Pope Benedict XVI Warns of the 'Eclipse of the Meaning of Life'

In his words to the Pontifical Academy for Life the Pope acknowledged the threats arising out of what he referred to as the "Eclipse of the Meaning of Life." However, he did so in order to charge the members, and all of the faithful, to shine the light of truth on the horizon of human culture and build a new Culture of Life and Civilization of Love.

VATICAN CITY, (Catholic Online) - The Pontifical Academy for Life, established in 1994 by the great champion of life the Venerable John Paul II, convened for its 27th General Assembly from February 24 through February 26, 2011 in Rome. Its objectives are "the promotion and defense of life, above all in the direct relation that they have with Christian morality and the directives of the Church's Magisterium." Since June, 2010 the Academy has been led by Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, a priest and medical doctor. A champion of life and an expert on Bio-Ethics, the Bishop also consults the Pontifical Councils for the Family and for Health Pastoral Care. He serves as the vice-assistant of the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors.  He served as the ordinary of bioethics in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at Sacred Heart University in Rome and as the Bioethics Institute's director from 2002 - 2009. He was the rector of Opus Dei's Holy Cross University from 1984-1994 and the director of its Moral Theology Department from 1994-2002. On Saturday Pope Benedict XVI received the members of the Academy who have been considering the results of months of intense study on topics including umbilical cord blood banking, the effects of post-abortion trauma and the ethical obligations faced by Doctors and all medical professionals. In his comments  the Pope noted the "the irrepressible voice of moral conscience and the terrible wound it suffers each time a human action betrays the human being's innate vocation to good". He directed the commission members to also "focus attention on the sometimes-clouded conscience of the children's fathers, who often abandon pregnant women". The Holy Father continued, "Moral conscience has the duty to discern good from evil in the various situations of life so that, on the basis of this judgment, human beings can freely orient themselves towards what is good." He asked that the members explain "to people who would deny the existence of moral conscience in man, reducing its voice to the result of external conditioning or to a purely emotive phenomenon" that the "moral nature of human action is not an extrinsic or optional value, nor is a prerogative only of Christians and believers; rather, it unites all mankind". In underscoring the universality of the Moral Teaching of the Church the Pope stated, "Through moral conscience God speaks to each of us, inviting us to defend human life at all times, and in this personal bond with the Creator lies the profound dignity of moral conscience and the reason for its inviolability". The Pope addressed strong words to medical professionals, insisting they "must not fail in their serious duty to ensure that women's consciences are not tricked into believing that abortion will resolve family, economic and social difficulties, or the health problems of their child. In this latter situation in particular, women are often convinced, at times by the doctors themselves, that abortion represents not only a morally acceptable choice but even a 'therapeutic' act necessary to avoid suffering for the child and its family, and to remove an 'unjust' burden from society." He noted that "in a cultural context characterized by an eclipse of the meaning of life, in which the shared perception of the moral gravity of abortion and others forms of attacks against human life has been attenuated, doctors are called to show particular fortitude in continuing to affirm that abortion resolves nothing; rather it kills the child, destroys the woman and blinds the conscience of the child's father, often devastating family life." The Pope insisted "this duty concerns not only the medical profession and healthcare workers; society as a whole must defend the conceived child's right to life and the true good of the woman who can never, in any circumstances, find fulfillment in the decision to abort." He then turned to the subject of post abortion trauma asking that mothers who have experienced the evil of abortion receive help. "In the same way it is important ... to ensure that the necessary help is not lacking for women who, having unfortunately already chosen the path of abortion, are now experiencing all its moral and existential consequences." He called for "initiatives, at a diocesan level or by individual volunteer organizations, which offer psychological and spiritual support for a full recovery. The solidarity of the Christian community must not abandon this kind of shared responsibility." The Pope then addressed the use of stem cells obtained from the umbilical cord blood, noting "this has important clinical applications and is a promising form of scientific research; however its realization depends to a large extent on the generosity of donating cord blood at the moment of childbirth, and on adapting structures in order to make the mothers' desire to donate viable. I invite you, then, to promote genuine and well-informed human and Christian solidarity." Pope Benedict's comments to the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life continue the consistent Whole Life/Pro-Life teaching of the Catholic Church. In 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith released its instruction on the "Dignity of Every Human Life" which sets forth the authentic moral criteria with which to evaluate alleged advances in medical science.

Secret Archives of the Saints, Subscribe Today

The Catholic Church encourages progress in biomedicine. However, she insists that real progress occurs within an ethical framework. Good science is at the service of the human person. Some of the reports on this meeting indicated that the Pope's comments were addressed only to "Catholic Doctors." Certainly Catholics in the medical profession have a higher obligation to know and act upon the truth. However, the Catholic Church teaches that the fundamental Right to Life, based upon the dignity of every human person, is revealed in the Natural Law. This Natural Law is knowable through reason and is binding upon all men and women. Therefore the Pope's comments are not only addressed to "religious" medical practitioners. In April of 2008 Pope Benedict XVI addressed the United Nations on Human Rights and said, "Human rights in particular the right to life of every human being, are based on the natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations. Removing human rights from this context would mean restricting their range and yielding to a relativistic conception, according to which the meaning and interpretation of rights could vary and their universality would be denied in the name of different cultural, political, social and even religious outlooks. This great variety of viewpoints must not be allowed to obscure the fact that not only rights are universal, but so too is the human person, the subject of those rights." The Church condemns the "extraction" of stem cells from human embryonic persons because the procedure always kills them. Any use of the bio-medical technology must respect that the human person is not an "it" - but an "I" - some-one who must never be treated as an object, and must not be killed for the use of another. The 2008 Instruction put it simply, "The body of a human being, from the very first stages of its existence, can never be reduced merely to a group of cells. The embryonic human body develops progressively according to a well defined program with its proper finality, as is apparent in the birth of every baby." However, the Church encourages the use of adult stem cells and stem cells which can be derived from non-lethal sources such as fetal cord blood. These technologies do not take human lives and have been the subject of amazing scientific progress. The Catholic Church is a defender of life. No matter how many efforts there are to dismiss Catholic teaching in this fundamental area of ethics, the opponents of the truth will not prevail because her teaching is true, it is never right to take innocent human life. In his words to the Pontifical Academy for Life the Pope acknowledged the threats arising out of what he referred to as the "Eclipse of the Meaning of Life." However, he did so in order to charge the members, and all of the faithful, to shine the light of truth on the horizon of human culture and build a new Culture of Life and Civilization of Love. It is time to get to work.

Announcing NEW Catholic Online News - Visit Today!

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'