The Gospel of Life II

Details: 21 September 2012

The first chapter of Evangelium Vitae is entitled "The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground: Present-Day Threats to Human Life." As the title indicates, Pope John Paul II references the Genesis account of Cain and Abel to explain the "roots of violence against life."

"Death came into the world as a result of the devil’s envy and the sin of our first parents," John Paul says. "And death entered it in a violent way, through the killing of Abel by his brother Cain…"

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, John Paul says, "In the account of Abel’s murder by his brother Cain, Scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy in man, consequences of original sin, from the beginning of human history." "Like the first fratricide," he continues, "every murder is a violation of the ‘spiritual’ kinship uniting mankind in one great family, in which all share the same fundamental good: equal personal dignity."

"Cain’s killing of his brother at the very dawn of history," says JPII, "is thus a sad witness of how evil spreads with amazing speed: Man’s revolt against God in the earthly paradise is followed by the deadly combat of man against man."

The Pope then connects Cain and Abel to modern times. First he points to Cain’s dishonest response to God’s inquiry about Abel’s whereabouts: "I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?" "This was and still is the case," JPII says, "when all kinds of ideologies try to justify and disguise the most atrocious crimes against human beings."

"We cannot but think of today’s tendency for people to refuse to accept responsibility for their brothers and sisters. Symptoms…include the lack of solidarity toward society’s weakest members—such as the elderly, the infirm, immigrants and children…"

Next, John Paul addresses God’s question of Cain, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground." This question, "which Cain cannot escape, is addressed also to the people of today, to make them realize the extent and gravity of the attacks against life which continue to mark human history…"

The Pope enumerates the numerous modern forms of violence against life, from poverty and hunger to wars, drug trafficking and immoral and unhealthy sexual practices. In this encyclical, however, he chooses to "concentrate particular attention on another category of attacks affecting life in its earliest and in its final stages [abortion and euthanasia], attacks which present new characteristics… and which raise questions of extraordinary seriousness."

John Paul then describes the new and serious characteristics presented by abortion and euthanasia. First, "[i]t is not only that in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer to be considered as ‘crimes’; paradoxically they assume the nature of ‘rights’…" Consider the fact that not only did Roe v. Wade decriminalize abortion in the United States, it elevated the killing of unborn children to a fundamental Constitutional right.

Second, "[s]uch attacks strike human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of self-defense." Third, "[e]ven more serious is the fact that, most often, those attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of the family… which by its nature is called to be the ‘sanctuary of life.’"

Here is how Mother Teresa expressed the impact of the so-called right to abortion: "[It] has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners."

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.