Intercessions for Life
August 2000
For an end to death as a criminal penalty,
that we might cherish the gift of life in all God's children;
We pray to the Lord:
For those who are deathly sick,
and especially for those who are old and alone,
that our prayers may bring them God's peace;
We pray to the Lord:
For all who work for life,
and especially for legislators and politicians,
that God might reward them for their goodness;
We pray to the Lord:
For single mothers and fathers,
that through the love they show their children
God may lead them to the fellowship of the saints
and the eternal communion of Heaven;
We pray to the Lord:
"The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception" (Instruction Donum Vitae, 79). ... Every human being ... is an incomparable gift of the creative love of God.
—Pope John Paul II, April 3, 2000 Discourse to Congress "Fetus as a Patient"
In my encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, I noted that the various techniques of artificial reproduction, apparently at the service of life, actually open the door to new attacks on life. Apart form the fact that they are morally unacceptable, since they separate procreation from the fully human context of the conjugal act, these techniques have a high rate of failure. And not just failure in relation to fertilization, but failure affecting the subsequent development of the embryo, which is exposed to the risk of death.
—Pope John Paul II, April 3, 2000 Discourse to Congress "Fetus as a Patient"
The life of the fetus must be protected, defended and nurtured in the mother's womb because of its inherent dignity, a dignity which belongs to the embryo and is not something conferred or granted by others, whether the genetic parents, the medical personnel or the state.
—Pope John Paul II, April 3, 2000 Discourse to Congress "Fetus as a Patient"
You who are specialists in accompanying the wondrous and delicate beginnings of human life in the mother's womb ... you know best how Catholic moral teaching strengthens and supports a natural ethic, based on respect for the inviolability of every human life. Catholic moral teaching sheds a guiding light on questions connected with the delicate process of life's dawning, so full of hope and rich in promise for later life, and a field now ripe for the marvelous discoveries of medical science.
—Pope John Paul II, April 3, 2000 Discourse to Congress "Fetus as a Patient