Vigils Reading

THE INCOMPARABLE VALUE

OF EVERY HUMAN PERSON

From the encyclical “The Gospel of Life” by Pope St John Paul II

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The human person is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the

dimensions of earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of

God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the

inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. In a special way

believers in Christ must defend and promote this right, aware as they are of the

wonderful truth recalled by the Second Vatican Council: “By his incarnation the

Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human being”. This

saving event reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who “so

loved the world that he gave his only Son”, but also the incomparable value of

every human person.

The Church acknowledges this value with ever new wonder. She feels

called to proclaim to the people of all times this Gospel, the source of invincible

hope and true joy for every period of history. The Gospel of God’s love for

humans, the Gospel of the dignity of the person and the Gospel of life are a

single and indivisible Gospel.

Today this proclamation is especially pressing because of the

extraordinary gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially

where life is weak and defenseless. In addition to the ancient scourges of

poverty, hunger and disease, violence and war, new threats are emerging on an

alarmingly vast scale…

The end result of this is tragic; not only is the fact of the destruction of so

many human lives still to be born or in their final stage extremely grave and

disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the fact that conscience itself,

darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly

difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of

human life.

The present encyclical…is therefore meant to be a precise and vigorous

reaffirmation of the value of human life and its inviolability, and at the same

time a pressing appeal to each and every person, in the name of God, respect,

protect, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this direction will you

find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness.