The Gospel of
Life
ENCYCLICAL LETTER ADDRESSED BY THE
SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II 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
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
The incomparable worth of the human
person [2]
New threats to human life [3-4]
In communion with all the Bishops of
the world [5-6]
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 [7-9]
"What have you done?" (Gen
4:10): the eclipse of the value of life
[10-17]
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
(Gen 4:9): a perverse idea of freedom
[18-20]
"And from your face I shall be
hidden" (Gen 4:14): the eclipse
of the sense of God and of man [21-24]
"You have come to the sprinkled
blood" (cf. Heb 12:22, 24): signs
of hope and invitation to commitment
[25-28]
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" [29-30]
"The Lord is my strength and my
song, and he has become my salvation"
(Ex 15:2): life is always a good [31]
"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
[32-33]
"Called ... to be conformed to
the image of his Son" (Rom 8:28-29):
God's glory shines on the face of man
[34-36]
"Whoever lives and believes in
me shall never die" (Jn 11:26):
the gift of eternal life [37-38]
"From man in regard to his fellow
man I will demand an accounting"
(Gen 9:5): reverence and love for every
human life [39-41]
"Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen
1:28): man's responsibility for life
[42-43]
"For you formed my inmost being"
(Ps 139:13): the dignity of the unborn
child [44-45]
"I kept my faith even when I said,
'I am greatly afflicted"' (Ps 116:10):
life in old age and at times of suffering
[46-47]
"All who hold her fast will live"
(Bar 4:1): from the law of Sinai to
the gift of the Spirit [48-49]
"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 [50-51]
CHAPTER III
YOU SHALL NOT KILL
GOD'S HOLY LAW
"If you would enter life, keep
the commandments" (Mt 19:17): Gospel
and commandment [52]
"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 [53-57]
"Your eyes beheld my unformed
substance" (Ps 139:16): the unspeakable
crime of abortion [58-63]
"It is I who bring both death
and life" (Dt 32:39): the tragedy
of euthanasia [64-67]
"We must obey God rather than
men" (Acts 5:29): civil law and
the moral law [68-74]
"You shall love your neighbour
as yourself" (Lk 10:27): "promote"
life [75-77]
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
[78-79]
"That which we have seen and heard
we proclaim also to you" (1 Jn
1:3): proclaiming the Gospel of life
[80-82]
"I give you thanks that I am fearfully,
wonderfully made" (Ps 139:14):
celebrating the Gospel of life [83-86]
"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 [87-91]
"Your children will be like olive
shoots around your table" (Ps 128:3):
the family as the "sanctuary of
life" [92-94]
"Walk as children of light"
(Eph 5:8): bringing about a transformation
of culture [95-100]
"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 [101-102].
CONCLUSION
"A great portent appeared in heaven,
a woman clothed with the sun" (Rev
12:1): the motherhood of Mary and of
the Church [103]
"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]
"Death shall be no more"
(Rev 21:4): the splendour of the Resurrection
[105]
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EVANGELIUM
VITAE
INTRODUCTION
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]
New threats to human life
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.
In communion with all the Bishops of
the world
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.
The 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".[9]
To 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: 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 overpopulation
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
bow 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 bas
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 dearly 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.
"Whoever lives and believes in
me shall never die" (Jn 11:26):
the gift of eternal life
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".[27]
Immediate 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 develops 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 dominion
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).[30]
By 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".[31]
This 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".[34]
Thus, 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).
"For you formed my inmost being"
(Ps 139:13): the dignity of the unborn
child
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.[35]
How 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).
"All who hold her fast will live"
(Bar 4:1): from the law of Sinai to
the gift of the Spirit
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 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 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
"If you would enter life, keep
the commandments" (Mt 19:17): Gospel
and commandment
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.[47]
It 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".[49]
Faced 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.[51]
The 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".[52]
As 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]
"Your eyes beheld my unformed
substance" (Ps 139:16): the unspeakable
crime of abortion
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".[54]
But 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?".[58]
Furthermore, 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 witness[60]--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 well[6l]--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".[68]
The 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.[75]
This 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.
"It is I who bring both death
and life" (Dt 32:39): the tragedy
of euthanasia
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".[76]
Euthanasia 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;
I 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".[86]
This 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).
"We must obey God rather than
men" (Acts 5:29): civil law and
the moral law
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".[97]
Now 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".[98]
A 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.
"You shall love your neighbour
as yourself" (Lk 10:27): "promote"
life
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.[99]
In 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 even 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".[101]
Evangelization 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".[102]
We 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".[105]
Gratitude 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 nonbelievers,
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".[109]
Like 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".[113]
Where 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 sho
