Evangelium Vitae #16
Evangelium Vitae #16 Another present-day phenomenon, frequently used to justify attacks and threats 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...
Evangelium Vitae #15
Evangelium Vitae #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...
Evangelium Vitae #14
Evangelium Vitae #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, these techniques have a high rate of failure; not just failure in...
Evangelium Vitae #13
Evangelium Vitae #13 in order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous amounts of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the foetus 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...
20th Anniversary of Evangelium Vitae.
20th Anniversary of Evangelium Vitae. March 25th marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Saint John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, and I’m honoured to be part of a project to celebrate the occasion: The Evangelium Vitae Novena. Fr. Vincent E Bertrand Jcl has kindly written this preface to the novena: Dear friends in LIFE, It is an honor to join you in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the...
Evangelium Vitae #12
Evangelium Vitae #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 characterised by the emergence of a culture...