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Study Guide to Evangelium Vitae
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By Russell Shaw On March 30, 1995, the Holy See released Pope John Paul II's eleventh encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) ). It is dated March 25, the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. In this lengthy document, requested by an Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals held in Rome in 1991, Pope John Paul presents the Church's teaching on the sanctity and inviolability of innocent human life, from conception to natural death, with special reference to abortion, euthanasia, and other assaults against life in its most vulnerable stages and conditions. This study guide to The Gospel of Life has been prepared by the Knights of Columbus for groups and individuals who wish to become more familiar with Catholic teaching on the respect due human life as presented by Pope John Paul. The study guide is not a substitute for the encyclical. There are many important topics in The Gospel of Life besides those covered in the summary and the questions for discussion. Readers are encouraged to give Pope John Paul's text their careful, prayerful attention. On this page: Usage Notes
Introduction (Summary)
2. Human beings are called to a fullness of life far beyond earthly existence. This supernatural vocation shows the greatness and inestimable value of human life even in this world. 3. Yet lately threats to the lives of individuals and peoples have grown. Let us recall the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, which forcefully condemned crimes against human life (cf., Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 27). 4. Today there is a new cultural climate hostile to life. Many people justify certain crimes against life in the name of liberty; and in many countries laws have been adopted that legitimatize such practices. 5. The Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals, held in Rome April 4-7, 1991, requested a papal document reaffirming the value and inviolability of human life. Pope John Paul II consulted all the world's bishops later the same year. The present encyclical reflects this cooperation. 6. It embodies a plea to all members of the Church to work on behalf of a new culture of human life, an authentic civilization of truth and love. Introduction: Questions for Discussion 2. The pope speaks of crimes committed against life in the name of liberty. Give some current examples of such crimes. 3. The Church often has spoken out in defense of the value of human life. Besides the present example, what are some other instances of that? Chapter I (Summary) Present Day Threats to Human Life
8. Cain was moved by anger and envy. His words, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gn 4:9), are mirrored today in people's refusal to accept responsibility for others. 9. Cain is cursed by God and by the earth. But God is merciful, and he puts a "mark" on Cain (Gn 4:15) because he does not wish him to be killed. 10. In our day, some threats to life come from nature, others from human malice: murder, war, genocide, poverty, malnutrition, unjust distribution of resources, the arms trade, ecological tampering, drugs, sexual offenses that involve grave risks to life. 11. Here we shall concentrate especially on another category of attacks on life, affecting life in its earliest and its final stages. Often these are defended as rights and are carried out within the family, which ought to be a sanctuary of life. 12.We witness the emergence of a culture of death. Those who compromise the well-being or the lifestyle of the more fortunate by their illness or handicap, or simply by living, are viewed as enemies to be eliminated. 13. The Church is accused of promoting abortion by not approving contraception. But it is the contraceptive mentality that fosters abortion, and the pro-abortion culture is strongest where Church teaching on contraception is least heeded. Abortion and contraception are specifically different evils, yet often closely connected. 14. Artificial reproduction techniques, though seemingly at the service of life, open the door to new threats to life-disposing of "spare" embryos or using them for research. Prenatal diagnosis too often is an occasion for procuring an abortion. Newborns with serious handicaps or illnesses sometimes are denied nourishment or treatment. 15. Comparably serious threats menace the incurably ill and the dying. Individual and family pressures are greater in a culture that considers suffering the worst evil, to be eliminated at all cost. Also abroad today is the Promethean attitude that decisions about life and death are man's to make. All this is tragically expressed in the spread of euthanasia (including the removal of organs for transplanting, before death occurs). 16. While birth rates plummet in wealthy countries, poor countries experience rapid population growth. The international response, rather than a realistic effort to promote development, is a resort to anti-life measures-contraception, sterilization, abortion. Feeling threatened by the poor, the rich seek to impose birth control programs on them.
18. It is particularly disturbing that crimes like these should be regarded as expressions of individual freedom and rights. Concern for real human rights reflects moral sensitivity, but offenses against the lives of the weak and vulnerable threaten human rights, and the selfishness of wealthy countries in their dealings with poor ones violates the life of whole. 19. The problem is rooted in the view that rights inhere only in those who are competent and autonomous; the weak and dependent, e.g., the unborn and the dying, are vulnerable. Another fundamental cause is an individualistic concept of freedom-the freedom of the strong against the weak. 20. This view of freedom seriously distorts social life, making society a mass of individuals without common bonds. Moral relativism moves democracy in the direction of totalitarianism, with the tyrant state claiming power to dispose of the lives of the weak. A majority vote for such a procedure caricatures legality and betrays the democratic ideal. 21. At the very heart of what is happening is a loss of the sense of God and of man typical of secularism. 22. When the sense of God is lost, so the sense of man is threatened: The human person is reduced in his own estimate to a thing, and no longer appreciates either God's sacred gift of life or nature itself. 23. Practical materialism results: individualism, utilitarianism, hedonism. Then quality of life is understood to mean wealth and pleasure. Suffering is considered useless. The body is devalued, sexuality depersonalized and exploited, procreation is an enemy to be avoided. Interpersonal relations are impoverished, with harm first of all to women, children, the sick or suffering, and the elderly. 24. Thanks especially to the penetrating influence of the media, the moral conscience is today at risk of confusing good and evil, precisely in relation to the fundamental right to life. 25. The redemptive value of Christ's blood suggests the priceless value of human life. Christ's sacrifice reminds us of our calling to make a sincere gift of self. It produces certitude that in God's plan life will be victorious. 26. Today there are signs of this victory along with signs of the culture of death. Many married couples generously accept children, many families are open to abandoned and troubled youngsters, the handicapped, the elderly. There are centers in support of life, volunteers who welcome people without families. Medicine progresses, and groups work to bring advanced medicine to poor countries. 27. Reacting against legal abortion and efforts to legalize euthanasia, initiatives have sprung up in defense of life. Consider, too, the unselfish care extended daily by countless persons in families, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the aged, etc. Other hopeful signs are growing opposition to war as an instrument for resolving conflicts and to the death penalty, and concern for quality of life, ecology, and bioethics.
Chapter I: Questions for Discussion 2. Express in your own words what the pope means when he speaks of a culture of death. 3. Pope John Paul says there is a link between contraception and abortion. How does he explain the connection? 4. Some people think suffering is the worst evil, to be avoided or eliminated at all costs. How does it happen that thinking that way about suffering can lead to violations of human life? 5. If contraception, sterilization and abortion aren't the answer to population problems, what is? 6. The pope calls moral relativism a serious threat to democracy. Why does he say that? 7. Pope John Paul speaks in general terms about people and groups doing effective work in defense of life. Cite some specific, concrete examples that you know of. Chapter II (Summary)
30. Our physical and spiritual life acquires its full value and meaning in Jesus. 31. The Old Testament prepared for the fullness of the Gospel message about life. Israel grows in its perception of the meaning and value of life. 32. The experience of the people of the Covenant is renewed in the experience of the "poor" who encounter Jesus. The Church continues his mission to the sick and outcast. Jesus and the Church reach out to all who recognize the presence of sin in their lives. 33. Jesus' own life reflects the experience of life's uncertainty while affirming its value. He fully accepted life's contradictions and risks, fully revealing life's splendor and value by his death. 34. Life is always a good. Man is made in God's image and is the summit of God's creative activity. The ability to attain truth and freedom, and to know and love the Creator, are distinctively human. 35.The spirit of life has a divine origin (cf., Gn 2:7). Man is naturally drawn to God, as well as to interpersonal relationships with other human persons made in God's image. 36. Sin mars God's plan, but God's image in man is renewed and revealed in all its fullness in Christ. Those who commit themselves to following him are given fullness of life. 37. The life which the Son of God came to give human beings goes beyond time. Jesus sometimes speaks of it simply as "life" and at other times as "eternal life." 38. Eternal life is the life of God himself and at the same time the life of God's children. The dignity of human life is that it comes from God and is ordered to fellowship with God. This gives new meaning even to our life in time. 39. Human life comes from God. God is the sole Lord of this life; man cannot do with it as he wills. Human life and death are in the hands of God, in his power. He exercises this power as part of his care and loving concern for his creatures. 40. From the sacredness of human life comes its inviolability. The inviolability of life is at the heart of the Ten Commandments. 41. Jesus reaffirms and more fully expresses the positive command to love neighbor, and makes clearer what inviolability of life requires. We are to show reverence and love for the life of every person. 42. Defending and promoting life, showing reverence and love for it, include exercising dominion over the earth and other living creatures (cf. Wis 9:1,2-3); this is to say that the ethical dimension of ecological concern is rooted in the Bible. 43. Man's sharing in God's lordship is evident, too, in the specific responsibility for human life. It reaches its highest point in procreation in marriage. Pope John Paul II's "Letter to Families" (1994) points out that God himself is present in human fatherhood and motherhood. The task of accepting and serving life must be fulfilled especially when life is at its weakest.
45. The New Testament revelation confirms the value of life from life's very beginning. This is especially clear in the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth. 46. The Bible speaks of the dignity of old age and the reverence due it. It enjoins hope and trust in God on the part of the sick. 47. Jesus' healings show God's great concern even for bodily life. He combines preaching the Gospel with healing the sick in the mission he gives his disciples. The New Testament makes it clear that bodily life in its earthly state is not an absolute good for the believer, who may even be asked to give up his life; but no one can arbitrarily choose whether to live or die. 48. To separate oneself from the truth of life means condemning oneself to meaninglessness and unhappiness and perhaps becoming a threat to others' lives. God's law as a whole protects human life; the meaning of "You shall not kill" is only fully clear in light of the whole truth about God and man. 49. In the Old Testament, the prophets often condemn offenses against life and urge that self-giving which is central to life's most authentic meaning. Jesus brings to fulfillment this gift of self in love for one's brothers and sisters. 50. Jesus' death sheds light on the meaning of the life and death of every human being. Our freedom and redemption are in him. 51. The "people of life" is born and increases from the cross of Christ. Like Christ, we are called to give our lives for others and in so doing to realize the meaning and destiny of our existence. Chapter II: Questions for Discussion 2. What does Pope John Paul mean when he says that our lives in time take on new and greater meaning in the light of eternal life? 3. God is the creator of life. What are some other terms and titles that express other aspects of God's relationship to life? 4. The pope says Jesus' death sheds light on the life and death of every human being. What is the meaning of that statement? Chapter III (Summary)
53. Scripture presents "You shall not kill" as a divine commandment (Ex 20:13, Dt 5:17). God will judge severely every violation. 54. "You shall not kill" is a negative precept encouraging a positive attitude of absolute respect for life. The living tradition of the Church has consistently taught the absolute and unchanging value of this commandment. In the first Christian centuries, murder, along with apostasy and adultery, was put among the three most serious sins. 55. There is nevertheless such a thing as legitimate defense, especially for someone responsible for another or others, and it can involve resisting an aggressor to the point of taking his life. There also is a true right to self-defense. It may not be renounced out of lack of love for life or self, but only out of the heroic love that transforms self-love into self-offering. 56. Public authority must impose punishments adequate to offenders' crimes. But offenders should not be executed except in cases of absolute necessity-when society's defense would otherwise be impossible. Such cases are very rare today, if not practically non-existent. Non-capital punishments better suit the common good and human dignity. 57. The commandment not to kill is absolute when it refers to innocent persons, especially the weak and defenseless. The absolute inviolability of human life is a moral truth clearly taught by sacred Scripture, constantly upheld in the Church's tradition, and consistently proposed by her magisterium. By the authority of Christ and in communion with the bishops of the Catholic Church, the pope confirms that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. It can never be licit, as an end or as a means to a good end. As far as the right to life is concerned, every innocent human being is absolutely equal to all others. 58. Procured abortion is a particularly serious and deplorable crime against life. Today, its seriousness has been progressively obscured, and its acceptance, even in law, points to an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense. 59. Others besides the mother often are implicated in abortion: the father, family and friends, doctors and nurses, legislators and health adminstrators, those who encourage sexual permissiveness and lack of esteem for motherhood, international institutions, foundations and associations that systematically campaign for abortion. 60. The life of a new human being begins at fertilization. Scientific research regarding the human embryo supports this conclusion. Considering what is at stake, the mere probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify prohibiting attempts to kill a human embryo 61. The Bible strongly affirms the sanctity of unborn human life. Christian tradition is clear and unanimous in condemning abortion. This is the teaching of the Fathers, Pastors and Doctors of the Church. 62. The recent papal magisterium has vigorously reaffirmed this common doctrine: cf., Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII. The Codes of Canon Law of 1917 and 1983 punish abortion with excommunication-a penalty extending not only to the woman who has an abortion but to accomplices. Pope Paul VI declared the teaching on abortion to be unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority conferred by Christ, in communion with the bishops, the pope affirms that direct abortion always is a grave moral disorder.
64.At the other end of life's spectrum, there is a tendency today to view suffering as an experience to be avoided or ended at all costs. There also is a tendency for human beings to claim absolute autonomy over their lives, and this is reinforced by modern science and medicine. Thus the temptation grows to have recourse to euthanasia. 65. Euthanasia is an action or omission that of itself and by intention causes death in order to eliminate suffering. It should be distinguished from the legitimate forgoing of life-extending medical procedures that are disproportionate to any expected results or impose excessive burdens on the patient and family. Pain-killers also can licitly be used, even if they decrease consciousness and shorten life, provided the carrying-out of other religious and moral duties is not prevented. Recognizing these distinctions, in harmony with the magisterium of his predecessors and in communion with the bishops, the pope affirms that euthanasia gravely violates the law of God. 66. Suicide, viewed objectively, is as morally objectionable as murder. It is a rejection of God's absolute sovereignty over life and death. To help another person commit "assisted suicide" is an inexcusable injustice. Even when it is not an act of selfishness, euthanasia is a false mercy. And it becomes more serious still when it takes the form of murdering someone who has not requested it or consented. 67. Faith illumines our natural aversion to death and hope of immortality. St. Paul tells us to live to the Lord and also to die to the Lord (Rom 14:7-8); through suffering we are more fully conformed to the Lord and more closely associated with his redemptive work (cf., Col 1:24). 68. As noted, there is today a tendency to demand legal justification for attacks on human life-abortion and euthanasia-as if they were rights. It is said that only individuals, not the state, can engage in the weighing and balancing of goods required in a proportionalist approach; or that law should not embody standards higher than all citizens acknowledge; or that in a pluralistic society law should not favor one moral opinion over another. 69. It is commonly held that in a democracy law should express majority views; and that, objective moral truth being unattainable, law should respect the autonomy of individual consciences. This leads to two diametrically opposed tendencies: insistence on maximum individual freedom, along with insistence that personal conscience be set aside so as to facilitate the freedom of choice law sanctions. 70. Ethical relativism underlies these tendencies. Grave crimes and denials of freedom have been, and are being, committed on its basis. Is not a democratic majority decision to legalize abortion actually a tyrannical decision against the unborn? Democracy's moral value depends on conformity to the objective natural law, the basis for civil law. Questioning the fundamental principles of morality shakes the foundations of democracy, which cannot ensure stable peace without an objective moral grounding. 71. We need to recover a right understanding of the relationship between civil law and moral law. Public authority can never approve violating so fundamental a right as the right to life, even if a majority claims the "right" to do so.
73. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. When it is not possible entirely to overturn a pro-abortion law, an elected official can support a proposal that at least limits its harm. 74. Anti-life laws raise moral questions about cooperation in evil. Formal cooperation-directly participating in an act against innocent life or sharing the intention of one who commits such an act-is never allowed. There is a basic human right, which should be protected by civil law, to refuse to take part in anti-life acts. 75. No good intentions or good consequences can justify choices radically incompatible with love of God and the dignity of the human person. In identifying minimal standards of behavior, the "no" of negative moral precepts marks the first step in the journey toward freedom. 76. This is true of the commandment "You shall not kill." God entrusts us to one another. Christ and the Spirit give new content and meaning to this law of reciprocity. 77. "You shall not kill" involves an absolute imperative to respect, love and promote the life of every brother and sister. The commandment is binding on all, can be known by all. It points to love as the basis for a new culture of life. Chapter III: Questions for Discussion 2. How would you summarize what the encyclical says about capital punishment? 3. The pope in this section of the encyclical uses especially solemn terms in reaffirming the Church's teaching on three points. What are those three points? 4. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are actions that aim to help other people by relieving their suffering and distress. But relieving suffering and distress is a good thing to do. So why are euthanasia and assisted suicide wrong? 5. If a majority of people in a democratic society want something like abortion or euthanasia to be legal, shouldn't it be? 6. If the law permits such practices as these doesn't that mean Christians should respect the law and at least tolerate the practices? 7. Civil law obviously can't ban everything that moral law tells us is morally wrong. Identify some standards for deciding what kinds of morally wrong behavior should and should not be banned by civil law. Chapter IV (Summary)
79. We are a people of life, with a duty to serve life, sent by God for this purpose. 80. To proclaim Jesus is to proclaim life. Gratitude and joy at the incomparable dignity of the human person impel us to share this message with everyone. 81. This Gospel of Life affirms at its core: relationship with the living God; life as a gift of God; life's sacredness and inviolability; the absolute unacceptability of abortion and euthanasia; the duty to protect life with loving concern; the true significance of sexuality and procreation as expressions of that giving and receiving of love which give life meaning. 82. We must propose these truths consistently in catechesis, preaching, personal dialog, and all our educational activity. This is a duty first of all of bishops, who are obliged to teach sound doctrine themselves and to ensure its teaching in seminaries and Catholic institutions. 83. Our proclamation must involve a genuine celebration of the Gospel of Life. This requires fostering a contemplative outlook in ourselves and others. 84. This celebrating of life should be present in the celebrations of the liturgical year and especially in the celebration of the sacraments. 85. We should use the gestures and symbols of different cultures and peoples. The pope proposes celebration of an annual Day for Life, already established by some bishops' conferences. 86. Above all, the Gospel of Life should be celebrated in daily living, as countless persons already do. Sometimes this involves true heroism: for example, organ donation or the self-sacrifice of mothers in giving birth and raising children. 87. Our service of charity must take shape in personal witness, volunteer work, social activity and political commitment. The Church must continue its traditional efforts on behalf of life through appropriate programs for mothers and children, the suffering, the dying. 88. All this requires a patient, fearless work of education, the promotion of vocations to service, and a variety of long-term practical projects: natural family planning centers, marriage and family counseling agencies, homes and centers for the newborn, drug addiction treatment, residential communities for minors and the mentally ill, centers for AIDS patients, programs of solidarity with the disabled, hospitals, clinics and convalescent homes. 89. Health care personnel have a unique responsibility. The Hippocratic oath is still relevant today. Absolute respect for innocent human life requires the exercise of conscientious objection in relation to abortion and euthanasia. Biomedical research must reject whatever would violate the dignity of the human being. 90. Volunteer workers have a role to play. The Gospel of Life requires social and political activity. Civil leaders are obliged to support life through legislative measures. Besides removing unjust laws, the underlying causes of attacks on life also must be removed. A family policy ought to be the basis and driving force of all social policies.
92. The family, a sanctuary of life, has a decisive role in building a culture of life. This role especially concerns procreation and the raising of children to respect life. 93. The family celebrates the Gospel of Life through daily prayer. Solidarity between families is expressed in willingness to adopt or take in abandoned or distressed children. Families should participate together in social and political life. 94. Neglect and rejection of the elderly are intolerable. Elderly parents should receive from their children the same acceptance they gave the children in bringing them into the world. 95. There is need for a great campaign in support of life, rooted in the mission of evangelization. We must begin by renewing a culture of life in Christian communities, then proceed to dialogue about life's value with nonbelievers and in intellectual and professional circles, as well in everyday life. 96. The first, fundamental step in this cultural transformation is to form consciences regarding life's inviolable worth. It must be shown that, where life is violated, freedom also will be violated. The link between freedom and truth must be recovered. Man's condition as a creature to whom God gives life must be seen and understood. 97. Conscience formation requires education in the value of life, in sexuality and love, in chastity. Married couples must be trained in responsible procreation, including natural methods of fertility regulation. Education should extend to the meaning of suffering and death. The pope has called for an annual World Day of the Sick. 98. The cultural change envisaged requires that people adopt a new lifestyle stressing the primacy of being over having, of the person over things, along with concern for and acceptance of others. Everyone has a role to play: the family, educators, intellectuals, communicators.
100. Prayer and fasting for life are urgently needed. 101. The Gospel of Life is not just for believers but for everyone. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renew-al of society by promoting the common good. Respect for life is the foundation and guarantee of the most precious goods of society, such as democracy and peace. Chapter IV: Questions for Discussion 2. Concretely, what are some of the things that can and should be done-by individuals, by groups, by parishes, by dioceses-to proclaim and foster the Gospel of Life? 3. Of the various programs and undertakings in support of life mentioned by Pope John Paul, which already exist in your community? Which are not there yet, but could and should be? 4. What can be done to support and strengthen marriage and family life: by parishes, by the local community, by family members themselves?
103. Mary's motherhood is the model of the motherhood of the Church. Both live their motherhood amid suffering. 104. Life is always at the center of a great struggle between good and evil. Rejection of human life is really a rejection of Christ. 105. Trust in God pervades Mary's life and the life of the Church. In Christ, the forces of death have already been defeated. The encyclical concludes with a prayer to Mary, invoking her intercession for the preaching and acceptance of the Gospel of Life. Conclusion: Questions for Discussion 2. What are some of the religious practices-by individuals, groups, and parishes-that can be undertaken as spiritual means in defense of life?
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1. The Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus' message. He says: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10).
7. Death entered the world through the devil's envy and human sin. The scriptural account of the first murder, Cain's killing of Abel, has much to teach us.
17. Threats against life are taking on vast proportions. We now confront an objective conspiracy against life, involving international institutions that promote contraception, sterilization, and abortion, and the mass media that treat these practices and euthanasia as progress.
28. We are parties to a vast and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the culture of death and the culture of life. We must choose to be unconditionally pro-life, a choice that has full religious and moral meaning when nourished by faith in Christ. Hence the Church's proclamation of the Gospel of Life.
29. The Gospel of Life is essentially the proclamation of Jesus himself-Jesus who is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), "the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25), Jesus who "came that they may have life" (Jn 10:10).
44. Human life is most vulnerable at its beginning and its end. To harm, attack or deny life in these circumstances is completely foreign to the mentality of God's people.
52. Man's God-given lordship over the world is not absolute but ministerial, to be exercised with wisdom and love. Life is entrusted to man as a treasure, a talent to be used well.
63. This applies also to experiments that involve killing embryos, to the exploitation of human embryos and fetuses by artificially producing them as sources of organs or tissue, and to prenatal diagnostic testing done with the eugenic intention of aborting defective fetuses.
72. The whole tradition of the Church supports the idea that civil law must be in conformity with moral law. Laws authorizing and promoting abortion and euthanasia offend against the good of individuals and the common good.
78. Evangelization, the preaching of the Gospel, is a work of all the members of the Church. This is true of the preaching of the Gospel of Life.
91. Population growth raises important life-related issues today. Interventions by public authorities may not use anti-life methods like contraception, sterilization and abortion. The solutions, though diverse, require creating conditions that allow married couples to make procreative choices freely and responsibly.
99. Women must develop a new feminism that, rejecting male models of domination, affirms their own genius. Women, especially mothers, are called to bear witness to self-giving love. The Church urges women who have had an abortion to turn to God in the sacrament of reconciliation, seek the help of others, and become defenders of life.
102. In accepting Christ, Mary accepted Life itself; thus she is most closely and personally associated with the Gospel of Life, and is the incomparable model of how life should be welcomed and cared for.
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