itself, but they
are made worse by the culpable indifference and negligence of those who could
in some cases remedy them. Others are the result of situations of violence,
hatred and conflicting interests, which lead people to attack others through
murder, war, slaughter and genocide. And how can we fail to consider the
violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children,
who are forced into poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust
distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes? And what
of the violence inherent not only in wars as such but in the scandalous arms
trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world with blood?
What of the spreading of death caused by reckless tampering with the world's
ecological balance, by the criminal spread of drugs, or by the promotion of
certain kinds of sexual activity which, besides being morally unacceptable,
also involve grave risks to life? It is impossible to catalogue completely the
vast array of threats to human life, so many are the forms, whether explicit or
hidden, in which they appear today!
11. Here though we shall concentrate particular
attention on another category of attacks, affecting life in its earliest and in
its final stages, attacks which present new characteristics with respect to the
past and which raise questions of extraordinary seriousness. It is not only
that in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer to be considered as
"crimes"; paradoxically they assume the nature of "rights",
to the point that the State is called upon to give them legal recognition and
to make them available through the free services of health-care personnel. Such
attacks strike human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks
any means of self-defence.
Even more serious is the fact that, most often,
those attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of
the family-the family which by its nature is called to be the "sanctuary
of life". How did such a situation come about? Many different factors have
to be taken into account. In the background there is the profound crisis of
culture, which generates scepticism in relation to the very foundations of
knowledge and ethics, and which makes it increasingly difficult to grasp
clearly the meaning of what man is, the meaning of his rights and his duties.
Then there are all kinds of existential and interpersonal difficulties, made
worse by the complexity of a society in which individuals, couples and families
are often left alone with their problems. There are situations of acute
poverty, anxiety or frustration in which the struggle to make ends meet, the
presence of unbearable pain, or instances of violence, especially against
women, make the choice to defend and promote life so demanding as sometimes to
reach the point of heroism. All this explains, at least in part, how the value
of life can today undergo a kind of "eclipse", even though conscience
does not cease to point to it as a sacred and inviolable value, as is evident
in the tendency to disguise certain crimes against life in its early or final
stages by using innocuous medical terms which distract attention from the fact
that what is involved is the right to life of an actual human person.
12. In fact, while the climate of widespread
moral uncertainty can in some way be explained by the multiplicity and gravity
of today's social problems, and these can sometimes mitigate the subjective
responsibility of individuals, it is no less true that we are confronted by an
even larger reality, which can be described as a veritable structure of sin.
This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which denies
solidarity and in many cases takes the form of a veritable "culture of death".
This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political
currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with
efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to
speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life
which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or
held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or
another. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by
existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more
favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In
this way a kind of "conspiracy against life" is unleashed. This conspiracy
involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships,
but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the
international level, relations between peoples and States.
13. In order to facilitate the spread of
abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested
in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the
fetus in the mother's womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this
point, scientific research itself seems to be almost exclusively preoccupied
with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in
suppressing life and which at the same time are capable of removing abortion
from any kind of control or social responsibility. It is frequently asserted
that contraception, if made safe and available to all, is the most effective
remedy against abortion. The Catholic Church is then accused of actually
promoting abortion, because she obstinately continues to teach the moral
unlawfulness of contraception. When looked at carefully, this objection is
clearly unfounded. It may be that many people use contraception with a view to
excluding the subsequent temptation of abortion. But the negative values
inherent in the "contraceptive mentality"-which is very different
from responsible parenthood, lived in respect for the full truth of the
conjugal act-are such that they in fact strengthen this temptation when an
unwanted life is conceived. Indeed, the pro- abortion culture is especially
strong precisely where the Church's teaching on contraception is rejected.
Certainly, from the moral point of view contraception and abortion are
specifically different evils: the former contradicts the full truth of the
sexual act as the proper expression of conjugal love, while the latter destroys
the life of a human being; the former is opposed to the virtue of chastity in
marriage, the latter is opposed to the virtue of justice and directly violates
the divine commandment "You shall not kill". But despite their
differences of nature and moral gravity, contraception and abortion are often
closely connected, as fruits of the same tree. It is true that in many cases
contraception and even abortion are practised under the pressure of real- life
difficulties, which nonetheless can never exonerate from striving to observe
God's law fully. Still, in very many other instances such practices are rooted
in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of
sexuality, and they imply a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards
procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfilment. The life which could result
from a sexual encounter thus becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and
abortion becomes the only possible decisive response to failed contraception. The
close connection which exists, in mentality, between the practice of
contraception and that of abortion is becoming increasingly obvious. It is
being demonstrated in an alarming way by the development of chemical products,
intrauterine devices and vaccines which, distributed with the same ease as
contraceptives, really act as abortifacients in the very early stages of the
development of the life of the new human being.
14. The various techniques of artificial
reproduction, which would seem to be at the service of life and which are
frequently used with this intention, actually open the door to new threats
against life. Apart from the fact that they are morally unacceptable, since
they separate procreation from the fully human context of the conjugal act, 14
these techniques have a high rate of failure: not just failure in relation to
fertilization but with regard to the subsequent development of the embryo,
which is exposed to the risk of death, generally within a very short space of
time. Furthermore, the number of embryos produced is often greater than that
needed for implantation in the woman's womb, and these so-called "spare
embryos" are then destroyed or used for research which, under the pretext
of scientific or medical progress, in fact reduces human life to the level of
simple "biological material" to be freely disposed of. Prenatal
diagnosis, which presents no moral objections if carried out in order to
identify the medical treatment which may be needed by the child in the womb,
all too often becomes an opportunity for proposing and procuring an abortion.
This is eugenic abortion, justified in public opinion on the basis of a
mentality-mistakenly held to be consistent with the demands of
"therapeutic interventions"-which accepts life only under certain
conditions and rejects it when it is affected by any limitation, handicap or
illness. Following this same logic, the point has been reached where the most
basic care, even nourishment, is denied to babies born with serious handicaps
or illnesses. The contemporary scene, moreover, is becoming even more alarming
by reason of the proposals, advanced here and there, to justify even
infanticide, following the same arguments used to justify the right to
abortion. In this way, we revert to a state of barbarism which one hoped had
been left behind forever.
15. Threats which are no less serious hang over
the incurably ill and the dying. In a social and cultural context which makes
it more difficult to face and accept suffering, the temptation becomes all the
greater to resolve the problem of suffering by eliminating it at the root, by
hastening death so that it occurs at the moment considered most suitable.
Various considerations usually contribute to such a decision, all of which
converge in the same terrible outcome. In the sick person the sense of anguish,
of severe discomfort, and even of desperation brought on by intense and
prolonged suffering can be a decisive factor. Such a situation can threaten the
already fragile equilibrium of an individual's personal and family life, with
the result that, on the one hand, the sick person, despite the help of
increasingly effective medical and social assistance, risks feeling overwhelmed
by his or her own frailty; and on the other hand, those close to the sick person
can be moved by an understandable even if misplaced compassion. All this is
aggravated by a cultural climate which fails to perceive any meaning or value
in suffering, but rather considers suffering the epitome of evil, to be
eliminated at all costs. This is especially the case in the absence of a
religious outlook which could help to provide a positive understanding of the
mystery of suffering. On a more general level, there exists in contemporary
culture a certain Promethean attitude which leads people to think that they can
control life and death by taking the decisions about them into their own hands.
What really happens in this case is that the individual is overcome and crushed
by a death deprived of any prospect of meaning or hope. We see a tragic expression
of all this in the spread of euthanasia-disguised and surreptitious, or
practised openly and even legally. As well as for reasons of a misguided pity
at the sight of the patient's suffering, euthanasia is sometimes justified by
the utilitarian motive of avoiding costs which bring no return and which weigh
heavily on society. Thus it is proposed to eliminate malformed babies, the
severely handicapped, the disabled, the elderly, especially when they are not
self-sufficient, and the terminally ill. Nor can we remain silent in the face
of other more furtive, but no less serious and real, forms of euthanasia. These
could occur for example when, in order to increase the availability of organs
for transplants, organs are removed without respecting objective and adequate
criteria which verify the death of the donor.
16. Another present-day phenomenon, frequently
used to justify threats and attacks against life, is the demographic question.
This question arises in different ways in different parts of the world. In the
rich and developed countries there is a disturbing decline or collapse of the
birthrate.
The poorer countries, on the other hand,
generally have a high rate of population growth, difficult to sustain in the
context of low economic and social development, and especially where there is
extreme underdevelopment. In the face of over- population in the poorer
countries, instead of forms of global intervention at the international
level-serious family and social policies, programmes of cultural development
and of fair production and distribution of resources-anti-birth policies
continue to be enacted. Contraception, sterilization and abortion are certainly
part of the reason why in some cases there is a sharp decline in the birthrate.
It is not difficult to be tempted to use the same methods and attacks against
life also where there is a situation of "demographic explosion". The
Pharaoh of old, haunted by the presence and increase of the children of Israel,
submitted them to every kind of oppression and ordered that every male child
born of the Hebrew women was to be killed (cf. Ex 1:7-22). Today not a few of
the powerful of the earth act in the same way. They too are haunted by the
current demographic growth, and fear that the most prolific and poorest peoples
represent a threat for the well-being and peace of their own countries.
Consequently, rather than wishing to face and
solve these serious problems with respect for the dignity of individuals and
families and for every person's inviolable right to life, they prefer to
promote and impose by whatever means a massive programme of birth control. Even
the economic help which they would be ready to give is unjustly made
conditional on the acceptance of an anti-birth policy.
17. Humanity today offers us a truly alarming
spectacle, if we consider not only how extensively attacks on life are
spreading but also their unheard-of numerical proportion, and the fact that
they receive widespread and powerful support from a broad consensus on the part
of society, from widespread legal approval and the involvement of certain
sectors of health-care personnel. As I emphatically stated at Denver, on the
occasion of the Eighth World Youth Day, "with time the threats against
life have not grown weaker. They are taking on vast proportions. They are not
only threats coming from the outside, from the forces of nature or the “Cains”
who kill the “Abels”; no, they are scientifically and systematically programmed
threats. The twentieth century will have been an era of massive attacks on
life, an endless series of wars and a continual taking of innocent human life.
False prophets and false teachers have had the greatest success".15 Aside
from intentions, which can be varied and perhaps can seem convincing at times,
especially if presented in the name of solidarity, we are in fact faced by an
objective "conspiracy against life", involving even international
Institutions, engaged in encouraging and carrying out actual campaigns to make
contraception, sterilization and abortion widely available. Nor can it be
denied that the mass media are often implicated in this conspiracy, by lending
credit to that culture which presents recourse to contraception, sterilization,
abortion and even euthanasia as a mark of progress and a victory of freedom,
while depicting as enemies of freedom and progress those positions which are
unreservedly pro-life.
"Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9): a perverse idea of freedom
18. The panorama described needs to be
understood not only in terms of the phenomena of death which characterize it
but also in the variety of causes which determine it. The Lord's question:
"What have you done?" (Gen 4:10), seems almost like an invitation
addressed to Cain to go beyond the material dimension of his murderous gesture,
in order to recognize in it all the gravity of the motives which occasioned it
and the consequences which result from it. Decisions that go against life
sometimes arise from difficult or even tragic situations of profound suffering,
loneliness, a total lack of economic prospects, depression and anxiety about
the future. Such circumstances can mitigate even to a notable degree subjective
responsibility and the consequent culpability of those who make these choices
which in themselves are evil. But today the problem goes far beyond the
necessary recognition of these personal situations. It is a problem which
exists at the cultural, social and political level, where it reveals its more
sinister and disturbing aspect in the tendency, ever more widely shared, to
interpret the above crimes against life as legitimate expressions of individual
freedom, to be acknowledged and protected as actual rights. In this way, and
with tragic consequences, a long historical process is reaching a
turning-point. The process which once led to discovering the idea of
"human rights"-rights inherent in every person and prior to any
Constitution and State legislation-is today marked by a surprising
contradiction. Precisely in an age when the inviolable rights of the person are
solemnly proclaimed and the value of life is publicly affirmed, the very right
to life is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant
moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death. On the one
hand, the various declarations of human rights and the many initiatives
inspired by these declarations show that at the global level there is a growing
moral sensitivity, more alert to acknowledging the value and dignity of every
individual as a human being, without any distinction of race, nationality,
religion, political opinion or social class.On the other hand, these noble
proclamations are unfortunately contradicted by a tragic repudiation of them in
practice. This denial is still more distressing, indeed more scandalous, precisely
because it is occurring in a society which makes the affirmation and protection
of human rights its primary objective and its boast. How can these repeated
affirmations of principle be reconciled with the continual increase and
widespread justification of attacks on human life? How can we reconcile these
declarations with the refusal to accept those who are weak and needy, or
elderly, or those who have just been conceived? These attacks go directly
against respect for life and they represent a direct threat to the entire
culture of human rights. It is a threat capable, in the end, of jeopardizing
the very meaning of democratic coexistence: rather than societies of
"people living together", our cities risk becoming societies of
people who are rejected, marginalized, uprooted and oppressed. If we then look
at the wider worldwide perspective, how can we fail to think that the very
affirmation of the rights of individuals and peoples made in distinguished
international assemblies is a merely futile exercise of rhetoric, if we fail to
unmask the selfishness of the rich countries which exclude poorer countries
from access to development or make such access dependent on arbitrary
prohibitions against procreation, setting up an opposition between development
and man himself? Should we not question the very economic models often adopted
by States which, also as a result of international pressures and forms of
conditioning, cause and aggravate situations of injustice and violence in which
the life of whole peoples is degraded and trampled upon?
19. What are the roots of this remarkable
contradiction?
We can find them in an overall assessment of a
cultural and moral nature, beginning with the mentality which carries the
concept of subjectivity to an extreme and even distorts it, and recognizes as a
subject of rights only the person who enjoys full or at least incipient
autonomy and who emerges from a state of total dependence on others. But how
can we reconcile this approach with the exaltation of man as a being who is
"not to be used"? The theory of human rights is based precisely on
the affirmation that the human person, unlike animals and things, cannot be
subjected to domination by others. We must also mention the mentality which
tends to equate personal dignity with the capacity for verbal and explicit, or
at least perceptible, communication. It is clear that on the basis of these
presuppositions there is no place in the world for anyone who, like the unborn
or the dying, is a weak element in the social structure, or for anyone who
appears completely at the mercy of others and radically dependent on them, and
can only communicate through the silent language of a profound sharing of
affection. In this case it is force which becomes the criterion for choice and
action in interpersonal relations and in social life. But this is the exact
opposite of what a State ruled by law, as a community in which the
"reasons of force" are replaced by the "force of reason",
historically intended to affirm. At another level, the roots of the
contradiction between the solemn affirmation of human rights and their tragic
denial in practice lies in a notion of freedom which exalts the isolated
individual in an absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to
others and service of them. While it is true that the taking of life not yet
born or in its final stages is sometimes marked by a mistaken sense of altruism
and human compassion, it cannot be denied that such a culture of death, taken
as a whole, betrays a completely individualistic concept of freedom, which ends
up by becoming the freedom of "the strong" against the weak who have
no choice but to submit. It is precisely in this sense that Cain's answer to
the Lord's question: "Where is Abel your brother?" can be
interpreted: "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9).
Yes, every man is his "brother's keeper", because God entrusts us to
one another. And it is also in view of this entrusting that God gives everyone
freedom, a freedom which possesses an inherently relational dimension. This is
a great gift of the Creator, placed as it is at the service of the person and
of his fulfilment through the gift of self and openness to others; but when
freedom is made absolute in an individualistic way, it is emptied of its original
content, and its very meaning and dignity are contradicted. There is an even
more profound aspect which needs to be emphasized: freedom negates and destroys
itself, and becomes a factor leading to the destruction of others, when it no
longer recognizes and respects its essential link with the truth.
When freedom, out of a desire to emancipate
itself from all forms of tradition and authority, shuts out even the most
obvious evidence of an objective and universal truth, which is the foundation
of personal and social life, then the person ends up by no longer taking as the
sole and indisputable point of reference for his own choices the truth about
good and evil, but only his subjective and changeable opinion or, indeed, his
selfish interest and whim.
20. This view of freedom leads to a serious
distortion of life in society. If the promotion of the self is understood in
terms of absolute autonomy, people inevitably reach the point of rejecting one
another. Everyone else is considered an enemy from whom one has to defend
oneself. Thus society becomes a mass of individuals placed side by side, but
without any mutual bonds. Each one wishes to assert himself independently of
the other and in fact intends to make his own interests prevail. Still, in the
face of other people's analogous interests, some kind of compromise must be
found, if one wants a society in which the maximum possible freedom is
guaranteed to each individual. In this way, any reference to common values and
to a truth absolutely binding on everyone is lost, and social life ventures on
to the shifting sands of complete relativism. At that point, everything is
negotiable, everything is open to bargaining: even the first of the fundamental
rights, the right to life. This is what is happening also at the level of
politics and government: the original and inalienable right to life is
questioned or denied on the basis of a parliamentary vote or the will of one
part of the people-even if it is the majority. This is the sinister result of a
relativism which reigns unopposed: the "right" ceases to be such,
because it is no longer firmly founded on the inviolable dignity of the person,
but is made subject to the will of the stronger part. In this way democracy,
contradicting its own principles, effectively moves towards a form of
totalitarianism.
The State is no longer the "common
home" where all can live together on the basis of principles of
fundamental equality, but is transformed into a tyrant State, which arrogates
to itself the right to dispose of the life of the weakest and most defenceless
members, from the unborn child to the elderly, in the name of a public interest
which is really nothing but the interest of one part.
The appearance of the strictest respect for
legality is maintained, at least when the laws permitting abortion and
euthanasia are the result of a ballot in accordance with what are generally
seen as the rules of democracy. Really, what we have here is only the tragic
caricature of legality; the democratic ideal, which is only truly such when it
acknowledges and safeguards the dignity of every human person, is betrayed in
its very foundations: "How is it still possible to speak of the dignity of
every human person when the killing of the weakest and most innocent is
permitted? In the name of what justice is the most unjust of discriminations
practised: some individuals are held to be deserving of defence and others are
denied that dignity?" 16 When this happens, the process leading to the
breakdown of a genuinely human co-existence and the disintegration of the State
itself has already begun.To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and
euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human
freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others
and against others. This is the death of true freedom: "Truly, truly, I
say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34).
"And from your face I shall be
hidden" (Gen 4:14):
the eclipse of the sense of God and of man
21. In seeking the deepest roots of the
struggle between the "culture of life" and the "culture of
death", we cannot restrict ourselves to the perverse idea of freedom
mentioned above. We have to go to the heart of the tragedy being experienced by
modern man: the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, typical of a social and
cultural climate dominated by secularism, which, with its ubiquitous tentacles,
succeeds at times in putting Christian communities themselves to the test.
Those who allow themselves to be influenced by this climate easily fall into a
sad vicious circle: when the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to
lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life; in turn, the systematic
violation of the moral law, especially in the serious matter of respect for
human life and its dignity, produces a kind of progressive darkening of the
capacity to discern God's living and saving presence. Once again we can gain
insight from the story of Abel's murder by his brother. After the curse imposed
on him by God, Cain thus addresses the Lord: "My punishment is greater
than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me this day away from the ground; and
from your face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and wanderer on the
earth, and whoever finds me will slay me" (Gen 4:13-14). Cain is convinced
that his sin will not obtain pardon from the Lord and that his inescapable
destiny will be to have to "hide his face" from him. If Cain is
capable of confessing that his fault is "greater than he can bear",
it is because he is conscious of being in the presence of God and before God's
just judgment. It is really only before the Lord that man can admit his sin and
recognize its full seriousness. Such was the experience of David who, after
"having committed evil in the sight of the Lord", and being rebuked
by the Prophet Nathan, exclaimed: "My offences truly I know them; my sin
is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in
your sight I have done" (Ps 51:5-6).
22. Consequently, when the sense of God is
lost, the sense of man is also threatened and poisoned, as the Second Vatican
Council concisely states: "Without the Creator the creature would
disappear ... But when God is forgotten the creature itself grows
unintelligible".17 Man is no longer able to see himself as
"mysteriously different" from other earthly creatures; he regards
himself merely as one more living being, as an organism which, at most, has
reached a very high stage of perfection. Enclosed in the narrow horizon of his
physical nature, he is somehow reduced to being "a thing", and no
longer grasps the "transcendent" character of his "existence as
man". He no longer considers life as a splendid gift of God, something
"sacred" entrusted to his responsibility and thus also to his loving
care and "veneration". Life itself becomes a mere "thing",
which man claims as his exclusive property, completely subject to his control
and manipulation. Thus, in relation to life at birth or at death, man is no
longer capable of posing the question of the truest meaning of his own
existence, nor can he assimilate with genuine freedom these crucial moments of
his own history. He is concerned only with "doing", and, using all
kinds of technology, he busies himself with programming, controlling and dominating
birth and death. Birth and death, instead of being primary experiences
demanding to be "lived", become things to be merely
"possessed" or "rejected".
Moreover, once all reference to God has been
removed, it is not surprising that the meaning of everything else becomes
profoundly distorted. Nature itself, from being "mater" (mother), is
now reduced to being "matter", and is subjected to every kind of
manipulation. This is the direction in which a certain technical and scientific
way of thinking, prevalent in present-day culture, appears to be leading when
it rejects the very idea that there is a truth of creation which must be
acknowledged, or a plan of God for life which must be respected. Something
similar happens when concern about the consequences of such a "freedom
without law" leads some people to the opposite position of a "law
without freedom", as for example in ideologies which consider it unlawful
to interfere in any way with nature, practically "divinizing" it.
Again, this is a misunderstanding of nature's dependence on the plan of the
Creator. Thus it is clear that the loss of contact with God's wise design is
the deepest root of modern man's confusion, both when this loss leads to a
freedom without rules and when it leaves man in "fear" of his
freedom.By living "as if God did not exist", man not only loses sight
of the mystery of God, but also of the mystery of the world and the mystery of
his own being.
23. The eclipse of the sense of God and of man
inevitably leads to a practical materialism, which breeds individualism,
utilitarianism and hedonism. Here too we see the permanent validity of the
words of the Apostle: "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct" (Rom 1:28). The values
of being are replaced by those of having. The only goal which counts is the
pursuit of one's own material well-being. The so-called "quality of
life" is interpreted primarily or exclusively as economic efficiency,
inordinate consumerism, physical beauty and pleasure, to the neglect of the
more profound dimensions-interpersonal, spiritual and religious-of existence.
In such a context suffering, an inescapable burden of human existence but also
a factor of possible personal growth, is "censored", rejected as
useless, indeed opposed as an evil, always and in every way to be avoided. When
it cannot be avoided and the prospect of even some future well-being vanishes,
then life appears to have lost all meaning and the temptation grows in man to
claim the right to suppress it. Within this same cultural climate, the body is
no longer perceived as a properly personal reality, a sign and place of
relations with others, with God and with the world. It is reduced to pure
materiality: it is simply a complex of organs, functions and energies to be
used according to the sole criteria of pleasure and efficiency.
Consequently, sexuality too is depersonalized
and exploited: from being the sign, place and language of love, that is, of the
gift of self and acceptance of another, in all the other's richness as a
person, it increasingly becomes the occasion and instrument for self-assertion
and the selfish satisfaction of personal desires and instincts. Thus the
original import of human sexuality is distorted and falsified, and the two
meanings, unitive and procreative, inherent in the very nature of the conjugal
act, are artificially separated: in this way the marriage union is betrayed and
its fruitfulness is subjected to the caprice of the couple. Procreation then
becomes the "enemy" to be avoided in sexual activity: if it is
welcomed, this is only because it expresses a desire, or indeed the intention,
to have a child "at all costs", and not because it signifies the
complete acceptance of the other and therefore an openness to the richness of
life which the child represents.In the materialistic perspective described so
far, interpersonal relations are seriously impoverished. The first to be harmed
are women, children, the sick or suffering, and the elderly. The criterion of
personal dignity-which demands respect, generosity and service-is replaced by
the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are
considered not for what they "are", but for what they "have, do
and produce". This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak.
24. It is at the heart of the moral conscience
that the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, with all its various and
deadly consequences for life, is taking place. It is a question, above all, of
the individual conscience, as it stands before God in its singleness and
uniqueness. 18 But it is also a question, in a certain sense, of the
"moral conscience" of society: in a way it too is responsible, not
only because it tolerates or fosters behaviour contrary to life, but also because
it encourages the "culture of death", creating and consolidating
actual "structures of sin" which go against life. The moral
conscience, both individual and social, is today subjected, also as a result of
the penetrating influence of the media, to an extremely serious and mortal
danger: that of confusion between good and evil, precisely in relation to the
fundamental right to life. A large part of contemporary society looks sadly
like that humanity which Paul describes in his Letter to the Romans. It is composed
"of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth" (1:18): having
denied God and believing that they can build the earthly city without him,
"they became futile in their thinking" so that "their senseless
minds were darkened" (1:21); "claiming to be wise, they became
fools" (1:22), carrying out works deserving of death, and "they not
only do them but approve those who practise them" (1:32). When conscience,
this bright lamp of the soul (cf. Mt 6:22-23), calls "evil good and good
evil" (Is 5:20), it is already on the path to the most alarming corruption
and the darkest moral blindness.And yet all the conditioning and efforts to
enforce silence fail to stifle the voice of the Lord echoing in the conscience
of every individual: it is always from this intimate sanctuary of the
conscience that a new journey of love, openness and service to human life can
begin.
"You
have come to the sprinkled blood" (cf. Heb 12: 22, 24):
signs of
hope and invitation to commitment
25. "The voice of your brother's blood is
crying to me from the ground" (Gen 4:10). It is not only the voice of the
blood of Abel, the first innocent man to be murdered, which cries to God, the
source and defender of life. The blood of every other human being who has been
killed since Abel is also a voice raised to the Lord. In an absolutely singular
way, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, the voice of the
blood of Christ, of whom Abel in his innocence is a prophetic figure, cries out
to God: "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God ...
to the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more
graciously than the blood of Abel" (12:22, 24).It is the sprinkled blood.
A symbol and prophetic sign of it had been the blood of the sacrifices of the
Old Covenant, whereby God expressed his will to communicate his own life to
men, purifying and consecrating them (cf. Ex 24:8; Lev 17:11). Now all of this
is fulfilled and comes true in Christ: his is the sprinkled blood which
redeems, purifies and saves; it is the blood of the Mediator of the New
Covenant "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt
26:28).
This blood, which flows from the pierced side
of Christ on the Cross (cf. Jn 19:34), "speaks more graciously" than
the blood of Abel; indeed, it expresses and requires a more radical
"justice", and above all it implores mercy, 19 it makes intercession
for the brethren before the Father (cf. Heb 7:25), and it is the source of
perfect redemption and the gift of new life. The blood of Christ, while it
reveals the grandeur of the Father's love, shows how precious man is in God's
eyes and how priceless the value of his life. The Apostle Peter reminds us of
this: "You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from
your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" (1
Pt 1:18-19). Precisely by contemplating the precious blood of Christ, the sign
of his self-giving love (cf. Jn 13:1), the believer learns to recognize and
appreciate the almost divine dignity of every human being and can exclaim with
ever renewed and grateful wonder: "How precious must man be in the eyes of
the Creator, if he ?gained so great a Redeemer' (Exsultet of the Easter Vigil),
and if God ?gave his only Son' in order that man ?should not perish but have
eternal life' (cf. Jn 3:16)!". 20 Furthermore, Christ's blood reveals to
man that his greatness, and therefore his vocation, consists in the sincere gift
of self. Precisely because it is poured out as the gift of life, the blood of
Christ is no longer a sign of death, of definitive separation from the
brethren, but the instrument of a communion which is richness of life for all.
Whoever in the Sacrament of the Eucharist drinks this blood and abides in Jesus
(cf. Jn 6:56) is drawn into the dynamism of his love and gift of life, in order
to bring to its fullness the original vocation to love which belongs to
everyone (cf. Gen 1:27; 2:18-24). It is from the blood of Christ that all draw
the strength to commit themselves to promoting life. It is precisely this blood
that is the most powerful source of hope, indeed it is the foundation of the
absolute certitude that in God's plan life will be victorious. "And death
shall be no more", exclaims the powerful voice which comes from the throne
of God in the Heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:4). And Saint Paul assures us that the
present victory over sin is a sign and anticipation of the definitive victory
over death, when there "shall come to pass the saying that is written:
?Death is swallowed up in victory'. ?O death, where is your victory? O death,
where is your sting?' " (1 Cor 15:54-55).
26. In effect, signs which point to this
victory are not lacking in our societies and cultures, strongly marked though
they are by the "culture of death". It would therefore be to give a
one-sided picture, which could lead to sterile discouragement, if the
condemnation of the threats to life were not accompanied by the presentation of
the positive signs at work in humanity's present situation.
Unfortunately it is often hard to see and
recognize these positive signs, perhaps also because they do not receive
sufficient attention in the communications media. Yet, how many initiatives of
help and support for people who are weak and defenceless have sprung up and
continue to spring up in the Christian community and in civil society, at the
local, national and international level, through the efforts of individuals,
groups, movements and organizations of various kinds! There are still many
married couples who, with a generous sense of responsibility, are ready to
accept children as "the supreme gift of marriage".21 Nor is there a
lack of families which, over and above their everyday service to life, are
willing to accept abandoned children, boys and girls and teenagers in
difficulty, handicapped persons, elderly men and women who have been left
alone. Many centres in support of life, or similar institutions, are sponsored
by individuals and groups which, with admirable dedication and sacrifice, offer
moral and material support to mothers who are in difficulty and are tempted to
have recourse to abortion. Increasingly, there are appearing in many places
groups of volunteers prepared to offer hospitality to persons without a family,
who find themselves in conditions of particular distress or who need a
supportive environment to help them to overcome destructive habits and discover
anew the meaning of life. Medical science, thanks to the committed efforts of
researchers and practitioners, continues in its efforts to discover ever more
effective remedies: treatments which were once inconceivable but which now
offer much promise for the future are today being developed for the unborn, the
suffering and those in an acute or terminal stage of sickness. Various agencies
and organizations are mobilizing their efforts to bring the benefits of the
most advanced medicine to countries most afflicted by poverty and endemic
diseases. In a similar way national and international associations of
physicians are being organized to bring quick relief to peoples affected by
natural disasters, epidemics or wars. Even if a just international distribution
of medical resources is still far from being a reality, how can we not recognize
in the steps taken so far the sign of a growing solidarity among peoples, a
praiseworthy human and moral sensitivity and a greater respect for life?
27. In view of laws which permit abortion and
in view of efforts, which here and there have been successful, to legalize
euthanasia, movements and initiatives to raise social awareness in defence of
life have sprung up in many parts of the world. When, in accordance with their
principles, such movements act resolutely, but without resorting to violence, they
promote a wider and more profound consciousness of the value of life, and evoke
and bring about a more determined commitment to its defence. Furthermore, how
can we fail to mention all those daily gestures of openness, sacrifice and
unselfish care which countless people lovingly make in families, hospitals,
orphanages, homes for the elderly and other centres or communities which defend
life? Allowing herself to be guided by the example of Jesus the "Good
Samaritan" (cf. Lk 10:29-37) and upheld by his strength, the Church has
always been in the front line in providing charitable help: so many of her sons
and daughters, especially men and women Religious, in traditional and ever new
forms, have consecrated and continue to consecrate their lives to God, freely
giving of themselves out of love for their neighbour, especially for the weak
and needy. These deeds strengthen the bases of the "civilization of love
and life", without which the life of individuals and of society itself
loses its most genuinely human quality. Even if they go unnoticed and remain
hidden to most people, faith assures us that the Father "who sees in
secret" (Mt 6:6) not only will reward these actions but already here and
now makes them produce lasting fruit for the good of all.Among the signs of
hope we should also count the spread, at many levels of public opinion, of a
new sensitivity ever more opposed to war as an instrument for the resolution of
conflicts between peoples, and increasingly oriented to finding effective but
"non-violent" means to counter the armed aggressor. In the same
perspective there is evidence of a growing public opposition to the death
penalty, even when such a penalty is seen as a kind of "legitimate
defence" on the part of society. Modern society in fact has the means of
effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals harmless without
definitively denying them the chance to reform.Another welcome sign is the
growing attention being paid to the quality of life and to ecology, especially
in more developed societies, where people's expectations are no longer
concentrated so much on problems of survival as on the search for an overall
improvement of living conditions. Especially significant is the reawakening of
an ethical reflection on issues affecting life. The emergence and ever more
widespread development of bioethics is promoting more reflection and
dialogue-between believers and non-believers, as well as between followers of
different religions- on ethical problems, including fundamental issues
pertaining to human life.
28. This situation, with its lights and
shadows, ought to make us all fully aware that we are facing an enormous and
dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the "culture of
death" and the "culture of life". We find ourselves not only
"faced with" but necessarily "in the midst of" this
conflict: we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable
responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life. For us too Moses'
invitation rings out loud and clear: "See, I have set before you this day
life and good, death and evil. ... I have set before you life and death,
blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may
live" (Dt 30:15, 19).
This invitation is very appropriate for us who
are called day by day to the duty of choosing between the "culture of
life" and the "culture of death". But the call of Deuteronomy
goes even deeper, for it urges us to make a choice which is properly religious
and moral. It is a question of giving our own existence a basic orientation and
living the law of the Lord faithfully and consistently: "If you obey the
commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the
Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his
statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live ... therefore choose life,
that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his
voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days"
(30:16,19-20).The unconditional choice for life reaches its full religious and
moral meaning when it flows from, is formed by and nourished by faith in
Christ.
Nothing helps us so much to face positively the
conflict between death and life in which we are engaged as faith in the Son of
God who became man and dwelt among men so "that they may have life, and
have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). It is a matter of faith in the Risen Lord,
who has conquered death; faith in the blood of Christ "that speaks more
graciously than the blood of Abel" (Heb 12:24).With the light and strength
of this faith, therefore, in facing the challenges of the present situation,
the Church is becoming more aware of the grace and responsibility which come to
her from her Lord of proclaiming, celebrating and serving the Gospel of life.
CHAPTER II
I came that they may have life
The Christian message concerning life
"The
life was made manifest, and we saw it" (1 Jn 1:2):
with our
gaze fixed on Christ, "the Word of life"
29. Faced with the countless grave threats to
life present in the modern world, one could feel
overwhelmed by sheer powerlessness: good can never be powerful enough to
triumph over evil! At such times the People of God, and this includes every
believer, is called to profess with humility and courage its faith in Jesus
Christ, "the Word of life" (1 Jn 1:1). The Gospel of life is not
simply a reflection, however new and profound, on human life. Nor is it merely
a commandment aimed at raising awareness and bringing about significant changes
in society. Still less is it an illusory promise of a better future. The Gospel
of life is something concrete and personal, for it consists in the proclamation
of the very person of Jesus. Jesus made himself known to the Apostle Thomas,
and in him to every person, with the words: "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life" (Jn 14:6). This is also how he spoke of himself to Martha,
the sister of Lazarus: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and
believes in me shall never die" (Jn 11:25-26). Jesus is the Son who from
all eternity receives life from the Father (cf. Jn 5:26), and who has come
among men to make them sharers in this gift: "I came that they may have
life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10).Through the words, the actions
and the very person of Jesus, man is given the possibility of
"knowing" the complete truth concerning the value of human life. From
this "source" he receives, in particular, the capacity to "accomplish"
this truth perfectly (cf. Jn 3:21), that is, to accept and fulfil completely
the responsibility of loving and serving, of defending and promoting human
life. In Christ, the Gospel of life is definitively proclaimed and fully given.
This is the Gospel which, already present in the Revelation of the Old
Testament, and indeed written in the heart of every man and woman, has echoed
in every conscience "from the beginning", from the time of creation
itself, in such a way that, despite the negative consequences of sin, it can also
be known in its essential traits by human reason. As the Second Vatican Council
teaches, Christ "perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole
work of making himself present and manifesting himself; through his words and
deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially through his death and glorious
Resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover,
he confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed: that God is with
us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life
eternal".22
30. Hence, with our attention fixed on the Lord
Jesus, we wish to hear from him once again "the words of God" (Jn
3:34) and meditate anew on the Gospel of life. The deepest and most original
meaning of this meditation on what revelation tells us about human life was
taken up by the Apostle John in the opening words of his First Letter:
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life-the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and
testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father
and was made manifest to us-that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also
to you, so that you may have fellowship with us" (1:1-3).In Jesus, the
"Word of life", God's eternal life is thus proclaimed and given.
Thanks to this proclamation and gift, our physical and spiritual life, also in
its earthly phase, acquires its full value and meaning, for God's eternal life
is in fact the end to which our living in this world is directed and called. In
this way the Gospel of life includes everything that human experience and
reason tell us about the value of human life, accepting it, purifying it,
exalting it and bringing it to fulfilment.
"The Lord is my strength and my song, and
he has become my salvation" (Ex 15:2):
life is always a good
31. The fullness of the Gospel message about
life was prepared for in the Old Testament. Especially in the events of the
Exodus, the centre of the Old Testament faith experience, Israel discovered the
preciousness of its life in the eyes of God. When it seemed doomed to
extermination because of the threat of death hanging over all its newborn males
(cf. Ex 1:15-22), the Lord revealed himself to Israel as its Saviour, with the
power to ensure a future to those without hope. Israel thus comes to know
clearly that its existence is not at the mercy of a Pharaoh who can exploit it
at his despotic whim. On the contrary, Israel's life is the object of God's
gentle and intense love. Freedom from slavery meant the gift of an identity,
the recognition of an indestructible dignity and the beginning of a new
history, in which the discovery of God and discovery of self go hand in hand.
The Exodus was a foundational experience and a model for the future. Through
it, Israel comes to learn that whenever its existence is threatened it need
only turn to God with renewed trust in order to find in him effective help: "I
formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me"
(Is 44:21).Thus, in coming to know the value of its own existence as a people,
Israel also grows in its perception of the meaning and value of life itself.
This reflection is developed more specifically in the Wisdom Literature, on the
basis of daily experience of the precariousness of life and awareness of the
threats which assail it. Faced with the contradictions of life, faith is
challenged to respond. More than anything else, it is the problem of suffering
which challenges faith and puts it to the test. How can we fail to appreciate
the universal anguish of man when we meditate on the Book of Job? The innocent
man overwhelmed by suffering is understandably led to wonder: "Why is
light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long
for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures?"
(3:20-21).
But even when the darkness is deepest, faith
points to a trusting and adoring acknowledgment of the "mystery":
"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be
thwarted" (Job 42:2).Revelation progressively allows the first notion of
immortal life planted by the Creator in the human heart to be grasped with ever
greater clarity: "He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he
has put eternity into man's mind" (Ec 3:11). This first notion of totality
and fullness is waiting to be manifested in love and brought to perfection, by
God's free gift, through sharing in his eternal life.
"The
name of Jesus ... has made this man strong" (Acts 3:16):
in the
uncertainties of human life, Jesus brings life's meaning to fulfilment
32. The experience of the people of the
Covenant is renewed in the experience of all the "poor" who meet Jesus
of Nazareth. Just as God who "loves the living" (cf. Wis 11:26) had
reassured Israel in the midst of danger, so now the Son of God proclaims to all
who feel threatened and hindered that their lives too are a good to which the
Father's love gives meaning and value. "The blind receive their sight, the
lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the
poor have good news preached to them" (Lk 7:22). With these words of the
Prophet Isaiah (35:5-6, 61:1), Jesus sets forth the meaning of his own mission:
all who suffer because their lives are in some way "diminished" thus
hear from him the "good news" of God's concern for them, and they
know for certain that their lives too are a gift carefully guarded in the hands
of the Father (cf. Mt 6:25-34).It is above all the "poor" to whom
Jesus speaks in his preaching and actions. The crowds of the sick and the
outcasts who follow him and seek him out (cf. Mt 4:23-25) find in his words and
actions a revelation of the great value of their lives and of how their hope of
salvation is well-founded. The same thing has taken place in the Church's
mission from the beginning. When the Church proclaims Christ as the one who
"went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him" (Acts 10:38), she is conscious of being the bearer
of a message of salvation which resounds in all its newness precisely amid the
hardships and poverty of human life. Peter cured the cripple who daily sought
alms at the "Beautiful Gate" of the Temple in Jerusalem, saying:
"I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk" (Acts 3:6). By faith in Jesus, "the
Author of life" (Acts 3:15), life which lies abandoned and cries out for
help regains self-esteem and full dignity. The words and deeds of Jesus and
those of his Church are not meant only for those who are sick or suffering or
in some way neglected by society. On a deeper level they affect the very
meaning of every person's life in its moral and spiritual dimensions. Only
those who recognize that their life is marked by the evil of sin can discover
in an encounter with Jesus the Saviour the truth and the authenticity of their
own existence. Jesus himself says as much: "Those who are well have no
need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Lk 5:31-32).But the person who,
like the rich land-owner in the Gospel parable, thinks that he can make his
life secure by the possession of material goods alone, is deluding himself.
Life is slipping away from him, and very soon he will find himself bereft of it
without ever having appreciated its real meaning: "Fool! This night your
soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they
be?" (Lk 12:20).
33. In Jesus' own life, from beginning to end,
we find a singular "dialectic" between the experience of the
uncertainty of human life and the affirmation of its value. Jesus' life is
marked by uncertainty from the very moment of his birth. He is certainly
accepted by the righteous, who echo Mary's immediate and joyful "yes"
(cf. Lk 1:38). But there is also, from the start, rejection on the part of a
world which grows hostile and looks for the child in order "to destroy
him" (Mt 2:13); a world which remains indifferent and unconcerned about
the fulfilment of the mystery of this life entering the world: "there was
no place for them in the inn" (Lk 2:7). In this contrast between threats
and insecurity on the one hand and the power of God's gift on the other, there
shines forth all the more clearly the glory which radiates from the house at
Nazareth and from the manger at Bethlehem: this life which is born is salvation
for all humanity (cf. Lk 2:11).Life's contradictions and risks were fully
accepted by Jesus: "though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich" (2 Cor 8:9). The poverty of
which Paul speaks is not only a stripping of divine privileges, but also a sharing
in the lowliest and most vulnerable conditions of human life (cf. Phil 2:6-7).
Jesus lived this poverty throughout his life, until the culminating moment of
the Cross: "he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death
on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name" (Phil 2:8-9). It is precisely by his death that
Jesus reveals all the splendour and value of life, inasmuch as his
self-oblation on the Cross becomes the source of new life for all people (cf.
Jn 12:32). In his journeying amid contradictions and in the very loss of his
life, Jesus is guided by the certainty that his life is in the hands of the
Father. Consequently, on the Cross, he can say to him: "Father, into your
hands I commend my spirit!" (Lk 23:46), that is, my life. Truly great must
be the value of human life if the Son of God has taken it up and made it the
instrument of the salvation of all humanity!
"Called
... to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:28-29):
God's
glory shines on the face of man
34. Life is always a good. This is an
instinctive perception and a fact of experience, and man is called to grasp the
profound reason why this is so. Why is life a good? This question is found
everywhere in the Bible, and from the very first pages it receives a powerful
and amazing answer. The life which God gives man is quite different from the
life of all other living creatures, inasmuch as man, although formed from the
dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7, 3:19; Job 34:15; Ps 103:14; 104:29), is a
manifestation of God in the world, a sign of his presence, a trace of his glory
(cf. Gen 1:26-27; Ps 8:6). This is what Saint Irenaeus of Lyons wanted to
emphasize in his celebrated definition: "Man, living man, is the glory of
God".23 Man has been given a sublime dignity, based on the intimate bond
which unites him to his Creator: in man there shines forth a reflection of God
himself. The Book of Genesis affirms this when, in the first account of
creation, it places man at the summit of God's creative activity, as its crown,
at the culmination of a process which leads from indistinct chaos to the most
perfect of creatures. Everything in creation is ordered to man and everything
is made subject to him: "Fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion
over ... every living thing" (1:28); this is God's command to the man and
the woman. A similar message is found also in the other account of creation:
"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it
and keep it" (Gen 2:15). We see here a clear affirmation of the primacy of
man over things; these are made subject to him and entrusted to his responsible
care, whereas for no reason can he be made subject to other men and almost
reduced to the level of a thing. In the biblical narrative, the difference
between man and other creatures is shown above all by the fact that only the
creation of man is presented as the result of a special decision on the part of
God, a deliberation to establish a particular and specific bond with the
Creator: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen
1:26). The life which God offers to man is a gift by which God shares something
of himself with his creature.Israel would ponder at length the meaning of this
particular bond between man and God. The Book of Sirach too recognizes that
God, in creating human beings, "endowed them with strength like his own,
and made them in his own image" (17:3). The biblical author sees as part
of this image not only man's dominion over the world but also those spiritual
faculties which are distinctively human, such as reason, discernment between
good and evil, and free will: "He filled them with knowledge and
understanding, and showed them good and evil" (Sir 17:7). The ability to
attain truth and freedom are human prerogatives inasmuch as man is created in
the image of his Creator, God who is true and just (cf. Dt 32:4). Man alone,
among all visible creatures, is "capable of knowing and loving his
Creator".24 The life which God bestows upon man is much more than mere
existence in time. It is a drive towards fullness of life; it is the seed of an
existence which transcends the very limits of time: "For God created man
for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity" (Wis
2:23).
35. The Yahwist account of creation expresses
the same conviction. This ancient narrative speaks of a divine breath which is
breathed into man so that he may come to life: "The Lord God formed man of
dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being" (Gen 2:7).The divine origin of this spirit of
life explains the perennial dissatisfaction which man feels throughout his days
on earth. Because he is made by God and bears within himself an indelible
imprint of God, man is naturally drawn to God. When he heeds the deepest
yearnings of the heart, every man must make his own the words of truth
expressed by Saint Augustine: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and
our hearts are restless until they rest in you".25 How very significant is
the dissatisfaction which marks man's life in Eden as long as his sole point of
reference is the world of plants and animals (cf. Gen 2:20). Only the
appearance of the woman, a being who is flesh of his flesh and bone of his
bones (cf. Gen 2:23), and in whom the spirit of God the Creator is also alive,
can satisfy the need for interpersonal dialogue, so vital for human existence.
In the other, whether man or woman, there is a reflection of God himself, the
definitive goal and fulfilment of every person."What is man that you are
mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?", the Psalmist
wonders (Ps 8:4). Compared to the immensity of the universe, man is very small,
and yet this very contrast reveals his greatness: "You have made him
little less than a god, and crown him with glory and honour" (Ps 8:5). The
glory of God shines on the face of man. In man the Creator finds his rest, as
Saint Ambrose comments with a sense of awe: "The sixth day is finished and
the creation of the world ends with the formation of that masterpiece which is
man, who exercises dominion over all living creatures and is as it were the
crown of the universe and the supreme beauty of every created being. Truly we
should maintain a reverential silence, since the Lord rested from every work he
had undertaken in the world. He rested then in the depths of man, he rested in
man's mind and in his thought; after all, he had created man endowed with
reason, capable of imitating him, of emulating his virtue, of hungering for
heavenly graces. In these his gifts God reposes, who has said: ?Upon whom shall
I rest, if not upon the one who is humble, contrite in spirit and trembles at
my word?' (Is 66:1-2). I thank the Lord our God who has created so wonderful a
work in which to take his rest".26
36. Unfortunately, God's marvellous plan was
marred by the appearance of sin in history. Through sin, man rebels against his
Creator and ends up by worshipping creatures: "They exchanged the truth
about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the
Creator" (Rom 1:25). As a result man not only deforms the image of God in
his own person, but is tempted to offences against it in others as well,
replacing relationships of communion by attitudes of distrust, indifference,
hostility and even murderous hatred. When God is not acknowledged as God, the
profound meaning of man is betrayed and communion between people is
compromised. In the life of man, God's image shines forth anew and is again
revealed in all its fullness at the coming of the Son of God in human flesh.
"Christ is the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), he
"reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature"
(Heb 1:3). He is the perfect image of the Father. The plan of life given to the
first Adam finds at last its fulfilment in Christ. Whereas the disobedience of
Adam had ruined and marred God's plan for human life and introduced death into
the world, the redemptive obedience of Christ is the source of grace poured out
upon the human race, opening wide to everyone the gates of the kingdom of life
(cf. Rom 5:12-21). As the Apostle Paul states: "The first man Adam became
a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor
15:45).All who commit themselves to following Christ are given the fullness of
life: the divine image is restored, renewed and brought to perfection in them.
God's plan for human beings is this, that they should "be conformed to the
image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). Only thus, in the splendour of this image,
can man be freed from the slavery of idolatry, rebuild lost fellowship and
rediscover his true identity.
37. The life which the Son of God came to give
to human beings cannot be reduced to mere existence in time. The life which was
always "in him" and which is the "light of men" (Jn 1:4)
consists in being begotten of God and sharing in the fullness of his love:
"To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to
become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the
flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn 1:12-13).Sometimes Jesus
refers to this life which he came to give simply as "life", and he
presents being born of God as a necessary condition if man is to attain the end
for which God has created him: "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the
kingdom of God" (Jn 3:3). To give this life is the real object of Jesus'
mission: he is the one who "comes down from heaven, and gives life to the
world" (Jn 6:33). Thus can he truly say: "He who follows me ... will
have the light of life" (Jn 8:12).At other times, Jesus speaks of
"eternal life". Here the adjective does more than merely evoke a
perspective which is beyond time. The life which Jesus promises and gives is
"eternal" because it is a full participation in the life of the
"Eternal One". Whoever believes in Jesus and enters into communion
with him has eternal life (cf. Jn 3:15; 6:40) because he hears from Jesus the
only words which reveal and communicate to his existence the fullness of life.
These are the "words of eternal life" which Peter acknowledges in his
confession of faith: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the
Holy One of God" (Jn 6:68-69). Jesus himself, addressing the Father in the
great priestly prayer, declares what eternal life consists in: "This is
eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent" (Jn 17:3). To know God and his Son is to accept the mystery
of the loving communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit into one's
own life, which even now is open to eternal life because it shares in the life
of God.
38. Eternal life is therefore the life of God
himself and at the same time the life of the children of God. As they ponder
this unexpected and inexpressible truth which comes to us from God in Christ,
believers cannot fail to be filled with ever new wonder and unbounded gratitude.
They can say in the words of the Apostle John:
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children
of God; and so we are. ... Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:1-2).Here the Christian truth about
life becomes most sublime. The dignity of this life is linked not only to its
beginning, to the fact that it comes from God, but also to its final end, to
its destiny of fellowship with God in knowledge and love of him. In the light
of this truth Saint Irenaeus qualifies and completes his praise of man:
"the glory of God" is indeed, "man, living man", but
"the life of man consists in the vision of God".27Immediate
consequences arise from this for human life in its earthly state, in which, for
that matter, eternal life already springs forth and begins to grow. Although
man instinctively loves life because it is a good, this love will find further
inspiration and strength, and new breadth and depth, in the divine dimensions
of this good. Similarly, the love which every human being has for life cannot
be reduced simply to a desire to have sufficient space for self-expression and
for entering into relationships with others; rather, it devel- ops in a joyous
awareness that life can become the "place" where God manifests
himself, where we meet him and enter into communion with him. The life which
Jesus gives in no way lessens the value of our existence in time; it takes it
and directs it to its final destiny: "I am the resurrection and the life
... whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (Jn 11:25-26).
"From
man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting" (Gen 9:5):
reverence
and love for every human life
39. Man's life comes from God; it is his gift,
his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the
sole Lord of this life: man cannot do with it as he wills. God himself makes
this clear to Noah after the Flood: "For your own lifeblood, too, I will
demand an accounting ... and from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand
an accounting for human life" (Gen 9:5).
The biblical text is concerned to emphasize how
the sacredness of life has its foundation in God and in his creative activity:
"For God made man in his own image" (Gen 9:6).Human life and death
are thus in the hands of God, in his power: "In his hand is the life of
every living thing and the breath of all mankind", exclaims Job (12:10).
"The Lord brings to death and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and
raises up" (1 Sam 2:6). He alone can say: "It is I who bring both
death and life" (Dt 32:39). But God does not exercise this power in an
arbitrary and threatening way, but rather as part of his care and loving
concern for his creatures. If it is true that human life is in the hands of
God, it is no less true that these are loving hands, like those of a mother who
accepts, nurtures and takes care of her child: "I have calmed and quieted
my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is
quieted is my soul" (Ps 131:2; cf. Is 49:15; 66:12-13; Hos 11:4). Thus
Israel does not see in the history of peoples and in the destiny of individuals
the outcome of mere chance or of blind fate, but rather the results of a loving
plan by which God brings together all the possibilities of life and opposes the
powers of death arising from sin: "God did not make death, and he does not
delight in the death of the living. For he created all things that they might
exist" (Wis 1:13-14).
40. The sacredness of life gives rise to its
inviolability, written from the beginning in man's heart, in his conscience.
The question: "What have you done?" (Gen 4:10), which God addresses
to Cain after he has killed his brother Abel, interprets the experience of
every person: in the depths of his conscience, man is always reminded of the
inviolability of life-his own life and that of others-as something which does
not belong to him, because it is the property and gift of God the Creator and
Father.The commandment regarding the inviolability of human life reverberates
at the heart of the "ten words" in the covenant of Sinai (cf. Ex
34:28). In the first place that commandment prohibits murder: "You shall
not kill" (Ex 20:13); "do not slay the innocent and righteous"
(Ex 23:7). But, as is brought out in Israel's later legislation, it also
prohibits all personal injury inflicted on another (cf. Ex 21:12-27). Of course
we must recognize that in the Old Testament this sense of the value of life,
though already quite marked, does not yet reach the refinement found in the
Sermon on the Mount.
This is apparent in some aspects of the current
penal legislation, which provided for severe forms of corporal punishment and
even the death penalty. But the overall message, which the New Testament will
bring to perfection, is a forceful appeal for respect for the inviolability of
physical life and the integrity of the person. It culminates in the positive
commandment which obliges us to be responsible for our neighbour as for
ourselves: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Lev 19:18).
41. The commandment "You shall not
kill", included and more fully expressed in the positive command of love
for one's neighbour, is reaffirmed in all its force by the Lord Jesus. To the
rich young man who asks him: "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have
eternal life?", Jesus replies: "If you would enter life, keep the
commandments" (Mt 19:16,17). And he quotes, as the first of these:
"You shall not kill" (Mt 19:18). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
demands from his disciples a righteousness which surpasses that of the Scribes
and Pharisees, also with regard to respect for life: "You have heard that
it was said to the men of old, ?You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be
liable to judgment'. But I say to you that every one who is angry with his
brother shall be liable to judgment" (Mt 5:21-22).By his words and actions
Jesus further unveils the positive requirements of the commandment regarding
the inviolability of life. These requirements were already present in the Old
Testament, where legislation dealt with protecting and defending life when it
was weak and threatened: in the case of foreigners, widows, orphans, the sick
and the poor in general, including children in the womb (cf. Ex 21:22;
22:20-26). With Jesus these positive requirements assume new force and urgency,
and are revealed in all their breadth and depth: they range from caring for the
life of one's brother (whether a blood brother, someone belonging to the same
people, or a foreigner living in the land of Israel) to showing concern for the
stranger, even to the point of loving one's enemy. A stranger is no longer a
stranger for the person who must become a neighbour to someone in need, to the
point of accepting responsibility for his life, as the parable of the Good
Samaritan shows so clearly (cf. Lk 10:25-37). Even an enemy ceases to be an
enemy for the person who is obliged to love him (cf. Mt 5:38-48; Lk 6:27-35),
to "do good" to him (cf. Lk 6:27, 33, 35) and to respond to his
immediate needs promptly and with no expectation of repayment (cf. Lk 6:34-35).
The height of this love is to pray for one's enemy. By so doing we achieve
harmony with the providential love of God: "But I say to you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of
your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the
good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5:44-45; cf. Lk
6:28, 35).Thus the deepest element of God's commandment to protect human life
is the requirement to show reverence and love for every person and the life of
every person. This is the teaching which the Apostle Paul, echoing the words of
Jesus, addresses to the Christians in Rome: "The commandments, ?You shall
not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not
covet', and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, ?You shall
love your neighbour as yourself'. Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom 13:9-10).
"Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen 1:28):
man's
responsibility for life
42. To defend and promote life, to show
reverence and love for it, is a task which God entrusts to every man, calling
him as his living image to share in his own lordship over the world: "God
blessed them, and God said to them, ?Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth' "
(Gen 1:28).The biblical text clearly shows the breadth and depth of the
lordship which God bestows on man. It is a matter first of all of dominion over
the earth and over every living creature, as the Book of Wisdom makes clear:
"O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy ... by your wisdom you have formed
man, to have dominion over the creatures you have made, and rule the world in
holiness and righteousness" (Wis 9:1, 2-3). The Psalmist too extols the
dominion given to man as a sign of glory and honour from his Creator: "You
have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things
under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds
of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the
sea" (Ps 8:6-8).As one called to till and look after the garden of the
world (cf. Gen 2:15), man has a specific responsibility towards the environment
in which he lives, towards the creation which God has put at the service of his
personal dignity, of his life, not only for the present but also for future
generations. It is the ecological question-ranging from the preservation of the
natural habitats of the different species of animals and of other forms of life
to "human ecology" properly speaking 28 - which finds in the Bible
clear and strong ethical direction, leading to a solution which respects the
great good of life, of every life. In fact, "the do- minion granted to man
by the Creator is not an absolute power, nor can one speak of a freedom to ?use
and misuse', or to dispose of things as one pleases. The limitation imposed
from the beginning by the Creator himself and expressed symbolically by the
prohibition not to ?eat of the fruit of the tree' (cf. Gen 2:16-17) shows
clearly enough that, when it comes to the natural world, we are subject not
only to biological laws but also to moral ones, which cannot be violated with
impunity".29
43. A certain sharing by man in God's lordship
is also evident in the specific responsibility which he is given for human life
as such. It is a responsibility which reaches its highest point in the giving
of life through procreation by man and woman in marriage. As the Second Vatican
Council teaches: "God himself who said, ?It is not good for man to be
alone' (Gen 2:18) and ?who made man from the beginning male and female' (Mt
19:4), wished to share with man a certain special participation in his own
creative work. Thus he blessed male and female saying: ?Increase and multiply'
(Gen 1:28). 30By speaking of "a certain special participation" of man
and woman in the "creative work" of God, the Council wishes to point
out that having a child is an event which is deeply human and full of religious
meaning, insofar as it involves both the spouses, who form "one
flesh" (Gen 2:24), and God who makes himself present. As I wrote in my
Letter to Families: "When a new person is born of the conjugal union of
the two, he brings with him into the world a particular image and likeness of
God himself: the genealogy of the person is inscribed in the very biology of
generation. In affirming that the spouses, as parents, cooperate with God the
Creator in conceiving and giving birth to a new human being, we are not
speaking merely with reference to the laws of biology. Instead, we wish to
emphasize that God himself is present in human fatherhood and motherhood quite
differently than he is present in all other instances of begetting ?on earth'.
Indeed, God alone is the source of that ?image and likeness' which is proper to
the human being, as it was received at Creation. Begetting is the continuation
of Creation".31This is what the Bible teaches in direct and eloquent
language when it reports the joyful cry of the first woman, "the mother of
all the living" (Gen 3:20). Aware that God has intervened, Eve exclaims:
"I have begotten a man with the help of the Lord" (Gen 4:1). In
procreation therefore, through the communication of life from parents to child,
God's own image and likeness is transmitted, thanks to the creation of the
immortal soul. 32 The beginning of the "book of the genealogy of
Adam" expresses it in this way: "When God created man, he made him in
the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and
called them man when they were created. When Adam had lived a hundred and
thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his
image, and named him Seth" (Gen 5:1-3). It is precisely in their role as
co-workers with God who transmits his image to the new creature that we see the
greatness of couples who are ready "to cooperate with the love of the
Creator and the Saviour, who through them will enlarge and enrich his own
family day by day".33 This is why the Bishop Amphilochius extolled
"holy matrimony, chosen and elevated above all other earthly gifts"
as "the begetter of humanity, the creator of images of God".34Thus, a
man and woman joined in matrimony become partners in a divine undertaking: through
the act of procreation, God's gift is accepted and a new life opens to the
future. But over and above the specific mission of parents, the task of
accepting and serving life involves everyone; and this task must be fulfilled
above all towards life when it is at its weakest. It is Christ himself who
reminds us of this when he asks to be loved and served in his brothers and
sisters who are suffering in any way: the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner,
the naked, the sick, the imprisoned ... Whatever is done to each of them is
done to Christ himself (cf. Mt 25:31-46).
44. Human life finds itself most vulnerable
when it enters the world and when it leaves the realm of time to embark upon
eternity. The word of God frequently repeats the call to show care and respect,
above all where life is undermined by sickness and old age. Although there are
no direct and explicit calls to protect human life at its very beginning,
specifically life not yet born, and life nearing its end, this can easily be
explained by the fact that the mere possibility of harming, attacking, or
actually denying life in these circumstances is completely foreign to the
religious and cultural way of thinking of the People of God. In the Old
Testament, sterility is dreaded as a curse, while numerous offspring are viewed
as a blessing: "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a
reward" (Ps 127:3; cf. Ps 128:3-4). This belief is also based on Israel's
awareness of being the people of the Covenant, called to increase in accordance
with the promise made to Abraham: "Look towards heaven, and number the
stars, if you are able to number them ... so shall your descendants be"
(Gen 15:5). But more than anything else, at work here is the certainty that the
life which parents transmit has its origins in God. We see this attested in the
many biblical passages which respectfully and lovingly speak of conception, of
the forming of life in the mother's womb, of giving birth and of the intimate
connection between the initial moment of life and the action of God the
Creator." Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were
born I consecrated you" (Jer 1:5): the life of every individual, from its
very beginning, is part of God's plan. Job, from the depth of his pain, stops
to contemplate the work of God who miraculously formed his body in his mother's
womb. Here he finds reason for trust, and he expresses his belief that there is
a divine plan for his life: "You have fashioned and made me; will you then
turn and destroy me? Remember that you have made me of clay; and will you turn
me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You have granted me life and steadfast love; and your care has preserved my
spirit" (Job 10:8-12). Expressions of awe and wonder at God's intervention
in the life of a child in its mother's womb occur again and again in the
Psalms. 35How can anyone think that even a single moment of this marvellous
process of the unfolding of life could be separated from the wise and loving
work of the Creator, and left prey to human caprice? Certainly the mother of
the seven brothers did not think so; she professes her faith in God, both the
source and guarantee of life from its very conception, and the foundation of
the hope of new life beyond death: "I do not know how you came into being
in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order
the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped
the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy
give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the
sake of his laws" (2 Mac 7:22-23).
45. The New Testament revelation confirms the
indisputable recognition of the value of life from its very beginning. The
exaltation of fruitfulness and the eager expectation of life resound in the
words with which Elizabeth rejoices in her pregnancy: "The Lord has looked
on me ... to take away my reproach among men" (Lk 1:25). And even more so,
the value of the person from the moment of conception is celebrated in the
meeting between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, and between the two children
whom they are carrying in the womb. It is precisely the children who reveal the
advent of the Messianic age: in their meeting, the redemptive power of the
presence of the Son of God among men first becomes operative. As Saint Ambrose
writes: "The arrival of Mary and the blessings of the Lord's presence are
also speedily declared ... Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice; but John
was the first to experience grace. She heard according to the order of nature;
he leaped because of the mystery. She recognized the arrival of Mary; he the
arrival of the Lord. The woman recognized the woman's arrival; the child, that
of the child. The women speak of grace; the babies make it effective from
within to the advantage of their mothers who, by a double miracle, prophesy
under the inspiration of their children. The infant leaped, the mother was
filled with the Spirit. The mother was not filled before the son, but after the
son was filled with the Holy Spirit, he filled his mother too".36
"I kept my faith even when I said, ?I am
greatly afflicted' " (Ps 116:10):
life in old age and at times of suffering
46. With regard to the last moments of life
too, it would be anachronistic to expect biblical revelation to make express
reference to present-day issues concerning respect for elderly and sick
persons, or to condemn explicitly attempts to hasten their end by force. The
cultural and religious context of the Bible is in no way touched by such
temptations; indeed, in that context the wisdom and experience of the elderly
are recognized as a unique source of enrichment for the family and for society.
Old age is characterized by dignity and surrounded with reverence (cf. 2 Mac
6:23). The just man does not seek to be delivered from old age and its burden;
on the contrary his prayer is this: "You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O
Lord, from my youth ... so even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not
forsake me, till I proclaim your might to all the generations to come" (Ps
71:5, 18). The ideal of the Messianic age is presented as a time when "no
more shall there be ... an old man who does not fill out his days" (Is
65:20).In old age, how should one face the inevitable decline of life? How
should one act in the face of death? The believer knows that his life is in the
hands of God: "You, O Lord, hold my lot" (cf. Ps 16:5), and he
accepts from God the need to die: "This is the decree from the Lord for
all flesh, and how can you reject the good pleasure of the Most High?"
(Sir 41:3-4). Man is not the master of life, nor is he the master of death. In
life and in death, he has to entrust himself completely to the "good
pleasure of the Most High", to his loving plan. In moments of sickness
too, man is called to have the same trust in the Lord and to renew his fundamental
faith in the One who "heals all your diseases" (cf. Ps 103:3). When
every hope of good health seems to fade before a person's eyes-so as to make
him cry out: "My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like
grass" (Ps 102:11)- even then the believer is sustained by an unshakable
faith in God's life-giving power. Illness does not drive such a person to
despair and to seek death, but makes him cry out in hope: "I kept my
faith, even when I said, ?I am greatly afflicted' " (Ps 116:10); "O
Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have
brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down
to the pit" (Ps 30:2-3).
47. The mission of Jesus, with the many
healings he performed, shows God's great concern even for man's bodily life.
Jesus, as "the physician of the body and of the spirit",37 was sent
by the Father to proclaim the good news to the poor and to heal the
brokenhearted (cf. Lk 4:18; Is 61:1). Later, when he sends his disciples into
the world, he gives them a mission, a mission in which healing the sick goes
hand in hand with the proclamation of the Gospel: "And preach as you go,
saying, ?The kingdom of heaven is at hand'. Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, cast out demons" (Mt 10:7-8; cf. Mk 6:13; 16:18).Certainly
the life of the body in its earthly state is not an absolute good for the
believer, especially as he may be asked to give up his life for a greater good.
As Jesus says: "Whoever would save his
life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will
save it" (Mk 8:35). The New Testament gives many different examples of
this. Jesus does not hesitate to sacrifice himself and he freely makes of his
life an offering to the Father (cf. Jn 10:17) and to those who belong to him
(cf. Jn 10:15). The death of John the Baptist, precursor of the Saviour, also
testifies that earthly existence is not an absolute good; what is more
important is remaining faithful to the word of the Lord even at the risk of
one's life (cf. Mk 6:17-29). Stephen, losing his earthly life because of his
faithful witness to the Lord's Resurrection, follows in the Master's footsteps
and meets those who are stoning him with words of forgiveness (cf. Acts
7:59-60), thus becoming the first of a countless host of martyrs whom the
Church has venerated since the very beginning. No one, however, can arbitrarily
choose whether to live or die; the absolute master of such a decision is the
Creator alone, in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Acts
17:28).
48. Life is indelibly marked by a truth of its
own. By accepting God's gift, man is obliged to maintain life in this truth
which is essential to it. To detach oneself from this truth is to condemn
oneself to meaninglessness and unhappiness, and possibly to become a threat to
the existence of others, since the barriers guaranteeing respect for life and
the defence of life, in every circumstance, have been broken down. The truth of
life is revealed by God's commandment. The word of the Lord shows concretely
the course which life must follow if it is to respect its own truth and to
preserve its own dignity. The protection of life is not only ensured by the specific
commandment "You shall not kill" (Ex 20:13; Dt 5:17); the entire Law
of the Lord serves to protect life, because it reveals that truth in which life
finds its full meaning. It is not surprising, therefore, that God's Covenant
with his people is so closely linked to the perspective of life, also in its
bodily dimension. In that Covenant, God's commandment is offered as the path of
life: "I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If
you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by
loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his
commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and
multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are
entering to take possession of" (Dt 30:15-16). What is at stake is not
only the land of Canaan and the existence of the people of Israel, but also the
world of today and of the future, and the existence of all humanity. In fact,
it is altogether impossible for life to remain authentic and complete once it
is detached from the good; and the good, in its turn, is essentially bound to
the commandments of the Lord, that is, to the "law of life" (Sir
17:11). The good to be done is not added to life as a burden which weighs on
it, since the very purpose of life is that good and only by doing it can life
be built up.It is thus the Law as a whole which fully protects human life. This
explains why it is so hard to remain faithful to the commandment "You
shall not kill" when the other "words of life" (cf. Acts 7:38)
with which this commandment is bound up are not observed. Detached from this
wider framework, the commandment is destined to become nothing more than an
obligation imposed from without, and very soon we begin to look for its limits
and try to find mitigating factors and exceptions. Only when people are open to
the fullness of the truth about God, man and history will the words "You
shall not kill" shine forth once more as a good for man in himself and in
his relations with others. In such a perspective we can grasp the full truth of
the passage of the Book of Deuteronomy which Jesus repeats in reply to the
first temptation: "Man does not live by bread alone, but ... by everything
that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord" (Dt 8:3; cf. Mt 4:4).It is by
listening to the word of the Lord that we are able to live in dignity and
justice. It is by observing the Law of God that we are able to bring forth
fruits of life and happiness: "All who hold her fast will live, and those
who forsake her will die" (Bar 4:1).
49. The history of Israel shows how difficult
it is to remain faithful to the Law of life which God has inscribed in human
hearts and which he gave on Sinai to the people of the Covenant. When the
people look for ways of living which ignore God's plan, it is the Prophets in
particular who forcefully remind them that the Lord alone is the authentic
source of life. Thus Jeremiah writes: "My people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns
for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (2:13). The
Prophets point an accusing finger at those who show contempt for life and
violate people's rights: "They trample the head of the poor into the dust
of the earth" (Amos 2:7); "they have filled this place with the blood
of innocents" (Jer 19:4). Among them, the Prophet Ezekiel frequently
condemns the city of Jerusalem, calling it "the bloody city" (22:2;
24:6, 9), the "city that sheds blood in her own midst" (22:3).But
while the Prophets condemn offences against life, they are concerned above all
to awaken hope for a new principle of life, capable of bringing about a renewed
relationship with God and with others, and of opening up new and extraordinary
possibilities for understanding and carrying out all the demands inherent in
the Gospel of life. This will only be possible thanks to the gift of God who
purifies and renews: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall
be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse
you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you"
(Ezek 36:25-26; cf. Jer 31:34). This "new heart" will make it
possible to appreciate and achieve the deepest and most authentic meaning of
life: namely, that of being a gift which is fully realized in the giving of
self. This is the splendid message about the value of life which comes to us
from the figure of the Servant of the Lord: "When he makes himself an
offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his life ... he
shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied" (Is
53:10, 11).It is in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth that the Law is fulfilled
and that a new heart is given through his Spirit. Jesus does not deny the Law
but brings it to fulfilment (cf. Mt 5:17): the Law and the Prophets are summed
up in the golden rule of mutual love (cf. Mt 7:12). In Jesus the Law becomes
once and for all the "gospel", the good news of God's lordship over
the world, which brings all life back to its roots and its original purpose.
This is the New Law, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"
(Rom 8:2), and its fundamental expression, following the example of the Lord
who gave his life for his friends (cf. Jn 15:13), is the gift of self in love
for one's brothers and sisters: "We know that we have passed out of death
into life, because we love the brethren" (1 Jn 3:14). This is the law of
freedom, joy and blessedness.
"They
shall look on him whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37):
the
Gospel of life is brought to fulfilment on the tree of the Cross
50. At the end of this chapter, in which we
have reflected on the Christian message about life, I would like to pause with
each one of you to contemplate the One who was pierced and who draws all people
to himself (cf. Jn 19:37; 12:32). Looking at "the spectacle" of the
Cross (cf. Lk 23:48) we shall discover in this glorious tree the fulfilment and
the complete revelation of the whole Gospel of life.In the early afternoon of
Good Friday, "there was darkness over the whole land ... while the sun's
light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two" (Lk 23:44,
45). This is the symbol of a great cosmic disturbance and a massive conflict
between the forces of good and the forces of evil, between life and death.
Today we too find ourselves in the midst of a dramatic conflict between the
"culture of death" and the "culture of life". But the glory
of the Cross is not overcome by this darkness; rather, it shines forth ever
more radiantly and brightly, and is revealed as the centre, meaning and goal of
all history and of every human life.Jesus is nailed to the Cross and is lifted
up from the earth. He experiences the moment of his greatest
"powerlessness", and his life seems completely delivered to the
derision of his adversaries and into the hands of his executioners: he is
mocked, jeered at, insulted (cf. Mk 15:24-36). And yet, precisely amid all
this, having seen him breathe his last, the Roman centurion exclaims:
"Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mk 15:39). It is thus, at the
moment of his greatest weakness, that the the Son of God is revealed for who he
is: on the Cross his glory is made manifest.By his death, Jesus sheds light on
the meaning of the life and death of every human being. Before he dies, Jesus
prays to the Father, asking forgiveness for his persecutors (cf. Lk 23:34), and
to the criminal who asks him to remember him in his kingdom he replies:
"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk
23:43). After his death "the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of
the saints who had fallen asleep were raised" (Mt 27:52). The salvation
wrought by Jesus is the bestowal of life and resurrection. Throughout his
earthly life, Jesus had indeed bestowed salvation by healing and doing good to
all (cf. Acts 10:38). But his miracles, healings and even his raising of the
dead were signs of another salvation, a salvation which consists in the
forgiveness of sins, that is, in setting man free from his greatest sickness
and in raising him to the very life of God. On the Cross, the miracle of the
serpent lifted up by Moses in the desert (Jn 3:14-15; cf. Num 21:8-9) is
renewed and brought to full and definitive perfection. Today too, by looking
upon the one who was pierced, every person whose life is threatened encounters
the sure hope of finding freedom and redemption.
51. But there is yet another particular event
which moves me deeply when I consider it. "When Jesus had received the
vinegar, he said, ?It is finished'; and he bowed his head and gave up his
spirit" (Jn 19:30). Afterwards, the Roman soldier "pierced his side
with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water" (Jn
19:34).Everything has now reached its complete fulfilment. The "giving
up" of the spirit describes Jesus' death, a death like that of every other
human being, but it also seems to allude to the "gift of the Spirit",
by which Jesus ransoms us from death and opens before us a new life.It is the
very life of God which is now shared with man. It is the life which through the
Sacraments of the Church-symbolized by the blood and water flowing from
Christ's side-is continually given to God's children, making them the people of
the New Covenant. From the Cross, the source of life, the "people of
life" is born and increases. The contemplation of the Cross thus brings us
to the very heart of all that has taken place. Jesus, who upon entering into
the world said: "I have come, O God, to do your will" (cf. Heb 10:9),
made himself obedient to the Father in everything and, "having loved his
own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1), giving
himself completely for them. He who had come "not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45), attains on
the Cross the heights of love: "Greater love has no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). And he died for us
while we were yet sinners (cf. Rom 5:8).In this way Jesus proclaims that life
finds its centre, its meaning and its fulfilment when it is given up. At this
point our meditation becomes praise and thanksgiving, and at the same time
urges us to imitate Christ and follow in his footsteps (cf. 1 Pt 2:21).We too
are called to give our lives for our brothers and sisters, and thus to realize
in the fullness of truth the meaning and destiny of our existence. We shall be
able to do this because you, O Lord, have given us the example and have
bestowed on us the power of your Spirit. We shall be able to do this if every
day, with you and like you, we are obedient to the Father and do his will.
Grant, therefore, that we may listen with open and generous hearts to every
word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Thus we shall learn not only to obey
the commandment not to kill human life, but also to revere life, to love it and
to foster it.
CHAPTER III
You shall not kill
God's Holy Law
52. "And behold, one came up to him,
saying, ?Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?' " (Mt
19:6). Jesus replied, "If you would enter life, keep the
commandments" (Mt 19:17). The Teacher is speaking about eternal life, that
is, a sharing in the life of God himself. This life is attained through the
observance of the Lord's commandments, including the commandment "You
shall not kill". This is the first precept from the Decalogue which Jesus
quotes to the young man who asks him what commandments he should observe:
"Jesus said, ?You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall
not steal...' " (Mt 19:18).God's commandment is never detached from his
love: it is always a gift meant for man's growth and joy. As such, it
represents an essential and indispensable aspect of the Gospel, actually becoming
"gospel" itself: joyful good news. The Gospel of life is both a great
gift of God and an exacting task for humanity. It gives rise to amazement and
gratitude in the person graced with freedom, and it asks to be welcomed,
preserved and esteemed, with a deep sense of responsibility. In giving life to
man, God demands that he love, respect and promote life. The gift thus becomes
a commandment, and the commandment is itself a gift. Man, as the living image
of God, is willed by his Creator to be ruler and lord. Saint Gregory of Nyssa
writes that "God made man capable of carrying out his role as king of the
earth ... Man was created in the image of the One who governs the universe.
Everything demonstrates that from the beginning man's nature was marked by royalty...
Man is a king. Created to exercise dominion over the world, he was given a
likeness to the king of the universe; he is the living image who participates
by his dignity in the perfection of the divine archetype".38 Called to be
fruitful and multiply, to subdue the earth and to exercise dominion over other
lesser creatures (cf. Gen 1:28), man is ruler and lord not only over things but
especially over himself, 39 and in a certain sense, over the life which he has
received and which he is able to transmit through procreation, carried out with
love and respect for God's plan. Man's lordship however is not absolute, but
ministerial: it is a real reflection of the unique and infinite lordship of
God. Hence man must exercise it with wisdom and love, sharing in the boundless
wisdom and love of God. And this comes about through obedience to God's holy
Law: a free and joyful obedience (cf. Ps 119), born of and fostered by an
awareness that the precepts of the Lord are a gift of grace entrusted to man
always and solely for his good, for the preservation of his personal dignity
and the pursuit of his happiness. With regard to things, but even more with
regard to life, man is not the absolute master and final judge, but rather-and
this is where his incomparable greatness lies-he is the "minister of God's
plan".40 Life is entrusted to man as a treasure which must not be
squandered, as a talent which must be used well. Man must render an account of
it to his Master (cf. Mt 25:14-30; Lk 19:12-27).
"From
man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human
life"
(Gen
9:5): human life is sacred and inviolable
53. "Human life is sacred because from its
beginning it involves ?the creative action of God', and it remains forever in a
special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the
Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can, in any circumstance,
claim for himself the right to destroy directly an innocent human
being".41 With these words the Instruction Donum Vitae sets forth the
central content of God's revelation on the sacredness and inviolability of
human life. Sacred Scripture in fact presents the precept "You shall not
kill" as a divine commandment (Ex 20:13; Dt 5:17). As I have already
emphasized, this commandment is found in the Decalogue, at the heart of the
Covenant which the Lord makes with his chosen people; but it was already
contained in the original covenant between God and humanity after the purifying
punishment of the Flood, caused by the spread of sin and violence (cf. Gen
9:5-6).God proclaims that he is absolute Lord of the life of man, who is formed
in his image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-28). Human life is thus given a sacred
and inviolable character, which reflects the inviolability of the Creator himself.
Precisely for this reason God will severely judge every violation of the
commandment "You shall not kill", the commandment which is at the
basis of all life together in society. He is the "goel", the defender
of the innocent (cf. Gen 4:9-15; Is 41:14; Jer 50:34; Ps 19:14). God thus shows
that he does not delight in the death of the living (cf. Wis 1:13). Only Satan
can delight therein: for through his envy death entered the world (cf. Wis
2:24). He who is "a murderer from the beginning", is also "a
liar and the father of lies" (Jn 8:44). By deceiving man he leads him to
projects of sin and death, making them appear as goals and fruits of life.
54. As explicitly formulated, the precept
"You shall not kill" is strongly negative: it indicates the extreme
limit which can never be exceeded. Implicitly, however, it encourages a
positive attitude of absolute respect for life; it leads to the promotion of
life and to progress along the way of a love which gives, receives and serves.
The people of the Covenant, although slowly and with some contradictions,
progressively matured in this way of thinking, and thus prepared for the great
proclamation of Jesus that the commandment to love one's neighbour is like the
commandment to love God; "on these two commandments depend all the law and
the prophets" (cf. Mt 22:36-40).
Saint Paul emphasizes that "the
commandment ... you shall not kill ... and any other commandment, are summed up
in this phrase: ?You shall love your neighbour as yourself' " (Rom 13:9;
cf. Gal 5:14). Taken up and brought to fulfilment in the New Law, the
commandment "You shall not kill" stands as an indispensable condition
for being able "to enter life" (cf. Mt 19:16-19). In this same
perspective, the words of the Apostle John have a categorical ring: "Anyone
who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal
life abiding in him" (1 Jn 3:15).From the beginning, the living Tradition
of the Church-as shown by the Didache, the most ancient non-biblical Christian
writing-categorically repeated the commandment "You shall not kill":
"There are two ways, a way of life and a way of death; there is a great
difference between them... In accordance with the precept of the teaching: you
shall not kill ... you shall not put a child to death by abortion nor kill it
once it is born ... The way of death is this: ... they show no compassion for
the poor, they do not suffer with the suffering, they do not acknowledge their
Creator, they kill their children and by abortion cause God's creatures to
perish; they drive away the needy, oppress the suffering, they are advocates of
the rich and unjust judges of the poor; they are filled with every sin.
May you be
able to stay ever apart, o children, from all these sins!". 42 As time
passed, the Church's Tradition has always consistently taught the absolute and
unchanging value of the commandment "You shall not kill". It is a
known fact that in the first centuries, murder was put among the three most
serious sins-along with apostasy and adultery-and required a particularly heavy
and lengthy public penance before the repentant murderer could be granted
forgiveness and readmission to the ecclesial community.
55. This should not cause surprise: to kill a
human being, in whom the image of God is present, is a particularly serious
sin. Only God is the master of life! Yet from the beginning, faced with the
many and often tragic cases which occur in the life of individuals and society,
Christian reflection has sought a fuller and deeper understanding of what God's
commandment prohibits and prescribes. 43 There are in fact situations in which
values proposed by God's Law seem to involve a genuine paradox. This happens
for example in the case of legitimate defence, in which the right to protect
one's own life and the duty not to harm someone else's life are difficult to
reconcile in practice. Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the duty to
love oneself no less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defence.
The demanding commandment of love of neighbour, set forth in the Old Testament
and confirmed by Jesus, itself presupposes love of oneself as the basis of
comparison: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself " (Mk 12:31).
Consequently, no one can renounce the right to self-defence out of lack of love
for life or for self. This can only be done in virtue of a heroic love which
deepens and transfigures the love of self into a radical self-offering,
according to the spirit of the Gospel Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:38-40). The sublime
example of this self-offering is the Lord Jesus himself. Moreover,
"legitimate defence can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone
responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the
State".44
Unfortunately it happens that the need to
render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his
life. In this case, the fatal outcome is attributable to the aggressor whose
action brought it about, even though he may not be morally responsible because
of a lack of the use of reason. 45
56. This is the context in which to place the
problem of the death penalty. On this matter there is a growing tendency, both
in the Church and in civil society, to demand that it be applied in a very
limited way or even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed
in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human
dignity and thus, in the end, with God's plan for man and society. The primary
purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is "to redress the disorder
caused by the offence".46 Public authority must redress the violation of
personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment
for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or
her freedom. In this way authority also fulfils the purpose of defending public
order and ensuring people's safety, while at the same time offering the
offender an incentive and help to change his or her behaviour and be
rehabilitated. 47It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the
nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided
upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases
of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise
to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the
organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically
non-existent.In any event, the principle set forth in the new Catechism of the
Catholic Church remains valid: "If bloodless means are sufficient to
defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the
safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because
they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are
more in conformity to the dignity of the human person".48
57. If such great care must be taken to respect
every life, even that of criminals and unjust aggressors, the commandment
"You shall not kill" has absolute value when it refers to the innocent
person. And all the more so in the case of weak and defenceless human beings,
who find their ultimate defence against the arrogance and caprice of others
only in the absolute binding force of God's commandment. In effect, the
absolute inviolability of innocent human life is a moral truth clearly taught
by Sacred Scripture, constantly upheld in the Church's Tradition and
consistently proposed by her Magisterium. This consistent teaching is the
evident result of that "supernatural sense of the faith" which,
inspired and sustained by the Holy Spirit, safeguards the People of God from
error when "it shows universal agreement in matters of faith and
morals".49Faced with the progressive weakening in individual consciences
and in society of the sense of the absolute and grave moral illicitness of the
direct taking of all innocent human life, especially at its beginning and at
its end, the Church's Magisterium has spoken out with increasing frequency in
defence of the sacredness and inviolability of human life. The Papal
Magisterium, particularly insistent in this regard, has always been seconded by
that of the Bishops, with numerous and comprehensive doctrinal and pastoral
documents issued either by Episcopal Conferences or by individual Bishops.
The Second Vatican Council also addressed the
matter forcefully, in a brief but incisive passage. 50 Therefore, by the
authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, and in
communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that the direct
and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral.
This doctrine, based upon that unwritten law which man, in the light of reason,
finds in his own heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15), is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture,
transmitted by the Tradition of the Church and taught by the ordinary and
universal Magisterium. 51The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human
being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an
end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of
disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and
guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and
charity.
"Nothing and no one can in any way permit
the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant
or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a
person who is dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of
killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his
or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly.
Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an
action".52As far as the right to life is concerned, every innocent human
being is absolutely equal to all others. This equality is the basis of all
authentic social relationships which, to be truly such, can only be founded on
truth and justice, recognizing and protecting every man and woman as a person
and not as an object to be used. Before the moral norm which prohibits the
direct taking of the life of an innocent human being "there are no
privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the
master of the world or the ?poorest of the poor' on the face of the earth. Before
the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal".53
58. Among all the crimes which can be committed
against life, procured abortion has characteristics making it particularly
serious and deplorable. The Second Vatican Council defines abortion, together
with infanticide, as an "unspeakable crime".54But today, in many
people's consciences, the perception of its gravity has become progressively
obscured. The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behaviour and even
in law itself, is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral
sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good
and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake. Given such a
grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the
truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to
convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception. In this regard
the reproach of the Prophet is extremely straightforward: "Woe to those
who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for
darkness" (Is 5:20).
Especially in the case of abortion there is a
widespread use of ambiguous terminology, such as "interruption of
pregnancy", which tends to hide abortion's true nature and to attenuate
its seriousness in public opinion. Perhaps this linguistic phenomenon is itself
a symptom of an uneasiness of conscience. But no word has the power to change
the reality of things: procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing,
by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of
his or her existence, extending from conception to birth. The moral gravity of
procured abortion is apparent in all its truth if we recognize that we are
dealing with murder and, in particular, when we consider the specific elements
involved. The one eliminated is a human being at the very beginning of life. No
one more absolutely innocent could be imagined. In no way could this human
being ever be considered an aggressor, much less an unjust aggressor! He or she
is weak, defenceless, even to the point of lacking that minimal form of defence
consisting in the poignant power of a newborn baby's cries and tears. The
unborn child is totally entrusted to the protection and care of the woman
carrying him or her in the womb. And yet sometimes it is precisely the mother
herself who makes the decision and asks for the child to be eliminated, and who
then goes about having it done. It is true that the decision to have an
abortion is often tragic and painful for the mother, insofar as the decision to
rid herself of the fruit of conception is not made for purely selfish reasons
or out of convenience, but out of a desire to protect certain important values
such as her own health or a decent standard of living for the other members of
the family. Sometimes it is feared that the child to be born would live in such
conditions that it would be better if the birth did not take place.
Nevertheless, these reasons and others like them, however serious and tragic,
can never justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.
59. As well as the mother, there are often
other people too who decide upon the death of the child in the womb. In the
first place, the father of the child may be to blame, not only when he directly
pressures the woman to have an abortion, but also when he indirectly encourages
such a decision on her part by leaving her alone to face the problems of
pregnancy: 55 in this way the family is thus mortally wounded and profaned in
its nature as a community of love and in its vocation to be the "sanctuary
of life". Nor can one overlook the pressures which sometimes come from the
wider family circle and from friends. Sometimes the woman is subjected to such
strong pressure that she feels psychologically forced to have an abortion:
certainly in this case moral responsibility lies particularly with those who
have directly or indirectly obliged her to have an abortion. Doctors and nurses
are also responsible, when they place at the service of death skills which were
acquired for promoting life.But responsibility likewise falls on the
legislators who have promoted and approved abortion laws, and, to the extent
that they have a say in the matter, on the administrators of the health-care
centres where abortions are performed. A general and no less serious
responsibility lies with those who have encouraged the spread of an attitude of
sexual permissiveness and a lack of esteem for motherhood, and with those who
should have ensured-but did not-effective family and social policies in support
of families, especially larger families and those with particular financial and
educational needs. Finally, one cannot overlook the network of complicity which
reaches out to include international institutions, foundations and associations
which systematically campaign for the legalization and spread of abortion in
the world. In this sense abortion goes beyond the responsibility of individuals
and beyond the harm done to them, and takes on a distinctly social dimension.
It is a most serious wound inflicted on society and its culture by the very
people who ought to be society's promoters and defenders. As I wrote in my
Letter to Families, "we are facing an immense threat to life: not only to
the life of individuals but also to that of civilization itself".56 We are
facing what can be called a "structure of sin" which opposes human
life not yet born.
60. Some people try to justify abortion by
claiming that the result of conception, at least up to a certain number of
days, cannot yet be considered a personal human life. But in fact, "from
the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of
the father nor the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his
own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already. This has
always been clear, and ... modern genetic science offers clear confirmation. It
has demonstrated that from the first instant there is established the programme
of what this living being will be: a person, this individual person with his
characteristic aspects already well determined. Right from fertilization the
adventure of a human life begins, and each of its capacities requires time-a
rather lengthy time-to find its place and to be in a position to act".57
Even if the presence of a spiritual soul cannot be ascertained by empirical
data, the results themselves of scientific research on the human embryo provide
"a valuable indication for discerning by the use of reason a personal
presence at the moment of the first appearance of a human life: how could a
human individual not be a human person?". 58Furthermore, what is at stake
is so important that, from the standpoint of moral obligation, the mere
probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify an
absolutely clear prohibition of any intervention aimed at killing a human
embryo. Precisely for this reason, over and above all scientific debates and
those philosophical affirmations to which the Magisterium has not expressly
committed itself, the Church has always taught and continues to teach that the
result of human procreation, from the first moment of its existence, must be
guaranteed that unconditional respect which is morally due to the human being
in his or her totality and unity as body and spirit: "The human being is
to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and
therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized,
among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human
being to life".59
61. The texts of Sacred Scripture never address
the question of deliberate abortion and so do not directly and specifically condemn
it. But they show such great respect for the human being in the mother's womb
that they require as a logical consequence that God's commandment "You
shall not kill" be extended to the unborn child as well. Human life is
sacred and inviolable at every moment of existence, including the initial phase
which precedes birth. All human beings, from their mothers' womb, belong to God
who searches them and knows them, who forms them and knits them together with
his own hands, who gazes on them when they are tiny shapeless embryos and
already sees in them the adults of tomorrow whose days are numbered and whose
vocation is even now written in the "book of life" (cf. Ps 139: 1,
13-16). There too, when they are still in their mothers' womb-as many passages
of the Bible bear witness60-they are the personal objects of God's loving and
fatherly providence. Christian Tradition-as the Declaration issued by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith points out so well61-is clear and
unanimous, from the beginning up to our own day, in describing abortion as a
particularly grave moral disorder. From its first contacts with the Greco-Roman
world, where abortion and infanticide were widely practised, the first
Christian community, by its teaching and practice, radically opposed the
customs rampant in that society, as is clearly shown by the Didache mentioned
earlier. 62 Among the Greek ecclesiastical writers, Athenagoras records that
Christians consider as murderesses women who have recourse to abortifacient
medicines, because children, even if they are still in their mother's womb,
"are already under the protection of Divine Providence".63 Among the
Latin authors, Tertullian affirms: "It is anticipated murder to prevent
someone from being born; it makes little difference whether one kills a soul
already born or puts it to death at birth. He who will one day be a man is a
man already".64 Throughout Christianity's two thousand year history, this
same doctrine has been constantly taught by the Fathers of the Church and by her
Pastors and Doctors. Even scientific and philosophical discussions about the
precise moment of the infusion of the spiritual soul have never given rise to
any hesitation about the moral condemnation of abortion.
62. The more recent Papal Magisterium has
vigorously reaffirmed this common doctrine. Pius XI in particular, in his
Encyclical Casti Connubii, rejected the specious justifications of abortion. 65
Pius XII excluded all direct abortion, i.e., every act tending directly to
destroy human life in the womb "whether such destruction is intended as an
end or only as a means to an end".66 John XXIII reaffirmed that human life
is sacred because "from its very beginning it directly involves God's
creative activity".67 The Second Vatican Council, as mentioned earlier,
sternly condemned abortion: "From the moment of its conception life must
be guarded with the greatest care, while abortion and infanticide are
unspeakable crimes".68The Church's canonical discipline, from the earliest
centuries, has inflicted penal sanctions on those guilty of abortion. This
practice, with more or less severe penalties, has been confirmed in various
periods of history. The 1917 Code of Canon Law punished abortion with
excommunication. 69 The revised canonical legislation continues this tradition
when it decrees that "a person who actually procures an abortion incurs
automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication".70 The excommunication
affects all those who commit this crime with knowledge of the penalty attached,
and thus includes those accomplices without whose help the crime would not have
been committed. 71 By this reiterated sanction, the Church makes clear that
abortion is a most serious and dangerous crime, thereby encouraging those who
commit it to seek without delay the path of conversion. In the Church the
purpose of the penalty of excommunication is to make an individual fully aware
of the gravity of a certain sin and then to foster genuine conversion and
repentance. Given such unanimity in the doctrinal and disciplinary tradition of
the Church, Paul VI was able to declare that this tradition is unchanged and
unchangeable. 72 Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter
and his Successors, in communion with the Bishops-who on various occasions have
condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed
throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine-I
declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means,
always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing
of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and
upon the written Word of God, is transmitted by the Church's Tradition and
taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. 73 No circumstance, no
purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically
illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of God which is written in every human
heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church.
63. This evaluation of the morality of abortion
is to be applied also to the recent forms of intervention on human embryos
which, although carried out for purposes legitimate in themselves, inevitably
involve the killing of those embryos. This is the case with experimentation on
embryos, which is becoming increasingly widespread in the field of biomedical
research and is legally permitted in some countries. Although "one must
uphold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the
life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for
it, but rather are directed to its healing, the improvement of its condition of
health, or its individual survival",74 it must nonetheless be stated that
the use of human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation constitutes
a crime against their dignity as human beings who have a right to the same
respect owed to a child once born, just as to every person. 75This moral
condemnation also regards procedures that exploit living human embryos and
fetuses-sometimes specifically "produced" for this purpose by in
vitro fertilization-either to be used as "biological material" or as
providers of organs or tissue for transplants in the treatment of certain
diseases. The killing of innocent human creatures, even if carried out to help
others, constitutes an absolutely unacceptable act. Special attention must be
given to evaluating the morality of prenatal diagnostic techniques which enable
the early detection of possible anomalies in the unborn child. In view of the
complexity of these techniques, an accurate and systematic moral judgment is
necessary. When they do not involve disproportionate risks for the child and
the mother, and are meant to make possible early therapy or even to favour a
serene and informed acceptance of the child not yet born, these techniques are
morally licit. But since the possibilities of prenatal therapy are today still
limited, it not infrequently happens that these techniques are used with a
eugenic intention which accepts selective abortion in order to prevent the
birth of children affected by various types of anomalies. Such an attitude is
shameful and utterly reprehensible, since it presumes to measure the value of a
human life only within the parameters of "normality" and physical
well-being, thus opening the way to legitimizing infanticide and euthanasia as
well. And yet the courage and the serenity with which so many of our brothers
and sisters suffering from serious disabilities lead their lives when they are
shown acceptance and love bears eloquent witness to what gives authentic value
to life, and makes it, even in difficult conditions, something precious for
them and for others. The Church is close to those married couples who, with
great anguish and suffering, willingly accept gravely handicapped children. She
is also grateful to all those families which, through adoption, welcome
children abandoned by their parents because of disabilities or illnesses.
64. At the other end of life's spectrum, men
and women find themselves facing the mystery of death. Today, as a result of
advances in medicine and in a cultural context frequently closed to the
transcendent, the experience of dying is marked by new features. When the
prevailing tendency is to value life only to the extent that it brings pleasure
and well-being, suffering seems like an unbearable setback, something from
which one must be freed at all costs. Death is considered "senseless"
if it suddenly interrupts a life still open to a future of new and interesting
experiences.
But it becomes a "rightful
liberation" once life is held to be no longer meaningful because it is
filled with pain and inexorably doomed to even greater suffering. Furthermore,
when he denies or neglects his fundamental relationship to God, man thinks he
is his own rule and measure, with the right to demand that society should
guarantee him the ways and means of deciding what to do with his life in full
and complete autonomy. It is especially people in the developed countries who
act in this way: they feel encouraged to do so also by the constant progress of
medicine and its ever more advanced techniques. By using highly sophisticated
systems and equipment, science and medical practice today are able not only to
attend to cases formerly considered untreatable and to reduce or eliminate
pain, but also to sustain and prolong life even in situations of extreme
frailty, to resuscitate artificially patients whose basic biological functions
have undergone sudden collapse, and to use special procedures to make organs
available for transplanting. In this context the temptation grows to have
recourse to euthanasia, that is, to take control of death and bring it about
before its time, "gently" ending one's own life or the life of
others. In reality, what might seem logical and humane, when looked at more
closely is seen to be senseless and inhumane. Here we are faced with one of the
more alarming symptoms of the "culture of death", which is advancing
above all in prosperous societies, marked by an attitude of excessive
preoccupation with efficiency and which sees the growing number of elderly and
disabled people as intolerable and too burdensome.
These people are very often isolated by their
families and by society, which are organized almost exclusively on the basis of
criteria of productive efficiency, according to which a hopelessly impaired
life no longer has any value.
65. For a correct moral judgment on euthanasia,
in the first place a clear definition is required. Euthanasia in the strict
sense is understood to be an action or omission which of itself and by
intention causes death, with the purpose of eliminating all suffering.
"Euthanasia's terms of reference, therefore, are to be found in the
intention of the will and in the methods used".76Euthanasia must be
distinguished from the decision to forego so-called "aggressive medical
treatment", in other words, medical procedures which no longer correspond
to the real situation of the patient, either because they are by now
disproportionate to any expected results or because they impose an excessive
burden on the patient and his family. In such situations, when death is clearly
imminent and inevitable, one can in conscience "refuse forms of treatment
that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so
long as the normal care due to the sick person in similar cases is not
interrupted".77 Certainly there is a moral obligation to care for oneself
and to allow oneself to be cared for, but this duty must take account of
concrete circumstances. It needs to be determined whether the means of
treatment available are objectively proportionate to the prospects for
improvement. To forego extraordinary or disproportionate means is not the
equivalent of suicide or euthanasia; it rather expresses acceptance of the
human condition in the face of death. 78
In modern medicine, increased attention is
being given to what are called "methods of palliative care", which
seek to make suffering more bearable in the final stages of illness and to
ensure that the patient is supported and accompanied in his or her ordeal.
Among the questions which arise in this context is that of the licitness of
using various types of painkillers and sedatives for relieving the patient's
pain when this involves the risk of shortening life. While praise may be due to
the person who voluntarily accepts suffering by forgoing treatment with
pain-killers in order to remain fully lucid and, if a believer, to share
consciously in the Lord's Passion, such "heroic" behaviour cannot be
considered the duty of everyone. Pius XII affirmed that it is licit to relieve
pain by narcotics, even when the result is decreased consciousness and a
shortening of life, "if no other means exist, and if, in the given
circumstances, this does not prevent the carrying out of other religious and
moral duties".79 In such a case, death is not willed or sought, even
though for reasonable motives one runs the risk of it: there is simply a desire
to ease pain effectively by using the analgesics which medicine provides. All
the same, "it is not right to deprive the dying person of consciousness
without a serious reason": 80 as they approach death people ought to be
able to satisfy their moral and family duties, and above all they ought to be
able to prepare in a fully conscious way for their definitive meeting with God.
Taking into account these distinctions, in harmony with the Magisterium of my
Predecessors 81 and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I
confirm that euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the
deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person. This doctrine is
based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by
the Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. 82
Depending on the circumstances, this practice involves the malice proper to
suicide or murder.
66. Suicide is always as morally objectionable
as murder. The Church's tradition has always rejected it as a gravely evil
choice. 83 Even though a certain psychological, cultural and social
conditioning may induce a person to carry out an action which so radically
contradicts the innate inclination to life, thus lessening or removing
subjective responsibility, suicide, when viewed objectively, is a gravely
immoral act. In fact, it involves the rejection of love of self and the
renunciation of the obligation of justice and charity towards one's neighbour,
towards the communities to which one belongs, and towards society as a whole.
84 In its deepest reality, suicide represents a rejection of God's absolute
sovereignty over life and death, as proclaimed in the prayer of the ancient
sage of Israel: "You have power over life and death; you lead men down to
the gates of Hades and back again" (Wis 16:13; cf. Tob 13:2).To concur
with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying
it out through so-called "assisted suicide" means to cooperate in,
and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be
excused, even if it is requested. In a remarkably relevant passage Saint
Augustine writes that "it is never licit to kill another: even if he
should wish it, indeed if he request it because, hanging between life and
death, he begs for help in freeing the soul struggling against the bonds of the
body and longing to be released; nor is it licit even when a sick person is no
longer able to live".85 Even when not motivated by a selfish refusal to be
burdened with the life of someone who is suffering, euthanasia must be called a
false mercy, and indeed a disturbing "perversion" of mercy. True
"compassion" leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the
person whose suffering we cannot bear.
Moreover, the act of euthanasia appears all the
more perverse if it is carried out by those, like relatives, who are supposed
to treat a family member with patience and love, or by those, such as doctors,
who by virtue of their specific profession are supposed to care for the sick
person even in the most painful terminal stages.The choice of euthanasia
becomes more serious when it takes the form of a murder committed by others on
a person who has in no way requested it and who has never consented to it. The
height of arbitrariness and injustice is reached when certain people, such as
physicians or legislators, arrogate to themselves the power to decide who ought
to live and who ought to die. Once again we find ourselves before the
temptation of Eden: to become like God who "knows good and evil" (cf.
Gen 3:5). God alone has the power over life and death: "It is I who bring
both death and life" (Dt 32:39; cf. 2 Kg 5:7; 1 Sam 2:6). But he only
exercises this power in accordance with a plan of wisdom and love. When man
usurps this power, being enslaved by a foolish and selfish way of thinking, he
inevitably uses it for injustice and death. Thus the life of the person who is
weak is put into the hands of the one who is strong; in society the sense of
justice is lost, and mutual trust, the basis of every authentic interpersonal
relationship, is undermined at its root.
67. Quite different from this is the way of
love and true mercy, which our common humanity calls for, and upon which faith
in Christ the Redeemer, who died and rose again, sheds ever new light. The
request which arises from the human heart in the supreme confrontation with
suffering and death, especially when faced with the temptation to give up in
utter desperation, is above all a request for companionship, sympathy and
support in the time of trial. It is a plea for help to keep on hoping when all
human hopes fail. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us: "It is in the
face of death that the riddle of human existence becomes most acute" and yet
"man rightly follows the intuition of his heart when he abhors and
repudiates the absolute ruin and total disappearance of his own person. Man
rebels against death because he bears in himself an eternal seed which cannot
be reduced to mere matter".86This natural aversion to death and this
incipient hope of immortality are illumined and brought to fulfilment by
Christian faith, which both promises and offers a share in the victory of the
Risen Christ: it is the victory of the One who, by his redemptive death, has
set man free from death, "the wages of sin" (Rom 6:23), and has given
him the Spirit, the pledge of resurrection and of life (cf. Rom 8:11). The
certainty of future immortality and hope in the promised resurrection cast new
light on the mystery of suffering and death, and fill the believer with an
extraordinary capacity to trust fully in the plan of God. The Apostle Paul
expressed this newness in terms of belonging completely to the Lord who
embraces every human condition: "None of us lives to himself, and none of
us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to
the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's"
(Rom 14:7-8). Dying to the Lord means experiencing one's death as the supreme
act of obedience to the Father (cf. Phil 2:8), being ready to meet death at the
"hour" willed and chosen by him (cf.Jn 13:1), which can only mean
when one's earthly pilgrimage is completed. Living to the Lord also means
recognizing that suffering, while still an evil and a trial in itself, can
always become a source of good. It becomes such if it is experienced for love
and with love through sharing, by God's gracious gift and one's own personal
and free choice, in the suffering of Christ Crucified. In this way, the person
who lives his suffering in the Lord grows more fully conformed to him (cf. Phil
3:10; 1 Pet 2:21) and more closely associated with his redemptive work on
behalf of the Church and humanity. 87 This was the experience of Saint Paul,
which every person who suffers is called to relive: "I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in
Christ's afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church" (Col
1:24).
68. One of the specific characteristics of
present-day attacks on human life-as has already been said several
times-consists in the trend to demand a legal justification for them, as if
they were rights which the State, at least under certain conditions, must
acknowledge as belonging to citizens. Consequently, there is a tendency to
claim that it should be possible to exercise these rights with the safe and
free assistance of doctors and medical personnel. It is often claimed that the
life of an unborn child or a seriously disabled person is only a relative good:
according to a proportionalist approach, or one of sheer calculation, this good
should be compared with and balanced against other goods. It is even maintained
that only someone present and personally involved in a concrete situation can
correctly judge the goods at stake: consequently, only that person would be
able to decide on the morality of his choice. The State therefore, in the
interest of civil coexistence and social harmony, should respect this choice,
even to the point of permitting abortion and euthanasia.At other times, it is
claimed that civil law cannot demand that all citizens should live according to
moral standards higher than what all citizens themselves acknowledge and share.
Hence the law should always express the opinion
and will of the majority of citizens and recognize that they have, at least in
certain extreme cases, the right even to abortion and euthanasia.
Moreover the prohibition and the punishment of
abortion and euthanasia in these cases would inevitably lead-so it is said-to
an increase of illegal practices: and these would not be subject to necessary
control by society and would be carried out in a medically unsafe way. The
question is also raised whether supporting a law which in practice cannot be
enforced would not ultimately undermine the authority of all laws.Finally, the
more radical views go so far as to maintain that in a modern and pluralistic
society people should be allowed complete freedom to dispose of their own lives
as well as of the lives of the unborn: it is asserted that it is not the task
of the law to choose between different moral opinions, and still less can the
law claim to impose one particular opinion to the detriment of others.
69. In any case, in the democratic culture of
our time it is commonly held that the legal system of any society should limit
itself to taking account of and accepting the convictions of the majority. It
should therefore be based solely upon what the majority itself considers moral
and actually practises. Furthermore, if it is believed that an objective truth
shared by all is de facto unattainable, then respect for the freedom of the
citizens-who in a democratic system are considered the true rulers-would
require that on the legislative level the autonomy of individual consciences be
acknowledged. Consequently, when establishing those norms which are absolutely
necessary for social coexistence, the only determining factor should be the
will of the majority, whatever this may be. Hence every politician, in his or
her activity, should clearly separate the realm of private conscience from that
of public conduct. As a result we have what appear to be two diametrically
opposed tendencies. On the one hand, individuals claim for themselves in the
moral sphere the most complete freedom of choice and demand that the State
should not adopt or impose any ethical position but limit itself to
guaranteeing maximum space for the freedom of each individual, with the sole
limitation of not infringing on the freedom and rights of any other citizen. On
the other hand, it is held that, in the exercise of public and professional
duties, respect for other people's freedom of choice requires that each one
should set aside his or her own convictions in order to satisfy every demand of
the citizens which is recognized and guaranteed by law; in carrying out one's
duties the only moral criterion should be what is laid down by the law itself.
Individual responsibility is thus turned over to the civil law, with a
renouncing of personal conscience, at least in the public sphere.
70. At the basis of all these tendencies lies
the ethical relativism which characterizes much of present-day culture. There
are those who consider such relativism an essential condition of democracy,
inasmuch as it alone is held to guarantee tolerance, mutual respect between
people and acceptance of the decisions of the majority, whereas moral norms
considered to be objective and binding are held to lead to authoritarianism and
intolerance. But it is precisely the issue of respect for life which shows what
misunderstandings and contradictions, accompanied by terrible practical
consequences, are concealed in this position. It is true that history has known
cases where crimes have been committed in the name of "truth". But
equally grave crimes and radical denials of freedom have also been committed
and are still being committed in the name of "ethical relativism".
When a parliamentary or social majority decrees that it is legal, at least
under certain conditions, to kill unborn human life, is it not really making a
"tyrannical" decision with regard to the weakest and most defenceless
of human beings? Everyone's conscience rightly rejects those crimes against
humanity of which our century has had such sad experience. But would these
crimes cease to be crimes if, instead of being committed by unscrupulous
tyrants, they were legitimated by popular consensus? Democracy cannot be
idolized to the point of making it a substitute for morality or a panacea for
immorality. Fundamentally, democracy is a "system" and as such is a
means and not an end. Its "moral" value is not automatic, but depends
on conformity to the moral law to which it, like every other form of human behaviour,
must be subject: in other words, its morality depends on the morality of the
ends which it pursues and of the means which it employs. If today we see an
almost universal consensus with regard to the value of democracy, this is to be
considered a positive "sign of the times", as the Church's
Magisterium has frequently noted. 88 But the value of democracy stands or falls
with the values which it embodies and promotes. Of course, values such as the
dignity of every human person, respect for inviolable and inalienable human
rights, and the adoption of the "common good" as the end and
criterion regulating political life are certainly fundamental and not to be
ignored. The basis of these values cannot be provisional and changeable
"majority" opinions, but only the acknowledgment of an objective
moral law which, as the "natural law" written in the human heart, is
the obligatory point of reference for civil law itself. If, as a result of a
tragic obscuring of the collective conscience, an attitude of scepticism were
to succeed in bringing into question even the fundamental principles of the
moral law, the democratic system itself would be shaken in its foundations, and
would be reduced to a mere mechanism for regulating different and opposing
interests on a purely empirical basis. 89 Some might think that even this
function, in the absence of anything better, should be valued for the sake of
peace in society. While one acknowledges some element of truth in this point of
view, it is easy to see that without an objective moral grounding not even
democracy is capable of ensuring a stable peace, especially since peace which
is not built upon the values of the dignity of every individual and of
solidarity between all people frequently proves to be illusory. Even in participatory
systems of government, the regulation of interests often occurs to the
advantage of the most powerful, since they are the ones most capable of
manoeuvering not only the levers of power but also of shaping the formation of
consensus. In such a situation, democracy easily becomes an empty word.
71. It is therefore urgently necessary, for the
future of society and the development of a sound democracy, to rediscover those
essential and innate human and moral values which flow from the very truth of
the human being and express and safeguard the dignity of the person: values
which no individual, no majority and no State can ever create, modify or
destroy, but must only acknowledge, respect and promote. Consequently there is
a need to recover the basic elements of a vision of the relationship between
civil law and moral law, which are put forward by the Church, but which are
also part of the patrimony of the great juridical traditions of humanity.
Certainly the purpose of civil law is different and more limited in scope than
that of the moral law. But "in no sphere of life can the civil law take
the place of conscience or dictate norms concerning things which are outside
its competence",90 which is that of ensuring the common good of people through
the recognition and defence of their fundamental rights, and the promotion of
peace and of public morality. 91 The real purpose of civil law is to guarantee
an ordered social coexistence in true justice, so that all may "lead a
quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way" (1 Tim 2:2).
Precisely for this reason, civil law must ensure that all members of society
enjoy respect for certain fundamental rights which innately belong to the
person, rights which every positive law must recognize and guarantee. First and
fundamental among these is the inviolable right to life of every innocent human
being. While public authority can sometimes choose not to put a stop to
something which-were it prohibited- would cause more serious harm, 92 it can
never presume to legitimize as a right of individuals-even if they are the
majority of the members of society-an offence against other persons caused by
the disregard of so fundamental a right as the right to life.
The legal toleration of abortion or of
euthanasia can in no way claim to be based on respect for the conscience of
others, precisely because society has the right and the duty to protect itself
against the abuses which can occur in the name of conscience and under the
pretext of freedom. 93
In the Encyclical Pacem in Terris, John XXIII
pointed out that "it is generally accepted today that the common good is
best safeguarded when personal rights and duties are guaranteed. The chief
concern of civil authorities must therefore be to ensure that these rights are
recognized, respected, co-ordinated, defended and promoted, and that each
individual is enabled to perform his duties more easily. For ?to safeguard the
inviolable rights of the human person, and to facilitate the performance of his
duties, is the principal duty of every public authority'. Thus any government
which refused to recognize human rights or acted in violation of them, would
not only fail in its duty; its decrees would be wholly lacking in binding
force".94
72. The doctrine on the necessary conformity of
civil law with the moral law is in continuity with the whole tradition of the
Church. This is clear once more from John XXIII's Encyclical:
"Authority is a postulate of the moral
order and derives from God. Consequently, laws and decrees enacted in
contravention of the moral order, and hence of the divine will, can have no
binding force in conscience...; indeed, the passing of such laws undermines the
very nature of authority and results in shameful abuse".95 This is the
clear teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who writes that "human law is law
inasmuch as it is in conformity with right reason and thus derives from the
eternal law. But when a law is contrary to reason, it is called an unjust law;
but in this case it ceases to be a law and becomes instead an act of
violence".96 And again: "Every law made by man can be called a law
insofar as it derives from the natural law. But if it is somehow opposed to the
natural law, then it is not really a law but rather a corruption of the law".97Now
the first and most immediate application of this teaching concerns a human law
which disregards the fundamental right and source of all other rights which is
the right to life, a right belonging to every individual. Consequently, laws
which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion
or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper
to every individual; they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law. It
might be objected that such is not the case in euthanasia, when it is requested
with full awareness by the person involved.
But any State which made such a request
legitimate and authorized it to be carried out would be legalizing a case of
suicide-murder, contrary to the fundamental principles of absolute respect for
life and of the protection of every innocent life. In this way the State
contributes to lessening respect for life and opens the door to ways of acting
which are destructive of trust in relations between people. Laws which
authorize and promote abortion and euthanasia are therefore radically opposed
not only to the good of the individual but also to the common good; as such
they are completely lacking in authentic juridical validity. Disregard for the
right to life, precisely because it leads to the killing of the person whom
society exists to serve, is what most directly conflicts with the possibility
of achieving the common good. Consequently, a civil law authorizing abortion or
euthanasia ceases by that very fact to be a true, morally binding civil law.
73. Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes
which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in
conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to
oppose them by conscientious objection. From the very beginnings of the Church,
the apostolic preaching reminded Christians of their duty to obey legitimately
constituted public authorities (cf. Rom 13:1-7; 1 Pet 2:13-14), but at the same
time it firmly warned that "we must obey God rather than men" (Acts
5:29). In the Old Testament, precisely in regard to threats against life, we
find a significant example of resistance to the unjust command of those in
authority. After Pharaoh ordered the killing of all newborn males, the Hebrew
midwives refused. "They did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them,
but let the male children live" (Ex 1:17). But the ultimate reason for
their action should be noted: "the midwives feared God" (ibid.). It
is precisely from obedience to God-to whom alone is due that fear which is
acknowledgment of his absolute sovereignty-that the strength and the courage to
resist unjust human laws are born. It is the strength and the courage of those
prepared even to be imprisoned or put to the sword, in the certainty that this
is what makes for "the endurance and faith of the saints" (Rev
13:10).In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting
abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to
"take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for
it".98A particular problem of conscience can arise in cases where a
legislative vote would be decisive for the passage of a more restrictive law,
aimed at limiting the number of authorized abortions, in place of a more
permissive law already passed or ready to be voted on. Such cases are not
infrequent. It is a fact that while in some parts of the world there continue
to be campaigns to introduce laws favouring abortion, often supported by
powerful international organizations, in other nations-particularly those which
have already experienced the bitter fruits of such permissive legislation-there
are growing signs of a rethinking in this matter. In a case like the one just
mentioned, when it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a
pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to
procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at
limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences
at the level of general opinion and public morality. This does not in fact
represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate
and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects.
74. The passing of unjust laws often raises
difficult problems of conscience for morally upright people with regard to the
issue of cooperation, since they have a right to demand not to be forced to
take part in morally evil actions. Sometimes the choices which have to be made
are difficult; they may require the sacrifice of prestigious professional
positions or the relinquishing of reasonable hopes of career advancement. In
other cases, it can happen that carrying out certain actions, which are
provided for by legislation that overall is unjust, but which in themselves are
indifferent, or even positive, can serve to protect human lives under threat.
There may be reason to fear, however, that willingness to carry out such
actions will not only cause scandal and weaken the necessary opposition to
attacks on life, but will gradually lead to further capitulation to a mentality
of permissiveness. In order to shed light on this difficult question, it is
necessary to recall the general principles concerning cooperation in evil
actions. Christians, like all people of good will, are called upon under grave
obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if
permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God's law. Indeed, from the
moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. Such cooperation
occurs when an action, either by its very nature or by the form it takes in a
concrete situation, can be defined as a direct participation in an act against
innocent human life or a sharing in the immoral intention of the person
committing it.
This cooperation can never be justified either
by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that
civil law permits it or requires it. Each individual in fact has moral
responsibility for the acts which he personally performs; no one can be
exempted from this responsibility, and on the basis of it everyone will be
judged by God himself (cf. Rom 2:6; 14:12).To refuse to take part in committing
an injustice is not only a moral duty; it is also a basic human right. Were
this not so, the human person would be forced to perform an action
intrinsically incompatible with human dignity, and in this way human freedom
itself, the authentic meaning and purpose of which are found in its orientation
to the true and the good, would be radically compromised. What is at stake
therefore is an essential right which, precisely as such, should be
acknowledged and protected by civil law. In this sense, the opportunity to
refuse to take part in the phases of consultation, preparation and execution of
these acts against life should be guaranteed to physicians, health-care
personnel, and directors of hospitals, clinics and convalescent facilities.
Those who have recourse to conscientious
objection must be protected not only from legal penalties but also from any negative
effects on the legal, disciplinary, financial and professional plane.
75. God's commandments teach us the way of
life. The negative moral precepts, which declare that the choice of certain
actions is morally unacceptable, have an absolute value for human freedom: they
are valid always and everywhere, without exception. They make it clear that the
choice of certain ways of acting is radically incompatible with the love of God
and with the dignity of the person created in his image. Such choices cannot be
redeemed by the goodness of any intention or of any consequence; they are
irrevocably opposed to the bond between persons; they contradict the
fundamental decision to direct one's life to God. 99In this sense, the negative
moral precepts have an extremely important positive function. The
"no" which they unconditionally require makes clear the absolute
limit beneath which free individuals cannot lower themselves. At the same time
they indicate the minimum which they must respect and from which they must
start out in order to say "yes" over and over again, a
"yes" which will gradually embrace the entire horizon of the good
(cf. Mt 5:48). The commandments, in particular the negative moral precepts, are
the beginning and the first necessary stage of the journey towards freedom. As
Saint Augustine writes, "the beginning of freedom is to be free from
crimes... like murder, adultery, fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege and so
forth. Only when one stops committing these crimes (and no Christian should
commit them), one begins to lift up one's head towards freedom. But this is
only the beginning of freedom, not perfect freedom".100
76. The commandment "You shall not
kill" thus establishes the point of departure for the start of true
freedom. It leads us to promote life actively, and to develop particular ways
of thinking and acting which serve life. In this way we exercise our
responsibility towards the persons entrusted to us and we show, in deeds and in
truth, our gratitude to God for the great gift of life (cf. Ps 139:13-14).The
Creator has entrusted man's life to his responsible concern, not to make
arbitrary use of it, but to preserve it with wisdom and to care for it with
loving fidelity. The God of the Covenant has entrusted the life of every
individual to his or her fellow human beings, brothers and sisters, according
to the law of reciprocity in giving and receiving, of self-giving and of the
acceptance of others. In the fullness of time, by taking flesh and giving his
life for us, the Son of God showed what heights and depths this law of
reciprocity can reach. With the gift of his Spirit, Christ gives new content
and meaning to the law of reciprocity, to our being entrusted to one another.
The Spirit who builds up communion in love creates between us a new fraternity
and solidarity, a true reflection of the mystery of mutual self-giving and
receiving proper to the Most Holy Trinity. The Spirit becomes the new law which
gives strength to believers and awakens in them a responsibility for sharing
the gift of self and for accepting others, as a sharing in the boundless love
of Jesus Christ himself.
77. This new law also gives spirit and shape to
the commandment "You shall not kill". For the Christian it involves
an absolute imperative to respect, love and promote the life of every brother
and sister, in accordance with the requirements of God's bountiful love in
Jesus Christ. "He laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren" (1 Jn 3:16).The commandment "You shall not
kill", even in its more positive aspects of respecting, loving and
promoting human life, is binding on every individual human being. It resounds
in the moral conscience of everyone as an irrepressible echo of the original
covenant of God the Creator with mankind. It can be recognized by everyone
through the light of reason and it can be observed thanks to the mysterious
working of the Spirit who, blowing where he wills (cf. Jn 3:8), comes to and
involves every person living in this world. It is therefore a service of love
which we are all committed to ensure to our neighbour, that his or her life may
be always defended and promoted, especially when it is weak or threatened. It
is not only a personal but a social concern which we must all foster: a concern
to make unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed
society. We are asked to love and honour the life of every man and woman and to
work with perseverance and courage so that our time, marked by all too many
signs of death, may at last witness the establishment of a new culture of life,
the fruit of the culture of truth and of love.
CHAPTER IV
You did it to me
For a new culture of human life
"You are God's own people, that you may
declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light" (1 Pet 2:9): a people of life and for life
78. The Church has received the Gospel as a
proclamation and a source of joy and salvation. She has received it as a gift
from Jesus, sent by the Father "to preach good news to the poor" (Lk
4:18). She has received it through the Apostles, sent by Christ to the whole
world (cf. Mk 16:15; Mt 28:19-20). Born from this evangelizing activity, the
Church hears every day the echo of Saint Paul's words of warning: "Woe to
me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). As Paul VI wrote,
"evangelization is the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her
deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize".101Evangelization is
an all-embracing, progressive activity through which the Church participates in
the prophetic, priestly and royal mission of the Lord Jesus. It is therefore
inextricably linked to preaching, celebration and the service of charity.
Evangelization is a profoundly ecclesial act, which calls all the various
workers of the Gospel to action, according to their individual charisms and
ministry. This is also the case with regard to the proclamation of the Gospel
of life, an integral part of that Gospel which is Jesus Christ himself. We are
at the service of this Gospel, sustained by the awareness that we have received
it as a gift and are sent to preach it to all humanity, "to the ends of
the earth" (Acts 1:8). With humility and gratitude we know that we are the
people of life and for life, and this is how we present ourselves to everyone.
79. We are the people of life because God, in
his unconditional love, has given us the Gospel of life and by this same Gospel
we have been transformed and saved. We have been ransomed by the "Author
of life" (Acts 3:15) at the price of his precious blood (cf. 1 Cor 6:20;
7:23; 1 Pet 1:19). Through the waters of Baptism we have been made a part of
him (cf. Rom 6:4-5; Col 2:12), as branches which draw nourishment and fruitfulness
from the one tree (cf. Jn 15:5). Interiorly renewed by the grace of the Spirit,
"who is the Lord and giver of life", we have become a people for life
and we are called to act accordingly. We have been sent. For us, being at the
service of life is not a boast but rather a duty, born of our awareness of
being "God's own people, that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him
who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light" (cf. 1 Pet 2:9).
On our journey we are guided and sustained by the law of love: a love which has
as its source and model the Son of God made man, who "by dying gave life
to the world".102We have been sent as a people. Everyone has an obligation
to be at the service of life. This is a properly "ecclesial" responsibility,
which requires concerted and generous action by all the members and by all
sectors of the Christian community. This community commitment does not however
eliminate or lessen the responsibility of each individual, called by the Lord
to "become the neighbour" of everyone: "Go and do likewise"
(Lk 10:37).Together we all sense our duty to preach the Gospel of life, to
celebrate it in the Liturgy and in our whole existence, and to serve it with
the various programmes and structures which support and promote life.
"That
which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you" (1 Jn 1:3):
proclaiming
the Gospel of life
80. "That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life ... we proclaim
also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us" (1 Jn 1:1, 3). Jesus
is the only Gospel: we have nothing further to say or any other witness to
bear. To proclaim Jesus is itself to proclaim life. For Jesus is "the word
of life" (1 Jn 1:1). In him "life was made manifest" (1 Jn 1:2);
he himself is "the eternal life which was with the Father and was made
manifest to us" (1 Jn 1:2).
By the gift of the Spirit, this same life has
been bestowed on us. It is in being destined to life in its fullness, to
"eternal life", that every person's earthly life acquires its full
meaning. Enlightened by this Gospel of life, we feel a need to proclaim it and
to bear witness to it in all its marvellous newness. Since it is one with Jesus
himself, who makes all things new 103 and conquers the "oldness"
which comes from sin and leads to death, 104 this Gospel exceeds every human
expectation and reveals the sublime heights to which the dignity of the human
person is raised through grace. This is how Saint Gregory of Nyssa understands
it: "Man, as a being, is of no account; he is dust, grass, vanity. But
once he is adopted by the God of the universe as a son, he becomes part of the
family of that Being, whose excellence and greatness no one can see, hear or
understand. What words, thoughts or flight of the spirit can praise the
superabundance of this grace?
Man surpasses his nature: mortal, he becomes
immortal; perishable, he becomes imperishable; fleeting, he becomes eternal;
human, he becomes divine".105Gratitude and joy at the incomparable dignity
of man impel us to share this message with everyone: "that which we have
seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with
us" (1 Jn 1:3). We need to bring the Gospel of life to the heart of every
man and woman and to make it penetrate every part of society.
81. This involves above all proclaiming the
core of this Gospel. It is the proclamation of a living God who is close to us,
who calls us to profound communion with himself and awakens in us the certain
hope of eternal life. It is the affirmation of the inseparable connection
between the person, his life and his bodiliness. It is the presentation of
human life as a life of relationship, a gift of God, the fruit and sign of his
love. It is the proclamation that Jesus has a unique relationship with every
person, which enables us to see in every human face the face of Christ. It is
the call for a "sincere gift of self" as the fullest way to realize
our personal freedom. It also involves making clear all the consequences of
this Gospel. These can be summed up as follows: human life, as a gift of God,
is sacred and inviolable. For this reason procured abortion and euthanasia are
absolutely unacceptable. Not only must human life not be taken, but it must be
protected with loving concern.
The meaning of life is found in giving and
receiving love, and in this light human sexuality and procreation reach their
true and full significance. Love also gives meaning to suffering and death;
despite the mystery which surrounds them, they can become saving events.
Respect for life requires that science and technology should always be at the
service of man and his integral development. Society as a whole must respect,
defend and promote the dignity of every human person, at every moment and in
every condition of that person's life.
82. To be truly a people at the service of life
we must propose these truths constantly and courageously from the very first
proclamation of the Gospel, and thereafter in catechesis, in the various forms
of preaching, in personal dialogue and in all educational activity. Teachers,
catechists and theologians have the task of emphasizing the anthropological
reasons upon which respect for every human life is based. In this way, by
making the newness of the Gospel of life shine forth, we can also help everyone
discover in the light of reason and of personal experience how the Christian
message fully reveals what man is and the meaning of his being and existence. We
shall find important points of contact and dialogue also with non- believers,
in our common commitment to the establishment of a new culture of life. Faced
with so many opposing points of view, and a widespread rejection of sound
doctrine concerning human life, we can feel that Paul's entreaty to Timothy is
also addressed to us: "Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of
season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in
teaching" (2 Tim 4:2). This exhortation should resound with special force
in the hearts of those members of the Church who directly share, in different
ways, in her mission as "teacher" of the truth. May it resound above
all for us who are Bishops: we are the first ones called to be untiring
preachers of the Gospel of life. We are also entrusted with the task of
ensuring that the doctrine which is once again being set forth in this
Encyclical is faithfully handed on in its integrity. We must use appropriate
means to defend the faithful from all teaching which is contrary to it. We need
to make sure that in theological faculties, seminaries and Catholic
institutions sound doctrine is taught, explained and more fully investigated.
106 May Paul's exhortation strike a chord in all theologians, pastors, teachers
and in all those responsible for catechesis and the formation of consciences.
Aware of their specific role, may they never be so grievously irresponsible as
to betray the truth and their own mission by proposing personal ideas contrary
to the Gospel of life as faithfully presented and interpreted by the
Magisterium. In the proclamation of this Gospel, we must not fear hostility or
unpopularity, and we must refuse any compromise or ambiguity which might
conform us to the world's way of thinking (cf. Rom 12:2). We must be in the
world but not of the world (cf. Jn 15:19; 17:16), drawing our strength from
Christ, who by his Death and Resurrection has overcome the world (cf. Jn
16:33).
"I
give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made" (Ps 139:14):
celebrating
the Gospel of life
83. Because we have been sent into the world as
a "people for life", our proclamation must also become a genuine
celebration of the Gospel of life. This celebration, with the evocative power
of its gestures, symbols and rites, should become a precious and significant
setting in which the beauty and grandeur of this Gospel is handed on. For this
to happen, we need first of all to foster, in ourselves and in others, a
contemplative outlook. 107 Such an outlook arises from faith in the God of
life, who has created every individual as a "wonder" (cf. Ps 139:14).
It is the outlook of those who see life in its deeper meaning, who grasp its
utter gratuitousness, its beauty and its invitation to freedom and
responsibility. It is the outlook of those who do not presume to take
possession of reality but instead accept it as a gift, discovering in all
things the reflection of the Creator and seeing in every person his living
image (cf. Gen 1:27; Ps 8:5). This outlook does not give in to discouragement
when confronted by those who are sick, suffering, outcast or at death's door.
Instead, in all these situations it feels
challenged to find meaning, and precisely in these circumstances it is open to
perceiving in the face of every person a call to encounter, dialogue and
solidarity.It is time for all of us to adopt this outlook, and with deep
religious awe to rediscover the ability to revere and honour every person, as
Paul VI invited us to do in one of his first Christmas messages. 108 Inspired
by this contemplative outlook, the new people of the redeemed cannot but
respond with songs of joy, praise and thanksgiving for the priceless gift of
life, for the mystery of every individual's call to share through Christ in the
life of grace and in an existence of unending communion with God our Creator
and Father.
84. To celebrate the Gospel of life means to
celebrate the God of life, the God who gives life: "We must celebrate
Eternal Life, from which every other life proceeds. From this, in proportion to
its capacities, every being which in any way participates in life, receives
life. This Divine Life, which is above every other life, gives and preserves
life. Every life and every living movement proceed from this Life which
transcends all life and every principle of life. It is to this that souls owe
their incorruptibility; and because of this all animals and plants live, which
receive only the faintest glimmer of life. To men, beings made of spirit and
matter, Life grants life. Even if we should abandon Life, because of its
overflowing love for man, it converts us and calls us back to itself. Not only
this: it promises to bring us, soul and body, to perfect life, to immortality.
It is too little to say that this Life is alive: it is the Principle of life,
the Cause and sole Wellspring of life.
Every living thing must contemplate it and give
it praise: it is Life which overflows with life".109Like the Psalmist, we
too, in our daily prayer as individuals and as a community, praise and bless
God our Father, who knitted us together in our mother's womb, and saw and loved
us while we were still without form (cf. Ps 139:13, 15-16). We exclaim with
overwhelming joy: "I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully
made; wonderful are your works. You know me through and through" (Ps
139:14). Indeed, "despite its hardships, its hidden mysteries, its
suffering and its inevitable frailty, this mortal life is a most beautiful
thing, a marvel ever new and moving, an event worthy of being exalted in joy
and glory".110 Moreover, man and his life appear to us not only as one of
the greatest marvels of creation: for God has granted to man a dignity which is
near to divine (Ps 8:5-6). In every child which is born and in every person who
lives or dies we see the image of God's glory. We celebrate this glory in every
human being, a sign of the living God, an icon of Jesus Christ. We are called
to express wonder and gratitude for the gift of life and to welcome, savour and
share the Gospel of life not only in our personal and community prayer, but
above all in the celebrations of the liturgical year. Particularly important in
this regard are the Sacraments, the efficacious signs of the presence and
saving action of the Lord Jesus in Christian life. The Sacraments make us
sharers in divine life, and provide the spiritual strength necessary to
experience life, suffering and death in their fullest meaning. Thanks to a
genuine rediscovery and a better appreciation of the significance of these
rites, our liturgical celebrations, especially celebrations of the Sacraments,
will be ever more capable of expressing the full truth about birth, life,
suffering and death, and will help us to live these moments as a participation
in the Paschal Mystery of the Crucified and Risen Christ.
85. In celebrating the Gospel of life we also
need to appreciate and make good use of the wealth of gestures and symbols
present in the traditions and customs of different cultures and peoples. There
are special times and ways in which the peoples of different nations and
cultures express joy for a newborn life, respect for and protection of
individual human lives, care for the suffering or needy, closeness to the
elderly and the dying, participation in the sorrow of those who mourn, and hope
and desire for immortality. In view of this and following the suggestion made
by the Cardinals in the Consistory of 1991, I propose that a Day for Life be
celebrated each year in every country, as already established by some Episcopal
Conferences. The celebration of this Day should be planned and carried out with
the active participation of all sectors of the local Church. Its primary
purpose should be to foster in individual consciences, in families, in the
Church and in civil society a recognition of the meaning and value of human
life at every stage and in every condition.
Particular attention should be drawn to the
seriousness of abortion and euthanasia, without neglecting other aspects of
life which from time to time deserve to be given careful consideration, as
occasion and circumstances demand.
86. As part of the spiritual worship acceptable
to God (cf. Rom 12:1), the Gospel of life is to be celebrated above all in
daily living, which should be filled with self-giving love for others. In this
way, our lives will become a genuine and responsible acceptance of the gift of
life and a heartfelt song of praise and gratitude to God who has given us this
gift. This is already happening in the many different acts of selfless
generosity, often humble and hidden, carried out by men and women, children and
adults, the young and the old, the healthy and the sick. It is in this context,
so humanly rich and filled with love, that heroic actions too are born. These
are the most solemn celebration of the Gospel of life, for they proclaim it by
the total gift of self. They are the radiant manifestation of the highest
degree of love, which is to give one's life for the person loved (cf. Jn
15:13). They are a sharing in the mystery of the Cross, in which Jesus reveals
the value of every person, and how life attains its fullness in the sincere
gift of self. Over and above such outstanding moments, there is an everyday
heroism, made up of gestures of sharing, big or small, which build up an
authentic culture of life. A particularly praiseworthy example of such gestures
is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a
view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who
sometimes have no other hope. Part of this daily heroism is also the silent but
effective and eloquent witness of all those "brave mothers who devote
themselves to their own family without reserve, who suffer in giving birth to
their children and who are ready to make any effort, to face any sacrifice, in
order to pass on to them the best of themselves".111 In living out their
mission "these heroic women do not always find support in the world around
them.
On the contrary, the cultural models frequently
promoted and broadcast by the media do not encourage motherhood. In the name of
progress and modernity the values of fidelity, chastity, sacrifice, to which a
host of Christian wives and mothers have borne and continue to bear outstanding
witness, are presented as obsolete ... We thank you, heroic mothers, for your
invincible love! We thank you for your intrepid trust in God and in his love.
We thank you for the sacrifice of your life ... In the Paschal Mystery, Christ
restores to you the gift you gave him. Indeed, he has the power to give you
back the life you gave him as an offering".112
"What
does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not
works?" (Jas 2:14): serving the Gospel of life
87. By virtue of our sharing in Christ's royal
mission, our support and promotion of human life must be accomplished through
the service of charity, which finds expression in personal witness, various
forms of volunteer work, social activity and political commitment. This is a
particularly pressing need at the present time, when the "culture of
death" so forcefully opposes the "culture of life" and often
seems to have the upper hand. But even before that it is a need which springs
from "faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). As the Letter of James
admonishes us: "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has
faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is
ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ?Go in peace,
be warmed and filled', without giving them the things needed for the body, what
does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead"
(2:14-17).In our service of charity, we must be inspired and distinguished by a
specific attitude: we must care for the other as a person for whom God has made
us responsible. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to become neighbours to
everyone (cf. Lk 10:29-37), and to show special favour to those who are
poorest, most alone and most in need. In helping the hungry, the thirsty, the
foreigner, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned-as well as the child in the womb
and the old person who is suffering or near death-we have the opportunity to
serve Jesus. He himself said: "As you did it to one of the least of these
my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). Hence we cannot but feel called
to account and judged by the ever relevant words of Saint John Chrysostom:
"Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not neglect it when you find
it naked. Do not do it homage here in the church with silk fabrics only to
neglect it outside where it suffers cold and nakedness".113Where life is
involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot
tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at
every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good. We need then to
"show care" for all life and for the life of everyone. Indeed, at an
even deeper level, we need to go to the very roots of life and love.It is this
deep love for every man and woman which has given rise down the centuries to an
outstanding history of charity, a history which has brought into being in the
Church and society many forms of service to life which evoke admiration from
all unbiased observers. Every Christian community, with a renewed sense of
responsibility, must continue to write this history through various kinds of
pastoral and social activity. To this end, appropriate and effective programmes
of support for new life must be implemented, with special closeness to mothers
who, even without the help of the father, are not afraid to bring their child
into the world and to raise it. Similar care must be shown for the life of the
marginalized or suffering, especially in its final phases.
88. All of this involves a patient and fearless
work of education aimed at encouraging one and all to bear each other's burdens
(cf. Gal 6:2). It requires a continuous promotion of vocations to service,
particularly among the young. It involves the implementation of long-term
practical projects and initiatives inspired by the Gospel. Many are the means
towards this end which need to be developed with skill and serious commitment.
At the first stage of life, centres for natural methods of regulating fertility
should be promoted as a valuable help to responsible parenthood, in which all
individuals, and in the first place the child, are recognized and respected in
their own right, and where every decision is guided by the ideal of the sincere
gift of self. Marriage and family counselling agencies by their specific work
of guidance and prevention, carried out in accordance with an anthropology consistent
with the Christian vision of the person, of the couple and of sexuality, also
offer valuable help in rediscovering the meaning of love and life, and in
supporting and accompanying every family in its mission as the "sanctuary
of life". Newborn life is also served by centres of assistance and homes
or centres where new life receives a welcome. Thanks to the work of such
centres, many unmarried mothers and couples in difficulty discover new hope and
find assistance and support in overcoming hardship and the fear of accepting a
newly conceived life or life which has just come into the world. When life is
challenged by conditions of hardship, maladjustment, sickness or rejection,
other programmes-such as communities for treating drug addiction, residential communities
for minors or the mentally ill, care and relief centres for AIDS patients,
associations for solidarity especially towards the disabled-are eloquent
expressions of what charity is able to devise in order to give everyone new
reasons for hope and practical possibilities for life.And when earthly
existence draws to a close, it is again charity which finds the most
appropriate means for enabling the elderly, especially those who can no longer
look after themselves, and the terminally ill to enjoy genuinely humane
assistance and to receive an adequate response to their needs, in particular
their anxiety and their loneliness. In these cases the role of families is
indispensable; yet families can receive much help from social welfare agencies
and, if necessary, from recourse to palliative care, taking advantage of
suitable medical and social services available in public institutions or in the
home.In particular, the role of hospitals, clinics and convalescent homes needs
to be reconsidered. These should not merely be institutions where care is
provided for the sick or the dying. Above all they should be places where
suffering, pain and death are acknowledged and understood in their human and
specifically Christian meaning. This must be especially evident and effective
in institutes staffed by Religious or in any way connected with the Church.
89. Agencies and centres of service to life,
and all other initiatives of support and solidarity which circumstances may
from time to time suggest, need to be directed by people who are generous in
their involvement and fully aware of the importance of the Gospel of life for
the good of individuals and society. A unique responsibility belongs to
health-care personnel: doctors, pharmacists, nurses, chaplains, men and women
religious, administrators and volunteers. Their profession calls for them to be
guardians and servants of human life. In today's cultural and social context,
in which science and the practice of medicine risk losing sight of their
inherent ethical dimension, health-care professionals can be strongly tempted
at times to become manipulators of life, or even agents of death. In the face
of this temptation their responsibility today is greatly increased. Its deepest
inspiration and strongest support lie in the intrinsic and undeniable ethical
dimension of the health-care profession, something already recognized by the
ancient and still relevant Hippocratic Oath, which requires every doctor to
commit himself to absolute respect for human life and its sacredness. Absolute
respect for every innocent human life also requires the exercise of
conscientious objection in relation to procured abortion and euthanasia.
"Causing death" can never be considered a form of medical treatment,
even when the intention is solely to comply with the patient's request. Rather,
it runs completely counter to the health- care profession, which is meant to be
an impassioned and unflinching affirmation of life. Bio- medical research too,
a field which promises great benefits for humanity, must always reject
experimentation, research or applications which disregard the inviolable
dignity of the human being, and thus cease to be at the service of people and
become instead means which, under the guise of helping people, actually harm
them.
90. Volunteer workers have a specific role to
play: they make a valuable contribution to the service of life when they
combine professional ability and generous, selfless love. The Gospel of life
inspires them to lift their feelings of good will towards others to the heights
of Christ's charity; to renew every day, amid hard work and weariness, their
awareness of the dignity of every person; to search out people's needs and,
when necessary, to set out on new paths where needs are greater but care and support
weaker. If charity is to be realistic and effective, it demands that the Gospel
of life be implemented also by means of certain forms of social activity and
commitment in the political field, as a way of defending and promoting the
value of life in our ever more complex and pluralistic societies. Individuals,
families, groups and associations, albeit for different reasons and in
different ways, all have a responsibility for shaping society and developing
cultural, economic, political and legislative projects which, with respect for
all and in keeping with democratic principles, will contribute to the building
of a society in which the dignity of each person is recognized and protected
and the lives of all are defended and enhanced. This task is the particular
responsibility of civil leaders. Called to serve the people and the common
good, they have a duty to make courageous choices in support of life,
especially through legislative measures. In a democratic system, where laws and
decisions are made on the basis of the consensus of many, the sense of personal
responsibility in the consciences of individuals invested with authority may be
weakened.
But no one can ever renounce this
responsibility, especially when he or she has a legislative or decision-making
mandate, which calls that person to answer to God, to his or her own conscience
and to the whole of society for choices which may be contrary to the common
good. Although laws are not the only means of protecting human life,
nevertheless they do play a very important and sometimes decisive role in
influencing patterns of thought and behaviour. I repeat once more that a law
which violates an innocent person's natural right to life is unjust and, as
such, is not valid as a law. For this reason I urgently appeal once more to all
political leaders not to pass laws which, by disregarding the dignity of the
person, undermine the very fabric of society.The Church well knows that it is
difficult to mount an effective legal defence of life in pluralistic democracies,
because of the presence of strong cultural currents with differing outlooks. At
the same time, certain that moral truth cannot fail to make its presence deeply
felt in every conscience, the Church encourages political leaders, starting
with those who are Christians, not to give in, but to make those choices which,
taking into account what is realistically attainable, will lead to the re-
establishment of a just order in the defence and promotion of the value of
life. Here it must be noted that it is not enough to remove unjust laws. The
underlying causes of attacks on life have to be eliminated, especially by
ensuring proper support for families and motherhood. A family policy must be
the basis and driving force of all social policies. For this reason there need
to be set in place social and political initiatives capable of guaranteeing
conditions of true freedom of choice in matters of parenthood. It is also
necessary to rethink labour, urban, residential and social service policies so
as to harmonize working schedules with time available for the family, so that
it becomes effectively possible to take care of children and the elderly.
91. Today an important part of policies which
favour life is the issue of population growth. Certainly public authorities
have a responsibility to "intervene to orient the demography of the
population".114 But such interventions must always take into account and
respect the primary and inalienable responsibility of married couples and
families, and cannot employ methods which fail to respect the person and
fundamental human rights, beginning with the right to life of every innocent
human being. It is therefore morally unacceptable to encourage, let alone
impose, the use of methods such as contraception, sterilization and abortion in
order to regulate births. The ways of solving the population problem are quite
different. Governments and the various international agencies must above all
strive to create economic, social, public health and cultural conditions which
will enable married couples to make their choices about procreation in full
freedom and with genuine responsibility. They must then make efforts to ensure
"greater opportunities and a fairer distribution of wealth so that
everyone can share equitably in the goods of creation. Solutions must be sought
on the global level by establishing a true economy of communion and sharing of
goods, in both the national and international order".115 This is the only
way to respect the dignity of persons and families, as well as the authentic
cultural patrimony of peoples. Service of the Gospel of life is thus an immense
and complex task. This service increasingly appears as a valuable and fruitful
area for positive cooperation with our brothers and sisters of other Churches
and ecclesial communities, in accordance with the practical ecumenism which the
Second Vatican Council authoritatively encouraged. 116 It also appears as a
providential area for dialogue and joint efforts with the followers of other
religions and with all people of good will. No single person or group has a
monopoly on the defence and promotion of life. These are everyone's task and
responsibility. On the eve of the Third Millennium, the challenge facing us is
an arduous one: only the concerted efforts of all those who believe in the
value of life can prevent a setback of unforeseeable consequences for
civilization.
"Your
children will be like olive shoots around your table" (Ps 128:3):
the
family as the "sanctuary of life"
92. Within the "people of life and the people
for life", the family has a decisive responsibility. This responsibility
flows from its very nature as a community of life and love, founded upon
marriage, and from its mission to "guard, reveal and communicate
love".117 Here it is a matter of God's own love, of which parents are
co-workers and as it were interpreters when they transmit life and raise it
according to his fatherly plan. 118 This is the love that becomes selflessness,
receptiveness and gift. Within the family each member is accepted, respected
and honoured precisely because he or she is a person; and if any family member
is in greater need, the care which he or she receives is all the more intense
and attentive. The family has a special role to play throughout the life of its
members, from birth to death. It is truly "the sanctuary of life: the
place in which life-the gift of God-can be properly welcomed and protected
against the many attacks to which it is exposed, and can develop in accordance
with what constitutes authentic human growth".119 Consequently the role of
the family in building a culture of life is decisive and irreplaceable. As the
domestic church, the family is summoned to proclaim, celebrate and serve the
Gospel of life. This is a responsibility which first concerns married couples,
called to be givers of life, on the basis of an ever greater awareness of the
meaning of procreation as a unique event which clearly reveals that human life
is a gift received in order then to be given as a gift. In giving origin to a
new life, parents recognize that the child, "as the fruit of their mutual
gift of love, is, in turn, a gift for both of them, a gift which flows from
them".120It is above all in raising children that the family fulfils its
mission to proclaim the Gospel of life. By word and example, in the daily round
of relations and choices, and through concrete actions and signs, parents lead
their children to authentic freedom, actualized in the sincere gift of self,
and they cultivate in them respect for others, a sense of justice, cordial
openness, dialogue, generous service, solidarity and all the other values which
help people to live life as a gift. In raising children Christian parents must
be concerned about their children's faith and help them to fulfil the vocation
God has given them. The parents' mission as educators also includes teaching
and giving their children an example of the true meaning of suffering and
death. They will be able to do this if they are sensitive to all kinds of
suffering around them and, even more, if they succeed in fostering attitudes of
closeness, assistance and sharing towards sick or elderly members of the
family.
93. The family celebrates the Gospel of life
through daily prayer, both individual prayer and family prayer. The family
prays in order to glorify and give thanks to God for the gift of life, and
implores his light and strength in order to face times of difficulty and
suffering without losing hope.
But the celebration which gives meaning to
every other form of prayer and worship is found in the family's actual daily
life together, if it is a life of love and self-giving. This celebration thus
becomes a service to the Gospel of life, expressed through solidarity as
experienced within and around the family in the form of concerned, attentive
and loving care shown in the humble, ordinary events of each day. A
particularly significant expression of solidarity between families is a
willingness to adopt or take in children abandoned by their parents or in
situations of serious hardship. True parental love is ready to go beyond the
bonds of flesh and blood in order to accept children from other families,
offering them whatever is necessary for their well-being and full development.
Among the various forms of adoption, consideration should be given to
adoption-at-a-distance, preferable in cases where the only reason for giving up
the child is the extreme poverty of the child's family. Through this type of
adoption, parents are given the help needed to support and raise their
children, without their being uprooted from their natural environment. As
"a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common
good",121 solidarity also needs to be practised through participation in
social and political life. Serving the Gospel of life thus means that the
family, particularly through its membership of family associations, works to
ensure that the laws and institutions of the State in no way violate the right
to life, from conception to natural death, but rather protect and promote it.
94. Special attention must be given to the
elderly. While in some cultures older people remain a part of the family with
an important and active role, in others the elderly are regarded as a useless
burden and are left to themselves. Here the temptation to resort to euthanasia
can more easily arise. Neglect of the elderly or their outright rejection are
intolerable. Their presence in the family, or at least their closeness to the
family in cases where limited living space or other reasons make this
impossible, is of fundamental importance in creating a climate of mutual
interaction and enriching communication between the different age-groups. It is
therefore important to preserve, or to re-establish where it has been lost, a
sort of "covenant" between generations. In this way parents, in their
later years, can receive from their children the acceptance and solidarity
which they themselves gave to their children when they brought them into the
world. This is required by obedience to the divine commandment to honour one's
father and mother (cf. Ex 20:12; Lev 19:3).
But there is more. The elderly are not only to
be considered the object of our concern, closeness and service. They themselves
have a valuable contribution to make to the Gospel of life. Thanks to the rich
treasury of experiences they have acquired through the years, the elderly can
and must be sources of wisdom and witnesses of hope and love. Although it is
true that "the future of humanity passes by way of the family",122 it
must be admitted that modern social, economic and cultural conditions make the
family's task of serving life more difficult and demanding. In order to fulfil
its vocation as the "sanctuary of life", as the cell of a society
which loves and welcomes life, the family urgently needs to be helped and
supported. Communities and States must guarantee all the support, including
economic support, which families need in order to meet their problems in a
truly human way. For her part, the Church must untiringly promote a plan of
pastoral care for families, capable of making every family rediscover and live
with joy and courage its mission to further the Gospel of life.
"Walk as children of light" (Eph
5:8):
bringing about a transformation of culture
95. "Walk as children of light ... and try
to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of
darkness" (Eph 5:8, 10-11). In our present social context, marked by a
dramatic struggle between the "culture of life" and the "culture
of death", there is need to develop a deep critical sense, capable of
discerning true values and authentic needs. What is urgently called for is a
general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a
great campaign in support of life. All together, we must build a new culture of
life: new, because it will be able to confront and solve today's unprecedented
problems affecting human life; new, because it will be adopted with deeper and
more dynamic conviction by all Christians; new, because it will be capable of
bringing about a serious and courageous cultural dialogue among all parties.
While the urgent need for such a cultural transformation is linked to the
present historical situation, it is also rooted in the Church's mission of
evangelization. The purpose of the Gospel, in fact, is "to transform
humanity from within and to make it new".123 Like the yeast which leavens
the whole measure of dough (cf. Mt 13:33), the Gospel is meant to permeate all
cultures and give them life from within, 124 so that they may express the full
truth about the human person and about human life. We need to begin with the
renewal of a culture of life within Christian communities themselves. Too often
it happens that believers, even those who take an active part in the life of
the Church, end up by separating their Christian faith from its ethical
requirements concerning life, and thus fall into moral subjectivism and certain
objectionable ways of acting. With great openness and courage, we need to
question how widespread is the culture of life today among individual
Christians, families, groups and communities in our Dioceses. With equal
clarity and determination we must identify the steps we are called to take in
order to serve life in all its truth. At the same time, we need to promote a
serious and in-depth exchange about basic issues of human life with everyone,
including non-believers, in intellectual circles, in the various professional
spheres and at the level of people's everyday life.
96. The first and fundamental step towards this
cultural transformation consists in forming consciences with regard to the
incomparable and inviolable worth of every human life. It is of the greatest
importance to re-establish the essential connection between life and freedom.
These are inseparable goods: where one is violated, the other also ends up
being violated. There is no true freedom where life is not welcomed and loved;
and there is no fullness of life except in freedom.
Both realities have something inherent and
specific which links them inextricably: the vocation to love. Love, as a
sincere gift of self, 125 is what gives the life and freedom of the person
their truest meaning. No less critical in the formation of conscience is the
recovery of the necessary link between freedom and truth. As I have frequently
stated, when freedom is detached from objective truth it becomes impossible to
establish personal rights on a firm rational basis; and the ground is laid for
society to be at the mercy of the unrestrained will of individuals or the
oppressive totalitarianism of public authority. 126It is therefore essential
that man should acknowledge his inherent condition as a creature to whom God
has granted being and life as a gift and a duty. Only by admitting his innate
dependence can man live and use his freedom to the full, and at the same time
respect the life and freedom of every other person. Here especially one sees
that "at the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to the
greatest mystery: the mystery of God".127 Where God is denied and people
live as though he did not exist, or his commandments are not taken into
account, the dignity of the human person and the inviolability of human life
also end up being rejected or compromised.
97. Closely connected with the formation of
conscience is the work of education, which helps individuals to be ever more
human, leads them ever more fully to the truth, instils in them growing respect
for life, and trains them in right interpersonal relationships. In particular,
there is a need for education about the value of life from its very origins. It
is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do
not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of
life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.
Sexuality, which enriches the whole person,
"manifests its inmost meaning in leading the person to the gift of self in
love".128 The trivialization of sexuality is among the principal factors
which have led to contempt for new life. Only a true love is able to protect
life. There can be no avoiding the duty to offer, especially to adolescents and
young adults, an authentic education in sexuality and in love, an education
which involves training in chastity as a virtue which fosters personal maturity
and makes one capable of respecting the "spousal" meaning of the
body. The work of educating in the service of life involves the training of
married couples in responsible procreation. In its true meaning, responsible
procreation requires couples to be obedient to the Lord's call and to act as
faithful interpreters of his plan. This happens when the family is generously
open to new lives, and when couples maintain an attitude of openness and
service to life, even if, for serious reasons and in respect for the moral law,
they choose to avoid a new birth for the time being or indefinitely. The moral
law obliges them in every case to control the impulse of instinct and passion,
and to respect the biological laws inscribed in their person. It is precisely
this respect which makes legitimate, at the service of responsible procreation,
the use of natural methods of regulating fertility. From the scientific point
of view, these methods are becoming more and more accurate and make it possible
in practice to make choices in harmony with moral values. An honest appraisal
of their effectiveness should dispel certain prejudices which are still widely
held, and should convince married couples, as well as health-care and social
workers, of the importance of proper training in this area. The Church is
grateful to those who, with personal sacrifice and often unacknowledged
dedication, devote themselves to the study and spread of these methods, as well
to the promotion of education in the moral values which they presuppose. The
work of education cannot avoid a consideration of suffering and death. These
are a part of human existence, and it is futile, not to say misleading, to try
to hide them or ignore them. On the contrary, people must be helped to
understand their profound mystery in all its harsh reality. Even pain and
suffering have meaning and value when they are experienced in close connection
with love received and given. In this regard, I have called for the yearly
celebration of the World Day of the Sick, emphasizing "the salvific nature
of the offering up of suffering which, experienced in communion with Christ,
belongs to the very essence of the Redemption".129 Death itself is
anything but an event without hope. It is the door which opens wide on eternity
and, for those who live in Christ, an experience of participation in the
mystery of his Death and Resurrection.
98. In a word, we can say that the cultural
change which we are calling for demands from everyone the courage to adopt a
new life-style, consisting in making practical choices-at the personal, family,
social and international level-on the basis of a correct scale of values: the
primacy of being over having, 130 of the person over things. 131 This renewed
life-style involves a passing from indifference to concern for others, from
rejection to acceptance of them. Other people are not rivals from whom we must
defend ourselves, but brothers and sisters to be supported. They are to be
loved for their own sakes, and they enrich us by their very presence. In this
mobilization for a new culture of life no one must feel excluded: everyone has
an important role to play. Together with the family, teachers and educators
have a particularly valuable contribution to make. Much will depend on them if
young people, trained in true freedom, are to be able to preserve for
themselves and make known to others new, authentic ideals of life, and if they
are to grow in respect for and service to every other person, in the family and
in society. Intellectuals can also do much to build a new culture of human
life. A special task falls to Catholic intellectuals, who are called to be
present and active in the leading centres where culture is formed, in schools
and universities, in places of scientific and technological research, of
artistic creativity and of the study of man. Allowing their talents and
activity to be nourished by the living force of the Gospel, they ought to place
themselves at the service of a new culture of life by offering serious and well
documented contributions, capable of commanding general respect and interest by
reason of their merit. It was precisely for this purpose that I established the
Pontifical Academy for Life, assigning it the task of "studying and
providing information and training about the principal problems of law and
biomedicine pertaining to the promotion of life, especially in the direct
relationship they have with Christian morality and the directives of the
Church's Magisterium".132 A specific contribution will also have to come
from Universities, particularly from Catholic Universities, and from Centres,
Institutes and Committees of Bioethics. An important and serious responsibility
belongs to those involved in the mass media, who are called to ensure that the
messages which they so effectively transmit will support the culture of life.
They need to present noble models of life and make room for instances of
people's positive and sometimes heroic love for others. With great respect they
should also present the positive values of sexuality and human love, and not
insist on what defiles and cheapens human dignity. In their interpretation of
things, they should refrain from emphasizing anything that suggests or fosters
feelings or attitudes of indifference, contempt or rejection in relation to
life. With scrupulous concern for factual truth, they are called to combine
freedom of information with respect for every person and a profound sense of
humanity.
99. In transforming culture so that it supports
life, women occupy a place, in thought and action, which is unique and
decisive. It depends on them to promote a "new feminism" which
rejects the temptation of imitating models of "male domination", in
order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the
life of society, and overcome all discrimination, violence and exploitation.
Making my own the words of the concluding message of the Second Vatican
Council, I address to women this urgent appeal: "Reconcile people with
life".133 You are called to bear witness to the meaning of genuine love,
of that gift of self and of that acceptance of others which are present in a
special way in the relationship of husband and wife, but which ought also to be
at the heart of every other interpersonal relationship. The experience of
motherhood makes you acutely aware of the other person and, at the same time,
confers on you a particular task: "Motherhood involves a special communion
with the mystery of life, as it develops in the woman's womb ... This unique
contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an
attitude towards human beings not only towards her own child, but every human
being, which profoundly marks the woman's personality".134 A mother
welcomes and carries in herself another human being, enabling it to grow inside
her, giving it room, respecting it in its otherness.
Women first learn and then teach others that
human relations are authentic if they are open to accepting the other person: a
person who is recognized and loved because of the dignity which comes from
being a person and not from other considerations, such as usefulness, strength,
intelligence, beauty or health. This is the fundamental contribution which the
Church and humanity expect from women. And it is the indispensable prerequisite
for an authentic cultural change. I would now like to say a special word to
women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which
may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it
was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet
have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not
give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what
happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves
over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to
give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You
will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be
able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With
the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of
your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of
everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting
the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need
of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of
looking at human life.
100. In this great endeavour to create a new
culture of life we are inspired and sustained by the confidence that comes from
knowing that the Gospel of life, like the Kingdom of God itself, is growing and
producing abundant fruit (cf. Mk 4:26-29). There is certainly an enormous
disparity between the powerful resources available to the forces promoting the
"culture of death" and the means at the disposal of those working for
a "culture of life and love". But we know that we can rely on the help
of God, for whom nothing is impossible (cf. Mt 19:26).Filled with this
certainty, and moved by profound concern for the destiny of every man and
woman, I repeat what I said to those families who carry out their challenging
mission amid so many difficulties: 135 a great prayer for life is urgently
needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special
initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God, the
Creator and lover of life, from every Christian community, from every group and
association, from every family and from the heart of every believer. Jesus
himself has shown us by his own example that prayer and fasting are the first
and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (cf. Mt 4:1-11). As he
taught his disciples, some demons cannot be driven out except in this way (cf.
Mk 9:29). Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray
and fast so that power from on high will break down the walls of lies and
deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and
sisters the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life. May this same
power turn their hearts to resolutions and goals inspired by the civilization
of life and love.
"We
are writing this that our joy may be complete" (1 Jn 1:4):
the
Gospel of life is for the whole of human society
101. "We are writing you this that our joy
may be complete" (1 Jn 1:4). The revelation of the Gospel of life is given
to us as a good to be shared with all people: so that all men and women may have
fellowship with us and with the Trinity (cf. 1 Jn 1:3). Our own joy would not
be complete if we failed to share this Gospel with others but kept it only for
ourselves. The Gospel of life is not for believers alone: it is for everyone.
The issue of life and its defence and promotion is not a concern of Christians
alone. Although faith provides special light and strength, this question arises
in every human conscience which seeks the truth and which cares about the
future of humanity. Life certainly has a sacred and religious value, but in no
way is that value a concern only of believers. The value at stake is one which
every human being can grasp by the light of reason; thus it necessarily
concerns everyone. Consequently, all that we do as the "people of life and
for life" should be interpreted correctly and welcomed with favour. When
the Church declares that unconditional respect for the right to life of every
innocent person-from conception to natural death-is one of the pillars on which
every civil society stands, she "wants simply to promote a human State. A
State which recognizes the defence of the fundamental rights of the human
person, especially of the weakest, as its primary duty".136The Gospel of
life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to
contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good.
It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending
the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are
founded and from which they develop. A society lacks solid foundations when, on
the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and
peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing
or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated,
especially where it is weak or marginalized. Only respect for life can be the
foundation and guarantee of the most precious and essential goods of society,
such as democracy and peace. There can be no true democracy without a
recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her
rights. Nor can there be true peace unless life is defended and promoted. As
Paul VI pointed out: "Every crime against life is an attack on peace, especially
if it strikes at the moral conduct of people... But where human rights are
truly professed and publicly recognized and defended, peace becomes the joyful
and operative climate of life in society".137The "people of
life" rejoices in being able to share its commitment with so many others.
Thus may the "people for life" constantly grow in number and may a
new culture of love and solidarity develop for the true good of the whole of
human society.
CONCLUSION
102. At the end of this Encyclical, we naturally
look again to the Lord Jesus, "the Child born for us" (cf. Is 9:6),
that in him we may contemplate "the Life" which "was made
manifest" (1 Jn 1:2). In the mystery of Christ's Birth the encounter of
God with man takes place and the earthly journey of the Son of God begins, a
journey which will culminate in the gift of his life on the Cross. By his death
Christ will conquer death and become for all humanity the source of new life.
The one who accepted "Life" in the name of all and for the sake of
all was Mary, the Virgin Mother; she is thus most closely and personally
associated with the Gospel of life. Mary's consent at the Annunciation and her
motherhood stand at the very beginning of the mystery of life which Christ came
to bestow on humanity (cf. Jn 10:10). Through her acceptance and loving care
for the life of the Incarnate Word, human life has been rescued from
condemnation to final and eternal death. For this reason, Mary, "like the
Church of which she is the type, is a mother of all who are reborn to life. She
is in fact the mother of the Life by which everyone lives, and when she brought
it forth from herself she in some way brought to rebirth all those who were to
live by that Life".138As the Church contemplates Mary's motherhood, she
discovers the meaning of her own motherhood and the way in which she is called
to express it. At the same time, the Church's experience of motherhood leads to
a most profound understanding of Mary's experience as the incomparable model of
how life should be welcomed and cared for.
"A
great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun" (Rev
12:1):
the
motherhood of Mary and of the Church
103. The mutual relationship between the
mystery of the Church and Mary appears clearly in the "great portent"
described in the Book of Rev- elation: "A great portent appeared in
heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her
head a crown of twelve stars" (12:1). In this sign the Church recognizes
an image of her own mystery: present in history, she knows that she transcends
history, inasmuch as she constitutes on earth the "seed and
beginning" of the Kingdom of God. 139 The Church sees this mystery
fulfilled in complete and exemplary fashion in Mary. She is the woman of glory
in whom God's plan could be carried out with supreme perfection. The
"woman clothed with the sun"-the Book of Revelation tells
us-"was with child" (12:2). The Church is fully aware that she bears
within herself the Saviour of the world, Christ the Lord. She is aware that she
is called to offer Christ to the world, giving men and women new birth into
God's own life. But the Church cannot forget that her mission was made possible
by the motherhood of Mary, who conceived and bore the One who is "God from
God", "true God from true God". Mary is truly the Mother of God,
the Theotokos, in whose motherhood the vocation to motherhood bestowed by God
on every woman is raised to its highest level. Thus Mary becomes the model of
the Church, called to be the "new Eve", the mother of believers, the
mother of the "living" (cf. Gen 3:20).The Church's spiritual
motherhood is only achieved-the Church knows this too-through the pangs and
"the labour" of childbirth (cf. Rev 12:2), that is to say, in
constant tension with the forces of evil which still roam the world and affect
human hearts, offering resistance to Christ: "In him was life, and the
life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it" (Jn 1:4-5).Like the Church, Mary too had to live her
motherhood amid suffering: "This child is set ... for a sign that is
spoken against-and a sword will pierce through your own soul also-that thoughts
out of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk 2:34-35). The words which Simeon
addresses to Mary at the very beginning of the Saviour's earthly life sum up
and prefigure the rejection of Jesus, and with him of Mary, a rejection which
will reach its culmination on Calvary. "Standing by the cross of
Jesus" (Jn 19:25), Mary shares in the gift which the Son makes of himself:
she offers Jesus, gives him over, and begets him to the end for our sake. The
"yes" spoken on the day of the Annunciation reaches full maturity on
the day of the Cross, when the time comes for Mary to receive and beget as her
children all those who become disciples, pouring out upon them the saving love
of her Son: "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved
standing near, he said to his mother, ?Woman, behold, your son!' " (Jn
19:26).
"And
the dragon stood before the woman ... that he might devour her child
when she
brought it forth" (Rev 12:4): life menaced by the forces of evil
104. In the Book of Revelation, the "great
portent" of the "woman" (12:1) is accompanied by "another
portent which appeared in heaven": "a great red dragon" (Rev
12:3), which represents Satan, the personal power of evil, as well as all the
powers of evil at work in history and opposing the Church's mission. Here too
Mary sheds light on the Community of Believers. The hostility of the powers of
evil is, in fact, an insidious opposition which, before affecting the disciples
of Jesus, is directed against his mother. To save the life of her Son from
those who fear him as a dangerous threat, Mary has to flee with Joseph and the
Child into Egypt (cf. Mt 2:13-15).Mary thus helps the Church to realize that
life is always at the centre of a great struggle between good and evil, between
light and darkness. The dragon wishes to devour "the child brought
forth" (cf. Rev 12:4), a figure of Christ, whom Mary brought forth
"in the fullness of time" (Gal 4:4) and whom the Church must
unceasingly offer to people in every age. But in a way that child is also a
figure of every person, every child, especially every helpless baby whose life
is threatened, because-as the Council reminds us-"by his Incarnation the
Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every person".140 It is
precisely in the "flesh" of every person that Christ continues to
reveal himself and to enter into fellowship with us, so that rejection of human
life, in whatever form that rejection takes, is really a rejection of Christ.
This is the fascinating but also demanding truth which Christ reveals to us and
which his Church continues untiringly to proclaim: "Whoever receives one
such child in my name receives me" (Mt 18:5); "Truly, I say to you,
as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me"
(Mt 25:40).
105. The angel's Annunciation to Mary is framed
by these reassuring words: "Do not be afraid, Mary" and "with
God nothing will be impossible" (Lk 1:30, 37). The whole of the Virgin
Mother's life is in fact pervaded by the certainty that God is near to her and
that he accompanies her with his providential care. The same is true of the
Church, which finds "a place prepared by God" (Rev 12:6) in the
desert, the place of trial but also of the manifestation of God's love for his
people (cf. Hos 2:16). Mary is a living word of comfort for the Church in her
struggle against death. Showing us the Son, the Church assures us that in him
the forces of death have already been defeated: "Death with life
contended: combat strangely ended! Life's own Champion, slain, yet lives to
reign".141The Lamb who was slain is alive, bearing the marks of his
Passion in the splendour of the Resurrection. He alone is master of all the
events of history: he opens its "seals" (cf. Rev 5:1-10) and
proclaims, in time and beyond, the power of life over death. In the "new
Jerusalem", that new world towards which human history is travelling,
"death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor
pain any more, for the former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4).And as
we, the pilgrim people, the people of life and for life, make our way in
confidence towards "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1), we look
to her who is for us "a sign of sure hope and solace".142
O Mary,
bright dawn
of the new world,
Mother of
the living,
to you do
we entrust the cause of life
Look down,
O Mother,
upon the
vast numbers
of babies
not allowed to be born,
of the poor
whose lives are made difficult,
of men and
women
who are
victims of brutal violence,
of the
elderly and the sick killed
by
indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that
all who believe in your Son
may
proclaim the Gospel of life
with
honesty and love
to the
people of our time.
Obtain for
them the grace
to accept
that Gospel
as a gift
ever new,
the joy of
celebrating it with gratitude
throughout
their lives
and the
courage to bear witness to it
resolutely,
in order to build,
together
with all people of good will,
the
civilization of truth and love,
to the
praise and glory of God,
the Creator
and lover of life.
Given in Rome, at
Saint Peter's, on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord,
in the year 1995, the seventeenth of my
Pontificate
1 The expression "Gospel of life" is
not found as such in Sacred Scripture. But it does correspond to an essential
dimension of the biblical message.
2 Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.
3 Cf. John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 10; AAS 71 (1979),
275. 4 Cf. ibid., 14: loc.cit., 285.
5 Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 27.
6 Cf.
Letter to all my Brothers in the Episcopate regarding the "Gospel of
Life" (19 May 1991): Insegnamenti XIV, 1 (1991), 1293-1296.
7 Ibid.,
loc.cit., p. 1294.
8 Letter to
Families Gratissimam sane (2 February 1994), 4: AAS 86 (1994), 871.
9 John Paul
II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 39: AAS 83 (1991), 842.
10 No.
2259.
11 Saint
Ambrose, De Noe, 26:94-96: CSEL 32, 480-481.
12 Cf.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 1867 and 2268.
13 De Cain et Abel,
II, 10, 38: CSEL, 32, 408.
14 Cf.
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human
Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae: AAS 80
(1988), 70-102.
15 Address
during the Prayer Vigil for the Eighth World Youth Day, Denver, 14 August 1993,
II, 3: AAS 86 (1994), 419.
16 John
Paul II, Address to the Participants at the Study Conference on "The Right
to Life and Europe", 18 December 1987: Insegnamenti, X, 3 (1987),
1446-1447.
17 Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 36.
18 Cf.
ibid., 16.
19 Cf.
Saint Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, 13, 23: CCL 143A, 683.
20 John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 10; AAS 71 (1979),
274.
21 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World Gaudium et Spes, 50.
22 Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 4.
23
"Gloria Dei vivens homo": Adversus Haereses, IV, 20, 7: SCh 100/2,
648-649.
24 Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
Gaudium et Spes, 12.
25 Confessions, I, 1: CCL 27, 1.
26 Exameron, VI, 75-76: CSEL 32, 260-261.
27
"Vita autem hominis visio Dei": Adversus Haereses, IV, 20, 7: SCh
100/2, 648-649.
28 Cf. John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 38: AAS 83 (1991),
840-841.
29 John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 34: AAS
80 (1988), 560.
30 Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 50.
31 Letter
to Families Gratissimam sane (2 February 1994), 9: AAS 86 (1994), 878; cf. Pius
XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis (12 August 1950): AAS 42 (1950), 574.
32
"Animas enim a Deo immediate creari catholica fides nos retinere
iubet": Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis (12 August 1950): AAS
42 (1950), 575.
33 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World Gaudium et Spes, 50; cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981), 28: AAS 74 (1982), 114.
34
Homilies, II, 1; CCSG 3, 39.
35 See, for
example, Psalms 22:10-11; 71:6; 139:13-14.
36 Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, II, 22-23: CCL, 14, 40-41.
37 Saint
Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, 7, 2: Patres Apostolici, ed. F.X. Funk, II, 82. 38 De Hominis Opificio, 4: PG 44, 136.
39 Cf.
Saint John Damascene, De Fide Orthodoxa, 2, 12: PG 94, 920.922, quoted in Saint
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, Prologue.
40 Paul VI,
Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968), 13: AAS 60 (1968), 489.
41
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human
Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae (22 February 1987),
Introduction, No. 5: AAS 80 (1988), 76-77; cf. Catechism of the Catholic
Church, No. 2258.
42 Didache,
I, 1; II, 1-2; V, 1 and 3: Patres Apostolici, ed. F.X. Funk, I, 2-3, 6-9,
14-17; cf. Letter of Pseudo-Barnabas, XIX, 5: loc. cit., 90-93.
43 Cf.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 2263-2269; cf. also Catechism of the
Council of Trent III, §§ 327-332.
44
Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2265.
45 Cf.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 64, a. 7; Saint Alphonsus De'
Liguori, Theologia Moralis, l. III, tr. 4, c. 1, dub.3.
46
Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2266.
47 Cf.
ibid.
48 No.
2267.
49 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
12. 50 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church
in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 27.
51 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
25. 52 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia
Iura et Bona (5 May 1980), II: AAS 72 (1980), 546.
53
Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 96: AAS 85 (1993), 1209.
54 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World Gaudium et Spes, 51, "Abortus necnon infanticidium nefanda sunt
crimina".
55 Cf. John
Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August 1988), 14: AAS 80
(1988), 1686.
56 No. 21:
AAS 86 (1994), 920.
57
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion
(18 November 1974), Nos. 12-13: AAS 66 (1974), 738.
58
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human
Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae (22 February
1987), I, No. 1: AAS 80 (1988), 78-79.
59 Ibid., loc.
cit., 79.
60 Hence
the Prophet Jeremiah: "The word of the Lord came to me saying: 'Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations'" (1:4-5). The Psalmist, for his
part, addresses the Lord in these words: "Upon you I have leaned from my
birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb" (Ps 71:6; cf. Is
46:3; Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11). So too the Evangelist Luke - in the
magnificent episode of the meeting of the two mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, and
their two sons, John the Baptist and Jesus, still hidden in their mothers'
wombs (cf. 1:39-45) - emphasizes how even before their birth the two little
ones are able to communicate: the child recognizes the coming of the Child and
leaps for joy.
61 Cf.
Declaration on Procured Abortion (18 November 1974), No. 7: AAS 66 (1974),
740-747. 62 "You shall not kill
a child by abortion nor shall you kill it once it is born": V, 2: Patres
Apostolici, ed. F.X. Funk, I, 17.
63 Apologia
on behalf of the Christians, 35: PG 6, 969.
64
Apologeticum, IX, 8: CSEL 69, 24.
65 Cf.
Encyclical Letter Casti Connubii (31 December 1930), II: AAS 22 (1930),
562-592.
66 Address
to the Biomedical Association "San Luca" (12 November 1944): Discorsi
e Radiomessaggi, VI (1944-1945), 191; cf. Address to the Italian Catholic Union
of Midwives (29 October 1951), No. 2: AAS 43 (1951), 838.
67
Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra (15 May 1961), 3: AAS 53 (1961), 447.
68 Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 51.
69 Canon
2350, § 1.
70 Code of
Canon Law, canon 1398; cf. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 1450,
§ 2. 71 Cf. ibid., canon 1329; also Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches,
canon 1417.
72 Cf.
Address to the National Congress of Italian Jurists (9 December 1972): AAS 64
(1972), 777; Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968), 14: AAS 60 (1968),
490.
73 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
25. 74 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for
Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae (22
February 1987), I, 3: AAS 80 (1988), 80.
75 Charter
of the Rights of the Family (22 October 1983), article 4b: Vatican Polyglot
Press, 1983. 76 Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia Iura et Bona (5 May 1980), II:
AAS 72 (1980), 546.
77 Ibid.,
IV: loc. cit., 551.
78 Cf.
ibid.
79 Pius
XII, Address to an International Group of Physicians (24 February 1957), III:
AAS 49 (1957), 147; cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration
on Euthanasia Iura et Bona, III: AAS 72 (1980), 547-548.
80 Pius
XII, Address to an International Group of Physicians (24 February 1957), III:
AAS 49 (1957), 145.
81 Pius
XII, Address to an International Group of Physicians (24 February 1957): loc.
cit., 129-147; Congregation of the Holy Office, Decretum de directa insontium
occisione (2 December 1940): AAS 32 (1940), 553-554; Paul VI, Message to French
Television: "Every life is sacred" (27 January 1971): Insegnamenti IX
(1971), 57-58; Address to the International College of Surgeons (1 June 1972):
AAS 64 (1972), 432-436; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 27.
82 Cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen
Gentium, 25.
83 Cf.
Saint Augustine, De Civitate Dei I, 20: CCL 47, 22; Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theologiae, II-II, q. 6, a. 5.
84
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia Iura et
Bona (5 May 1980), I: AAS 72 (1980), 545; Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Nos. 2281-2283.
85 Ep. 204,
5: CSEL 57, 320.
86 Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 18.
87 Cf. John
Paul II, Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris (11 February 1984), 14-24: AAS 76
(1984), 214-234.
88 Cf. John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 46: AAS 83 (1991),
850; Pius XII, Christmas Radio Message (24 December 1944): AAS 37 (1945),
10-20.
89 Cf. John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 97 and 99: AAS
85 (1993), 1209-1211.
90
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human
Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae (22 February
1987), III: AAS 80 (1988), 98.
91 Cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis
Humanae, 7.
92 Cf.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 96, a. 2.
93 Cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis
Humanae, 7.
94
Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963), II: AAS 55 (1963), 273-274.
The internal quote is from Pius XII, Radio Message of Pentecost 1941 (1 June
1941): AAS 33 (1941), 200. On this topic, the Encyclical cites: Pius XII,
Encyclical Letter Mit brennender Sorge (14 March 1937): AAS 29 (1937): AAS 29
(1937), 159; Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris (19 March 1937), III: AAS 29
(1937), 79; Pius XII, Christmas Radio Message (24 December 1942): AAS 35
(1943), 9-24.
95
Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963), II: loc. cit., 271.
96 Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 93, a. 3, ad 2um.
97 Ibid.,
I-II, q. 95, a. 2. Aquinas quotes Saint Augustine: "Non videtur esse lex,
quae iusta non fuerit", De Libero Arbitrio, I, 5, 11: PL 32, 1227.
98
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion
(18 November 1974), No. 22: AAS 66 (1974), 744.
99 Cf.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 1753-1755; John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 81-82: AAS 85 (1993), 1198-1199.
100 In
Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus, 41, 10: CCL 36, 363; cf. John Paul II,
Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 13: AAS 85 (1993), 1144.
101
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975), 14: AAS 68 (1976),
13.
102 Cf.
Roman Missal, prayer of the celebrant before communion.
103 Cf.
Saint Irenaeus: "Omnem novitatem attulit, semetipsum afferens, qui fuerat
annuntiatus", Adversus Haereses: IV, 34, 1: SCh 100/2, 846-847.
104 Cf.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, "Peccator inveterascit, recedens a novitate
Christi", In Psalmos Davidis Lectura: 6,5.
105 De
Beatitudinibus, Oratio VII: PG 44, 1280.
106 Cf. John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 116: AAS 85
(1993), 1224.
107 Cf.
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 37: AAS 83
(1991), 840. 108 Cf. Message for Christmas 1967: AAS 60 (1968), 40.
109 Pseudo-
Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Divine Names, 6, 1-3: PG 3, 856-857.
110 Paul VI, Pensiero alla Morte, Istituto Paolo VI, Brescia 1988, 24.
111 John Paul II, Homily for the Beatification of Isidore Bakanja, Elisabetta Canori Mora and Gianna Beretta Molla (24 April 1994): L'Osservatore Romano, 25-26 April 1994, 5.
112 Ibid.
113 In
Matthaeum, Hom. L, 3: PG 58, 508.
114
Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2372.
115 John
Paul II, Address to the Fourth General Conference of Latin American Bishops in
Santo Domingo (12 October 1992), No. 15: AAS 85 (1993), 819.
116 Cf.
Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 12; Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 90.
117 John
Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November
1981), 17: AAS 74 (1982), 100.
118 Cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 50.
119 John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 39: AAS 83 (1991),
842.
120 John
Paul II, Address to Participants in the Seventh Symposium of European Bishops,
on the theme of "Contemporary Attitudes towards Life and Death: a
Challenge for Evangelization" (17 October 1989), No. 5: Insegnamenti XII,
2 (1989), 945. Children are presented in the Biblical tradition precisely as
God's gift (cf. Ps 127:3) and as a sign of his blessing on those who walk in
his ways (cf. Ps 128:3-4).
121 John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 38: AAS
80 (1988), 565-566.
122 John
Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November
1981), 86: AAS 74 (1982), 188.
123 Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975), 18: AAS 68 (1976), 17.
124 Cf.
ibid., 20: loc. cit., 18.
125 Cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 24.
126 Cf.
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 17: AAS 83
(1991), 814; Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 95-101: AAS
85 (1993), 1208-1213.
127 John
Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 24: AAS 83 (1991),
822.
128 John
Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November
1981), 37: AAS 74 (1982), 128.
129 Letter
establishing the World Day of the Sick (13 May 1992), No. 2: Insegnamenti XV, 1
(1992), 1410.
130 Cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 35; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum
Progressio (26 March 1967), 15: AAS 59 (1967), 265.
131 Cf.
John Paul II, Letter to Families Gratissimam sane (2 February 1994), 13: AAS 86
(1994), 892.
132 John
Paul II, Motu Proprio Vitae Mysterium (11 February 1994), 4: AAS 86 (1994),
386-387. 133 Closing Message of the Council (8 December 1965): To Women.
134 John
Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August 1988), 18: AAS 80
(1988), 1696.
135 Cf.
John Paul II, Letter to Families Gratissimam sane (2 February 1994), 5: AAS 86
(1994), 872.
136 John
Paul II, Address to Participants in the Study Conference on "The Right to
Life in Europe" (18 December 1987): Insegnamenti X, 3 (1987), 1446.
137 Message
for the 1977 World Day of Peace: AAS 68 (1976), 711-712.
138 Blessed
Guerric of Igny, In Assumptione B. Mariae, Sermo I, 2: PL 185, 188.
139 Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
5. 140 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes,
22.
141 Roman
Missal, Sequence for Easter Sunday. 142 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 68.