The pope’s pronouncement addresses some of the most incendiary moral issues of the moment: abortion, euthanasia (mercy killing of the aged or infirm), use of human embryos for medical research, and capital punishment. All are, for the pope, signs of an encroaching “culture of death” that threatens human dignity and freedom. Indeed, “Evangelium Vitae” is one of those rare documents in church history in which a pope invokes the full teaching authority of the church to declare certain acts - specifically abortion and euthanasia - always evil. But it also offers something new and hopeful-a sweeping evangelical plea for the creation of an alternative “culture of life” that respects human dignity from conception to the moment of death.
The new encyclical comes at a time when the 74-year-old pope is enjoying an extraordinary rush of attention. His latest book, “Crossing the Threshold of hope,” is an international best seller, with more than 1.6 million copies sold in the United States alone. The new “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (with 2.3 million copies in print) is so popular that Doubleday brought out a new edition this week. Another secular house, Times Books, is turning “Evangelium Vitae” into an instant book; the publisher already has 180,000 orders. The encyclical is also the first the Vatican has offered for sale on a computer disc. At the same time, there is a flurry of writing about the pope. Scribner will publish one major journalistic account next week, Tad Szulc’s “Pope John Paul II: The Biography.” An exclusive excerpt begins on page 60.
AS SZULC’S BIOGRAPHY SUGGESTS, Karol Wojtyla was preaching the “Gospel of Life” long before he was elected pope. As Archbishop of Cra cow 30 years ago, Wojtyla established an institute devoted to sexual morality. He also wrote a detailed book on sexuality- including the physiology Of orgasm. In the ’60s he confidentially sent Pope Paul VI material that eventually became part of the anticontraception encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (page 66).
John Paul’s new encyclical supersedes “Humanae Vitae” like the sea swallows a wave. Quite likely it is his last major letter to the church-at least on morality-though hardly his last major act. After a bad fall last year, the Polish pope has made an astonishing return to vigor, including an arduous journey to Australia last January. Speculation about successors has quieted. The second millennium has only a few years to go; he plans to preside at the dawn of the third.
In the “Gospel of Life,” John Paul II has sealed his papacy with a comprehensive and insistent vision. Like his earlier social encyclicals, this message is concerned with human rights. Where before he warned against political tyranny in the East, the pope now focuses on what he calls “a new cultural climate” in the affluent West that supports abortion on demand and tolerates the elimination of the aged through mercy killing. “Broad sectors of public opinion, " he complains, “Justify certain crimes against life in the name of individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only exemption from punishment but even authorization by the state.” In an obvious reference to the United States, he writes, “The fact that legislation in many countries, perhaps even departing from basic principles of their constitutions, has determined not to punish these practices against life, and even to make them altogether legal, is both a disturbing symptom and a significant cause of grave moral decline.” And in what is sure to be a theme of his address to the United Nations next fall, the pope denounces a veritable “structure of sin” that includes “international institutions, foundations and associations which systematically campaign for the legalization and spread of abortion in the world.”
In this darkening vision, the pope discerns an “eclipse” of conscience. For the pope, abortion is a form of “murder,” a violation of the Biblical commandment against killing. Opponents, he urges, must resist with nonviolent and conscientious objection. He also condemns medical experiments on human embryos, like those approved last year by the National Institutes of Health, especially when the embryos are created in vitro as “simple biological material to be disposed of.”
John Paul is equally adamant in his opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia. Both practices are “intolerable and too burdensome.” But here he makes distinctions. Life in the terminally ill need not be prolonged by “aggressive medical procedures.” And drugs that reduce suffering are acceptable even if they shorten life.
None of these positions are new to Catholic ethics. Abortion and euthanasia in particular have been repeatedly condemned by previous popes. In preparing his text, John Paul wrote privately to every Catholic bishop in the world, soliciting their opinions. The result is a document that is fully collegial. It does not carry the weight of infallible dogma, though some of his advisers wanted it freighted that way. But it is a solemn pronouncement of the church’s “ordinary magisterium"teaching authority-that is binding on all Roman Catholics and irreversible.
Even so, there are a number of novel nuances. On capital punishment, the pope declares that the justification for the death penalty is “very rare” if not “practically nonexistent.” Vatican officials announced last week that because the pope has virtually condemned the execution of criminals, they have ordered a revision of the new catechism to include this papal refinement. On birth control, too, the encyclical offers muted revisions of “Humanae Vitae.” Although the church remains opposed to artificial contraception, Catholic couples who use church-approved natural family planning may, for sound moral reasons, postpone pregnancy “indefinitely.” And while abortion is never justified, the pope writes, the woman who has one to protect “her own health or a decent standard of living” for other family members should be treated with compassion.
MORE THAN HALF OF THE LETTER’S 194 PAGES are devoted to a passionate exposition of a countercultural gospel of life. In these passages, the pope is clearly addressing those Christians and Jews who support choice in abortion and euthanasia. As he candidly acknowledges, neither issue is mentioned as such in the Bible. The reason, he says, is that “the mere possibility of harming, attacking or actually denying life in these circumstances is completely foreign to the religious and cultural way of thinking of the people of God.”
From the story of Cain and Abel, through the Prophets and th Psalms, the pope sees the Hebrew Bible as a testimony to the God given gift of life-and to the killing of the innocent as a denial o humankind’s dignity as creatures formed in God’s image. This testimony, he argues, is manifest throughout the teachings and life o Jesus. “Whoever attacks human life,” the pope declares, “in some way attacks God himself.” And to those who argue that an embryo is not yet human life, the pope replies: “It would never be made human if it were not human already.”
In a call to Catholic arms, the pope summons his worldwide flock to build a new “culture of life.” He wants every family, parish and church institution to incorporate the “Gospel of Life” into its mission. Women, in particular, are called to create “a new feminism” free of models of “male domination.” At the same time, he warns that anyone-father, family, friend, physician, hospital administrator, politician or publicist-who promotes choice in abortion shares in the sin of destroying human life.
The ethical challenge to legislators is obvious. Politicians, the pope insists, “cannot separate the realm of private conscience from that of public conduct.“In countries where abortion and euthanasia are permitted, they may support legislation that restricts but does not outlaw these acts. But laws that permit these “crimes” are inherently unjust, the pope claims, and promote the “freedom of the strong against the weak.” Respect for individual conscience is not the issue, he insists. “Society has the right and duty to protect itself against the abuses which can occur in the name of conscience and under the pretext of freedom.
Those are fighting words. Among the initial reactions to the pope’s letter, those of prochoice groups and abortion providers were predictably critical. “It’s a political and social document that is out of step with the developed world,” said Pamela J. Maraldo, president ofthe Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a pro-choice Democrat, distanced himself from the papal dictums: “It would be wrong for any public official, whatever their religion, to attempt to legislate the law of their church. " Conservative pundit William F. Buckley Jr. found the pope’s words on the death penalty “so slippery” that “it will take a month of exegesis to figure them out.” Evangelist Billy Graham, back home after another world tour, lauded the pope “for a forceful and thoughtful defense of the sacredness of human life in the face of the modern world’s reckless march toward violence and needless death.”
The effect of papal letters is never immediately apparent. But the issues the “Gospel of Life” addresses are too volatile, too political -too personal and pressing-to be ignored. John Paul is betting that his words will incite a rollback of the culture of death. In the last phase of his papacy, he’s acting like a prophet signaling revolution, roaring like a lion in winter.
