Gospel vitae
Evangelium vitae ( Gospel of Life ) of March 25, 1995 is the eleventh encyclical of Pope John Paul II. It bears the subtitle: To the bishops, priests and deacons, religious and lay people, and to all people of good will - about the value and the inviolability of human life and comprises four major chapters.
I. Chapter
Your brother's blood cries out to me from the farmland - The current threats to human life
Looking back on Cain's fratricide of Abel (“Your brother's blood cries out to me from the field”, Gen 4), the encyclical presents “the present threats to human life”: the roots of violence against life become in the darkening of the The value of life, identified in a degenerate idea of freedom and in the darkening of the sense of God and man. This first chapter closes with a reference to signs of hope and an invitation to commitment to life.
Chapter II
I came so that they might have life - the Christian message about life
In the second chapter the Christian message about life is presented under the word of Jesus who promised life (“I came that they may have life”). For Christians, Christ himself is “the word of life” and therefore life is “always a good”. Because Jesus “brings the meaning of life to perfection” “in the uncertainty of human existence”, the glory of God shines “on the face of man”. This gift of eternal life is directly linked to “respect for and love for the life of all”, because God already says in the Old Testament: “For the life of man I demand accountability from each of his brothers” (Gen 9, 5) . So man has a responsibility towards life, he has to respect the dignity of the unborn child as well as life in old age and in suffering. This is already the message of the “law of Sinai”, but the “gospel of life” has been fulfilled all the more on the trunk of the cross.
III. chapter
You Shall Not Kill - The Holy Law Of God
In the third chapter the Gospel with the commandment “You shall not kill” is applied concretely: If human life is holy and inviolable, abortion is a despicable crime and euthanasia is to be rejected. The state law has to be in harmony with the moral law and therefore has the task to promote life, not to destroy it. For this reason, the imposition of the death penalty should also be restricted to “the most serious cases”. Such an exception to the general rejection should only apply “if the protection of society is not otherwise possible”, but nowadays such cases only “very rarely or practically no longer occur” (No. 56).
IV. Chapter
You did that to me - for a new culture of human life
Beyond state laws, however, a “new culture of human life” is needed. God has called Christians to a “people for life and for life” who preach, celebrate and serve the “gospel of life”. It is emphasized that the family is the “sanctuary of life” and that all “as children of light” (Eph 5: 8) must live the gospel of life in order to bring about a cultural change in human society.
Appreciation
On June 16, 2013 Pope Francis celebrated a Holy Mass on St. Peter's Square on the day of the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae".
