"Today we are at the heart of the dramatic fight between the culture of death and the culture of life." erstwhile I first heard these words of John Paul II, I thought that I was dealing with a metaphor of a poet, a playwright, a man of large literary intuition (Then the pope besides repeatedly utilized the word "civilization of death"). However, the longer I watched the changes that began the sexual revolution in the West, and then in our country, I realized that it was not a literary figure, but a study on the state of the world. The Pope, utilizing the word civilization of death, accurately diagnoses a complex strategy encompassing science, culture, politics, law, institutions, business, education, all social life.
THE RECORD...
Divine Providence called on Charles Wojtyla to take the lead of the Church in the era of violent and unprecedented confrontation in the ideological and moral fields. In the 1970s, abortion was legalized in the United States. As a result, thousands and then avalanchely hundreds of thousands of human lives are destroyed. A decade earlier in pharmacies practically all over the western planet were already available birth control pills. The spread of contraception and legalization of abortion in many countries of the world, and its application on a massive scale, John Paul II calls the conspiracy against life.
This conspiracy is not a phenomenon in itself. It is the consequence of deep intellectual changes that have occurred in the modern world. The Pope is not limited to condemning this criminal phenomenon, but is carefully analyzing ideas that are first noticeable in culture, in universities, besides in legal culture. These currents penetrate into legislation, and then through the normative function of law and the tremendous influence of the media, and mass culture, corrupt the consciences of full human communities.
The future Pope, Karol Wojtyła, as a pastoral minister matures in reality the Polish People's Republic, where communists have been abolishing abortion bans since the mid-1950s. Abortion of pregnancy rapidly becomes a regular practice. The intellectual state of doctors and all medical personnel well illustrates my mother's testimony. erstwhile she came to the doctor, telling him she was pregnant, the doctor asked if she had already given birth and how many times. erstwhile Mom said it was the third, fourth, and then another pregnancy (I am 1 of 9 children), the doctor's reaction was always the same: "Well, what (?) ... we remove".
The church in Poland faces the crime of abortion on a massive scale (the mildest estimates say 300,000 abortions per year). In these realities it is easier to realize why in the Jasna Góra Vows of the Polish Nation (1956) starting the large Millennium Novena, as the first of six social and moral promises, Primate Wyszyński places a call for an uncompromising and extremist defence of the conceived life. (Another calls include the inseparability of matrimony and the protection of children from depravity.) The large Novena, this immense pastoral program, written out for 10 years, was addressed to the people. Karol Wojtyła, in parallel, on KUL, forms future elites. Care to defend life is profoundly rooted in his lectures on human sexuality, matrimony and sexuality. This is erstwhile the fundamental work of “Love and Responsibility” arises. Then, erstwhile observing the engagement of Bishop Wojtyla in the work of the Vatican Council, we see a deep cognition of issues that many council fathers do not appreciate or realize. It is besides not a secret that in the formation of the encyclical Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (1968), Karol Wojtyła besides had his share.
TRUTH
No wonder, then, that at the minute erstwhile the Kraków cardinal covers the capital of Peter, in the centre of his teaching are the issues of marriage, family, human sexuality and life defence. In the first years of the pontificate, John Paul II organizes a series of catechies concerning matrimony and establishes an Institute for Studying matrimony and Family. The Institute's inauguration was announced on 13 May 1981. It is notable that then there is simply a miraculous rescue from the sphere of the bomber, which, according to John Paul himself, happens thanks to the Blessed Mother, on the anniversary of the Fatima Revelations. After years, Sister Lucia dos Santos, a visionary from Fatima, will confess that Our woman foretold the final conflict between God and Satan, which will be fought in the field of matrimony and family.
The fact about the sanctity and dignity of life preached by the Polish Pope, included in countless homilys, conferences, state sciences, apostolic lists, Vatican documents resonates precisely in an age that rejects Christian anthropology, creating new, inhuman rights. John Paul II "the summation" of this teaching collects in monumental work the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (1995). We can see the unique rank of the encyclical in the name. It is the only paper of the Universal Church which bears the word “Evangelia”. The author in the introduction emphasizes: The Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel of the dignity of the human person, and the Gospel of life, are a single and indivisible Gospel.
I urge you to read or callback this remarkable text. The deep theological, philosophical treatise contains a thorough and very detailed analysis of modern society and its moral collapse, but besides gives a way out. The author recalls the scene from Matthew the Evangelist erstwhile a wealthy young man asks Jesus: ‘ Teacher, what good should I do to receive everlasting life? If you want to accomplish life, Jesus answers, keep the commandments, and first mentions "don't kill."
John Paul emphasizes that by giving man life, God demands that man’s life be respected and developed. Thus the gift of God becomes a commitment and a task for man. This commitment applies to all of us, especially present when, as a consequence of the admissibility of abortion and the spread of abortion, people in many countries are gradually losing their ability to separate between good and evil. The depravation of consciences and the tamement of the killing of the unborn triggers the actual structures of sin. A man who has his illness, disability, or simply has his presence in danger of endangering the well-being or life habits of the more privileged is seen as an enemy to be defended or eliminated.
Freedom Without Truth?
This deadly egoism is simply a extremist threat to the culture of human rights and undermines democracy itself. Power becomes a origin that yet shapes social coexistence. It is simply a return to barbarism and a denial of what the regulation of law has pursued as a community in which the ‘force ration’ is replaced by ‘force of right’. John Paul calls for courage, which allows us to face the fact and name things by name, without giving in to comfortable compromises. Compromise is the temptation to deceive yourself.
How meaningful this is today, especially in the context of the statements of the Church, who cling to the current law, the alleged abortion compromise. The Pope calls for uncompromising defence of life, to which all Christians and people of good will are obliged. Evangelium Vitae is highly suggestive of the crime of abortion, showing it in all truth. The 1 who is killed is the most innocent being 1 can always imagine and cannot be considered an attacker. She is weak, defenseless to the point that she is deprived of even this small defence that she makes for the newborn kid his pleading and crying.
REPLY
The Pope besides emphasizes the father's work as an accomplice, and frequently can be the main responsible. But not just that. Moral work lies with: family, friends, who frequently origin force and force them to abort. Doctors and healthcare professionals are not exempt from this responsibility. It is besides liable to those who support and approve the rights to "abuse", as well as those who manage the wellness institutions in which this is done.
The ellipse of those liable for abortion crimes, writes the Pope, besides includes those who contributed to the spread of sexual permisivism and the attitude of disregard for motherhood. Today, in a time of discussion about any "LGBT charters", sexual education based on the alleged WHO standards, this indication clearly defines the work of decision-makers of educational authorities, teachers and parents who ignore the effects of depravity under the cloak of "equality policy" or prevention. John Paul besides recognizes the function of transnational institutions of global foundations, associations that fight for legalization and dissemination of abortion in the world. The process of abortion so goes beyond the sphere of work of individuals and evil takes on a social dimension.
Seeing and predicting the constant improvement of science, John Paul II set up a squad of prominent experts to survey the issues of life in its earliest stage, not to relativize the minute of conception, but to attest and seal the unchanging teaching of the Church with technological arguments. The fruit of procreation from the first minute of its existence, has the right to unconditional respect, which morally, in fact, frequently service not therapy, but abortion. Granting the right to measurement the value of human life according to the criteria of physical health, writes the Pope, it is simply a shameful attitude! It opens the way to infanticide and euthanasia.
ACCOUNT OF CONTRIBUTION
What John Paul II at Evangelium Vitae could compose in categorical language, shouted in the form of a violent accusation, during a pilgrimage in Kielce in 1991. It is not possible to make a fiction of freedom, which supposedly liberates man, or actually enslaves and enslaves him. This must be an examination of conscience at the threshold of the 3rd Republic! This is my mother, this country! These are my brothers and sisters! And understand, all of you who approach these matters recklessly, realize that these matters cannot be of no concern to me, must not hurt me!
Finally, I return to the quote I started with: We are at the heart of the conflict between the culture of death and the culture of life. We find ourselves, not someone, not “they”, but you and me. We are all responsible. It is up to us to prove ourselves worthy to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and disciples of our large countryman. And another motion. There is no compromise in life. Protecting life, protecting God's gift, is simply a commitment. The Gospel of Life leaves no area for alleged asymptomatic Christianity. 15 years after John Paul’s departure, we request a constant reminder of his teaching. The generation that is now entering adulthood are people who have not experienced the community liturgy with John Paul II. present they are most likely reasoning about starting a household or experimenting in loose relationships. We should give them a chance to draw from the large wealth our holy pope has left.
Young people will find everything there, both the way of Christian freedom, dignity of the human person, dignity and uniqueness of the woman, as well as the joy and beauty of sexual life. Theology of the body of John Paul II is an amazing wealth. Giving each other, by a female and a man, physical union becomes so profound, it reaches a level that the creators of the sexual revolution did not dream of. We should constantly remind of the achievements of John Paul II, due to the fact that nowadays we hear more about immigrants, ecology and sustainable improvement than about the most engrossing problem of our era. There's not much time. This global conspiracy against life, for 2 generations, has resulted in a demographic collapse. The dying Europe seems like we don't want to live anymore. Only accepting the courageous and full vitality of the Gospel of Life can reverse the spiral of self-destruction.
Jan Wszystkie – journalist, musician, publicist
The article was published in the magazine “Friend of the Family”, published by the Center for Life and Family. Number "Civilization of Life vs. Civilization of Death 2/2020.
