Pope Francis on Life

 

Pope Francis’ “The Joy of the Gospel” is a beautiful and thoughtful celebration of the Catholic Church’s love for unborn children and their mothers

By Dave Andrusko

Pope Francis

Pro-lifers will come away from Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”) — Pope Francis’ 84-page Apostolic Exhortation released today– blessed by his breadth of his insight and depth of his compassion for mother and unborn child.
It is not surprising, of course, that Pope Francis affirmed the Catholic Church’s historically staunch pro-life position. But adding to the force of his presentation is Pope Francis’s plain-spoken explanation of why reason, faith, and internal consistency mean that this position could never be up for discussion.

Pope Francis writes

“Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this. Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems. Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be. Reason alone is sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single human life, but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith, ‘every violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in vengeance to God and is an offence against the creator of the individual.’ Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question. I want to be completely honest in this regard. This is not something subject to alleged reforms or ‘modernizations.’ It is not ‘progressive’ to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life.”

Source: NRLC News