The
Defense of Life: The Great Cause of the Third Millennium
Intervention of His Eminence
Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo
17th World Conference on Love, Life and the Family
Human Life International
April 15, 1998
Houston, Texas
Dear brothers and sisters, this gathering in Houston of the 17th
World Conference on Love, Life, and the Family is a significant
moment for each one of you and for the pro-life, pro-family
movement. Each one of you is here to learn and to share of your own
knowledge and experience. You are here, furthermore, to strengthen
one another in your commitment to bear witness to the dignity of
human life and the sanctity of the family. It is one thing to work
day after day in our own communities; it is quite another to come
together with those who are engaged in the same struggle throughout
the world. We are reminded that we are not alone, and that we have
more than our own strength to rely on. I hope these days will be a
time to strengthen the unity among your various groups and to commit
yourselves to an ever more active collaboration.
You have come here, above all, to worship and to draw strength from
the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life. Your conference is
taking place within the year designated by the Church as a time of
special devotion to the Holy Spirit, as we prepare for the dawn of
the Third Millennium. It is a time to renew our confidence that He,
who breathed over the waters at the dawn of creation and brought
life out of death and order out of chaos, will again breathe on the
world and on the consciences of all men and women, and, out of the
ruins of a culture of death, bring about a new and glorious culture
of Life! Let us hope for no less than this! Let us constantly cry
out, "Lord, send out Your Spirit, and renew the face of the
earth!"(1)
Life is the Great Cause for the Third Millennium
The defense of human life is, indeed, the great cause for the Third
Millennium. This is true for many reasons, which our Holy Father has
pointed out in Evangelium Vitae. The Church is always attentive and
responsive to the signs of the times, and in our day we see a
"conspiracy against life," a "war of the powerful against the
weak."(2) There have always been attacks against human life, ever
since the slaughter of Abel by Cain. But in our day, not only are
countless defenseless children being destroyed systematically
throughout the world, but the fact that this destruction has been
declared to be a "right" which is legally defended gives the evil a
more urgent character.
We are quite aware of the nature of these evils, but how is our
response to them related to the coming of the Third Millennium?
The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 is a Jubilee celebration of the
coming of Jesus Christ. For two thousand years, the world has heard
the message of the first Christmas, "For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!"(3) For two
thousand years, humanity has been united to Divinity in the person
of Christ, and the destiny of the human person has been revealed
more clearly than ever before: the gift of eternal life. "To him who
is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne!"
(4) For two thousand years, the Church has proclaimed that Jesus
Christ is the Resurrection and the Life, and that His coming brings
us life to the full.
To celebrate this great Jubilee, therefore, is to celebrate the gift
of Life. To live through the start of the Third Millennium of the
Gospel of Christ is to live through the start of the Third
Millennium of the Gospel of Life. There is only one, unique,
indivisible Gospel: The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the Gospel
of Life. To stand with Christ, therefore, is to stand with life, and
therefore "rejection of human life, in whatever form that rejection
takes, is really a rejection of Christ" (5). To stand with Christ,
furthermore, is to proclaim Him. To celebrate 2000 years of the
Gospel is to commit oneself to spread that Gospel. It is therefore
to commit oneself never to be silent about the dignity of human
life!
The One who came two thousand years ago came to raise human beings
to the heights of heaven. It is impossible to profess this belief,
and at the same time to condone the trampling down and destruction
of the same human beings. The celebration of the Millennium,
therefore, commits us again to "the inescapable responsibility of
choosing to be unconditionally pro-life." (6)
Christians accept this great cause in many arenas and circumstances
of their lives.
The cause is taken up in families
The great cause of life is taken up in individual families. The
family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is to be most
welcomed, nurtured, and protected. The Holy Father has pointed out
that the fact that one reason why crimes like abortion and
euthanasia are particularly evil is that they are committed within
the very sanctuary of life, the family.
The cause of life cannot be advanced without building up strong
families. There can be no life without family and no family without
life! How inspiring it is to see the efforts of so many parents
actively exercising what is their primary and inalienable
responsibility: the education of their children in the truths about
love, life, and the family! This responsibility can never be
entirely entrusted to others. (7) Parents are the first to teach
their children who God is and how to pray to Him. They are the first
to teach them the wonders of the world and of the faith. They are,
indeed, the first to teach, by word and example, that human life is
sacred, no matter how frail or repulsive it may be.
There should always be a family dimension to the work of your many
and various groups. Continue to seek ways to assist families to
impart that reverence for life which it is so necessary to regain in
our day. Children are particularly open and ready to receive the
message that all life is sacred. They know better than anyone that
the weak need to be protected from the strong, and their sense of
fairness is very keen. Children also play a key role in helping one
another learn these lessons, and in sanctifying their parents within
the domestic Church which is the family.
The cause is taken up in schools
A very large arena for the advancement of the Gospel of Life in the
new Millennium is in the schools. The efforts of the Church to
impart the faith, and to teach a vision of the world based in the
truths of that faith, find an important expression in the apostolate
of teaching, whether in schools or in catechetical programs.
These programs provide an essential opportunity for imparting the
truth about the dignity of human life. Movements dedicated to life
and family can play a role here by encouraging schools in the
development of curricula which, for example, are not silent about
the evil of abortion. It is ironic that at a time when the
Magisterium is so clear about the urgency of the issue of life, some
should be afraid to speak of it to the young! It is these very young
people who, sad to say, easily become the target for the propaganda
of the abortion industry.
Our times provide a challenging opportunity for the creativity and
courage of believers who work in the field of public education. It
is possible and necessary to bear witness to the truth about life
and family in the midst of a system which strongly resists such
witness. All of us can encourage those who work to reach the young
people in public schools to instill in them a renewed reverence for
life.
The cause is taken up in the many aspects of the Life of the
Church
The great cause of life, because it is at the heart of the Gospel,
cannot be absent from any of the facets of the Church's life and
activity, whether at the level of the parish, the diocese, the
nation, or the Church Universal. The truths of the faith and the
demands of moral life interpenetrate one another in a way that
resists being put in separate and unrelated categories. Instead,
they form a living unity, because they reflect the person of the
Lord Jesus, who is the Life.
Each ministry of the Church, therefore, is called to play its part
in the great cause of Life. We have already mentioned the ministry
of teaching. There is also the liturgical life of the parish, in
which the gift of life is celebrated and proclaimed in all its
stages, and in moments both of joy and sorrow. The theme of the
defense of life against the attacks of our day is easily brought
out, for example, in the preparation of those who will serve as
sponsors for baptism and Confirmation. They are called to encourage
new Christians to "bear witness to Christ in all they say and
do."(8) Certainly this includes speaking up for life.
The many works of social justice on a parish and diocesan level
cannot ignore the most fundamental social injustice of our time, the
negation of the very right to life. There is no basis for
separating, much less opposing, the defense of life and the concept
of "social justice." To defend life is the primary work of justice
in our day.
In the day to day life of the parish, the preaching of the clergy is
to be a fundamental source of nourishment for the faithful. At the
conclusion of the Second World Meeting of the Holy Father with
Families in Rio de Janeiro -- a great event in which a number of you
participated -- the participants unanimously ratified the Final
Declaration, which says, in part, "We call on the clergy to build up
the spiritual family of the Church through parish ministry to
families, which includes teaching and preaching on the dignity of
human life, marriage, and the family." (9). Who among us does not
want to hear clear, vigorous, and compassionate preaching on these
most critical issues of our day? This is one of the reasons that the
Pontifical Council for the Family presents seminars to bishops,
priests, and seminarians in various parts of the world on the topics
of Family and Bioethics.
It is helpful for you to know of the many initiatives of the
Pontifical Council for the Family, which has been entrusted by the
Holy Father with two fundamental areas of responsibility: the great
themes of life and family. According to the Apostolic Constitution
Pastor Bonus, this Dicastery "promotes pastoral attention to
families and favors their rights and dignity in the Church and in
civil society so that they can better fulfill their own
functions...It also supports and coordinates initiatives for the
defense of human life from conception, and in favor of responsible
procreation" (10). In carrying out these mandates, the Council has
produced many important documents on such themes as the defense of
life, the preparation for marriage, and the truth and meaning of
human sexuality. It also accompanied the preparation of the great
encyclical Evangelium Vitae.
Among many other initiatives, the Pontifical Council for the Family
coordinated the First and Second World Meetings of the Holy Father
with Families, and is now preparing for the third, which will occur
in Rome in the year 2000. We hope, in fact, that as many of you as
possible will plan to come to Rome for that occasion, to personally
join the Vicar of Christ in proclaiming, together with families from
every continent, that Life is indeed the great cause of the Third
Millennium, and that is can flourish only when the family
flourishes!
The cause is taken up before governments
The great cause of Life must also constantly be taken before the
powers of government, because government exists precisely to protect
the people. In today’s "conspiracy against life," not only do we
have the sad fact of the destruction of life, but we have
governments declaring this destruction, especially in the case of
abortion and increasingly in the case of euthanasia, to be a legal
"right." We need to proclaim together again and again the words of
our Holy Father, "Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no
human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in
conscience to obey such laws; instead, there is a grave and clear
obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection."(11)
The foundation of these clear and strong words is the apostolic
injunction, "We must obey God rather than men."(12) Certainly, human
laws are to be obeyed, but human law must obey the Law of the One
who made us. You will recall the passage in Matthew’s Gospel in
which our Lord is asked whether it is licit to pay taxes to Caesar.
He asked to see the coin, and said, "Whose image is on this coin,
and whose inscription?" "Caesar’s," they told him. The Lord replied,
"Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is
God’s." (13) We must not miss the deep significance of this passage.
The coin belongs to Caesar because it bears the image of Caesar.
What, then, belongs to God? ...all that which bears the image of
God, and this means every human person including Caesar himself!
Caesar and his authority belong to God. Caesar, therefore, must obey
God! The rulers of our day must obey God. There is no court, no
Congress, no president and no power anywhere on earth that can
authorize a single act of violence against the innocent human
person!
We are all aware that there are people being held in prison today,
not because they have done any violence, but rather because they
have resisted unjust laws which allow abortion. There are others
who, although not in prison, are put on trial and under examination
for peacefully bearing witness to the sanctity of life. We call for
an end to this misuse of the justice system.
We have also seen an example recently in Germany of how the Church
must preserve her uncompromising stand for life in the presence of
laws which may give rise to ambiguity and confusion. According to
German law, counseling centers issue a certificate to women who have
been counseled. This certificate is then necessary to obtain an
abortion. While the Church is committed to counsel women to help
them choose life, the issuing of these certificates made it look as
though the Church were taking part in the process of obtaining an
abortion. The Holy Father, therefore, after careful consideration,
issued a letter in which, after praising the commitment of the
Church in Germany to the defense of life, he expressed his decision
in this matter: "After careful consideration of all the arguments, I
cannot avoid the conclusion that there is an ambiguity here which
obscures the clear and uncompromising witness of the Church and her
counseling centers. I would therefore urgently ask you, dear
Brothers, to find a way so that a certificate of this kind will no
longer be issued at Church counseling centers or those connected
with the Church. I urge you, however, to ensure that in any event
the Church maintains an effective presence in the counseling of
women seeking help"(14).
We take special note of his insistence on preserving the clarity and
vigor of the Church's witness to the Gospel of Life. This purpose
and motivation are what stand behind both the decision not to allow
the "certificates" to be issued, and the vigorous call to both
continue and increase the Church's assistance to women tempted to
abort. What unites these two aspects of the Holy Father's position
is precisely the fact that love is indivisible. The Gospel of Life
calls for equal and uncompromising love for the woman and the child.
We cannot love one without loving the other. Therefore, the witness
of an absolute refusal to do anything to permit an abortion to
happen is, at the same time, exactly what the mother of that child
needs to help her to do what is right, and to avoid the destructive
impact of abortion not only on her child, but on her.
This letter will undoubtedly have its repercussions in other nations
where the problems are similar and where there could be the risk of
blinding public opinion in the sense that the Church might give the
appearance of not opposing iniquitous laws, or that one could
proceed to abort after fulfilling some requirements that are not
very clear. The Letter states, "The task of defending life in all
its phases allows no half measures. Consequently, the Church’s
teaching and way of acting in the question of abortion must, in
their essential content, be the same in all countries"(15).
The cause is taken up by many diverse groups
As we advance the cause of life into the Third Millennium, we also
need to be deeply conscious of our obligations to one another. The
Church is one body with many members. The movements for life and
family consist of many diverse groups, with different areas of
specialty and different strategies. Evangelium Vitae reminds us, "No
single person or group has a monopoly on the defense and promotion
of life. These are everyone’s task and responsibility."(16)
I therefore wish to encourage you to seek an ever deeper spirit of
harmony and cooperation among pro-life groups. One group should
never see another as a threat, but rather should rejoice that others
are joining the cause. It is much like the case of the mother and
her unborn child. If she sees the child as a threat, an unnecessary
hostility exists between mother and child, where there should be
unity instead. So, within the movement that defends life, there
should be a deep unity...not a unity that collapses legitimately
diverse groups into one, but rather a unity based on mutual esteem,
active cooperation, and fervent charity.
The cause is taken up in our own hearts
The great cause of the Third Millennium, the cause of life, is taken
up above all in our own hearts. In order to convert the world, we
ourselves must be converted. The entire Church is on a pilgrimage of
ever-deepening conversion, ever more profound assimilation of the
truths about the human person and the gift of love, life, and the
family.
Unless this pilgrimage is a reality in our own hearts, our efforts
will be without fruit. If, on the other hand, we seek first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these other things will be
given us besides.
My dear brothers and sisters, you have come to this Conference with
a deep faith and an inspiring perseverance in the work that must be
done. I am grateful to God for your commitment. I ask you to carry
out your commitment with deep peace and with the joy that the world
can neither give nor take away. Christ is Risen! The victory of Life
has been placed in your hands! Go forth to proclaim it, to celebrate
it, and to serve it, for Life indeed is the great cause of the New
Millennium. God bless you.
NOTES
1. Psalm 104.
2. Evangelium Vitae, 12.
3. Luke 2:11
4. Revelation 3:21
5. Evangelium Vitae, 104.
6. Evangelium Vitae, 27.
7. See The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Pontifical Council
for the Family, 1995.
8. See Ritual of Baptism, Final blessings
9. Rio Declaration, n.3.13.
10. Pastor Bonus, art.139,141.
11. Evangelium Vitae, 73
12. Acts 5:29
13. Matthew 22:20-21
14. Letter of Pope John Paul II to the German Hierarchy, January 11,
1998, n.7
15. Ibid., n.5
16. Evangelium Vitae, 91
Printed with permission from Priests for Life.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo was from Columbia. Before passing
away on April 19, 2008, he was the President of the Pontifical
Council for the Family. He was ordained a
priest in 1960, in 1971 he was ordained bishop in Columbia, and he
was made a Cardinal by John Paul II in 1983.
