Evangelium Vitae
And as we, the pilgrim people, the people of life and for life, make our way in confidence towards "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1), we look to her who is for us "a sign of sure hope and solace".142
O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life.
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, in the year 1995, the seventeenth of my Pontificate.
1 The expression "Gospel of life" is not found as such in Sacred Scripture. But it does correspond to an essential dimension of the biblical message.
2 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.
3 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 10; AAS 71 (1979), 275.
4 Cf. ibid., 14: loc.cit., 285.
5 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 27.
6 Cf. Letter to all my Brothers in the Episcopate regarding the "Gospel of Life" (19 May 1991): Insegnamenti XIV, 1 (1991), 1293-1296.
7 Ibid., loc.cit., p. 1294.
8 Letter to Families Gratissimam sane (2 February 1994), 4: AAS 86 (1994), 871.
9 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 39: AAS 83 (1991), 842.
10 No. 2259.
11 Saint Ambrose, De Noe, 26:94-96: CSEL 32, 480-481.
12 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 1867 and 2268.
13 De Cain et Abel, II, 10, 38: CSEL, 32, 408.
14 Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae: AAS 80 (1988), 70-102.
15 Address during the Prayer Vigil for the Eighth World Youth Day, Denver, 14 August 1993, II, 3: AAS 86 (1994), 419.
16 John Paul II, Address to the Participants at the Study Conference on "The Right to Life and Europe", 18 December 1987: Insegnamenti, X, 3 (1987), 1446-1447.
17 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 36.
18 Cf. ibid., 16.
19 Cf. Saint Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, 13, 23: CCL 143A, 683.
20 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 10; AAS 71 (1979), 274.
21 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 50.
22 Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 4.
23 "Gloria Dei vivens homo": Adversus Haereses, IV, 20, 7: SCh 100/2, 648-649.
24 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 12.
25 Confessions, I, 1: CCL 27, 1.
26 Exameron, VI, 75-76: CSEL 32, 260-261.
27 "Vita autem hominis visio Dei": Adversus Haereses, IV, 20, 7: SCh 100/2, 648-649.
28 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 38: AAS 83 (1991), 840-841.
29 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 34: AAS 80 (1988), 560.
30 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 50.
31 Letter to Families Gratissimam sane (2 February 1994), 9: AAS 86 (1994), 878; cf. Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis (12 August 1950): AAS 42 (1950), 574.
32 "Animas enim a Deo immediate creari catholica fides nos retinere iubet": Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis (12 August 1950): AAS 42 (1950), 575.
33 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 50; cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981), 28: AAS 74 (1982), 114.
34 Homilies, II, 1; CCSG 3, 39.
35 See, for example, Psalms 22:10-11; 71:6; 139:13-14.
36 Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, II, 22-23: CCL, 14, 40-41.
37 Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, 7, 2: Patres Apostolici, ed. F.X. Funk, II, 82.
38 De Hominis Opificio, 4: PG 44, 136.
39 Cf. Saint John Damascene, De Fide Orthodoxa, 2, 12: PG 94, 920.922, quoted in Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, Prologue.
40 Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968), 13: AAS 60 (1968), 489.
41 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae (22 February 1987), Introduction, No. 5: AAS 80 (1988), 76-77; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2258.
42 Didache, I, 1; II, 1-2; V, 1 and 3: Patres Apostolici, ed. F.X. Funk, I, 2-3, 6-9, 14-17; cf. Letter of Pseudo-Barnabas, XIX, 5: loc. cit., 90-93.
43 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 2263-2269; cf. also Catechism of the Council of Trent III, §§ 327-332.
44 Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2265.
45 Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 64, a. 7; Saint Alphonsus De' Liguori, Theologia Moralis, l. III, tr. 4, c. 1, dub.3.
46 Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2266.
47 Cf. ibid.
48 No. 2267.
49 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 12.
50 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 27.
51 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 25.
52 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia Iura et Bona (5 May 1980), II: AAS 72 (1980), 546.
53 Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August 1993), 96: AAS 85 (1993), 1209.
54 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 51, "Abortus necnon infanticidium nefanda sunt crimina".
55 Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August 1988), 14: AAS 80 (1988), 1686.
56 No. 21: AAS 86 (1994), 920.
57 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion (18 November 1974), Nos. 12-13: AAS 66 (1974), 738.
58 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Donum Vitae (22 February 1987), I, No. 1: AAS 80 (1988), 78-79.
59 Ibid., loc. cit., 79.
60 Hence the Prophet Jeremiah: "The word of the Lord came to me saying: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations'" (1:4-5). The Psalmist, for his part, addresses the Lord in these words: "Upon you I have leaned from my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb" (Ps 71:6; cf. Is 46:3; Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11). So too the Evangelist Luke - in the magnificent episode of the meeting of the two mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, and their two sons, John the Baptist and Jesus, still hidden in their mothers' wombs (cf. 1:39-45) - emphasizes how even before their birth the two little ones are able to communicate: the child recognizes the coming of the Child and leaps for joy.
61 Cf. Declaration on Procured Abortion (18 November 1974), No. 7: AAS 66 (1974), 740-747.
62 "You shall not kill a child by abortion nor shall you kill it once it is born": V, 2: Patres Apostolici, ed. F.X. Funk, I, 17.
63 Apologia on behalf of the Christians, 35: PG 6, 969.
64 Apologeticum, IX, 8: CSEL 69, 24.
65 Cf. Encyclical Letter Casti Connubii (31 December 1930), II: AAS 22 (1930), 562-592.
66 Address to the Biomedical Association "San Luca" (12 November 1944): Discorsi e Radiomessaggi, VI (1944-1945), 191; cf. Address to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives (29 October 1951), No. 2: AAS 43 (1951), 838.
67 Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra (15 May 1961), 3: AAS 53 (1961), 447.
68 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 51.
69 Canon 2350, § 1.