Angelus Address of Pope John Paul II on Sunday, 3 February 2002, on the occasion of ‘Pro-Life Day’ in Italy.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1.Today, the first Sunday of February, Italy is celebrating “Pro-Life Day“, a wonderful occasion to reflect on the fundamental value of human life. Recognize means to guarantee the right of the human person to lifelong development. The subject that the bishops proposed this year is: “Recognize Life”. To recognize means, above all, to rediscover with renewed wonder what reason itself and science do not hesitate to call a “mystery”. Life, especially human life, inspires a fundamental question that the Psalmist expresses so well: “What is man that you are mindful of him; the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps 8,5).

Moreover, to recognize means to guarantee to every human being the right to develop according to his own potential, ensuring his inviolability from conception until natural death. No one is master of life; no one has the right to manipulate, oppress or even take life, neither that of others nor his own. Much less can he do so in the name of God, who is the only Lord and the most sincere lover of life. The martyrs themselves do not take their own lives but, in order to remain faithful to God and to his commandments, they allow themselves to be killed.

2. To recognize the value of life implies consistent measures from the legal point of view, especially the protection of human beings who are unable to defend themselves, such as the unborn, the mentally handicapped, and the most critically or terminally ill. In particular, in the study of the human embryo, science has now demonstrated that it is a human individual who possesses his own identity from the moment of fertilization. Therefore, it is logical to call for this identity to be legally recognized, above all, in its fundamental right to life, as the Italian “Pro-Life Movement” demands with praiseworthy initiative.

3. We entrust to the Holy Mother of Christ and of all human beings, the commitment in Italy and the whole world in favour of life, especially, wherever it is despised, marginalized or violated. May Mary teach us to “recognize life” as a mystery and responsibility, remembering that “gloria Dei vivens homo”, “the glory of God is living man” (St Irenaeus).

After the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted in Italian and in English special groups who were present. Here is the English speaking greeting and a further Pro-Life greeting.

I warmly greet the group of families of the Diocese of Rome with the Auxiliary Bishop in charge of family life concerns, and I give a special blessing to the mothers who are expecting a child. I am pleased that in Rome the Pro-Life Day has taken the form of a Diocesan Week for Life and for the Family, at the end of which next Sunday, parishes will reflect on the welcome they give to new families who have come to live in their neighbourhood.

I am particularly pleased with the initiative of some university professors, who these days at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” have been studying in depth the theme “The embryo as patient”, putting into a “declaration” the conclusions they reached about the dignity of the human being in the first phase of his existence.

I welcome all the English-speaking visitors, especially the pilgrims from St Pius the Tenth Parish in Tachikawa, Japan. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.

We need only look at the data bank of bioethical and medical writing on the subject to see how this is so. In the years 1970-1974 rather more than five hundred works dealing with the biomedical aspect of the question existed, and there were twenty-seven works of a philosophical-theological character. In the years 1990-1994 there were nearly 4,200 works on the biomedical dimension of the subject and 242 on the philosophical-theological aspect of the debate. The reasons for this are more than evident, and we are not dealing here, as before, with the mere question of abortion, however present, painful and controversial that topic may be.

The subject of abortion has indeed been of major public interest. There was, for example, the special commission of the American Senate which met on 23 April 1981, a commission established by President Reagan and to which Professor Lejeune gave evidence. There have also been a large number of legislative proposals aimed at making abortion lawful in such Latin American coun tries as Peru and Mexico. These proposals have necessarily involved the question of the status of the embryo and the fetus, either directly or indirectly, if only because the life of the fetus and that of the mother have been considered in relation to each other. But at the present day there are two other great questions which have brought bioethics and biolaw to the center of public attention:

a) the question of in vitro procreation which involves the phenomenon of the surplus production of embryos wh ich come to be termed “supernumerary” (a new category of human being) and where a number of abuses take place: freezing, transfers which cause death, experiments, periodic destruction ordered by governments, and the removal of cells;

b) the question of new products, methods and vaccines which are deemed contraceptive, interceptive or anti-pregnancy but which are in reality techniques of abortion because they prevent the implanting or the process of implanting of an ovule which has already been fertiliz ed. Amongst these, reference should be made to the IUD, the day-after pill, the northplant, and vaccines. Evangelium Vitae deals with this whole area at n. 13. It is in relation to these questions, and above all in relation to in vitro procreation, that the highly sophisticated and groundless theories of the pre-embryo (the early embryo of the first fifteen days of life) or the pro-embryo (the embryo of the first eight days of life) have sprung up. The basic biological and philosophical dimensions of these ideas and theories will, I imagine, be examined by those who are to contribute to this round table.
I would like here to draw attention to a quotation from one of the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian: “homo est qui venturus est.”

I would like to draw even greater attention to a passage from the instruction Donum Vitae which is in turn quoted by the encyclical Evangelium Vitae: “From the moment when the ovule is fertilized a life begins which is not that of the father or of the mother but of a new human being which develops of its own accord. It can never be human if it is not human from that moment… At the moment of fertilization is begun the adventure of human life, and each of the great capacities of this life needs time to find its balance and to prepare itself to act.” (Donum Vitae, I,1; Evangelium Vitae, no. 60).

The proof of this statement is to be found above all else in biological facts:

1. From the moment of fertilization we are in the presence of a new, independent, individualized being which develops in continuous fashion. There is no moment which is less necessary than another (and this is even recognized in the Warnock Report), and each stage is strictly dependent upon the stage which precedes it and which determines it.
2. Objections based upon the fact of gemination, upon the appearance of the primitive streak and of the nervous system bud, and upon the relevance of the implanting as a decisive event for the conti nuation of development, do not bear in the least upon the individuality of the embryo or the continuity of development: in the process of didymous separation the residual part does not lose the individuality of being human and the new part which separates off has its own new individuality; the appearance of the primitive streak and of the nervous system-like the whole process of organogenesis-are the outcome of this active and individualized development.

The two moments of real discontinuity in the lif e of an individual are to be found in the acts of fertilization and of death. Leaving this reality apart, human and philosophical reason must go beyond functionalist or phenomenologist forms of mentality which approach facts in relation to their operative capacities and with reference to the demonstration of such capacities. Human reason-if, that is, it really seeks explanations and gives explanations for facts-cannot but affirm that authentic explanation which is given to us by the recognition of the exis tence of a special and specific energy which informs and animates the whole of the human being; which vitalizes it and individualizes it. This is none other than a self capable of spirituality, a personal self, which bears within itself all that active capacity which fulfills and realizes itself in the person.

R. Colombo, a molecular biologist, observes: “None of the scientific knowledge available to us allows certain support for the objections raised to the rational nature of the human embryo and the human fetus and its individualization.”
In order to investigate this subject the Academy for Life has set up a multidisciplinary task force which will study all the aspects of the whole question and then publish a work on the subject.

Most Rev. Elio Sgreccia
Vice President of the Pontifical
Council for Life Council for Life

The third Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life held in Vatican City, 14-16 February, 1997. At this Assembly papers were presented on the work carried out in the last two years on the subject Identity and Status of the Human Embryo by a study group (Task Force) established by the same Academy and composed of experts in various disciplines connected with this topic.

Biologists, physicians, philosophers, theologians and jurists from different countries, have worked together on the question of the identity and status of the human embryo, which is both complex and of great importance.

This issue has arisen especially in relation to the possibility of manipulating the human embryo as a result of artificial conception and of scientific research on the early stages of the development of the individual life.

The work of the Assembly – faithful to the character of the Academy itself – has developed in the context of an interdisciplinary discussion, which has brought together contributions from a number of different approaches which, in their nature and methods, are demanded by the question at issue.

From a biological standpoint,the formation and the development of the human embryo appears as a continuous, coordinated and gradual process from the time of fertilization, at which time a new human organism is constituted, endowed with the intrinsic capacity to develop by himself into a human adult. The most recent contributions of the biomedical sciences offer further valuable empirical evidence for substantiating the individuality and developmental continuity of the embryo. To speak of a pre-embryo thus is an incorrect interpretation of the biological data.

Judgement – as an act of the human mind – on the personal nature of the human embryo springs necessarily from the evidence of the biological datum which implies the recognition of the presence of a human being’s with an intrinsic active capacity for development, and not a mere possibility of life.

The ethical exigency of respect and care for the life and integrity of the embryo, demanded by the presence of human being is motivated by a unitary conception of man (“Corpore et anima unus”), whose personal dignity must be recognized from the beginning of his physical existence.

The theological perspective, beginning with the light which revelation sheds on the meaning of a human life and on the dignity of the person, supports and sustains human reason in regard to these conclusions, without in any way diminishing the validity of contributions based on rational evidence. Therefore the duty of respecting the human embryo as a human person derives from the reality of the matter and from the force of rational argumentation, and not exclusively from a position of faith.

From the juridical point of view, the core of the debate on the protection of the human embryo does not involve identifying earlier or later indices of “humanity” which appear after insemination, but consists rather in the recognition fundamental human rights by virtue of the presence of a human being. Above all, the righit to life and to physical integrity from the first moment of existence, in keeping with the principle of equality, must be respected.

In this great challenge of defending the life and dignity of the human embryo, special commitment is needed on the part of families, and particularly parents, as well as that of the scientific community. The woman is the first person called to welcome and nourish in love and solicitous dedication the human being who has been conceived in her womb. The irreplaceable role of a guardian of human life entrusted to a woman’s motherhood must be encouraged and actively supported in civil society.

The Assembly hopes that its own contribution will serve as an occasion for reflection and dialogue with all those who understand that the expanding frontiers of civilization and the authentic progress of society rest on the unconditional defence of human life.

Address of Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy for Life at the opening of the Congress on “Identity and Status of the Human Embryo”.

Friday, 14 February 1997

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I am pleased to extend my cordial greetings to you, dear Members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, who have gathered for your third general assembly. I especially thank the President, Prof. Juan de Dios Vial Correa, for the friendly words he has just addressed to me on behalf of you all.

I know that some of you, ordinary members, are present for the first time, since you have only recently been appointed. Likewise the corresponding members, who are taking part in this meeting for the first time, also serve in the life of the Academy as a valuable link with society. I extend my welcome to all, receiving you as a distinguished community of intellectuals at the service of life.

First of all I would like to express my satisfaction with the activity that the Academy has carried out in this short period since its foundation: I would like especially to stress the valuable works that have already been published as a commentary on the Encyclical Evangelium vitae, and the active collaboration offered to the various dicasteries for courses and study conventions on the contents of both the Encyclical and other pronouncements by the Magisterium in the delicate area of life.

2. The theme that you chose for this assembly — “Identity and Status of the Human Embryo” — with the approach of the 10th anniversary of the Instruction Donum vitae, published on 22 February 1987, is also in line with your commitment and today has a particular cultural and political relevance.

In fact, it is first of all a question of reaffirming that “the human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human to life” (Donum vitae, I, 1). Such statements, solemnly restated in the Encyclical Evangelium vitae, are entrusted to the conscience of humanity and are increasingly accepted even in the areas of scientific and philosophical research.

Appropriately during these days you have tried to clarify further the misunderstandings in the modern cultural context stemming from preconceptions of a philosophical and epistemological nature which cast doubt on the very foundations of knowledge, especially in the field of moral values. In fact the truth about the human person must be freed from every possible exploitation, reductionism or ideology, in order to guarantee full and scrupulous respect for the dignity of every human being from the first moments of his existence.

3. How can we fail to recognize that our age is unfortunately witnessing an unprecedented and almost unimaginable massacre of innocent human beings, which many States have legally endorsed? How many times has the Church’s voice, raised in defence of these human beings, gone unheard! And how many times, unfortunately, from other parts has what is an aberrant crime against the most defenceless of human beings been presented as a right and sign of civilization!

But the historic and pressing moment has come to take a decisive step for civilization and the authentic welfare of peoples: the necessary step to reclaim the full human dignity and the right to life of every human being from the first instant of life and throughout the whole prenatal stage. This objective, to restore human dignity to prenatal life, demands a joint and unbiased effort of interdisciplinary reflection, together with an indispensable renewal of law and politics.

When this journey has begun, it will mark the beginning of a new stage of civilization for future humanity, the humanity of the third millennium.

4. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is quite clear how important is the responsibility of intellectuals in their task of conducting research in this field. It is a matter of restoring legal protection to specific areas of human existence, first and foremost that of prenatal life.

On this restoration, which is the victory of truth, the moral good and rights, depends the success of the defense of human life in its other more fragile moments such as its final phase, illness and handicap. Nor should it be forgotten that the preservation of peace and even the protection of the environment presuppose, by logical coherence, the respect and defence of life from the very first moment until its natural end.

5. The Pontifical Academy for Life, which I sincerely thank for the service it is rendering to life, has the duty of contributing to a deeper awareness of the value of this basic good, especially through dialogue with experts in the biomedical, legal and moral sciences. To achieve this goal, the work of your study and research community will have to rely on an intense life ad intra, characterized by exchange and multidisciplinary scholarly collaboration. It will thus be able to offer ad extra, in the world of culture and society, beneficial encouragement and worthwhile contributions for an authentic renewal of society.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the generous beginning of your activity reassures us in this hope. I wish here to encourage you to continue on the path you have taken, in memory of the praiseworthy insight of your first President, Prof. Lejeune, that valiant and tireless defender of human life.

The Church today feels the historical need to protect life for the good of man and of civilization. I am convinced that future generations will be grateful to her for having so firmly opposed the many manifestations of the culture of death and every form of diregard for human life.

May God bless your every effort and may the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, make your research fruitful. In testimony to the interest with which I follow your activity, I willingly impart a special Apostolic Blessing to you all.

© Copyright 1997 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana