On Saturday May 3, 2025, Maria Steen (pictured) delivered a talk called “Evangelium Vitae at 30 – Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical on the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death”. The talk was hosted by The Iona Institute and took place in Ely House, Ely Place, Dublin 2.
Evangelium Vitae (‘The Gospel of Life’) was the most major pro-life document issued during the pontificate of John Paul II and provided major impetus to the pro-life movement worldwide. It coined the phrases the ‘Culture of Life’ and the ‘Culture of Death’ and remains totally relevant today.
You can read the full text of her talk below or you can download it here [1].
‘Evangelium Vitae at 30 – Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical on the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death’
A talk by Maria Steen
Introduction
Thanks, David. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you all for coming today, and sincere thanks to the Knights [of St Columbanus], for their hospitality and willingness to host this event. It is a beautiful venue and wonderful to have it made available, for get-togethers like this. Thanks too to David Quinn for his marvellous and important work that he continues to do, of course, with the assistance of Angelo Bottone as well.
The Iona Institute has been, I think, a really important voice in Irish society over the past nineteen years. I think next year will be the twentieth anniversary if I am not mistaken. And it was David’s idea twenty years ago to found Iona. He looked around and saw a need for an alternative voice amid a stifling political consensus in Irish media circles at the time. And so, Iona’s purpose was to conduct research, contribute to debate, and provide a forum where people could get together and have discussions like this one.
And while it often seems like there is still a stifling consensus, I think we’re beginning to see a difference even in this country, particularly with the advent of social media and online publications. And I think that is thanks in no small part to Iona and David in particular who has played a very important role in offering an alternative voice and viewpoint. And often, his was the only alternative voice on all kinds of issues, political, social, moral, and religious. Now, as you probably know, the topic that I am discussing today concerns the encyclical of Pope Saint John Paul II published in 1995 and entitled Evangelium Vitae, which means Gospel of Life. The Church has, in the words of Saint Paul, faithfully preached the Gospel of Life in season and out of season since its inception.
And Pope Francis, may rest in peace, was unstinting in his reiteration of the Church’s position on the life issue. He described abortion and euthanasia as evidence of a “throwaway culture” and spoke of abortion as a homicide. He was blunt in his descriptions and condemnation of it. Though the media never, or almost never, chose to report on the things he said in defence of the sanctity of life or his condemnation of abortion and euthanasia or assisted dying.
Introducing John Paul II and Evangelium Vitae
This particular encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, is a comprehensive setting out of the Church’s teaching on the Gospel of Life. It is grounded in Christ’s teaching and articulates both the scriptural and theological basis for this teaching. It unpacks the criticisms of the Church’s teaching on life and illustrates the injuries and the evils that result from a culture of death, both to the individual and to society. It is really a masterful document. And unlike many of his predecessors, Pope John Paul II does convey heavy and important theological and philosophical ideas in a language and a style that is accessible to all, something I think that is always the mark of a brilliant mind.
There are a couple of things I want to say to you by way of background. Pope John Paul II, for those who are perhaps too young to remember him as pope, was an amazingly charismatic and very handsome man of many talents. He was an accomplished sportsman and an amateur actor. He had a particularly fine intellect, but above all, he was a man of very deep faith. One cannot forget that, as we all are, he was to a large extent moulded by his life experiences. He was a young adult during the Second World War in Poland and so witnessed the abuses and human tragedies that resulted from both the Nazi regime and later from a Communist government in that country.
He was only 58 when he was elected pope in 1978 and took to the job with great energy. He worked with other faiths, in dialogue with them, seeing atheism as the greatest threat to society, having witnessed its effects in both Nazism and Communism. Now some in the Church have criticised him for this, though I think his approach was probably along the lines that it was better to, and easier to, try to build bridges with those who would in principle accept the idea of God or a higher power, and try to work then to bring all to Christ.
He visited 129 countries in his papacy to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He constantly stressed that all of us are called to holiness and beatified over 1,300 people and canonised 483 saints, an astonishing number that, apparently, is greater than all those canonised in the preceding five centuries.
He was instrumental in bringing about the end of Communism in Poland and other countries. He saw his pontificate of almost twenty-seven years through to the end. When, having recovered from an assassination attempt in 1981 and a subsequent less serious one in 1982, his body finally succumbed to old age and Parkinson’s disease. Despite the debilitating illness, his witness to the world in the middle of his illness and the humility with which he bore it, give to us a wonderful example of how to live and die with dignity. He truly deserves the title of John Paul the Great.
A twenty-six-year papacy gives one time to think and write. But even with that, I think it is fair to say that Pope Saint John Paul was prolific in his writing and preaching. And, of course, he had, as I said, a particular gift for translating deep theological principles into language that the ordinary man could understand. His encyclicals and weekly audiences were full of the Church’s wisdom applied to the reality of people’s lives and the challenges that they faced, as well as addressing the social and political threats to freedom, both freedom of the individual and freedom of society, the common good.
Evangelium Vitae came seventeen years into his papacy, though he had been talking and preaching about the issues in it for years beforehand. He explains in the document that it came about from a request by the cardinals to him in 1981 for him to reaffirm, with his Petrine authority, the value of human life and its inviolability. The pope, in turn, asked the bishops for their input into the document, and what resulted was this comprehensive defence of the Church’s teaching and an exhortation to all the faithful, not just the bishops, to always and everywhere proclaim the Gospel of Life.
Threats to human life in the contemporary world
The new threats to human life to which this encyclical is addressed were not even then completely new, but rather new compared to the ancient threats to human life such as poverty, hunger, disease, violence, and war. Evangelium Vitae came thirty years after the Second Vatican Council, which stated:
“Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons, all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practise them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator.” (GS, 27)
That was from the Second Vatican Council. So, these things were not new as such then. But what Pope John Paul identified were the new prospects opened up by scientific and technological progress and the new cultural climate that arose with it. So, whereas, for instance, abortion has been around for decades, perhaps even centuries, it was generally frowned upon. Now he, together with the bishops of the world, saw that these threats were no longer condemned by society or seen as perhaps necessary evils, but rather they were gaining a more sinister character by being dressed up as freedoms.
Moral relativism was at the root of these changes in attitudes. Pope John Paul saw that this would lead not merely to such practices being tolerated but ultimately demanded as rights and even celebrated.
Of course, this is exactly what we have seen happening in our own country over the past ten years. And once it starts, the pace gets even faster. It becomes a race to the bottom. What the pope did identify, which perhaps those proposing the changes did not, was the profound change that would be brought about by these things to relationships between people. He saw the dangers posed by these issues to the very fabric of society and particularly the family, which is the basic unit or building block of society.
He saw the dangers to the medical and caring professions and how their very nature and purpose would become distorted and contradicted. But above all, he identified that conscience itself, darkened by the widespread cultural conditioning, would find it increasingly difficult even to be able to distinguish between good and evil.
I think it is no coincidence that this document was immediately preceded by Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth) which is a comprehensive exposition of the Church’s moral theology, addressing in particular the dangers of moral relativism. We see the pope building the necessary intellectual framework in Veritatis Splendor to underpin the Church’s teaching on the Gospel of Life as expressed in Evangelium Vitae.
In this encyclical, the pope also made reference to the historical context of Evangelium Vitae, coming over a hundred years after Rerum Novarum, in which Pope Leo XIII addressed the pressing issue of the time, the plight of the working classes and the threat posed by communism to attract workers to its ideology.
It has been said of socialists that it is not that they love the poor, only that they hate the rich. The Church, by contrast, came to the defence of workers by proclaiming their sacrosanct rights as persons, a cry in defence of the world’s poor who were threatened, abused, and whose rights were violated. That paved the way for extraordinary people like Dorothy Day to roll up their sleeves and actually found supports for workers, as she did with the enormously successful Catholic Worker movement in the United States.
And Pope John Paul draws a parallel. Then, a hundred years ago, the issue of the day that the Church needed to address was the plight of the worker. Now the issue of the day is the threat to the lives of the most vulnerable. He saw it as his duty to declare the Church’s love for the weak and the outcast, to defend them as children of God, and to proclaim and defend their right to life, and to call to action all Catholics in their defence.
It is sad to say, but the Catholic Church stands alone among the religions of the world in opposing these evils in all circumstances and in all their various manifestations. She arms her adherents with a systematic moral theology, which, in accordance with both reason and revelation, explains the unchanging moral law. Through her exhortations, the faithful have been the most active and successful advocates for and defenders of those who would otherwise be voiceless.
In this instance, as in many others, the Church is truly the institution that speaks truth to power.
Cain and Abel: biblical insights into human violence
Evangelium Vitae comprehensively sets out the Church’s position on these issues and the basis for the inherent value of human life. It restates the divine law and proposes a model for implementing a culture of life, calling all of us to action. Pope Saint John Paul opens Chapter One by recalling the ancient biblical context of the very first act of violence of human beings, one against the other. Of course, before Cain killed Abel, there was the Fall.
And as the pope says, Man’s revolt against God in the earthly paradise is followed by the deadly combat of man against man. Cain’s killing of his brother at the very dawn of history is a sad witness of how evil spreads with amazing speed. But the evil act perpetrated by one brother against another, as with whole stories in the Bible, tells us more about God than ourselves. It is God’s reaction to Cain’s crime that we are to learn from.
Cain’s arrogant answer to God’s question of where his brother Abel is, is predictable: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” It echoes his father’s response to God in Eden after he has eaten the forbidden fruit. When God asks Adam if he has eaten of the forbidden tree, he answers, “It was the woman that you put with me.”
Both father and son look to absolve themselves from responsibility, Adam pointing to his wife and blaming her and blaming God for putting him with her. You can almost hear, or imagine, Cain shrugging his shoulders: “How should I know? Am I my brother’s keeper?” As a mother of five children, I’ve often heard these kinds of responses. Are any of us really that different? Don’t we all do the same thing when confronted with our own guilt? Make excuses, become defensive, even become angry at the person who points out our guilt or who reminds us of the hurt that we have caused?
But it is God’s response that the pope points to. He is always merciful, even when he punishes. He does not demand that Cain’s life be taken, though he had taken his brother’s life. Instead, he banishes him East of Eden to the land of Nod. Although there’s mercy, murderous violence profoundly changes Cain’s environment. There are consequences for our actions too.
Truly, Cain’s environment changed from a place of plenty and harmony to one of scarcity, loneliness, and separation from God. When Cain complains that this is more than he can bear and fears for his life among others because of what he’s done, God again shows his mercy by marking him, not to condemn him before others, but rather to protect and defend him from those wishing to kill him. Pope John Paul reminds us that not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this.
But then he draws our attention to the fact that this sin is not some historic issue. The voice of our brothers’ and sisters’ blood still calls from the ground in new and different ways. God’s question, “What have you done?” is one which we still find difficult to answer today. And so, we do what Cain and Adam before him did, we make excuses. We justify our choices. Whether procuring an abortion or voting for it, we point to others who do worse things. Or worse still, we double down, proclaiming that our sins are rights that we are entitled to exercise.
Freedom, responsibility and the crisis of culture
How did this situation arise? Pope John Paul asks. Well, he identified the crisis of culture, which is not really a crisis just of the spirit, but also of the intellect. He points to the modern tendency to scepticism in relation to the very foundations of knowledge and ethics, so that it becomes impossible to grasp the meaning of what man is, what his purpose is, and the meaning of his rights and duties.
Add to this the existential and interpersonal difficulties that arise in a society that is increasingly atomised, with people left without the love and support of each other. And the value of human life in all of that can become eclipsed. Though there are clues that deep down, we still know and cannot escape our true nature and value. This is why we seek to disguise certain crimes for what they are or use language to veil the true nature of the threats to innocent life, precisely because we feel guilty about it.
The issue of abortion is addressed head-on in the encyclical, but the pope does not shirk from discussing its origins either. The reality that in very many instances, the acceptance of abortion is rooted in a hedonistic mentality that is simply unwilling to accept real responsibility in matters of sexuality. It is truly an immature and self-centred concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal freedom.
True freedom, of course, must always take into account the social reality of our human existence, and that our freedoms have direct impact on others and their lives. True freedom then, the kind which is life-giving, the kind that allows for human flourishing, always has regard to this fact. These are inconvenient truths that must be silenced at all costs in order for the hedonistic culture to dominate. And I use the word dominate rather than survive because, ultimately, there is no survival in this culture. Everything about this culture turns to death.
Pope John Paul was the one who coined the terms Culture of Life and Culture of Death. And the stark reality is that there is, and always has been, a cosmic battle between these two forces of good and evil. In our times, the issues of life and death centre around the family.
The Culture of Death
I spoke recently at a conference on the issue of assisted suicide and said that it is not difficult to see death as a unifying centre of an awful pentagram:
- The death of marriage as traditionally understood.
- The death of procreative sex.
- The death of the child in the womb.
- The death of biological sex as a defining characteristic of humanity.
- And finally, death itself, chosen for itself.
But opposing this culture of death does not just mean avoiding its injustices. It also means proactively seeking to combat them by offering help in the spirit of charity to others. And this is the challenge that Pope Saint John Paul puts before us.
The threat to life, of course, is not just confined to those at the beginning of their journey on earth. Pope John Paul also identifies the threats to those at the end of their lives, the incurably ill and the dying. The pope speaks with real empathy about the plight of those who suffer physically. And in the end, he walked the walk himself, bearing his own illness with humility, which must have been hard for a man who was so fit and such an accomplished sportsman in his day.
In addition to identifying the temptations that arise in the face of suffering, he highlights how the threats to the elderly and the sick are aggravated by a cultural climate which fails to see any value or meaning in suffering, but rather sees suffering as the epitome of evil to be eliminated at all costs. He calls out the Promethean attitude which leads people to think that they can control life and death by taking these things into their own hands and making decisions about them.
All of this points to a control problem, a lack of trust or unwillingness to trust and submit to God’s will. David has often spoken about the unwanted burden in modern society, be it a child in the womb or an elderly family member. But the Church’s position stands in stark contrast to the world on this. We are asked to go the extra mile, to love our neighbour as ourselves, and ultimately to acknowledge that while we have been made little less than God in receiving the gift of free will, ultimately, we are not in control. He is.
In the words of Evangelium Vitae:
“Man is not the absolute master and final judge, but rather, and this is where his incomparable greatness lies, he is the minister of God’s plan. Life is entrusted to man as a treasure which must not be squandered, as a talent which must be used well. Man must render an account of it to his Master.” (EV, 52)
John Paul says that while it is true that the taking of life not yet born or in its final stages is sometimes marked by a mistaken sense of altruism or human compassion, for instance, where a child in the womb is diagnosed with a terminal condition or an elderly person has an incurable disease, it can’t be denied that such a culture of death taken as a whole betrays a completely individualistic concept of freedom, which ends up becoming the freedom of the strong against the weak who have no choice but to submit. He calls this out for what it is, a perverse sense of freedom, and sees in its origin a rejection of God.
When a sense of God is lost, so also a sense of man is lost. Without the Creator, the creature becomes unintelligible. Man simply becomes just another organism on the face of the earth. He loses his transcendent character, no longer sees his life as something sacred that has been entrusted to his responsibility. Life just becomes a thing which man claims as his own property to do with as he will.
When reference to God is removed, everything He has created becomes profoundly distorted without Him. This eclipse of God and man leads to practical materialism, individualism, utilitarianism, and hedonism. And in this atmosphere, it becomes simply impossible to make any sense of suffering, despite the fact that none of us escapes it. It is a part of every human life.
The demographic question
Finally, Pope John Paul identifies the attacks against life posed by the demographic question. Now this is perhaps one area which has taken an unexpected turn. Already, there was a decline or collapse in the birth rate in rich and developed countries that was identified by the pope. But as regards developing countries, the overpopulation myth still had currency.
The programs implemented by developed countries with the help of multibillionaire so-called philanthropists, which seems like a contradiction in terms when someone is actively trying to reduce the number of human beings in existence, have led to a demographic collapse even in developing countries. The pope identified contraception, sterilization, and abortion as being part of the reason for this decline. Again, something we rarely hear of, even when demographic decline is being discussed.
Having identified the threats to human life, Pope Saint John Paul sets out the Church’s teaching and scriptural basis for the sanctity of human life and its inviolability. Unless this is understood, there’s no point in attempting to defend human life, because it becomes meaningless. Man is no different to the other animals.
It is only when we understand God’s setting apart of man from the rest of creation, of His creation of him in His own likeness, and of His command to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing, that we can begin to understand the sanctity of human life.
The Church teachings on life issues
This is also why it is so difficult for atheists to defend the pro-life position without descending into circular reasoning or hypocritical arguments. In a world without God or an afterlife, why do we have a duty to others? Why shouldn’t we decide what to do with our own bodies if we’re not accountable to anyone but ourselves?
The Church’s teaching, however, grounds our very existence in God and His sanctification of us by His will. This sacredness of life is what gives rise to its inviolability, which is written from the beginning in man’s heart, as the pope says, and in his conscience.
This, I think, is why so many of us who have taken part in national debates over the years on the pro-life side have met with such hostility. It is the fact that our opponents, even though they dress abortion up as a right, as something normal, as something to shout about with pride, deep down know it to be wrong. It is written in their hearts too, and they don’t like to be reminded of that fact.
If they really believed what they say, that abortion is just another medical procedure, a perfectly normal thing with no moral dimension, then why would they be bothered about what we think? This is why even someone taking part in a silent prayer vigil in the environs of the National Maternity hospital around the corner is now banned from doing so by law. The very presence of someone, although they say nothing nor even carry a sign, is enough of a reproach to the consciences of those who have promoted abortion, and therefore, those praying in silence must be stopped.
Chapter Three of Evangelium Vitae really gets spun up at the issue. It emphatically restates both the divine law and the law of the Church regarding abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. Pope John Paul states unequivocally that from the beginning, the living tradition of the Church has always repeated the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
In the first centuries, murder was put among the three most serious sins along with apostasy and adultery, and required a particularly heavy and lengthy public penance before the repentant murderer could be granted forgiveness and readmission to the ecclesial community. The pope points out that this is no surprise, because to kill another person in whom the image of God is present is a particularly serious sin. Only God is the master of life.
The pope highlights the exception of legitimate defence or self-defence, which can be not only a right, but actually a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s life or the common good of the family or the state. He talks about the death penalty and the historic position of the Church on it. And some of you will be aware that Pope Francis changed Church teaching on it by declaring it inadmissible altogether.
Pope John Paul highlighted that modern conditions of penal systems meant that the death penalty should be very rare indeed, if not non-existent, and that the only circumstance under which someone might be executed would be in cases of absolute necessity, when it would not be possible to defend society otherwise.
But in all of that, he also highlighted that if society increasingly wishes to respect the lives of serious criminals and unjust aggressors, how much more should the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” have absolute value when it comes to the innocent?
At the centre of this document, Pope Saint John Paul II, a successor of Saint Peter with the same authority, together with the bishops of the Church, confirmed that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. This doctrine, he states, based on an unwritten law in men’s hearts, is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture, transmitted by the Tradition of the Church, and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.
The pope declares that direct abortion is always a grave moral disorder since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. He also declares that euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human being.
These doctrines in relation to abortion, euthanasia, and suicide are based upon the natural law, upon the written Word of God, and are transmitted by the Church’s Tradition and taught, as the pope says, by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.
Now, having identified the threats, described the basis for the sanctity of life, and restated the divine law in relation to the threats to life, finally Evangelium Vitae lays out a plan for what an authentic culture of life might look like.
The four elements of the Gospel of Life
Inasmuch as we’re called to evangelization and to proclaim the Gospel, we’re also called to proclaim the Gospel of Life, Pope Saint John Paul tells us. And he said there are four elements to this: a proper formation of conscience, prayer, service, and the family. These are the things the pope tells us that will bring about a transformation of culture.
Our first duty then is to teach, to educate, to defend the faithful from teaching that is contrary to the Gospel of Life. What does that mean for us here in Ireland thirty years later? Well, we start at the beginning. We must teach and inform ourselves and our children. We need to pay particular attention to our Catholic schools and not tire in calling those in charge to account.
I don’t need to tell you, the Gospel of Life is more often than not, not heard in Catholic schools. In fact, many schools that call themselves Catholic allow or even promote teachings which are contrary to the Gospel of Life. This may sometimes be the result of campaigns by parents for pro-choice presentations, for example. But Catholic institutions should never condone or facilitate this, no matter what kind of pressure they come under.
We’re also citizens of this country, and we should not shirk from taking part in the life of the country and evangelize by example. Perhaps it could be on social media, or in college, or in the workplace. But we are called to be witnesses, to proclaim the Gospel in season and out of season, to refuse any compromise that might conform us to the world’s way of thinking. We must be in the world, but not of the world, neither fearing hostility nor unpopularity, but drawing our strength from the Author of Life, the pope tells us.
Next, he calls on us to celebrate life, to give prayerful thanks for the fact of our own being, to ponder the wonder that is our life. This requires a contemplative outlook, which can be difficult in a world that never stops, but I think offers a centred-groundness that is essential to survive and have peace. It is only when we see and understand the deeper meaning in life that we can come to fully appreciate its beauty and sheer gratuitousness, as the pope says, which in turn helps us to accept its invitation to freedom and responsibility.
In prayer with God, we can begin to express gratitude for what we have received. And in so expressing it, we remind ourselves of the goods we have received. Reception of the sacraments allows us to share in the divine life, which adds further depth and richness to our earthly lives.
The pope also goes on to make practical suggestions. He talks about making good use of the gestures, symbols, and traditions of people all around the world in the celebration of life and the marking of its milestones. He proposed a Day of Life to be celebrated in the Church throughout the world to foster individual consciences in the family, the Church, and civil society.
The third element he identifies is seen in the service of the Gospel of Life through personal witness in our daily lives, volunteer work, social activity, and political commitment. We’re exhorted always to see the face of Christ in our neighbour and to serve Him accordingly. He quotes Saint John Chrysostom who says:
“Do you wish to honour the Body of Christ? Do not neglect it when you find it naked. Do not do it homage here in the church with silk fabrics, only to neglect it outside where it suffers cold and nakedness.”
Charity must be consistent in its defence of life. This is no easy task but requires long-term practical projects and initiatives to support life at all its stages.
A call to action and conclusion
Among some of the suggestions the pope makes are the importance of education in the natural methods of regulating fertility, marriage and counselling agencies to support married persons, centres of assistance for new parents and babies. Similarly, the poor, the sick, those who are outcasts from society for whatever reason, all call for the kind of help and charity that might give them reason for hope and practical possibilities in life. And, of course, not forgetting those at the end of life who need special love and care.
These initiatives all point towards an authentic charity, one that reminds us that, yes, we are our brother’s keeper, and we have duties beyond ourselves to help bear each other’s burdens.
So, the four things he tells us, conscience, prayer, service, and above all the protection and recognition of the family based on marriage, offer the best chances of creating a culture in which human life can flourish.
The experience of the past thirty years has demonstrated, I think, just how clear-eyed Pope Saint John Paul was in recognising the dangers that threatened society when Evangelium Vitae was first published. And I think it remains as relevant today as then. The conflict between the cultures of life and death never ends in this world.
But if we look around, and in the years since Evangelium Vitae, if it seems that the culture of death is in the ascendancy, that’s not the end of the battle. We’re always called to fight, but not necessarily, in this world at least, always to win.
While we’ve seen the culture of death progressively taking root in this country over the past decade, we’ve seen signs of hope elsewhere. It is no coincidence that Roe v. Wade was finally overturned in the United States, with six out of the nine Supreme Court Justices being Catholic. Pope Saint John Paul’s legacy is being felt in that country. Just as he was instrumental in overthrowing dictatorships and communist regimes, I believe that his work in the defence of life is also bearing fruit on the earth.
However, at this moment, when the seat of Peter is vacant, we can and should pray for a shepherd who, in continuity with his predecessors and with the kind of clarity and vigour of Pope Saint John Paul, will encourage and embolden the Church towards renewed efforts in the defence and support of life and a culture of life.
We are, ultimately, each of us, our brother’s keeper. And it is in solidarity with each other and in obedience to the divine law that we can hope to see the refoundation of a better and more just society in which the sacredness of life is acknowledged and honoured at all its stages.
Thank you.