EVANGELIUM VITAE
(The Gospel of
Life)
Pope John Paul II
ENCYCLICAL
LETTER
EVANGELIUM
VITAE
ADDRESSED BY THE SUPREME
PONTIFF
POPE JOHN PAUL
II
TO ALL
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
CHAPTER I
- THE VOICE OF YOUR BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIES TO ME
FROM THE GROUND
CHAPTER
II - I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE
LIFE
CHAPTER III - YOU SHALL NOT
KILL
CHAPTER IV - YOU DID IT TO
ME
CONCLUSION
ENDNOTES
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.
Index
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 how priceless the
value of
his life. The Apostle Peter reminds us of this: "You know
that you
were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your
fathers,
not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with
the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or
spot" (1
Pt 1:18-19). Precisely by contemplating the precious blood
of
Christ, the sign of his self-giving love (cf. Jn 13:1), the
believer
learns to recognize and appreciate the almost divine
dignity
of every human being and can exclaim with ever renewed and
grateful
wonder: "How precious must man be in the eyes of the
Creator,
if he 'gained so great a Redeemer' (Exsultet of the Easter
Vigil),
and if God 'gave his only Son' in order that man 'should not
perish
but have eternal life' (cf. Jn 3:16)!"20
Furthermore, Christ's blood reveals to man that his greatness, and
therefore
his vocation, consists in the sincere gift of self.
Precisely
because it is poured out as the gift of life, the blood of
Christ is
no longer a sign of death, of definitive separation from
the
brethren, but the instrument of a communion which is richness of
life for
all. Whoever in the Sacrament of the Eucharist drinks this
blood and
abides in Jesus (cf. Jn 6:56) is drawn into the dynamism
of his
love and gift of life, in order To bring to its fullness the
original
vocation to love which belongs to everyone (cf. Gen 1:27;
2:18-24).
It is
from the blood of Christ that all draw the strength to commit
themselves to promoting life. It is precisely this blood that is the
most
powerful source of hope, indeed it is the foundation of the
absolute
certitude that in God's plan life will be victorious. "And
death
shall be no more", exclaims the powerful voice which comes
from the
throne of God in the Heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:4). And
Saint
Paul assures us that the present victory over sin is a sign
and
anticipation of the definitive victory over death, when there
"shall
come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed
up in
victory'. 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is
your
sting?"' (1 Cor 15:54-55).
26. In
effect, signs which point to this victory are not lacking in
our
societies and cultures, strongly marked though they are by the
"culture
of death". It would therefore be to give a one-sided
picture,
which could lead to sterile discouragement, if the
condemnation of the threats to life were not accompanied by the
presentation of the positive signs at work in humanity's present
situation.
Unfortunately it is often hard to see and recognize these positive
signs,
perhaps also because they do not receive sufficient attention
in the
communications media. Yet, how many initiatives of help and
support
for people who are weak and defenceless have sprung up and
continue
to spring up in the Christian community and in civil
society,
at the local, national and international level, through the
efforts
of individuals, groups, movements and organizations of
various
kinds!
There are still many married couples who, with a generous sense of
responsibility, are ready to accept children as "the supreme gift of
marriage".21 Nor is there a lack of families which, over and above
their
everyday service to life, are willing to accept abandoned
children,
boys and girls and teenagers in difficulty, handicapped
persons,
elderly men and women who have been left alone. Many
centres
in support of life, or similar institutions, are sponsored
by
individuals and groups which, with admirable dedication and
sacrifice, offer moral and material support to mothers who are in
difficulty and are tempted to have recourse to abortion.
Increasingly, there are appearing in many places groups of
volunteers prepared to offer hospitality to persons without a
family,
who find themselves in conditions of particular distress or
who need
a supportive environment to help them to overcome
destructive habits and discover anew the meaning of life.
Medical
science, thanks to the committed efforts of researchers and
practitioners, continues in its efforts to discover ever more
effective
remedies: treatments which were once inconceivable but
which now
offer much promise for the future are today being
developed
for the unborn, the suffering and those in an acute or
terminal
stage of sickness. Various agencies and organizations are
mobilizing their efforts to bring the benefits of the most advanced
medicine
to countries most afflicted by poverty and endemic
diseases.
In a similar way national and international associations
of
physicians are being organized to bring quick relief to peoples
affected
by natural disasters, epidemics or wars. Even if a just
international distribution of medical resources is still far from
being a
reality, how can we not recognize in the steps taken so far
the sign
of a growing solidarity among peoples, a praiseworthy human
and moral
sensitivity and a greater respect for life?
27. In
view of laws which permit abortion and in view of efforts,
which
here and there have been successful, to legalize euthanasia,
movements
and initiatives to raise social awareness in defence of
life have
sprung up in many parts of the world. When, in accordance
with
their principles, such movements act resolutely, but without
resorting
to violence, they promote a wider and more profound
consciousness of the value of life, and evoke and bring about a more
determined commitment to its defence.
Furthermore, how can we fail to mention all those daily gestures of
openness,
sacrifice and unselfish care which countless people
lovingly
make in families, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the
elderly
and other centres or communities which defend life? Allowing
herself
to be guided by the example of Jesus the "Good Samaritan"
(cf. Lk
10:29-37) and upheld by his strength, the Church 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.
Index
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 speaking28—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.
Index
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 witness60—they are the personal
objects
of God's loving and fatherly providence.
Christian
Tradition—as the Declaration issued by the Congregation
for the
Doctrine of the Faith points out so well6l—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 Predecessors81 and in communion with the Bishops
of the
Catholic Church, I confirm that euthanasia is a grave
violation
of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally
unacceptable killing of a human person. This doctrine is based upon
the
natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by
the
Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal
Magisterium.82 Depending on the circumstances, this practice
involves
the malice proper to suicide or murder.
66.
Suicide is always as morally objectionable as murder. The
Church's
tradition has always rejected it as a gravely evil
choice.83
Even though a certain psychological, cultural and social
conditioning may induce a person to carry out an action which so
radically
contradicts the innate inclination to life, thus lessening
or
removing subjective responsibility, suicide, when viewed
objectively, is a gravely immoral act. In fact, it involves the
rejection
of love of self and the renunciation of the obligation of
justice
and charity towards one's neighbour, towards the communities
to which
one belongs, and towards society as a whole.84 In its
deepest
reality, suicide represents a rejection of God's absolute
sovereignty over life and death, as proclaimed in the prayer of the
ancient
sage of Israel: "You have power over life and death; you
lead men
down to the gates of Hades and back again" (Wis 16:13; cf.
Tob
13:2).
To
concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and
to help
in carrying it out through so-called "assisted suicide"
means to
cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of,
an
injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested. In
a
remarkably relevant passage Saint Augustine writes that "it is
never
licit to kill another: even if he should wish it, indeed if he
request
it because, hanging between life and death, he begs for help
in
freeing the soul struggling against the bonds of the body and
longing
to be released; nor is it licit even when a sick person is
no longer
able to live".85
Even when
not motivated by a selfish refusal to be burdened with the
life of
someone who is suffering, euthanasia must be called a false
mercy,
and indeed a disturbing "perversion" of mercy. True
"compassion" leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the
person
whose suffering we cannot bear. Moreover, the act of
euthanasia appears all the more perverse if it is carried out by
those,
like relatives, who are supposed to treat a family member
with
patience and love, or by those, such as doctors, who by virtue
of their
specific profession are supposed to care for the sick
person
even in the most painful terminal stages.
The
choice of euthanasia becomes more serious when it takes the form
of a
murder committed by others on a person who has in no way
requested
it and who has never consented to it. The height of
arbitrariness and injustice is reached when certain people, such as
physicians or legislators, arrogate to themselves the power to
decide
who ought to live and who ought to die. Once again we find
ourselves
before the temptation of Eden: to become like God who
"knows
good and evil" (cf. Gen 3:5). God alone has the power over
life and
death: "It is I who bring both death and life" (Dt 32:39;
cf. 2 Kg
5:7; 1 Sam 2:6). But he only exercises this power in
accordance with a plan of wisdom and love. When man usurps this
power,
being enslaved by a foolish and selfish way of thinking, he
inevitably uses it for injustice and death. Thus the life of the
person
who is weak is put into the hands of the one who is strong;
in
society the sense of justice is lost, and mutual trust, the basis
of every
authentic interpersonal relationship, is undermined at its
root.
67. Quite
different from this is the way of love and true mercy,
which our
common humanity calls for, and upon which faith in Christ
the
Redeemer, who died and rose again, sheds ever new light. The
request
which arises from the human heart in the supreme
confrontation with suffering and death, especially when faced with
the
temptation to give up in utter desperation, is above all a
request
for companionship, sympathy and support in the time of
trial. It
is a plea for help to keep on hoping when all human hopes
fail. As
the Second Vatican Council reminds us: "It is in the face
of death
that the riddle of human existence becomes most acute" and
yet "man
rightly follows the intuition of his heart when he abhors
and
repudiates the absolute ruin and total disappearance of his own
person.
Man rebels against death because he bears in himself an
eternal
seed which cannot be reduced to mere matter".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.
Index
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 new103 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 should be promoted as a
valuable
help to responsible parenthood, in which all individuals,
and in
the first place the child, are recognized and respected in
their own
right, and where every decision is guided by the ideal of
the
sincere gift of self. Marriage and family counselling agencies
by their
specific work of guidance and prevention, carried out in
accordance with an anthropology consistent with the Christian vision
of the
person, of the couple and of sexuality, also offer valuable
help in
rediscovering the meaning of love and life, and in
supporting and accompanying every family in its mission as the
"sanctuary of life". Newborn life is also served by centres of
assistance and homes or centres where new life receives a welcome.
Thanks to
the work of such centres, many unmarried mothers and
couples
in difficulty discover new hope and find assistance and
support
in overcoming hardship and the fear of accepting a newly
conceived
life or life which has just come into the world.
When life
is challenged by conditions of hardship, maladjustment,
sickness
or rejection, other programmes—such as communities for
treating
drug addiction, residential communities for minors or the
mentally
ill, care and relief centres for AIDS patients,
associations for solidarity especially towards the disabled—are
eloquent
expressions of what charity is able to devise in order to
give
everyone new reasons for hope and practical possibilities for
life.
And when
earthly existence draws to a close, it is again charity
which
finds the most appropriate means for enabling the elderly,
especially those who can no longer look after themselves, and the
terminally ill to enjoy genuinely humane assistance and to receive
an
adequate response to their needs, in particular their anxiety and
their
loneliness. In these cases the role of families is
indispensable; yet families can receive much help from social
welfare
agencies and, if necessary, from recourse to palliative
care,
taking advantage of suitable medical and social services
available
in public institutions or in the home.
In
particular, the role of hospitals, clinics and convalescent homes
needs to
be reconsidered. These should not merely be institutions
where
care is provided for the sick or the dying. Above all they
should be
places where suffering, pain and death are acknowledged
and
understood in their human and specifically Christian meaning.
This must
be especially evident and effective in institutes staffed
by
Religious or in any way connected with the Church.
89.
Agencies and centres of service to life, and all other
initiatives of support and solidarity which circumstances may from
time to
time suggest, need to be directed by people who are generous
in their
involvement and fully aware of the importance of the Gospel
of life
for the good of individuals and society.
A unique
responsibility belongs to health-care personnel: doctors,
pharmacists, nurses, chaplains, men and women religious,
administrators and volunteers. Their profession calls for them to be
guardians
and servants of human life. In today's cultural and social
context,
in which science and the practice of medicine risk losing
sight of
their inherent ethical dimension, health-care professionals
can be
strongly tempted at times to become manipulators of life, or
even
agents of death. In the face of this temptation their
responsibility today is greatly increased. Its deepest inspiration
and
strongest support lie in the intrinsic and undeniable ethical
dimension
of the health-care profession, something already
recognized by the ancient and still relevant Hippocratic Oath, which
requires
every doctor to commit himself to absolute respect for
human
life and its sacredness.
Absolute
respect for every innocent human life also requires the
<exercise of conscientious objection> in relation to procured
abortion
and euthanasia. "Causing death" can never be considered a
form of
medical treatment, even when the intention is solely to
comply
with the patient's request. Rather, it runs completely
counter
to the health-care profession, which is meant to be an
impassioned and unflinching affirmation of life. Biomedical research
too, a
field which promises great benefits for humanity, must always
reject
experimentation, research or applications which disregard the
inviolable dignity of the human being, and thus cease to be at the
service
of people and become instead means which, under the guise of
helping
people, actually harm them.
90.
Volunteer workers have a specific role to play: they make a
valuable
contribution to the service of life when they combine
professional ability and generous, selfless love. The Gospel of life
inspires
them to lift their feelings of good will towards others to
the
heights of Christ's charity; to renew every day, amid hard work
and
weariness, their awareness of the dignity of every person; to
search
out people's needs and, when necessary, to set out on new
paths
where needs are greater but care and support weaker.
If
charity is to be realistic and effective, it demands that the
Gospel of
life be implemented also by means of certain forms of
social
activity and commitment in the political field, as a way of
defending
and promoting the value of life in our ever more complex
and
pluralistic societies. Individuals, families, groups and
associations, albeit for different reasons and in different ways,
all have
a responsibility for shaping society and developing
cultural,
economic, political and legislative projects which, with
respect
for all and in keeping with democratic principles, will
contribute to the building of a society in which the dignity of each
person is
recognized and protected and the lives of all are defended
and
enhanced.
This task is the particular responsibility of civil leaders. Called
to serve
the people and the common good, they have a duty to make
courageous choices in support of life, especially through
legislative measures. In a democratic system, where laws and
decisions
are made on the basis of the consensus of many, the sense
of
personal responsibility in the consciences of individuals
invested
with authority may be weakened. But no one can ever
renounce
this responsibility, especially when he or she has a
legislative or decision-making mandate, which calls that person to
answer to
God, to his or her own conscience and to the whole of
society
for choices which may be contrary to the common good.
Although
laws are not the only means of protecting human life,
nevertheless they do play a very important and sometimes decisive
role in
influencing patterns of thought and behaviour. I repeat once
more that
a law which violates an innocent person's natural right to
life is
unjust and, as such, is not valid as a law. For this reason
I
urgently appeal once more to all political leaders not to pass
laws
which, by disregarding the dignity of the person, undermine the
very
fabric of society.
The
Church well knows that it is difficult to mount an effective
legal
defence of life in pluralistic democracies, because of the
presence
of strong cultural currents with differing outlooks. At the
same
time, certain that moral truth cannot fail to make its presence
deeply
felt in every conscience, the Church encourages political
leaders,
starting with those who are Christians, not to give in, but
to make
those choices which, taking into account what is
realistically attainable, will lead to the re-establishment of a
just
order in the defence and promotion of the value of life. Here
it must
be noted that it is not enough to remove unjust laws. The
underlying causes of attacks on life have to be eliminated,
especially by ensuring proper support for families and motherhood. A
family
policy must be the basis and driving force of all social
policies.
For this reason there need to be set in place social and
political
initiatives capable of guaranteeing conditions of true
freedom
of choice in matters of parenthood. It is also necessary to
rethink
labour, urban, residential and social service policies so as
to
harmonize working schedules with time available for the family,
so that
it becomes effectively possible to take care of children and
the
elderly.
91. Today an important part of policies which favour life is the
issue of
population growth. Certainly public authorities have a
responsibility to "intervene to orient the demography of the
population".114 But such interventions must always take into account
and
respect the primary and inalienable responsibility of married
couples
and families, and cannot employ methods which fail to
respect
the person and fundamental human rights, beginning with the
right to
life of every innocent human being. It is therefore morally
unacceptable to encourage, let alone impose, the use of methods such
as
contraception, sterilization and abortion in order to regulate
births.
The ways of solving the population problem are quite
different. Governments and the various international agencies must
above all
strive to create economic, social, public health and
cultural
conditions which will enable married couples to make their
choices
about procreation in full freedom and with genuine
responsibility. They must then make efforts to ensure "greater
opportunities and a fairer distribution of wealth so that everyone
can share
equitably in the goods of creation. Solutions must be
sought on
the global level by establishing a true economy of
communion
and sharing of goods, in both the national and
international order".115 This is the only way to respect the dignity
of
persons and families, as well as the authentic cultural patrimony
of
peoples.
Service of the Gospel of life is thus an immense and complex task.
This
service increasingly appears as a valuable and fruitful area
for
positive cooperation with our brothers and sisters of other
Churches
and ecclesial communities, in accordance with the practical
ecumenism
which the Second Vatican Council authoritatively
encouraged.116 It also appears as a providential area for dialogue
and joint
efforts with the followers of other religions and with all
people of
good will. No single person or group has a monopoly on the
defence
and promotion of life. These are everyone's task and
responsibility. On the eve of the Third Millennium, the challenge
facing us
is an arduous one: only the concerted efforts of all those
who
believe in the value of life can prevent a setback of
unforeseeable consequences for civilization.
"Your
children will be like olive shoots around your table" (Ps
128:3):
the family as the "sanctuary of life"
92.
Within the "people of life and the people for life", the family
has a
decisive responsibility. This responsibility flows from its
very
nature as a community of life and love, founded upon marriage,
and from
its mission to "guard, reveal and communicate love".117
Here it
is a matter of God's own love, of which parents are
co-workers and as it were interpreters when they transmit life and
raise it
according to his fatherly plan.118 This is the love that
becomes
selflessness, receptiveness and gift.
Within
the family each member is accepted, respected and honoured
precisely
because he or she is a person; and if any family member is
in
greater need, the care which he or she receives is all the more
intense
and attentive.
The
family has a special role to play throughout the life of its
members,
from birth to death. It is truly "the sanctuary of life:
the place
in which life—the gift of God—can be properly welcomed and
protected
against the many attacks to which it is exposed, and can
develop
in accordance with what constitutes authentic human
growth".119 Consequently the role of the family in building a
culture
of life is decisive and irreplaceable.
As the
domestic church, the family is summoned to proclaim,
celebrate
and serve the Gospel of life. This is a responsibility
which
first concerns married couples, called to be givers of life,
on the
basis of an ever greater awareness of the meaning of
procreation as a unique event which clearly reveals that human life
is a gift
received in order then to be given as a gift. In giving
origin to
a new life, parents recognize that the child, "as the
fruit of
their mutual gift of love, is, in turn, a gift for both of
them, a
gift which flows from them".120
It is
above all in raising children that the family fulfils its
mission
to proclaim the Gospel of life. By word and example, in the
daily
round of relations and choices, and through concrete actions
and
signs, parents lead their children to authentic freedom,
actualized in the sincere gift of self, and they cultivate in them
respect
for others, a sense of justice, cordial openness, dialogue,
generous
service, solidarity and all the other values which help
people to
live life as a gift. In raising children Christian parents
must be
concerned about their children's faith and help them to
fulfil
the vocation God has given them. The parents' mission as
educators
also includes teaching and giving their children an
example
of the true meaning of suffering and death. They will be
able to
do this if they are sensitive to all kinds of suffering
around
them and, even more, if they succeed in fostering attitudes
of
closeness, assistance and sharing towards sick or elderly members
of the
family.
93. The family celebrates the Gospel of life through daily prayer,
both
individual prayer and family prayer. The family prays in order
to
glorify and give thanks to God for the gift of life, and implores
his light
and strength in order to face times of difficulty and
suffering
without losing hope. But the celebration which gives
meaning
to every other form of prayer and worship is found in the
family's
actual daily life together, if it is a life of love and
self-giving.
This
celebration thus becomes a service to the Gospel of life,
expressed
through solidarity as experienced within and around the
family in
the form of concerned, attentive and loving care shown in
the
humble, ordinary events of each day. A particularly significant
expression of solidarity between families is a willingness to adopt
or take
in children abandoned by their parents or in situations of
serious
hardship. True parental love is ready to go beyond the bonds
of flesh
and blood in order to accept children from other families,
offering
them whatever is necessary for their well-being and full
development. Among the various forms of adoption, consideration
should be
given to adoption-at-a-distance, preferable in cases where
the only
reason for giving up the child is the extreme poverty of
the
child's family. Through this type of adoption, parents are given
the help
needed to support and raise their children, without their
being
uprooted from their natural environment.
As "a
firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the
common
good",121 solidarity also needs to be practised through
participation in social and political life. Serving the Gospel of
life thus
means that the family, particularly through its membership
of family
associations, works to ensure that the laws and
institutions of the State in no way violate the right to life, from
conception to natural death, but rather protect and promote it.
94.
Special attention must be given to the elderly. While in some
cultures
older people remain a part of the family with an important
and
active role, in others the elderly are regarded as a useless
burden
and are left to themselves. Here the temptation to resort to
euthanasia can more easily arise.
Neglect
of the elderly or their outright rejection are intolerable.
Their
presence in the family, or at least their closeness to the
family in
cases where limited living space or other reasons make
this
impossible, is of fundamental importance in creating a climate
of mutual
interaction and enriching communication between the
different
age-groups. It is therefore important to preserve, or to
re-establish where it has been lost, a sort of "covenant" between
generations. In this way parents, in their later years, can receive
from
their children the acceptance and solidarity which they
themselves gave to their children when they brought them into the
world.
This is required by obedience to the divine commandment to
honour
one's father and mother (cf. Ex 20:12; Lev 19:3). But there
is more.
The elderly are not only to be considered the object of our
concern,
closeness and service. They themselves have a valuable
contribution to make to the Gospel of life. Thanks to the rich
treasury
of experiences they have acquired through the years, the
elderly
can and must be sources of wisdom and witnesses of hope and
love.
Although
it is true that "the future of humanity passes by way of
the
family",122 it must be admitted that modern social, economic and
cultural
conditions make the family's task of serving life more
difficult
and demanding. In order to fulfil its vocation as the
"sanctuary of life", as the cell of a society which loves and
welcomes
life, the family urgently needs to be helped and supported.
Communities and States must guarantee all the support, including
economic
support, which families need in order to meet their
problems
in a truly human way. For her part, the Church must
untiringly promote a plan of pastoral care for families, capable of
making
every family rediscover and live with joy and courage its
mission
to further the Gospel of life.
"Walk as
children of light" (Eph 5:8): bringing about a
transformation of culture
95. "Walk
as children of light... and try to learn what is pleasing
to the
Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph
5:8,
10-11). In our present social context, marked by a dramatic
struggle
between the "culture of life" and the "culture of death",
there is
need to develop a deep critical sense, capable of
discerning true values and authentic needs.
What is
urgently called for is a general mobilization of consciences
and a
united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support
of life.
All together, we must build a new culture of life: new,
because
it will be able to confront and solve today's unprecedented
problems
affecting human life; new, because it will be adopted with
deeper
and more dynamic conviction by all Christians; new, because
it will
be capable of bringing about a serious and courageous
cultural
dialogue among all parties. While the urgent need for such
a
cultural transformation is linked to the present historical
situation, it is also rooted in the Church's mission of
evangelization. The purpose of the Gospel, in fact, is "to transform
humanity
from within and to make it new".123 Like the yeast which
leavens
the whole measure of dough (cf. Mt 13:33), the Gospel is
meant to
permeate all cultures and give them life from within,124 so
that they
may express the full truth about the human person and
about
human life.
We need
to begin with the renewal of a culture of life within
Christian
communities themselves. Too often it happens that
believers, even those who take an active part in the life of the
Church,
end up by separating their Christian faith from its ethical
requirements concerning life, and thus fall into moral subjectivism
and
certain objectionable ways of acting. With great openness and
courage,
we need to question how widespread is the culture of life
today
among individual Christians, families, groups and communities
in our
Dioceses. With equal clarity and determination we must
identify
the steps we are called to take in order to serve life in
all its
truth. At the same time, we need to promote a serious and
in-depth
exchange about basic issues of human life with everyone,
including
non-believers, in intellectual circles, in the various
professional spheres and at the level of people's everyday life.
96. The
first and fundamental step towards this cultural
transformation consists in forming consciences with regard to the
incomparable and inviolable worth of every human life. It is of the
greatest
importance to re-establish the essential connection between
life and
freedom. These are inseparable goods: where one is
violated,
the other also ends up being violated. There is no true
freedom
where life is not welcomed and loved; and there is no
fullness
of life except in freedom. Both realities have something
inherent
and specific which links them inextricably: the vocation to
love.
Love, as a sincere gift of self,125 is what gives the life and
freedom
of the person their truest meaning.
No less
critical in the formation of conscience is the recovery of
the
necessary link between freedom and truth. As I have frequently
stated,
when freedom is detached from objective truth it becomes
impossible to establish personal rights on a firm rational basis;
and the
ground is laid for society to be at the mercy of the
unrestrained will of individuals or the oppressive totalitarianism
of public
authority.126
It is
therefore essential that man should acknowledge his inherent
condition
as a creature to whom God has granted being and life as a
gift and
a duty. Only by admitting his innate dependence can man
live and
use his freedom to the full, and at the same time respect
the life
and freedom of every other person. Here especially one sees
that "at
the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to
the
greatest mystery: the mystery of God".127 Where God is denied
and
people live as though he did not exist, or his commandments are
not taken
into account, the dignity of the human person and the
inviolability of human life also end up being rejected or
compromised.
97.
Closely connected with the formation of conscience is the work
of
education, which helps individuals to be ever more human, leads
them ever
more fully to the truth, instils in them growing respect
for life,
and trains them in right interpersonal relationships.
In
particular, there is a need for education about the value of life
from its
very origins. It is an illusion to think that we can build
a true
culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept
and
experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to
their
true meaning and in their close interconnection. Sexuality,
which
enriches the whole person, "manifests its inmost meani