The Sanctity of Human Life

Catechism of the Catholic Church sections # 2259 to # 2283 and 2288 to 2301 are relevant to these documents.	The story of Church letters	Background statements written by Msgr. Peter J. Elliott of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and copyrighted by Catholics Committed to Support the Pope are indicated by ©CCSP. All others are written and copyrighted by Martin K.Barrack as indicated by ©MKB.
Document	Description	Background
The Moral and Social Duties of the Medical Profession Still looking	Address to the Guild of St. Luke, Pope Pius XII, November 12, 1944	With realism and prophetic insight, Pope Pius XII puts before doctors their serious moral duties. He refers to the problem of materialist medical training, hence the need for sound moral formation together with the best modern medical education. He raises the question of the role of society in making medical decisions. The Pope speaks not long after the liberation of Rome when Nazi doctors were still secretly experimenting on human beings, criminal acts which would be revealed after the war during the Nuremberg trials. ©CCSP
On Articificial Insemination Still looking	Address to the Fourth International Congress of Catholic Doctors, Pope Pius XII, September 29, 1949	In the post-war era, one of the first medical developments to raise moral problems was the artificial insemination of women, using either sperm provided by a donor outside the marriage bond (AID), or sperm provided by the husband (AIH). Pope Pius XII rejects both AID and AIH as immoral, but he leaves the way open for licit forms of assistance to the natural act of intercourse. As this kind of technology continued to develop, these principles would be applied thirty-eight years later in Donum Vitae. ©CCSP
Histopathology of the Nervous System EWTN Library	Address to the First International Congress on Histopathology, Pope Pius XII, September 13, 1952	Pius XII speaks in an era when experimentation was under way to modify aberrant human behavior, for example, through operating on the frontal lobe of the brain or through dramatic forms of psychoanalysis. He modifies and corrects three principles invoked to justify experimentation: the inherent value of medical science, the interest of the patient, and the common good. He rejects the “medical interests of the community” as a distortion of the principle of “the common good,” already used to justify the Nazi experiments. He also condemns abuses in psychoanalysis especially by way of Freudian “pan-sexualism.” ©CCSP
Medical Ethics Still looking	Address to the Eight Congress of the World Medical Association, Pope Pius XII, September 30, 1954	Taking up themes in his address of September 13, 1952, Pope Pius XII examines the role of doctors in the era of the “cold war” between East and West. He warns of the moral danger of involvement in research for chemical or biological warfare. Returning to the question of experimenting on human beings, he refers to the atrocities revealed in the Nuremberg trials. Modern medicine raises some of the most difficult ethical issues of the century. Therefore the Pope provides important principles for an enduring medical morality. ©CCSP
Fertility and Sterility Still looking	Address to the Second World Congress on Fertility and Sterility, Pope Pius XII, May 19, 1956	By the mid-fifties, experiments were already under way in the field of what would be called “in-vitro fertilization.” Addressing experts working on the problems of fertility and sterility, Pope Pius XII outlines the principles which would later be taken up by the Church in judging the morality of more advanced procedures developed in the later decades of the century. See Donum Vitae. ©CCSP
Morality of Pain Prevention Still looking	Address to a Symposium of the Italian Society of Anesthesiology, Pope Pius XII, February 24, 1957	In the mid-twentieth century, medical science continued to develop new and better ways of controlling pain. However, this great benefit to humanity carried with it new and subtle moral questions, which Pius XII addresses. While welcoming advances in anesthesia and pain control, he affirms the Christian attitude to suffering and the need to respect the spiritual rights and duties of patients. The delicate problem of the care of the dying includes a statement on euthanasia, or “mercy killing,” later taken up by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1980. ©CCSP
Conjugal Morality and the Generation of Human Life Still looking	Address to the Seventh International Hematological Congress in Rome, Pope Pius XII, September 12, 1958	A month before he died, Pope Pius XII addressed experts working on problems of blood and inherited diseases. He responds to a series of moral questions concerning artificial procreation and sterilization in marriage. Of particular importance is his response to questions concerning the marriage of persons with hereditary diseases, later to be raised when pastors and moralists face the problem of AIDS in the context of marriage. His address includes the first magisterial condemnation of the temporary sterilization caused by the recently-invented contraceptive pill. Although overlooked by some moralists, this position was reaffirmed ten years later in the wording of Humanae Vitae, # 14. ©CCSP
Declaration on Procured Abortion Vatican Library	Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, November 18, 1974	The great moral issue which emerged in the late sixties was abortion. Due to pressure from secularist and radical feminist groups, many nations legalized procured abortion in the seventies and eighties. The Second Vatican Council denounced abortion as an “unspeakable crime” (Gaudium et Spes, # 51), a judgment in accord with classical Christian tradition since the earliest times. This declaration became the point of reference for the thousands of Catholic men and women who, united with other Christians and people of good will, continue to struggle in various ways to protect the right to life of the unborn. ©CCSP
Sterilization in Catholic Hospitals Still looking	Response to Questions of the North American Bishops’ Conference, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, March 13, 1975	The complete text of this response is given in the translation provided by Austin Flaherty, O.P.
Euthanasia Vatican Library	Declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, May 5, 1980	Euthanasia, or “good death,” is the “mercy-killing” of gravely ill, aged or mentally defective persons. By claiming that some lives are of less value than others, euthanasia draws on the same logic and pagan anthropology which justifies and promotes abortion. Delayed in reaction to Nazi “mercy-killing,” attempts to legalize euthanasia were gradually revived as memories of that shameful era faded. Alert to this new menace and with the approval of Pope Paul VI, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith confronts euthanasia. In the last decades of the twentieth century, pro-life Christians continue to fight attempts to legalize this second great threat to the right to life. ©CCSP
Patients as Persons Still looking	Address to Congresses of Physicians and Surgeons, Pope John Paul II, October 27, 1980	Remarkable advances in scientific technology have made it possible for doctors to perform new kinds of experiments and intervene in almost unbelievable ways in the processes of the human body. Here, John Paul II insists that science is not the highest value and that medical experimentations and interventions must be guided by moral norms which respect fully the inviolability of the human person. With the exception of the introductory paragraph, this address is here printed in full in the translation provided by The Pope Speaks. ©CCSP
Biological Experimentation Still looking	Address to Participants in the Week of Study Sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II, October 23, 1982	New scientific technologies are made possible only by experimentation. Here, the Holy Father insists on the dignity of the human person as a composite of body and soul and on the personhood of human embryos, reminding scientists that respect for human dignity must inform all biological experimentation. He likewise offers reflections on experimentation on non-human animals. This address, with the exception of the opening introductory paragraph, is printed in full in the translation provided by The Pope Speaks. ©CCSP
Genetic Manipulation EWTN Library	Address to Participants in the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association, Pope John Paul II, October 29, 1983	In this address, the Holy Father first stresses that the biological nature of every human being is untouchable in the sense that it is constitutive of the individual’s personal identity. He then articulated moral principles to guide the scientific community in the manipulation of human genetic material, carefully distinguishing between interventions that are truly therapeutic in nature from those that are not. ©CCSP
Mystery of Life and Death Priests for Life Library	Address to Participants in a Week of Study Sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II, October 19-21, 1985	Here, the Holy Father confronts the issues involved today in caring for suffering and dying human persons. He strongly condemns euthanasia as a crime against the human person, but notes that death is an evitable fact of human life and that the use of means of avoiding it must take into account the human condition. He also speaks of the need to confront the problem of malnutrition, so widespread in many parts of the world. The full text of this address, which was given in English, is provided here. ©CCSP
Donum Vitae Vatican Library	Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, February 22, 1987	Rapid advances in medical technology in the eighties led to the first “test-tube babies.” Was this way of achieving procreation morally licit? The Church answered the question in an atmosphere of popular sentimentalism which ignored the true nature of these actions and their consequences. Applying the principle of the inseparability between the unitive and procreative meanings of the marriage act (cf. Humanae Vitae 12), with the approval of Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gives the negative judgment of the Church on in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Artificial procreation and practices associated with it also led to serious moral, legal and social dilemmas and scandals. ©CCSP
Penalty for Abortion Still looking	Ruling on Canon Law, Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law, Confirmed by Pope John Paul II, May 23, 1988	In the last decades of the century, pharmaceutical methods of early abortion were introduced, such as the abortion pill RU-486. The response to the question put to the Commission clarifies the meaning of Canon 1398, so that automatic excommunication is incurred by those who procure abortion through pharmaceutical means, as well as those who procure abortion through surgery or other methods. Here the text of Canon 1398 is first given, then the text of the Pontifical Commission. ©CCSP
Aggression Against Human Life and the Supremacy of the Moral Order Still looking	Address to the Federation of Catholic Pharmacists, Pope John Paul II, November 3, 1990	Catholic pharmacists face moral challenges, even when they are asked to provide abortion pills, modern forms of the contraceptive pill and other substances which have an abortifacient effect. Moreover, some levels of medication can be used for the purpose of euthanasia. In the context of this “culture of death,” Pope John Paul II reminds Catholic pharmacists of their moral obligations and the need to respect life and human dignity from conception to natural death. ©CCSP
Evangelium Vitae Vatican Library	Encyclical of Pope John Paul II, on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life, March 25, 1995	In view of the widespread social and legal acceptance of abortion and the growing movement toward euthanasia and assisted suicide, Pope John Paul II personally wrote to all the bishops of the world, soliciting their advice on confronting the emerging “culture of death” and on defending the inviolability of human life and the good of human life. This Encyclical is the result of his deep thinking on this issue in light of the recommendations given by bishops throughout the world. ©CCSP
Reflections on Human Cloning Vatican Library	Pontifical Academy for Life, November 28, 1997	With the rapid development of the new reproductive technology of cloning, particularly after the successful cloning of a mammal (the sheep named “Dolly”) by Scottish scientists in February 1997, there was great worldwide concern about the possibility of cloning human beings. Although this way of generating human life had been condemned in 1987 by the Congregation of the Faith’s Instruction on Respect Due to Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation (Donum Vitae), it was judged urgent to reaffirm clearly and forcefully that cloning of human beings is gravely immoral and an affront to human dignity. Thus, the Pontifical Academy for Life issued this document in November, 1998. ©CCSP
Life-Sustaining Treatments and the Vegetative State Vatican Library	Address of Pope John Paul II to the Participants in the International Congress on “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas,” March 20, 2004	This is Pope John Paul II’s first definitive statement on nutrition and hydration for persons in the vegetative state. He declared, “I feel the duty to reaffirm strongly that the intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being do not change, no matter what the concrete circumstances of his or her life. A man, even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise of his highest functions, is and always will be a man, and he will never become a ‘vegetable’ or an ‘animal’.” He added, “The sick person in a vegetative state, awaiting recovery or a natural end, still has the right to basic health care (nutrition, hydration, cleanliness, warmth, etc.), and to the prevention of complications related to his confinement to bed. He also has the right to appropriate rehabilitative care and to be monitored for clinical signs of eventual recovery.” The Holy Father particularly emphasized, “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.” ©MKB