ENCYCLICAL LETTER
EVANGELIUM VITAE
ADDRESSED BY THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
LAY FAITHFUL
AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL
ON THE VALUE AND INVIOLABILITY
OF HUMAN LIFE

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

The incomparable worth of the human person [2]
New threats to human life [3-4]
In communion with all the Bishops of the world [5-6]

CHAPTER I

THE VOICE OF YOUR BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIES TO ME FROM THE GROUND

PRESENT-DAY THREATS TO HUMAN LIFE

"Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him" (<Gen> 4:8):
the roots of violence against life [7-9]

"What have you done?" (<Gen> 4:10): the eclipse of the value of life
[10-17]

"Am I my brother's keeper?" (<Gen> 4:9): a perverse idea of freedom
[18-20]

"And from your face I shall be hidden" (<Gen> 4:14): the eclipse of
the sense of God and of man [21-24]

"You have come to the sprinkled blood" (cf. <Heb> 12:22, 24): signs
of hope and invitation to commitment [25-28]


CHAPTER II

I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE

THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE CONCERNING LIFE

"The life was made manifest, and we saw it" (1 <Jn> 1:2): with our
gaze fixed on Christ, "the Word of life" [29-30]

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation"
(<Ex> 15:2): life is always a good [31]

"The name of Jesus ... has made this man strong" (<Acts> 3:16): in
the uncertainties of human life, Jesus brings life's meaning to
fulfilment [32-33]

"Called ... to be conformed to the image of his Son" (<Rom> 8:28-29):
God's glory shines on the face of man [34-36]

"Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (<Jn> 11:26): the
gift of eternal life [37-38]

"From man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting"
(<Gen> 9:5): reverence and love for every human life [39-41]

"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (<Gen>
1:28): man's responsibility for life [42-43]

"For you formed my inmost being" (<Ps> 139:13): the dignity of the
unborn child [44-45]

"I kept my faith even when I said, 'I am greatly afflicted"' (<Ps>
116:10): life in old age and at times of suffering [46-47]

"All who hold her fast will live" (<Bar> 4:1): from the law of Sinai
to the gift of the Spirit [48-49]

"They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (<Jn> 19:37): the
Gospel of life is brought to fulfilment on the tree of the Cross
[50-51]

CHAPTER III

YOU SHALL NOT KILL

GOD'S HOLY LAW

"If you would enter life, keep the commandments" (<Mt> 19:17): Gospel
and commandment [52]

"From man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for
human life" (<Gen> 9:5): human life is sacred and inviolable [53-57]

"Your eyes beheld my unformed substance" (<Ps> 139:16): the
unspeakable crime of abortion [58-63]

"It is I who bring both death and life" (<Dt> 32:39): the tragedy of
euthanasia [64-67]

"We must obey God rather than men" (<Acts> 5:29): civil law and the
moral law [68-74]

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (<Lk> 10:27): "promote"
life [75-77]

CHAPTER IV

YOU DID IT TO ME

FOR A NEW CULTURE OF HUMAN LIFE

"You are God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1
<Pet> 2:9): a people of life and for life [78-79]

"That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you" (1 <Jn>
1:3): proclaiming the Gospel of life [80-82]

"I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made" (<Ps>
139:14): celebrating the Gospel of life [83-86]

"What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has
not works?" (<Jas> 2:14): serving the Gospel of life [87-91]

"Your children will be like olive shoots around your table" (<Ps>
128:3): the family as the "sanctuary of life" [92-94]

"Walk as children of light" (<Eph> 5:8): bringing about a
transformation of culture [95-100]

"We are writing this that our joy may be complete" (1 <Jn> 1:4): the
Gospel of life is for the whole of human society [101-102].

CONCLUSION

"A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun"
(Rev 12:1): the motherhood of Mary and of the Church [103]

"And the dragon stood before the woman ... that he might devour her
child when she brought it forth" (<Rev> 12:4): life menaced by the
forces of evil [104]

"Death shall be no more" (<Rev> 21:4): the splendour of the
Resurrection [105]

EVANGELIUM VITAE

INTRODUCTION

1. THE GOSPEL OF LIFE is at the heart of Jesus' message. Lovingly
received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with
dauntless fidelity as "good news" to the people of every age and
culture.

At the dawn of salvation, it is the Birth of a Child which is
proclaimed as joyful news: "I bring you good news of a great joy
which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour, who is. Christ the Lord" (<Lk> 2:10-11). The
source of this "great joy" is the Birth of the Saviour; but Christmas
also reveals the full meaning of every human birth, and the joy which
accompanies the Birth of the Messiah is thus seen to be the
foundation and fulfilment of joy at every child born into the world
(cf. <Jn> 16:21).

When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus says: "I
came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (<Jn> 10:10).
In truth, he is referring to that "new" and "eternal" life which
consists in communion with the Father, to which every person is
freely called in the Son by the power of the Sanctifying Spirit. It
is precisely in this "life" that all the aspects and stages of human
life achieve their full significance.

<The incomparable worth of the human person>

2. Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the
dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing
the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation
reveals the <greatness> and the <inestimable value> of human life
even in its temporal phase. Life in time, in fact, is the fundamental
condition, the initial stage and an integral part of the entire
unified process of human existence. It is a process which,
unexpectedly and undeservedly, is enlightened by the promise and
renewed by the gift of divine life, which will reach its full
realization in eternity (cf. 1 <Jn> 3:1-2). At the same time, it is
precisely this supernatural calling which highlights the <relative
character> of each individual's earthly life. After all, life on
earth is not an "ultimate" but a "penultimate" reality; even so, it
remains a <sacred reality> entrusted to us, to be preserved with a
sense of responsibility and brought to perfection in love and in the
gift of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters.

The Church knows that this <Gospel of life>, which she has received
from her Lord,[1] has a profound and persuasive echo in the heart of
every person--believer and non-believer alike--because it
marvellously fulfils all the heart's expectations while infinitely
surpassing them. Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties,
every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by the light
of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the
natural law written in the heart (cf. <Rom> 2:14-15) the sacred value
of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm
the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to
the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every human
community and the political community itself are founded.

In a special way, believers in Christ must defend and promote this
right, aware as they are of the wonderful truth recalled by the
Second Vatican Council: "By his incarnation the Son of God has united
himself in some fashion with every human being".[2] This saving event
reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who "so loved
the world that he gave his only Son" (<Jn> 3:16), but also the
<incomparable value of every human person>.

The Church, faithfully contemplating the mystery of the Redemption,
acknowledges this value with ever new wonder.[3] She feels called to
proclaim to the people of all times this "Gospel", the source of
invincible hope and true joy for every period of history. <The
Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel of the dignity of the person
and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible Gospel>.

For this reason, man--living man--represents the primary and
fundamental way for the Church.[4]

<New threats to human life>

3. Every individual, precisely by reason of the mystery of the Word
of God who was made flesh (cf. <Jn> 1:14), is entrusted to the
maternal care of the Church. Therefore every threat to human dignity
and life must necessarily be felt in the Church's very heart; it
cannot but affect her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive
Incarnation of the Son of God, and engage her in her mission of
proclaiming the <Gospel of life> in all the world and to every
creature (cf. <Mk> 16:15).

Today this proclamation is especially pressing because of the
extraordinary increase and gravity of threats to the life of
individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and
defenceless. In addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger,
endemic diseases, violence and war, new threats are emerging on an
alarmingly vast scale.

The Second Vatican Council, in a passage which retains all its
relevance today, forcefully condemned a number of crimes and attacks
against human life. Thirty years later, taking up the words of the
Council and with the same forcefulness I repeat that condemnation in
the name of the whole Church, certain that I am interpreting the
genuine sentiment of every upright conscience: "Whatever is opposed
to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion,
euthanasia, or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the
integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted
on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults
human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary
imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of
women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where
people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free
and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are
infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to
those who practise them than to those who suffer from the injury.
Moreover, they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator".[5]

4. Unfortunately, this disturbing state of affairs, far from
decreasing, is expanding: with the new prospects opened up by
scientific and technological progress there arise new forms of
attacks on the dignity of the human being. At the same time a new
cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives crimes
against life a <new and--if possible--even more sinister character>,
giving rise to further grave concern: broad sectors of public opinion
justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of
individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only exemption
from punishment but even authorization by the State, so that these
things can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free
assistance of health-care systems.

All this is causing a profound change in the way in which life and
relationships between people are considered. The fact that
legislation in many countries, perhaps even departing from basic
principles of their Constitutions, has determined not to punish these
practices against life, and even to make them altogether legal, is
both a disturbing symptom and a significant cause of grave moral
decline. Choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by
the common moral sense are gradually becoming socially acceptable.
Even certain sectors of the medical profession, which by its calling
is directed to the defence and care of human life, are increasingly
willing to carry out these acts against the person. In this way the
very nature of the medical profession is distorted and contradicted,
and the dignity of those who practise it is degraded. In such a
cultural and legislative situation, the serious demographic, social
and family problems which weigh upon many of the world's peoples and
which require responsible and effective attention from national and
international bodies, are left open to false and deceptive solutions,
opposed to the truth and the good of persons and nations.

The end result of this is tragic: not only is the fact of the
destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in their final
stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less grave and
disturbing is the fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by
such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to
distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of
human life.

<In communion with all the Bishops of the world>

5. The <Extraordinary Consistory> of Cardinals held in Rome on 4-7
April 1991 was devoted to the problem of the threats to human life in
our day. After a thorough and detailed discussion of the problem and
of the challenges it poses to the entire human family and in
particular to the Christian community, the Cardinals unanimously
asked me to reaffirm with the authority of the Successor of Peter the
value of human life and its inviolability, in the light of present
circumstances and attacks threatening it today.

In response to this request, at Pentecost in 1991 I wrote a <personal
letter> to each of my Brother Bishops asking them, in the spirit of
episcopal collegiality, to offer me their cooperation in drawing up a
specific document.[6] I am deeply grateful to all the Bishops who
replied and provided me with valuable facts, suggestions and
proposals. In so doing they bore witness to their unanimous desire to
share in the doctrinal and pastoral mission of the Church with regard
to the <Gospel of life>.

In that same letter, written shortly after the celebration of the
centenary of the Encyclical <Rerum Novarum>, I drew everyone's
attention to this striking analogy: "Just as a century ago it was the
working classes which were oppressed in their fundamental rights, and
the Church very courageously came to their defence by proclaiming the
sacrosanct rights of the worker as a person, so now, when another
category of persons is being oppressed in the fundamental right to
life, the Church feels in duty bound to speak out with the same
courage on behalf of those who have no voice. Hers is always the
evangelical cry in defence of the world's poor, those who are
threatened and despised and whose human rights are violated".[7]

Today there exists a great multitude of weak and defenceless human
beings, unborn children in particular, whose fundamental right to
life is being trampled upon. If, at the end of the last century, the
Church could not be silent about the injustices of those times, still
less can she be silent today, when the social injustices of the past,
unfortunately not yet overcome, are being compounded in many regions
of the world by still more grievous forms of injustice and
oppression, even if these are being presented as elements of progress
in view of a new world order.

The present Encyclical, the fruit of the cooperation of the
Episcopate of every country of the world, is therefore meant to be a
<precise and vigorous reaffirmation of the value of human life and
its inviolability>, and at the same time a pressing appeal addressed
to each and every person, in the name of God: <respect, protect, love
and serve life, every human life>! Only in this direction will you
find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness!

May these words reach all the sons and daughters of the Church! May
they reach all people of good will who are concerned for the good of
every man and woman and for the destiny of the whole of society!

6. In profound communion with all my brothers and sisters in the
faith, and inspired by genuine friendship towards all, I wish to
<meditate upon once more and proclaim the Gospel of life>, the
splendour of truth which enlightens consciences, the clear light
which corrects the darkened gaze, and the unfailing source of
faithfulness and steadfastness in facing the ever new challenges
which we meet along our path.

As I recall the powerful experience of the Year of the Family, as if
to complete the <Letter> which I wrote "to every particular family in
every part of the world",[8] I look with renewed confidence to every
household and I pray that at every level a general commitment to
support the family will reappear and be strengthened, so that today
too--even amid so many difficulties and serious threats--the family
will always remain, in accordance with God's plan, the "sanctuary of
life".[9]

To all the members of the Church, <the people of life and for life>,
I make this most urgent appeal, that together we may offer this world
of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and
solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be
affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilization of truth and
love.

CHAPTER I

THE VOICE OF YOUR BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIES TO ME FROM THE GROUND

PRESENT-DAY THREATS TO HUMAN LIFE

"<Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him>" (<Gen>
4:8): <the roots of violence against life>

7. "God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of
the living. For he has created all things that they might exist...
<God created man for incorruption>, and made him in the image of his
own eternity, but through the devil's envy <death entered the world>,
and those who belong to his party experience it" (<Wis> 1:13-14;
2:23-24).

The <Gospel of life>, proclaimed in the beginning when man was
created in the image of God for a destiny of full and perfect life
(cf. <Gen> 2:7; <Wis> 9:2-3), is contradicted by the painful
experience of <death which enters the world> and casts its shadow of
meaninglessness over man's entire existence. Death came into the
world as a result of the devil's envy (cf. <Gen> 3:1,4-5) and the sin
of our first parents (cf. <Gen> 2:17, 3:17-19). And death entered it
in a violent way, <through the killing of Abel by his brother Cain>:
"And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother
Abel, and killed him" (<Gen> 4:8).

This first murder is presented with singular eloquence in a page of
the Book of Genesis which has universal significance: it is a page
rewritten daily, with inexorable and degrading frequency, in the book
of human history.

Let us re-read together this biblical account which, despite its
archaic structure and its extreme simplicity, has much to teach us.

"<Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In
the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit
of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of
their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his
offering, but for Cain and his offering he had not regard. So Cain
was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, 'Why
are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well,
will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching
at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it'.

"Cain said to Abel his brother, 'Let us go out to the field'. And
when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel,
and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your
brother?' He said, I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?' And the
Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is
crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground,
which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your
hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its
strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth'. Cain
said to the Lord, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold,
you have driven me this day away from the ground; and from your face
I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the
earth, and whoever finds me will slay me'. Then the Lord said to him,
'Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him
sevenfold'. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon
him should kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the
Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden"> (<Gen> 4:2-16).

8. Cain was "very angry" and his countenance "fell" because "the Lord
had regard for Abel and his offering" (<Gen> 4:4-5). The biblical
text does not reveal the reason why God prefers Abel's sacrifice to
Cain's. It clearly shows however that God, although preferring Abel's
gift, <does not interrupt his dialogue with Cain>. He admonishes him,
<reminding him of his freedom in the face of evil>: man is in no way
predestined to evil. Certainly, like Adam, he is tempted by the
malevolent force of sin which, like a wild beast, lies in wait at the
door of his heart, ready to leap on its prey. But Cain remains free
in the face of sin. He can and must overcome it: "Its desire is for
you, but you must master it" (<Gen> 4:7).

<Envy and anger> have the upper hand over the Lord's warning, and so
Cain attacks his own brother and kills him. As we read in the
<Catechism of the Catholic Church>: "In the account of Abel's murder
by his brother Cain, Scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy
in man, consequences of original sin, from the beginning of human
history. Man has become the enemy of his fellow man"[10]

<Brother kills brother>. Like the first fratricide, every murder is a
violation of the <"spiritual" kinship> uniting mankind in one great
family,[11] in which all share the same fundamental good: equal
personal dignity. Not infrequently the <kinship "of flesh and blood">
is also violated; for example when threats to life arise within the
relationship between parents and children, such as happens in
abortion or when, in the wider context of family or kinship,
euthanasia is encouraged or practised.

At the root of every act of violence against one's neighbour there is
<a concession to the "thinking" of the evil one>, the one who "was a
murderer from the beginning" (<Jn> 8:44). As the Apostle John reminds
us: "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the
evil one and murdered his brother" (1 <Jn> 3:11-12). Cain's killing
of his brother at the very dawn of history is thus a sad witness of
how evil spreads with amazing speed: man's revolt against God in the
earthly paradise is followed by the deadly combat of man against man.

After the crime, <God intervenes to avenge the one killed>. Before
God, who asks him about the fate of Abel, Cain, instead of showing
remorse and apologizing, arrogantly eludes the question: "I do not
know; am I my brother's keeper?" (<Gen 4:9). "<I do not know>": Cain
tries to cover up his crime with a lie. This was and still is the
case, when all kinds of ideologies try to justify and disguise the
most atrocious crimes against human beings. "<Am I my brother's
keeper?>": Cain does not wish to think about his brother and refuses
to accept the responsibility which every person has towards others.
We cannot but think of today's tendency for people to refuse to
accept responsibility for their brothers and sisters. Symptoms of
this trend include the lack of solidarity towards society's weakest
members--such as the elderly, the infirm, immigrants, children--and
the indifference frequently found in relations between the world's
peoples even when basic values such as survival, freedom and peace
are involved.

9. But <God cannot leave the crime unpunished>: from the ground on
which it has been spilt, the blood of the one murdered demands that
God should render justice (cf. <Gen> 37:26; <Is> 26:21; <Ez>
24:7-8). From this text the Church has taken the name of the "sins
which cry to God for justice", and, first among them, she has
included wilful murder.[12] For the Jewish people, as for many peoples
of antiquity, blood is the source of life. Indeed "the blood is the
life" (<Dt> 12:23), and life, especially human life, belongs only to
God: for this reason <whoever attacks human life, in some way attacks
God himself>.

<Cain> is cursed by God and also by the earth, which will deny him
its fruit (cf. <Gen> 4: 12). <He is punished>: he will live in the
wilderness and the desert. Murderous violence profoundly changes
man's environment. From being the "garden of Eden" (<Gen> 2:15), a
place of plenty, of harmonious interpersonal relationships and of
friendship with God, the earth becomes "the land of Nod" (<Gen>
4:16), a place of scarcity, loneliness and separation from God. Cain
will be "a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth" (<Gen> 4:14):
uncertainty and restlessness will follow him forever.

And yet God, who is always merciful even when he punishes, "<put a
mark on Cain>, lest any who came upon him should kill him" (<Gen>
4:15). He thus gave him a distinctive sign, not to condemn him to the
hatred of others, but to protect and defend him from those wishing to
kill him, even out of a desire to avenge Abel's death. <Not even a
murderer loses his personal dignity>, and God himself pledges to
guarantee this. And it is precisely here that the <paradoxical
mystery of the merciful justice of God> is shown forth. As Saint
Ambrose writes: "Once the crime is admitted at the very inception of
this sinful act of parricide, then the divine law of God's mercy
should be immediately extended. If punishment is forthwith inflicted
on the accused, then men in the exercise of justice would in no way
observe patience and moderation, but would straightaway condemn the
defendant to punishment.... God drove Cain out of his presence and
sent him into exile far away from his native land, so that he passed
from a life of human kindness to one which was more akin to the rude
existence of a wild beast. God, who preferred the correction rather
than the death of a sinner, did not desire that a homicide be
punished by the exaction of another act of homicide".[13]

"<What have you done?>" (<Gen> 4:10): <the eclipse of the value of
life>

10. The Lord said to Cain: "What have you done? The voice of your
brother's blood is crying to me from the ground" (<Gen> 4:10). <The
voice of the blood shed by men continues to cry out>, from generation
to generation, in ever new and different ways.

The Lord's question: "What have you done?", which Cain cannot escape,
is addressed also to the people of today, to make them realize the
extent and gravity of the attacks against life which continue to mark
human history; to make them discover what causes these attacks and
feeds them; and to make them ponder seriously the consequences which
derive from these attacks for the existence of individuals and
peoples.

Some threats come from nature itself, but they are made worse by the
culpable indifference and negligence of those who could in some cases
remedy them. Others are the result of situations of violence, hatred
and conflicting interests, which lead people to attack others through
murder, war, slaughter and genocide.

And how can we fail to consider the violence against life done to
millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into
poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust distribution of
resources between peoples and between social classes? And what of the
violence inherent not only in wars as such but in the scandalous arms
trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world
with blood? What of the spreading of death caused by reckless
tampering with the world's ecological balance, by the criminal spread
of drugs, or by the promotion of certain kinds of sexual activity
which, besides being morally unacceptable, also involve grave risks
to life? It is impossible to catalogue completely the vast array of
threats to human life, so many are the forms, whether explicit or
hidden, in which they appear today!

11. Here though we shall concentrate particular attention on <another
category of attacks>, affecting life in its earliest and in its final
stages, attacks which present <new characteristics with respect to
the past and which raise questions of extraordinary seriousness>. It
is not only that in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer
to be considered as "crimes"; paradoxically they assume the nature of
"rights", to the point that the State is called upon to give them
<legal recognition and to make them available through the free
services of health-care personnel.> Such attacks strike human life at
the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of
self-defence. Even more serious is the fact that, most often, those
attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity
of the family--the family which by its nature is called to be the
"sanctuary of life".

How did such a situation come about? Many different factors have to
be taken into account. In the background there is the profound crisis
of culture, which generates scepticism in relation to the very
foundations of knowledge and ethics, and which makes it increasingly
difficult to grasp clearly the meaning of what man is, the meaning of
his rights and his duties. Then there are all kinds of existential
and interpersonal difficulties, made worse by the complexity of a
society in which individuals, couples and families are often left
alone with their problems. There are situations of acute poverty,
anxiety or frustration in which the struggle to make ends meet, the
presence of unbearable pain, or instances of violence, especially
against women, make the choice to defend and promote life so
demanding as sometimes to reach the point of heroism.

All this explains, at least in part, how the value of life can today
undergo a kind of "eclipse", even though conscience does not cease to
point to it as a sacred and inviolable value, as is evident in the
tendency to disguise certain crimes against life in its early or
final stages by using innocuous medical terms which distract
attention from the fact that what is involved is the right to life of
an actual human person.

12. In fact, while the climate of widespread moral uncertainty can in
some way be explained by the multiplicity and gravity of today's
social problems, and these can sometimes mitigate the subjective
responsibility of individuals, it is no less true that we are
confronted by an even larger reality, which can be described as a
<veritable structure of sin>. This reality is characterized by the
emergence of a culture which denies solidarity and in many cases
takes the form of a veritable "culture of death". This culture is
actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political
currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned
with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it
is possible to speak in a certain sense of a <war of the powerful
against the weak>: a life which would require greater acceptance,
love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable
burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person
who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing,
compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more
favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or
eliminated. In this way a kind of "<conspiracy against life>" is
unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their
personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the
point of damaging and distorting, at the international level,
relations between peoples and States.

13. In order to facilitate the spread of <abortion>, enormous sums of
money have been invested and continue to be invested in the
production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill
the fetus in the mother's womb without recourse to medical
assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems to be
almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are
ever more simple and effective in suppressing life and which at the
same time are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control
or social responsibility.

It is frequently asserted that <contraception>, if made safe and
available to all, is the most effective remedy against abortion. The
Catholic Church is then accused of actually promoting abortion,
because she obstinately continues to teach the moral unlawfulness of
contraception. When looked at carefully, this objection is clearly
unfounded. It may be that many people use contraception with a view
to excluding the subsequent temptation of abortion. But the negative
values inherent in the "contraceptive mentality"--which is very
different from responsible parenthood, lived in respect for the full
truth of the conjugal act--are such that they in fact strengthen this
temptation when an unwanted life is conceived. Indeed, the
pro-abortion culture is especially strong precisely where the
Church's teaching on contraception is rejected. Certainly, from the
moral point of view contraception and abortion are <specifically
different> evils: the former contradicts the full truth of the sexual
act as the proper expression of conjugal love, while the latter
destroys the life of a human being; the former is opposed to the
virtue of chastity in marriage, the latter is opposed to the virtue
of justice and directly violates the divine commandment "You shall
not kill".

But despite their differences of nature and moral gravity,
contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of
the same tree. It is true that in many cases contraception and even
abortion are practised under the pressure of real-life difficulties,
which nonetheless can never exonerate from striving to observe God's
law fully. Still, in very many other instances such practices are
rooted in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility
in matters of sexuality, and they imply a self-centered concept of
freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal
fulfilment. The life which could result from a sexual encounter thus
becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the
only possible decisive response to failed contraception.

The close connection which exists, in mentality, between the practice
of contraception and that of abortion is becoming increasingly
obvious. It is being demonstrated in an alarming way by the
development of chemical products, intrauterine devices and vaccines
which, distributed with the same ease as contraceptives, really act
as abortifacients in the very early stages of the development of the
life of the new human being.

14. The various <techniques of artificial reproduction>, which would
seem to be at the service of life and which are frequently used with
this intention, actually open the door to new threats against life.
Apart from the fact that they are morally unacceptable, since they
separate procreation from the fully human context of the conjugal
act,[14] these techniques have a high rate of failure: not just failure
in relation to fertilization but with regard to the subsequent
development of the embryo, which is exposed to the risk of death,
generally within a very short space of time. Furthermore, the number
of embryos produced is often greater than that needed for
implantation in the woman's womb, and these so-called "spare embryos"
are then destroyed or used for research which, under the pretext of
scientific or medical progress, in fact reduces human life to the
level of simple "biological material" to be freely disposed of.

<Prenatal diagnosis>, which presents no moral objections if carried
out in order to identify the medical treatment which may be needed by
the child in the womb, all too often becomes an opportunity for
proposing and procuring an abortion. This is eugenic abortion,
justified in public opinion on the basis of a mentality--mistakenly
held to be consistent with the demands of "therapeutic
interventions"--which accepts life only under certain conditions and
rejects it when it is affected by any limitation, handicap or
illness.

Following this same logic, the point has been reached where the most
basic care, even nourishment, is denied to babies born with serious
handicaps or illnesses. The contemporary scene, moreover, is becoming
even more alarming by reason of the proposals, advanced here and
there, to justify even <infanticide>, following the same arguments
used to justify the right to abortion. In this way, we revert to a
state of barbarism which one hoped had been left behind forever.

15. Threats which are no less serious hang over the <incurably ill>
and the <dying>. In a social and cultural context which makes it more
difficult to face and accept suffering, the <temptation> becomes all
the greater <to resolve the problem of suffering by eliminating it at
the root>, by hastening death so that it occurs at the moment
considered most suitable.

Various considerations usually contribute to such a decision, all of
which converge in the same terrible outcome. In the sick person the
sense of anguish, of severe discomfort, and even of desperation
brought on by intense and prolonged suffering can be a decisive
factor. Such a situation can threaten the already fragile equilibrium
of an individual's personal and family life, with the result that, on
the one hand, the sick person, despite the help of increasingly
effective medical and social assistance, risks feeling overwhelmed by
his or her own frailty; and on the other hand, those close to the
sick person can be moved by an understandable even if misplaced
compassion. All this is aggravated by a cultural climate which fails
to perceive any meaning or value in suffering, but rather considers
suffering the epitome of evil, to be eliminated at all costs. This is
especially the case in the absence of a religious outlook which could
help to provide a positive understanding of the mystery of suffering.

On a more general level, there exists in contemporary culture a
certain Promethean attitude which leads people to think that they can
control life and death by taking the decisions about them into their
own hands. What really happens in this case is that the individual is
overcome and crushed by a death deprived of any prospect of meaning
or hope. We see a tragic expression of all this in the spread of
<euthanasia>--disguised and surreptitious, or practised openly and
even legally. As well as for reasons of a misguided pity at the sight
of the patient's suffering, euthanasia is sometimes justified by the
utilitarian motive of avoiding costs which bring no return and which
weigh heavily on society. Thus it is proposed to eliminate malformed
babies, the severely handicapped, the disabled, the elderly,
especially when they are not self-sufficient, and the terminally ill.
Nor can we remain silent in the face of other more furtive, but no
less serious and real, forms of euthanasia. These could occur for
example when, in order to increase the availability of organs for
transplants, organs are removed without respecting objective and
adequate criteria which verify the death of the donor.

16. Another present-day <phenomenon>, frequently used to justify
threats and attacks against life, is the <demographic> question. This
question arises in different ways in different parts of the world. In
the rich and developed countries there is a disturbing decline or
collapse of the birthrate. The poorer countries, on the other hand,
generally have a high rate of population growth, difficult to sustain
in the context of low economic and social development, and especially
where there is extreme underdevelopment. In the face of
overpopulation in the poorer countries, instead of forms of global
intervention at the international level--serious family and social
policies, programmes of cultural development and of fair production
and distribution of resources--anti-birth policies continue to be
enacted.

Contraception, sterilization and abortion are certainly part of the
reason why in some cases there is a sharp decline in the birthrate.
It is not difficult to be tempted to use the same methods and attacks
against life also where there is a situation of "demographic
explosion".

The Pharaoh of old, haunted by the presence and increase of the
children of Israel, submitted them to every kind of oppression and
ordered that every male child born of the Hebrew women was to be
killed (cf. <Ex> 1:7-22). Today not a few of the powerful of the
earth act in the same way. They too are haunted by the current
demographic growth, and fear that the most prolific and poorest
peoples represent a threat for the well-being and peace of their own
countries. Consequently, rather than wishing to face and solve these
serious problems with respect for the dignity of individuals and
families and for every person's inviolable right to life, they prefer
to promote and impose by whatever means a massive programme of birth
control. Even the economic help which they would be ready to give is
unjustly made conditional on the acceptance of an anti-birth policy.

17. Humanity today offers us a truly alarming spectacle, if we
consider not only how extensively attacks on life are spreading but
also their unheard-of numerical proportion, and the fact that they
receive widespread and powerful support from a broad consensus on the
part of society, from widespread legal approval and the involvement
of certain sectors of health-care personnel.

As I emphatically stated at Denver, on the occasion of the Eighth
World Youth Day, "with time the threats against life have not grown
weaker. They are taking on vast proportions. They are not only
threats coming from the outside, from the forces of nature or the
'Cains' who kill the 'Abels'; no, they are <scientifically and
systematically programmed threats>. The twentieth century will have
been an era of massive attacks on life, an endless series of wars and
a continual taking of innocent human life. False prophets and false
teachers have had the greatest success".[15] Aside from intentions,
which can be varied and perhaps can seem convincing at times,
especially if presented in the name of solidarity, we are in fact
faced by an objective "<conspiracy against life>", involving even
international Institutions, engaged in encouraging and carrying out
actual campaigns to make contraception, sterilization and abortion
widely available. Nor can it be denied that the mass media are often
implicated in this conspiracy, by lending credit to that culture
which presents recourse to contraception, sterilization, abortion and
even euthanasia as a mark of progress and a victory of freedom, while
depicting as enemies of freedom and progress those positions which
are unreservedly pro-life.

"<Am I my brother's keeper?>" (<Gen> 4:9): <a perverse idea of
freedom>

18. The panorama described needs to be understood not only in terms
of the phenomena of death which characterize it but also in the
<variety of causes> which determine it. The Lord's question: "What
have you done?" (<Gen> 4:10), seems almost like an invitation
addressed to Cain to go beyond the material dimension of his
murderous gesture, in order to recognize in it all the gravity of the
<motives> which occasioned it and the <consequences> which result
from it.

Decisions that go against life sometimes arise from difficult or even
tragic situations of profound suffering, loneliness, a total lack of
economic prospects, depression and anxiety about the future. Such
circumstances can mitigate even to a notable degree subjective
responsibility and the consequent culpability of those who make these
choices which in themselves are evil. But today the problem goes far
beyond the necessary recognition of these personal situations. It is
a problem which exists at the cultural, social and political level,
where it reveals its more sinister and disturbing aspect in the
tendency, ever more widely shared, to interpret the above crimes
against life as <legitimate expressions of individual freedom, to be
acknowledged and protected as actual rights>.

In this way, and with tragic consequences, a long historical process
is reaching a turning-point. The process which once led to
discovering the idea of "human rights"-- rights inherent in every
person and prior to any Constitution and State legislation--is today
marked by a <surprising contradiction>. Precisely in an age when the
inviolable rights of the person are solemnly proclaimed and the value
of life is publicly affirmed, the very right to life is being denied
or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of
existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death.

On the one hand, the various declarations of human rights and the
many initiatives inspired by these declarations show that at the
global level there is a growing moral sensitivity, more alert to
acknowledging the value and dignity of every individual as a human
being, without any distinction of race, nationality, religion,
political opinion or social class.

On the other hand, these noble proclamations are unfortunately
contradicted by a tragic repudiation of them in practice. This denial
is still more distressing, indeed more scandalous, precisely because
it is occurring in a society which makes the affirmation and
protection of human rights its primary objective and its boast. How
can these repeated affirmations of principle be reconciled with the
continual increase and widespread justification of attacks on human
life? How can we reconcile these declarations with the refusal to
accept those who are weak and needy, or elderly, or those who have
just been conceived? These attacks go directly against respect for
life and they represent a <direct threat to the entire culture of
human rights>. It is a threat capable, in the end, of jeopardizing
the very meaning of democratic coexistence: <rather than societies of
"people living together", our cities risk becoming societies of
people who are rejected>, marginalized, uprooted and oppressed. If we
then look at the wider worldwide perspective, how can we fail to
think that the very affirmation of the rights of individuals and
peoples made in distinguished international assemblies is a merely
futile exercise of rhetoric, if we fail to unmask the selfishness of
the rich countries which exclude poorer countries from access to
development or make such access dependent on arbitrary prohibitions
against procreation, setting up an opposition between development and
man himself? Should we not question the very economic models often
adopted by States which, also as a result of international pressures
and forms of conditioning, cause and aggravate situations of
injustice and violence in which the life of whole peoples is degraded
and trampled upon?

19. What are <the roots of this remarkable contradiction>?

We can find them in an overall assessment of a cultural and moral
nature, beginning with the mentality which <carries the concept of
subjectivity to an extreme> and even distorts it, and recognizes as a
subject of rights only the person who enjoys full or at least
incipient autonomy and who emerges from a state of total dependence
on others. But how can we reconcile this approach with <the
exaltation of man as a being who is "not to be used">? The theory of
human rights is based precisely on the affirmation that the human
person, unlike animals and things, cannot be subjected to domination
by others. We must also mention the mentality which tends to <equate
personal dignity with the capacity for verbal and explicit>, or at
least perceptible, <communication>. It is clear that on the basis of
these presuppositions there is no place in the world for anyone who,
like the unborn or the dying, is a weak element in the social
structure, or for anyone who appears completely at the mercy of
others and radically dependent on them, and can only communicate
through the silent language of a profound sharing of affection. In
this case it is force which becomes the criterion for choice and
action in interpersonal relations and in social life. But this is the
exact opposite of what a State ruled by law, as a community in which
the "reasons of force" are replaced by the "force of reason",
historically intended to affirm.

At another level, the roots of the contradiction between the solemn
affirmation of human rights and their tragic denial in practice lies
in a <notion of freedom> which exalts the isolated individual in an
absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others
and service of them. While it is true that the taking of life not yet
born or in its final stages is sometimes marked by a mistaken sense
of altruism and human compassion, it cannot be denied that such a
culture of death, taken as a whole, betrays a completely
individualistic concept of freedom, which ends up by becoming the
freedom of "the strong" against the weak who have no choice but to
submit.

It is precisely in this sense that Cain's answer to the Lord's
question: "Where is Abel your brother?" can be interpreted: "I do not
know; <am I my brother's keeper>?" (<Gen> 4:9). Yes, every man is his
"brother's keeper", because God entrusts us to one another. And it is
also in view of this entrusting that God gives everyone freedom, a
freedom which possesses an <inherently relational dimension>. This is
a great gift of the Creator, placed as it is at the service of the
person and of his fulfilment through the gift of self and openness to
others; but when freedom is made absolute in an individualistic way,
it is emptied of its original content, and its very meaning and
dignity are contradicted.

There is an even more profound aspect which needs to be emphasized:
freedom negates and destroys itself, and becomes a factor leading to
the destruction of others, when it no longer recognizes and respects
<its essential link with the truth>. When freedom, out of a desire to
emancipate itself from all forms of tradition and authority, shuts
out even the most obvious evidence of an objective and universal
truth, which is the foundation of personal and social life, then the
person ends up by no longer taking as the sole and indisputable point
of reference for his own choices the truth about good and evil, but
only his subjective and changeable opinion or, indeed, his selfish
interest and whim.

20. This view of freedom <leads to a serious distortion of life in
society>. If the promotion of the self is understood in terms of
absolute autonomy, people inevitably reach the point of rejecting one
another. Everyone else is considered an enemy from whom one has to
defend oneself. Thus society becomes a mass of individuals placed
side by side, but without any mutual bonds. Each one wishes to assert
himself independently of the other and in fact intends to make his
own interests prevail. Still, in the face of other people's analogous
interests, some kind of compromise must be found, if one wants a
society in which the maximum possible freedom is guaranteed to each
individual. In this way, any reference to common values and to a
truth absolutely binding on everyone is lost, and social life
ventures on to the shifting sands of complete relativism. At that
point, <everything is negotiable, everything is open to bargaining>:
even the first of the fundamental rights, the right to life.

This is what is happening also at the level of politics and
government: the original and inalienable right to life is questioned
or denied on the basis of a parliamentary vote or the will of one
part of the people--even if it is the majority. This is the sinister
result of a relativism which reigns unopposed: the "right" ceases to
be such, because it is no longer firmly founded on the inviolable
dignity of the person, but is made subject to the will of the
stronger part. In this way democracy, contradicting its own
principles, effectively moves towards a form of totalitarianism. The
State is no longer the "common home" where all can live together on
the basis of principles of fundamental equality, but is transformed
into a <tyrant State>, which arrogates to itself the right to dispose
of the life of the weakest and most defenceless members, from the
unborn child to the elderly, in the name of a public interest which
is really nothing but the interest of one part. The appearance of the
strictest respect for legality is maintained, at least when the laws
permitting abortion and euthanasia are the result of a ballot in
accordance with what are generally seen as the rules of democracy.
Really, what we have here is only the tragic caricature of legality;
the democratic ideal, which is only truly such when it acknowledges
and safeguards the dignity of every human person, <is betrayed in its
very foundations>: "How is it still possible to speak of the dignity
of every human person when the killing of the weakest and most
innocent is permitted? In the name of what justice is the most unjust
of discriminations practised: some individuals are held to be
deserving of defence and others are denied that dignity?"[16] When this
happens, the process leading to the breakdown of a genuinely human
co-existence and the disintegration of the State itself has already
begun.

To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to
recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a
<perverse and evil significance>: that of an <absolute power over
others and against others>. This is the death of true freedom:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to
sin" (<Jn> 8:34).

"<And from your face I shall be hidden" (<Gen> 4:14): <the eclipse of
the sense of God and of man>

21. In seeking the deepest roots of the struggle between the "culture
of life" and the "culture of death", we cannot restrict ourselves to
the perverse idea of freedom mentioned above. We have to go to the
heart of the tragedy being experienced by modern man: <the eclipse of
the sense of God and of man>, typical of a social and cultural
climate dominated by secularism, which, with its ubiquitous
tentacles, succeeds at times in putting Christian communities
themselves to the test. Those who allow themselves to be influenced
by this climate easily fall into a sad vicious circle: <when the
sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to lose the sense of
man>, of his dignity and his life; in turn, the systematic violation
of the moral law, especially in the serious matter of respect for
human life and its dignity, produces a kind of progressive darkening
of the capacity to discern God's living and saving presence.

Once again we can gain insight from the story of Abel's murder by his
brother. After the curse imposed on him by God, Cain thus addresses
the Lord: "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have
driven me this day away from the ground; and <from your face I shall
be hidden>; and I shall be a fugitive and wanderer on the earth, and
whoever finds me will slay me" (<Gen> 4:13-14). Cain is convinced
that his sin will not obtain pardon from the Lord and that his
inescapable destiny will be to have to "hide his face" from him. If
Cain is capable of confessing that his fault is "greater than he can
bear", it is because he is conscious of being in the presence of God
and before God's just judgment. It is really only before the Lord
that man can admit his sin and recognize its full seriousness. Such
was the experience of David who, after "having committed evil in the
sight of the Lord", and being rebuked by the Prophet Nathan,
exclaimed: "My offences truly I know them; my sin is always before
me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your
sight I have done" (<Ps> 51:5-6).

22. Consequently, when the sense of God is lost, the sense of man is
also threatened and poisoned, as the Second Vatican Council concisely
states: "Without the Creator the creature would disappear . . . But
when God is forgotten the creature itself grows unintelligible".[17]
Man is no longer able to see himself as "mysteriously different" from
other earthly creatures; he regards himself merely as one more living
being, as an organism which, at most, has reached a very high stage
of perfection. Enclosed in the narrow horizon of his physical nature,
he is somehow reduced to being "a thing", and no longer grasps the
"transcendent" character of his "existence as man". He no longer
considers life as a splendid gift of God, something "sacred"
entrusted to his responsibility and thus also to his loving care and
"veneration". Life itself becomes a mere "thing", which man claims as
his exclusive property, completely subject to his control and
manipulation.

Thus, in relation to life at birth or at death, man is no longer
capable of posing the question of the truest meaning of his own
existence, nor can he assimilate with genuine freedom these crucial
moments of his own history. He is concerned only with "doing", and,
using all kinds of technology, he busies himself with programming,
controlling and dominating birth and death. Birth and death, instead
of being primary experiences demanding to be "lived", become things
to be merely "possessed" or "rejected".

Moreover, once all reference to God has been removed, it is not
surprising that the meaning of everything else becomes profoundly
distorted. Nature itself, from being "<mater>" (mother), is now
reduced to being "matter", and is subjected to every kind of
manipulation. This is the direction in which a certain technical and
scientific way of thinking, prevalent in present-day culture, appears
to be leading when it rejects the very idea that there is a truth of
creation which must be acknowledged, or a plan of God for life which
must be respected. Something similar happens when concern about the
consequences of such a "freedom without law" leads some people to the
opposite position of a "law without freedom", as for example in
ideologies which consider it unlawful to interfere in any way with
nature, practically "divinizing" it. Again, this is a
misunderstanding of nature's dependence on the plan of the Creator.
Thus it is clear that the loss of contact with God's wise design is
the deepest root of modern man's confusion, both when this loss leads
to a freedom without rules and when it leaves man in "fear" of his
freedom.

By living "as if God did not exist", man not only loses sight of the
mystery of God, but also of the mystery of the world and the mystery
of his own being.

23. The eclipse of the sense of God and of man inevitably leads to a
<practical materialism>, which breeds individualism, utilitarianism
and hedonism. Here too we see the permanent validity of the words of
the Apostle: "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God
gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct" (<Rom> 1:28).
The values of <being> are replaced by those of <having>. The only
goal which counts is the pursuit of one's own material well-being.
The so-called "quality of life" is interpreted primarily or
exclusively as economic efficiency, inordinate consumerism, physical
beauty and pleasure, to the neglect of the more profound
dimensions--interpersonal, spiritual and religious--of existence.

In such a context <suffering>, an inescapable burden of human
existence but also a factor of possible personal growth, is
"censored", rejected as useless, indeed opposed as an evil, always
and in every way to be avoided. When it cannot be avoided and the
prospect of even some future well-being vanishes, then life appears
to have lost all meaning and the temptation grows in man to claim the
right to suppress it.

Within this same cultural climate, the <body> is no longer perceived
as a properly personal reality, a sign and place of relations with
others, with God and with the world. It is reduced to pure
materiality: it is simply a complex of organs, functions and energies
to be used according to the sole criteria of pleasure and efficiency.
Consequently, <sexuality> too is depersonalized and exploited: from
being the sign, place and language of love, that is, of the gift of
self and acceptance of another, in all the other's richness as a
person, it increasingly becomes the occasion and instrument for
self-assertion and the selfish satisfaction of personal desires and
instincts. Thus the original import of human sexuality is distorted
and falsified, and the two meanings, unitive and procreative,
inherent in the very nature of the conjugal act, are artificially
separated: in this way the marriage union is betrayed and its
fruitfulness is subjected to the caprice of the couple. <Procreation>
then becomes the "enemy" to be avoided in sexual activity: if it is
welcomed, this is only because it expresses a desire, or indeed the
intention, to have a child "at all costs", and not because it
signifies the complete acceptance of the other and therefore an
openness to the richness of life which the child represents.

In the materialistic perspective described so far, <interpersonal
relations are seriously impoverished>. The first to be harmed are
women, children, the sick or suffering, and the elderly. The
criterion of personal dignity--which demands respect, generosity and
service--is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality
and usefulness: others are considered not for what they "are", but
for what they "have, do and produce". This is the supremacy of the
strong over the weak.

24. <It is at the heart of the moral conscience> that the eclipse of
the sense of God and of man, with all its various and deadly
consequences for life, is taking place. It is a question, above all,
of the <individual> conscience, as it stands before God in its
singleness and uniqueness.[18] But it is also a question, in a certain
sense, of the "moral conscience" <of society>: in a way it too is
responsible, not only because it tolerates or fosters behaviour
contrary to life, but also because it encourages the "culture of
death", creating and consolidating actual "structures of sin" which
go against life. The moral conscience, both individual and social, is
today subjected, also as a result of the penetrating influence of the
media, to an <extremely serious and mortal danger>: that of
<confusion between good and evil,> precisely in relation to the
fundamental right to life. A large part of contemporary society looks
sadly like that humanity which Paul describes in his Letter to the
Romans. It is composed "of men who by their wickedness suppress the
truth" (1:18): having denied God and believing that they can build
the earthly city without him, "they became futile in their thinking"
so that "their senseless minds were darkened" (1:21); "claiming to be
wise, they became fools" (1:22), carrying out works deserving of
death, and "they not only do them but approve those who practise
them" (1:32). When conscience, this bright lamp of the soul (cf. <Mt>
6:22-23), calls "evil good and good evil" (<Is> 5:20), it is already
on the path to the most alarming corruption and the darkest moral
blindness.

And yet all the conditioning and efforts to enforce silence fail to
stifle the voice of the Lord echoing in the conscience of every
individual: it is always from this intimate sanctuary of the
conscience that a new journey of love, openness and service to human
life can begin.

"<You have come to the sprinkled blood>" (cf. <Heb> 12: 22, 24):
<signs of hope and invitation to commitment>

25. "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the
ground" (<Gen> 4:10). It is not only the voice of the blood of Abel,
the first innocent man to be murdered, which cries to God, the source
and defender of life. The blood of every other human being who has
been killed since Abel is also a voice raised to the Lord. In an
absolutely singular way, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews
reminds us, <the voice of the blood of Christ>, of whom Abel in his
innocence is a prophetic figure, cries out to God: "You have come to
Mount Zion and to the city of the living God ... to the mediator of a
new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously
than the blood of Abel" (12:22, 24).

It is <the sprinkled blood>. A symbol and prophetic sign of it had
been the blood of the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, whereby God
expressed his will to communicate his own life to men, purifying and
consecrating them (cf. <Ex> 24:8; <Lev> 17:11). Now all of this is
fulfilled and comes true in Christ: his is the sprinkled blood which
redeems, purifies and saves; it is the blood of the Mediator of the
New Covenant "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (<Mt>
26:28). This blood, which flows from the pierced side of Christ on
the Cross (cf. <Jn> 19:34), "speaks more graciously" than the blood
of Abel; indeed, it expresses and requires a more radical "justice",
and above all it implores mercy,[19] it makes intercession for the
brethren before the Father (cf. <Heb> 7:25), and it is the source of
perfect redemption and the gift of new life.

The blood of Christ, while it reveals the grandeur of the Father's
love, <shows how precious man is in God's eyes and bow priceless the
value of his life>. The Apostle Peter reminds us of this: "You know
that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your
fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with
the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or
spot" (1 <Pt> 1:18-19). Precisely by contemplating the precious
blood of Christ, the sign of his self-giving love (cf. <Jn> 13:1),
the believer learns to recognize and appreciate the almost divine
dignity of every human being and can exclaim with ever renewed and
grateful wonder: "How precious must man be in the eyes of the
Creator, if he 'gained so great a Redeemer' (<Exsultet> of the Easter
Vigil), and if God 'gave his only Son' in order that man 'should not
perish but have eternal life' (cf. <Jn> 3:16)!".[20]

Furthermore, Christ's blood reveals to man that his greatness, and
therefore his vocation, consists in <the sincere gift of self>.
Precisely because it is poured out as the gift of life, the blood of
Christ is no longer a sign of death, of definitive separation from
the brethren, but the instrument of a communion which is richness of
life for all. Whoever in the Sacrament of the Eucharist drinks this
blood and abides in Jesus (cf. <Jn> 6:56) is drawn into the dynamism
of his love and gift of life, in order To bring to its fullness the
original vocation to love which belongs to everyone (cf. <Gen> 1:27;
2:18-24).

It is from the blood of Christ that all draw <the strength to commit
themselves to promoting life>. It is precisely this blood that is
<the most powerful source of hope, indeed it is the foundation of the
absolute certitude that in God's plan life will be victorious>. "And
death shall be no more", exclaims the powerful voice which comes from
the throne of God in the Heavenly Jerusalem (<Rev> 21:4). And Saint
Paul assures us that the present victory over sin is a sign and
anticipation of the definitive victory over death, when there "shall
come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in
victory'. 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your
sting?"' (1 <Cor> 15:54-55).

26. In effect, signs which point to this victory are not lacking in
our societies and cultures, strongly marked though they are by the
"culture of death". It would therefore be to give a one-sided
picture, which could lead to sterile discouragement, if the
condemnation of the threats to life were not accompanied by the
presentation of the <positive signs> at work in humanity's present
situation.

Unfortunately it is often hard to see and recognize these positive
signs, perhaps also because they do not receive sufficient attention
in the communications media. Yet, how many initiatives of help and
support for people who are weak and defenceless have sprung up and
continue to spring up in the Christian community and in civil
society, at the local, national and international level, through the
efforts of individuals, groups, movements and organizations of
various kinds!

There are still many <married couples> who, with a generous sense of
responsibility, are ready to accept children as "the supreme gift of
marriage".[21] Nor is there a lack of <families> which, over and above
their everyday service to life, are willing to accept abandoned
children, boys and girls and teenagers in difficulty, handicapped
persons, elderly men and women who have been left alone. Many
<centres in support of life>, or similar institutions, are sponsored
by individuals and groups which, with admirable dedication and
sacrifice, offer moral and material support to mothers who are in
difficulty and are tempted to have recourse to abortion.
Increasingly, there are appearing in many places <groups of
volunteers> prepared to offer hospitality to persons without a
family, who find themselves in conditions of particular distress or
who need a supportive environment to help them to overcome
destructive habits and discover anew the meaning of life.

<Medical science>, thanks to the committed efforts of researchers and
practitioners, continues in its efforts to discover ever more
effective remedies: treatments which were once inconceivable but
which now offer much promise for the future are today being developed
for the unborn, the suffering and those in an acute or terminal stage
of sickness. Various agencies and organizations are mobilizing their
efforts to bring the benefits of the most advanced medicine to
countries most afflicted by poverty and endemic diseases. In a
similar way national and international associations of physicians are
being organized to bring quick relief to peoples affected by natural
disasters, epidemics or wars. Even if a just international
distribution of medical resources is still far from being a reality,
how can we not recognize in the steps taken so far the sign of a
growing solidarity among peoples, a praiseworthy human and moral
sensitivity and a greater respect for life?

27. In view of laws which permit abortion and in view of efforts,
which here and there have been successful, to legalize euthanasia,
<movements and initiatives to raise social awareness in defence of
life> have sprung up in many parts of the world. When, in accordance
with their principles, such movements act resolutely, but without
resorting to violence, they promote a wider and more profound
consciousness of the value of life, and evoke and bring about a more
determined commitment to its defence.

Furthermore, how can we fail to mention <all those daily gestures of
openness, sacrifice and unselfish care> which countless people
lovingly make in families, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the
elderly and other centres or communities which defend life? Allowing
herself to be guided by the example of Jesus the "Good Samaritan"
(cf. <Lk> 10:29-37) and upheld by his strength, the Church bas always
been in the front line in providing charitable help: so many of her
sons and daughters, especially men and women Religious, in
traditional and ever new forms, have consecrated and continue to
consecrate their lives to God, freely giving of themselves out of
love for their neighbour, especially for the weak and needy. These
deeds strengthen the bases of the "civilization of love and life",
without which the life of individuals and of society itself loses its
most genuinely human quality. Even if they go unnoticed and remain
hidden to most people, faith assures us that the Father "who sees in
secret" (<Mt> 6:6) not only will reward these actions but already
here and now makes them produce lasting fruit for the good of all.

Among the signs of hope we should also count the spread, at many
levels of public opinion, of <a new sensitivity ever more opposed to
war> as an instrument for the resolution of conflicts between
peoples, and increasingly oriented to finding effective but
"non-violent" means to counter the armed aggressor. In the same
perspective there is evidence of a <growing public opposition to the
death penalty>, even when such a penalty is seen as a kind of
"legitimate defence" on the part of society. Modern society in fact
has the means of effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals
harmless without definitively denying them the chance to reform.

Another welcome sign is the growing attention being paid to the
<quality of life> and to <ecology>, especially in more developed
societies, where people's expectations are no longer concentrated so
much on problems of survival as on the search for an overall
improvement of living conditions. Especially significant is the
reawakening of an ethical reflection on issues affecting life. The
emergence and ever more widespread development of <bioethics> is
promoting more reflection and dialogue--between believers and
non-believers, as well as between followers of different
religions--on ethical problems, including fundamental issues
pertaining to human life.

28. This situation, with its lights and shadows, ought to make us all
fully aware that we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between
good and evil, death and life, the "culture of death" and the
"culture of life". We find ourselves not only "faced with" but
necessarily "in the midst of" this conflict: we are all involved and
we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of <choosing
to be unconditionally pro-life>.

For us too Moses' invitation rings out loud and clear: "See, I have
set before you this day life and good, death and evil.... I have set
before you life and death, blessing and curse; <therefore choose
life, that you and your descendants may live>" (<Dt> 30:15,19). This
invitation is very appropriate for us who are called day by day to
the duty of choosing between the "culture of life" and the "culture
of death". But the call of Deuteronomy goes even deeper, for it urges
us to make a choice which is properly religious and moral. It is a
question of giving our own existence a basic orientation and living
the law of the Lord faithfully and consistently: "If you obey the
commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by
<loving the Lord your God>, by <walking in his ways>, and by <keeping
his commandments> and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall
live ... therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may
live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to
him; <for that means life to you and length of days>" (30:16,19-20).

The unconditional choice for life reaches its full religious and
moral meaning when it flows from, is formed by and nourished by
<faith in Christ>. Nothing helps us so much to face positively the
conflict between death and life in which we are engaged as faith in
the Son of God who became man and dwelt among men so "that they may
have life, and have it abundantly" (<Jn> 10:10). It is a matter of
<faith in the Risen Lord, who has conquered death>; faith in the
blood of Christ "that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel"
(<Heb> 12:24).

With the light and strength of this faith, therefore, in facing the
challenges of the present situation, the Church is becoming more
aware of the grace and responsibility which come to her from her Lord
of proclaiming, celebrating and serving the <Gospel of life>.

CHAPTER II

I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE

THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE CONCERNING LIFE

"The life was made manifest, and we saw it" (1 <Jn> 1:2): with our
gaze fixed on Christ) "the Word of life"

29. Faced with the countless grave threats to life present in the
modern world, one could feel overwhelmed by sheer powerlessness: good
can never be powerful enough to triumph over evil!

At such times the People of God, and this includes every believer, is
called to profess with humility and courage its faith in Jesus
Christ, "the Word of life" (1 <Jn> 1:1). The <Gospel of life> is not
simply a reflection, however new and profound, on human life. Nor is
it merely a commandment aimed at raising awareness and bringing about
significant changes in society. Still less is it an illusory promise
of a better future. The <Gospel of life> is something concrete and
personal, for it consists in the proclamation of <the very person of
Jesus>. Jesus made himself known to the Apostle Thomas, and in him to
every person, with the words: "I am the way, and the truth, and the
life" (<Jn> 14:6). This is also how he spoke of himself to Martha,
the sister of Lazarus: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives
and believes in me shall never die" (<Jn> 11:25-26). Jesus is the Son
who from all eternity receives life from the Father (cf. <Jn> 5:26),
and who has come among men to make them sharers in this gift: "I came
that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (<Jn> 10:10).

Through the words, the actions and the very person of Jesus, man is
given the possibility of "knowing" the <complete truth> concerning
the value of human life. From this "source" he receives, in
particular, the capacity to "accomplish" this truth perfectly (cf.
<Jn> 3:21), that is, to accept and fulfil completely the
responsibility of loving and serving, of defending and promoting
human life. In Christ, the <Gospel of life> is definitively
proclaimed and fully given. This is the Gospel which, already present
in the Revelation of the Old Testament, and indeed written in the
heart of every man and woman, has echoed in every conscience "from
the beginning", from the time of creation itself, in such a way that,
despite the negative consequences of sin, <it can also be known in
its essential traits by human reason>. As the Second Vatican Council
teaches, Christ "perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his
whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself; through
his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially through
his death and glorious Resurrection from the dead and final sending
of the Spirit of truth. Moreover, he confirmed with divine testimony
what revelation proclaimed: that God is with us to free us from the
darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal".[22]

30. Hence, with our attention fixed on the Lord Jesus, we wish to
hear from him once again "the words of God" (<Jn> 3:34) and meditate
anew on the <Gospel of life>. The deepest and most original meaning
of this meditation on what revelation tells us about human life was
taken up by the Apostle John in the opening words of his First
Letter: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and
touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was
made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you
the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to
us--that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so
that you may have fellowship with us" (1:1-3).

In Jesus, the "Word of life", God's eternal life is thus proclaimed
and given. Thanks to this proclamation and gift, our physical and
spiritual life, also in its earthly phase, acquires its full value
and meaning, for God's eternal life is in fact the end to which our
living in this world is directed and called. In this way the <Gospel
of life> includes everything that human experience and reason tell us
about the value of human life, accepting it, purifying it, exalting
it and bringing it to fulfilment.

"<The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my
salvation>" (<Ex> 15:2): <life is always a good>

31. The fullness of the Gospel message about life was prepared for in
the Old Testament. Especially in the events of the Exodus, the centre
of the Old Testament faith experience, Israel discovered the
preciousness of its life in the eyes of God. When it seemed doomed to
extermination because of the threat of death hanging over all its
newborn males (cf. <Ex> 1:15-22), the Lord revealed himself to Israel
as its Saviour, with the power to ensure a future to those without
hope. Israel thus comes to know clearly that< its existence> is not
at the mercy of a Pharaoh who can exploit it at his despotic whim. On
the contrary, Israel's life is <the object of God's gentle and
intense love>.

Freedom from slavery meant the gift of an identity, the recognition
of an indestructible dignity and <the beginning of a new history>, in
which the discovery of God and discovery of self go hand in hand. The
Exodus was a foundational experience and a model for the future.
Through it, Israel comes to learn that whenever its existence is
threatened it need only turn to God with renewed trust in order to
find in him effective help: "I formed you, you are my servant; O
Israel, you will not be forgotten by me" (<Is> 44:21).

Thus, in coming to know the value of its own existence as a people,
Israel also grows in its <perception of the meaning and value of life
itself>. This reflection is developed more specifically in the Wisdom
Literature, on the basis of daily experience of the precariousness of
life and awareness of the threats which assail it. Faced with the
contradictions of life, faith is challenged to respond.

More than anything else, it is the problem of suffering which
challenges faith and puts it to the test. How can we fail to
appreciate the universal anguish of man when we meditate on the Book
of Job? The innocent man overwhelmed by suffering is understandably
led to wonder: "Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life
to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it comes not, and dig
for it more than for hid treasures?" (3:20-21). But even when the
darkness is deepest, faith points to a trusting and adoring
acknowledgment of the "mystery": "I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted" (<Job> 42:2).

Revelation progressively allows the first notion of immortal life
planted by the Creator in the human heart to be grasped with ever
greater clarity: "He has made everything beautiful in its time; also
he has put eternity into man's mind" (<Ec> 3:11). This <first notion
of totality and fullness> is waiting to be manifested in love and
brought to perfection, by God's free gift, through sharing in his
eternal life.

"<The name of Jesus... has made this man strong>" (<Acts> 3:16): <in
the uncertainties of human life, Jesus brings life's meaning to
fulfilment>

32. The experience of the people of the Covenant is renewed in the
experience of all the "poor" who meet Jesus of Nazareth. Just as God
who "loves the living" (cf. <Wis> 11:26) had reassured Israel in the
midst of danger, so now the Son of God proclaims to all who feel
threatened and hindered that their lives too are a good to which the
Father's love gives meaning and value.

"The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed,
and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news
preached to them" (<Lk> 7:22). With these words of the Prophet Isaiah
(35:5-6, 61:1), Jesus sets forth the meaning of his own mission: all
who suffer because their lives are in some way "diminished" thus hear
from him the "good news" of God's concern for them, and they know for
certain that their lives too are a gift carefully guarded in the
hands of the Father (cf. <Mt> 6:25-34).

It is above all the "poor" to whom Jesus speaks in his preaching and
actions. The crowds of the sick and the outcasts who follow him and
seek him out (cf. <Mt> 4:23-25) find in his words and actions a
revelation of the great value of their lives and of how their hope of
salvation is well-founded.

The same thing has taken place in the Church's mission from the
beginning. When the Church proclaims Christ as the one who "went
about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him" (<Acts> 10:38), she is conscious of being the
bearer of a message of salvation which resounds in all its newness
precisely amid the hardships and poverty of human life. Peter cured
the cripple who daily sought alms at the "Beautiful Gate" of the
Temple in Jerusalem, saying: "I have no silver and gold, but I give
you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk"
(<Acts> 3:6). By faith in Jesus, "the Author of life" (<Acts> 3:15),
life which lies abandoned and cries out for help regains self-esteem
and full dignity.

The words and deeds of Jesus and those of his Church are not meant
only for those who are sick or suffering or in some way neglected by
society. On a deeper level they affect <the very meaning of every
person's life in its moral and spiritual dimensions>. Only those who
recognize that their life is marked by the evil of sin can discover
in an encounter with Jesus the Saviour the truth and the authenticity
of their own existence. Jesus himself says as much: "Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (<Lk>
5:31-32).

But the person who, like the rich land-owner in the Gospel parable,
thinks that he can make his life secure by the possession of material
goods alone, is deluding himself. Life is slipping away from him, and
very soon he will find himself bereft of it without ever having
appreciated its real meaning: "Fool! This night your soul is required
of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" (<Lk>
12:20).

33. In Jesus' own life, from beginning to end, we find a singular
"dialectic" between the experience of the uncertainty of human life
and the affirmation of its value. Jesus' life is marked by
uncertainty from the very moment of his birth. He is certainly
<accepted> by the righteous, who echo Mary's immediate and joyful
"yes" (cf. <Lk> 1:38). But there is also, from the start, <rejection>
on the part of a world which grows hostile and looks for the child in
order "to destroy him" (<Mt> 2:13); a world which remains indifferent
and unconcerned about the fulfilment of the mystery of this life
entering the world: "there was no place for them in the inn" (<Lk>
2:7). In this contrast between threats and insecurity on the one hand
and the power of God's gift on the other, there shines forth all the
more dearly the glory which radiates from the house at Nazareth and
from the manger at Bethlehem: this life which is born is salvation
for all humanity (cf. <Lk> 2:11).

Life's contradictions and risks were fully accepted by Jesus: "though
he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty
you might become rich" (2 <Cor> 8:9). The poverty of which Paul
speaks is not only a stripping of divine privileges, but also a
sharing in the lowliest and most vulnerable conditions of human life
(cf. <Phil> 2:6-7). Jesus lived this poverty throughout his life,
until the culminating moment of the Cross: "he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has
highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every
name" (<Phil> 2:8-9). It is precisely <by his death> that <Jesus
reveals all the splendour and value of life>, inasmuch as his
self-oblation on the Cross becomes the source of new life for all
people (cf. <Jn> 12:32). In his journeying amid contradictions and in
the very loss of his life, Jesus is guided by the certainty that his
life is in the hands of the Father. Consequently, on the Cross, he
can say to him: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!" (<Lk>
23:46), that is, my life. Truly great must be the value of human life
if the Son of God has taken it up and made it the instrument of the
salvation of all humanity!

"<Called... to be conformed to the image of his Son>" (<Rom>
8:28-29): <God's glory shines on the face of man>

34. Life is always a good. This is an instinctive perception and a
fact of experience, and man is called to grasp the profound reason
why this is so.

<Why is life a good>? This question is found everywhere in the Bible,
and from the very first pages it receives a powerful and amazing
answer. The life which God gives man is quite different from the life
of all other living creatures, inasmuch as man, although formed from
the dust of the earth (cf. <Gen> 2:7, 3:19; <Job> 34:15; <Ps> 103:14;
104:29), <is a manifestation of God in the world, a sign of his
presence, a trace of his glory> (cf. <Gen> 1:26-27; <Ps> 8:6). This
is what Saint Irenaeus of Lyons wanted to emphasize in his celebrated
definition: "Man, living man, is the glory of God".[23] Man has been
given <a sublime dignity>, based on the intimate bond which unites
him to his Creator: in man there shines forth a reflection of God
himself.

The Book of Genesis affirms this when, in the first account of
creation, it places man at the summit of God's creative activity, as
its crown, at the culmination of a process which leads from
indistinct chaos to the most perfect of creatures. <Everything in
creation is ordered to man and everything is made subject to him>:
"Fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over . . . every
living thing" (1:28); this is God's command to the man and the woman.
A similar message is found also in the other account of creation:
"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till
it and keep it" (<Gen> 2:15). We see here a clear affirmation of the
primacy of man over things; these are made subject to him and
entrusted to his responsible care, whereas for no reason can he be
made subject to other men and almost reduced to the level of a thing.

In the biblical narrative, the difference between man and other
creatures is shown above all by the fact that only the creation of
man is presented as the result of a special decision on the part of
God, a deliberation to establish <a particular and specific bond with
the Creator>: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"
(<Gen> 1:26). <The life> which God offers to man <is a gift by which
God shares something of himself with his creature>.

Israel would ponder at length the meaning of this particular bond
between man and God. The Book of Sirach too recognizes that God, in
creating human beings, "endowed them with strength like his own, and
made them in his own image" (17:3). The biblical author sees as part
of this image not only man's dominion over the world but also <those
spiritual faculties which are distinctively human>, such as reason,
discernment between good and evil, and free will: "He filled them
with knowledge and understanding, and showed them good and evil"
(<Sir> 17:7). <The ability to attain truth and freedom are human
prerogatives> inasmuch as man is created in the image of his Creator,
God who is true and just (cf. <Dt> 32:4). Man alone, among all
visible creatures, is "capable of knowing and loving his Creator".[24]
The life which God bestows upon man is much more than mere existence
in time. It is a drive towards fullness of life; <it is the seed of
an existence which transcends the very limits of time>: "For God
created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own
eternity" (<Wis> 2:23).

35. The Yahwist account of creation expresses the same conviction.
This ancient narrative speaks of <a divine breath> which <is breathed
into man> so that he may come to life: "The Lord God formed man of
dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living being" (<Gen> 2:7).

The divine origin of this spirit of life explains the perennial
dissatisfaction which man feels throughout his days on earth. Because
he is made by God and bears within himself an indelible imprint of
God, man is naturally drawn to God. When he heeds the deepest
yearnings of the heart, every man must make his own the words of
truth expressed by Saint Augustine: "You have made us for yourself, O
Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you".[25]

How very significant is the dissatisfaction which marks man's life in
Eden as long as his sole point of reference is the world of plants
and animals (cf. <Gen> 2:20). Only the appearance of the woman, a
being who is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones (cf. <Gen>
2:23), and in whom the spirit of God the Creator is also alive, can
satisfy the need for interpersonal dialogue, so vital for human
existence. In the other, whether man or woman, there is a reflection
of God himself, the definitive goal and fulfilment of every person.

"What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you
care for him?", the Psalmist wonders (<Ps> 8:4). Compared to the
immensity of the universe, man is very small, and yet this very
contrast reveals his greatness: "You have made him little less than a
god, and crown him with glory and honour" (<Ps> 8:5). <The glory of
God shines on the face of man>. In man the Creator finds his rest, as
Saint Ambrose comments with a sense of awe: "The sixth day is
finished and the creation of the world ends with the formation of
that masterpiece which is man, who exercises dominion over all living
creatures and is as it were the crown of the universe and the supreme
beauty of every created being. Truly we should maintain a reverential
silence, since the Lord rested from every work he had undertaken in
the world. He rested then in the depths of man, he rested in man's
mind and in his thought; after all, he had created man endowed with
reason, capable of imitating him, of emulating his virtue, of
hungering for heavenly graces. In these his gifts God reposes, who
has said: 'Upon whom shall I rest, if not upon the one who is humble,
contrite in spirit and trembles at my word?' (<Is> 66:1-2). I thank
the Lord our God who has created so wonderful a work in which to take
his rest"[26]

36. Unfortunately, God's marvellous plan was marred by the appearance
of sin in history. Through sin, man rebels against his Creator and
ends up by <worshipping creatures>: "They exchanged the truth about
God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the
Creator" (<Rom> 1:25). As a result man not only deforms the image of
God in his own person, but is tempted to offences against it in
others as well, replacing relationships of communion by attitudes of
distrust, indifference, hostility and even murderous hatred. When
<God> is not acknowledged <as God>, the profound meaning of man is
betrayed and communion between people is compromised.

In the life of man, God's image shines forth anew and is again
revealed in all its fullness at the coming of the Son of God in human
flesh. "Christ is the image of the invisible God" (<Col> 1:15), he
"reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature"
(<Heb> 1:3). He is the perfect image of the Father.

The plan of life given to the first Adam finds at last its fulfilment
in Christ. Whereas the disobedience of Adam had ruined and marred
God's plan for human life and introduced death into the world, the
redemptive obedience of Christ is the source of grace poured out upon
the human race, opening wide to everyone the gates of the kingdom of
life (cf. <Rom> 5:12-21). As the Apostle Paul states: "The first man
Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving
spirit" (1 <Cor> 15:45).

All who commit themselves to following Christ are given the fullness
of life: the div