TRÁI TIM MẸ:  NƠI CON NƯƠNG NÁU - ĐƯỜNG ĐẾN VỚI CHÚA

"Chúa Giêsu muốn dùng con để làm cho Mẹ được nhận biết và yêu mến"

December 13, 2008 –  Saturday in the 2nd Week of  Advent      DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Pope's General Audience: On St. Paul and the Sacraments SAINT OF THE DAY St. Lucy  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Predestination of the Virgin Mother and Her Immaculate Conception The Panhaghia in the West and the Problem of the Immaculate Conception DIVINE MERCY On Holy Spirit The Silent Soul And The Holy Spirit  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Synthesis of Instruction "Dignitas Personae"   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Saturday (12/13): "Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things" Scripture: Matthew 17:10-13 10 And the disciples asked him, "Then why do the scribes say that first Eli'jah must come?" 11 He replied, "Eli'jah does come, and he is to restore all things; 12 but I tell you that Eli'jah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands." 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. Reading: from the Deutero-canonical Book of Sirach 48:1-4,9-11 “Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, and his word burned like a torch.” (Sirach 48:1) Meditation: God gives signs to show what he is about to do. John the Baptist is one such sign, who pointed to Jesus and prepared the way for his coming.  John fulfilled the essential task of all the prophets: to be fingers pointing to Christ. John is the last and greatest prophet of the old kingdom, the old covenant. The Jews expected that when the Messiah would come, Elijah would appear to announce his presence. John fills the role of Elijah and prepares the way for the coming of Christ by preaching a baptism of repentance and renewal. As watchful servants, we, too must prepare for the Lord's coming again by turning away from sin and from everything that would keep us from pursuing his will. Are you eager to do God's will and are you prepared to meet the Lord Jesus when he returns in glory? "Lord, stir my zeal for your righteousness and for your kingdom. Free me from complacency and from compromising with the ways of sin and worldliness that I may be wholeheartedly devoted to you and to your kingdom." Psalm 80:2-3, 15-19 2 Stir up thy might, and come to save us! 3 Restore us, O God; let thy face shine, that we may be saved! 15 the stock which thy right hand planted. 16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance! 17 But let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself! 18 Then we will never turn back from thee; give us life, and we will call on thy name! 19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! let thy face shine, that we may be saved!   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

On St. Paul and the Sacraments "No One Makes Himself a Christian. We Become Christians"   VATICAN CITY, DEC. 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered Wednesday at the general audience, held in Paul VI Hall. Because the Holy Father improvised portions of the address, the complete text was transcribed and published Thursday by the Vatican press office. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters: Following St. Paul, we saw two things in last Wednesday's catechesis. The first is that our human history is contaminated from the beginning by the abuse of created freedom, which attempts to emancipate itself from the Divine Will. And true freedom is not found like this, but is opposed to truth and, consequently, falsifies our human realities. Above all it falsifies fundamental relationships: the relationship with God, the relationship between man and woman, and the relationship between man and the earth. We have said that this contamination of our history is spread throughout its fabric, and that this inherited defect has increased and is now visible everywhere. This is the first thing. The second is this: from St. Paul we have learned that there is a new beginning in history and of history in Jesus Christ, he who is man and God. With Jesus, who comes from God, a new history begins formed by his "yes" to the Father, and because of this, no longer founded on the pride of a false emancipation, but on love and truth. However, the question now arises: How can we enter into this new beginning, into this new history? How does this history touch me? With the first contaminated history we are inevitably united by our biological descent, all of us belonging to the one body of humanity. But how is communion with Jesus, the new birth to become part of the new humanity, realized? How does Jesus come into my life, my being? St. Paul's fundamental response, and that of the whole New Testament, is: He comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. If the first history got under way, so to speak, with biology, the second does so in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Risen Christ. In Pentecost, this Spirit created the beginning of a new humanity, of the new community, the Church, the Body of Christ. However, we must be even more concrete: How can this Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, become my Spirit? The answer is that this happens in three ways, profoundly connected with one another. The first is this: The Spirit of Christ calls at the door of my heart, touches me interiorly. However, given that the new humanity must be a real body, given that the Spirit must bring us together and truly create a community, given that the characteristic of the new beginning is the overcoming of divisions and the creation of the aggregation of those who are dispersed, this Spirit of Christ makes use of two visible elements of aggregation: the Word and the sacraments, particularly baptism and the Eucharist. In the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul says: "If you confess with your lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (10:9), thus you will enter into the new history of life and not of death. Then St. Paul continues: "But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14-15). In a subsequent verse he says again: "faith comes from preaching" (Romans 10:17). Faith is not a product of our thought, our reflection; it is something new that we cannot invent but only receive as a gift, as a novelty brought about by God. And faith does not come from reading, but from hearing. It is not something that is only interior, but a relationship with Someone. It implies an encounter with the proclamation, it implies the existence of the other that proclaims and creates communion. And finally the proclamation: He who proclaims does not speak on his own, but as someone sent. He is within a structure of mission that begins with Jesus sent by the Father, passes to the Apostles -- the word "apostle" means "sent" -- and continues in the ministry, in the missions transmitted by the Apostles. The new fabric of history appears in this structure of the missions, in which we hear, in ultimate term, God himself speak, his personal word, the Son who speaks with us, comes to us. The Word has been made flesh, Jesus, to really create a new humanity. Because of this the word of proclamation becomes the sacrament of baptism, which is a rebirth by water and the Spirit, as St. John will say. In the sixth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul speaks in a very profound way of baptism. We have heard the text, but perhaps it would be useful to repeat it: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (6:3-4). In this catechesis, of course, I cannot go into a detailed interpretation of this difficult text. I would like to point out briefly only three things. The first: "We have been baptized" is passive. No one can baptize himself, he needs the other. No one can become a Christian by himself. To be Christian is a passive process. We can only become Christians through another. And this "other" that makes us Christians, that gives us the gift of faith, is in the first instance the community of believers, the Church. We receive the faith, the baptism of the Church. If we do not let ourselves be formed by this community we cannot be Christians. An autonomous Christianity, self-produced, is a contradiction in itself. In the first instance, this "other" is the community of believers, the Church, but in the second instance, neither does this community act by itself, according to its own ideas or desires. The community also lives in the same passive sense: Only Christ can constitute the Church. Christ is the real giver of the sacraments. This is the first point: No one baptizes himself, no one makes himself a Christian. We become Christians. The second is this: Baptism is more than a cleansing. It is death and resurrection. Paul himself, speaking in the Letter to the Galatians of the change in his life through the encounter with the Risen Christ, describes it thus: I have died. He really begins, at this moment, a new life. To be a Christian is more than and aesthetic operation, which would add something nice to an existence that is more or less complete. It is a new beginning, it is a rebirth: death and resurrection. Obviously, in the resurrection what was good in the previous existence re-emerges. The third element is this: Matter forms part of the sacrament. Christianity is not a purely spiritual reality. It involves the body. It involves the cosmos. It extends to the new earth and the new heavens. Let us return to the last word of St. Paul's text: In this way, he says, we can "live a new life." Element of an examination of conscience for all of us: to live a new life. This through baptism. We now turn to the sacrament of the Eucharist. I have already shown in other catecheses with what profound respect St. Paul transmits verbally the tradition on the Eucharist received from the witnesses themselves of the last night. He transmits these words with a precious treasure entrusted to his fidelity. And so we really hear in these words the witnesses of the last night. We hear the words of the Apostle: "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). It is an inexhaustible text. Also here, in this catechesis, I will only make two brief observations. Paul transmits the Lord's words on the chalice thus: this chalice is "the new covenant in my blood." Hidden in these words is a reference to two fundamental texts of the Old Testament. The first reference is to the promise of a new covenant in the book of the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus says to the disciples and says to us: now, in this hour, with me and with my death the new covenant is realized; with my blood this new history of humanity begins in the world. However, present in these words also is a reference to the moment of the covenant on Sinai, where Moses said: "Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words" (Exodus 24:8). There it was a question of the blood of animals. The blood of animals could only be expression of a desire, the hope of the new sacrifice, of true worship. With the gift of the chalice the Lord gives us the true sacrifice. The only true sacrifice is the love of the Son. With the gift of this love, eternal love, the Word enters into the new covenant. To celebrate the Eucharist means that Christ gives himself to us, his love, to conform us to himself and thus create the new world. The second important aspect of the doctrine on the Eucharist appears in the same first Letter to the Corinthians, where Saint Paul says: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? Because there is one bread , we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." (10:16-17). In these words the personal and social character of the Eucharist also appears. Christ unites himself personally to each one of us, one with the other. We receive Christ in communion, but Christ unites himself also in my neighbor. Christ and neighbor are inseparable in the Eucharist. And thus we are only one bread, only one body. A Eucharist without solidarity with others is an abuse of the Eucharist. And here we are at the root and at the same time at the center of the doctrine of the Church as Body of Christ, of the Risen Christ. We also see all the realism of this doctrine. Christ gives us his body in the Eucharist, he gives himself in his body and so makes us his body, he unites us to his risen body. If man eats normal bread, this bread in the process of digestion becomes part of his body, transformed in substance of human life. But in Holy Communion the inverse process takes place. Christ, the Lord, assimilates us to himself, introduces us into his glorious Body and so all together we become his Body. Those who read only Chapter 12 of the First Letter to the Corinthians and Chapter 12 of the Letter to the Romans might think that the word on the Body of Christ as organism of the charisms is only a kind of sociological-theological parable. In fact, in Roman political science this word of the body with the different members that form a unity was used by the state itself, to say that the state is an organism in which each one has his function, the multiplicity and diversity of the functions form a body and each one has its place. Reading only Chapter 12 of the First Letter to the Corinthians one might think that Paul limited himself to transfer this to the Church, that this was only a sociology of the Church. But keeping this 10th chapter in mind we see that the realism of the Church is very different, much more profound and true than that of a state-organism. Because Christ really gives us his body and makes us his body. We are really united with the risen body of Christ, so we are united to one another. The Church is not just a corporation as the state; it is a body. It is not simply an organization but a real organism. Finally, I will only address a very brief word on the sacrament of marriage. In the Letter to the Corinthians there are only some notes, while in the Letter to the Ephesians a profound theology of marriage has been developed. Here Paul describes marriage as a "great mystery." He says so "in reference to Christ and to his Church" (5:32). Highlighted in this passage is a reciprocity that is configured in a vertical dimension. The mutual submission must adopt the language of love, which has its model in the love of Christ for his Church. This Christ-Church relation makes the theological aspect of marital love primary, it exalts the affective relation between spouses. A genuine marriage will be well lived if in the constant human and affective growth there is an effort to remain connected with the efficacy of the Word and the meaning of baptism. Christ has sanctified the Church, purifying it through the cleansing of water, accompanied by the Word. Participation in the body and blood of the Lord does no more than cement, in addition to making visible, an indissoluble union by grace. And finally we hear St. Paul's word to the Philippians: "The Lord is at hand" (Philippians 4:5). I think we have understood that, through the Word and the sacraments, in all our life the Lord is at hand. Let us ask him that we might be increasingly touched in our innermost being by his closeness, so that joy will be born -- that joy that is born when Jesus is really close.   RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

December 13, 2008 St. Lucy (d. 304)   Every little girl named Lucy must bite her tongue in disappointment when she first tries to find out what there is to know about her patron saint. The older books will have a lengthy paragraph detailing a small number of traditions. Newer books will have a lengthy paragraph showing that there is little basis in history for these traditions. The single fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian and she was executed in Syracuse (Sicily) in the year 304. But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as its title and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls have been proud of the name Lucy. One can easily imagine what a young Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the year 300. If you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against leading a good Christian life. Her friends must have wondered aloud about this hero of Lucy’s, an obscure itinerant preacher in a far-off captive nation that had been destroyed more than 200 years before. Once a carpenter, he had been crucified by the Roman soldiers after his own people turned him over to the Roman authorities. Lucy believed with her whole soul that this man had risen from the dead. Heaven had put a stamp on all he said and did. To give witness to her faith she had made a vow of virginity. What a hubbub this caused among her pagan friends! The kindlier ones just thought her a little strange. To be pure before marriage was an ancient Roman ideal, rarely found but not to be condemned. To exclude marriage altogether, however, was too much. She must have something sinister to hide, the tongues wagged. Lucy knew of the heroism of earlier virgin martyrs. She remained faithful to their example and to the example of the carpenter, whom she knew to be the Son of God. She is the patroness of eyesight. Comment: If you are a little girl named Lucy, you need not bite your tongue in disappointment. Your patron is a genuine, authentic heroine, first class, an abiding inspiration for you and for all Christians. The moral courage of the young Sicilian martyr shines forth as a guiding light, just as bright for today’s youth as it was in A.D. 304. Quote: “The Gospel tells us of all that Jesus suffered, of the insults that fell upon him. But, from Bethlehem to Calvary, the brilliance that radiates from his divine purity spread more and more and won over the crowds. So great was the austerity and the enchantment of his conduct.” “So may it be with you, beloved daughters. Blessed be the discretion, the mortifications and the renouncements with which you seek to render this virtue more brilliant.... May your conduct prove to all that chastity is not only a possible virtue but a social virtue, which must be strongly defended through prayer, vigilance and the mortification of the senses” (Pope John XXIII, Letter to Women Religious). RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Predestination of the Virgin Mother and Her Immaculate Conception  By Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, F.I.  The Panhaghia in the West and the Problem of the Immaculate Conception Between the councils of Nicea and Ephesus, a period when the sanctity of Our Lady was relatively little studied by theologians in the East, it was in the Western part of the Church a theme enjoying considerable prominence, especially in some of the greatest Fathers such as Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine. Their reflections on her virginal holiness were occasioned 1) by denials of Mary’s virginity during childbirth; 2) by denials of the superiority of the virginal state to the married, such as those of Jovinian toward the end of the fourth century; by the need 3) to defend the divinity of the child of Mary; and 4) the essence of grace as distinct from nature. All four points, linked to the mystery of the Virgin of virgins, brought these Fathers close to a recognition of the mystery of her sinlessness, viz., that of the Panhaghia, at conception. This inner thrust of their thought is an indication that 1) the unique moral state of Mary from conception and 2) her exceptional virginity as Mother—she is the Virgin of virgins who in becoming Mother does not lose her virginity—are both intimately linked not merely with her work, but with her very person as the divinely willed preparation and basis for the maternal mediation of Mary in the universe. Certainly none of these Western Fathers denied the mystery of the Immaculate Conception expressly and directly; but neither did they affirm it unambiguously. The reason for this is to be found not in the naturalism of Jovinian directly opposed to the Incarnation as such, but in that of Pelagius aimed at a denial of original sin and of the need for redemption on the part of all members of the family of Adam. The Pelagians affirmed the Immaculate Conception in Mary not as a privilege, but as a perfect example of what occurs at any human conception. As Augustine saw so clearly, perhaps more so than any of his contemporaries, this form of naturalism at once 1) relativizes, indeed banalizes the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus, and 2) radically alters the meaning of grace from that of being the basis for an elevation to the very order of divine life, to that of an ethical utility in the building of mature character. The Pelagian theory is still very much alive and can easily be discerned as the motivation behind much Marian minimalizing today, as in the days of Augustine. While it is true that an immaculate conception with no relation to original sin is a radical denial of redemption and grace, it is also true, as the subsequent history shows that original sin not set in the perspective of the Immaculate Conception entails some form of Calvinism or Jansenism. Of these three great Fathers, the views of Augustine on the subject of the Immaculate Conception have for centuries been most controversial. Whatever may be the final verdict on what Augustine held or did not hold, without doubt he became, during the course of his controversy with the Pelagians, the first great theologian to face directly the problem of Mary’s sanctity and the universality of the redemption from original sin. Two texts of Augustine are commonly cited to show that if he did not unequivocally affirm the Immaculate Conception, neither did he deny it (50). In his critique of Pelagianism Augustine was explicit about Mary’s personal sinlessness. All are sinners, except… the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, for the honor of the Lord, I will have no question of sin; for we know how much to conquer sin in every way was given to her who merited to conceive and bring forth him who certainly had no sin (51). The formulation of the exception, reflecting the primordial tradition of Mary’s transcendent holiness, is certainly broad enough to encompass the first moment of conception and so point to a logical explanation of her singular holiness, so honorable to the Lord, the perfect Redeemer, whom she merited to conceive first, as Augustine notes, in her mind and then in her womb (52). The thrust of Augustine’s thought here is identical with that which would soon become explicit in the East: the all-holiness of Mary is not limited by any sin, even original, and hence represents first a datum of Revelation, not a theological conclusion consequent upon a theory of redemption. But the ambivalence of his formulation, viz., in not specifying whether "question of sin" includes or excludes original sin, led Bishop Julian of Eclanum, perhaps the most brilliant of Augustine’s Pelagian opponents, to accuse Augustine thus: "He [Jovinian > undermined the virginity of Mary by the condition of her childbearing; you [Augustine > deliver her to the Devil by the condition of her birth" (53). This heretical tactic is the same as that of many theological sophists, that of presenting the genuine orthodox view as one of two heretical extremes (naturalism and Manichaeism) and his own heresy as the happy middle ground of reasonable orthodoxy. In his reply, the Doctor of Hippo is less than clear. Julian obviously posed the problem not simply in terms of Mary’s sinlessness in general, but of her conception and birth in particular, which the Pelagians held to be unaffected by any sin inherited from Adam. They could say this, because, denying original sin, they held every human conception by that fact was both good and holy. Augustine, of course, rightly denied this identification of grace with nature at conception. But his reply to the specific point does not say that Mary is stainless at conception; rather he leaves the door open to a "liberative sanctification" in the womb. He wrote: "We do not deliver Mary to the Devil by the condition of her birth; for this reason, that her very condition finds a solution in the grace of rebirth" (54). Linked with this reply is the saint’s theology of the transmission of original sin through concupiscence (the infectio carnis) inherent in conjugal intercourse, in this question as in that concerning the origin of the human soul (traducianism vs. creationism) (55). And like his position on the Immaculate Conception, it is not without ambiguity, although its underlying thrust is not toward the view subsequently associated with the Jansenist reading of Augustine, but toward those in fact canonized by the Church. Elsewhere Augustine also seems to lean to a maculist solution: "And thus it appears that the concupiscence through which Christ did not wish to be conceived, has propagated evil in the human race, for the body of Mary, though it came from this, nevertheless did not transmit it, for she did not conceive in this way" (56), i.e., by intercourse, but rather virginally. It is plain from this text that the Pelagian formulation of the problematic in ethical-pragmatic rather than metaphysical-contemplative terms dominated the fifth century discussion, thus for a moment obscuring in the resolution of the problem the primary importance of absolute rather than relative sinlessness in the person of the Mother of the God-Savior, an importance only to be made clear in the affirmation by Scotus of the absolute primacy of Christ and the subsequent joint predestination of Jesus and Mary. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, conditions favorable to the consistent development of speculative theology so deteriorated that the question of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was not often mentioned in the West until the end of the eleventh century with St. Anselm. One or another writer such as Paschasius Radbert asserted it; but others, such as St. Anselm, quite clearly denied it on the basis of the transmission of original sin via intercourse infected by concupiscence. On the other hand, Anselm clearly asserted a purity of Mary greater than which none can be conceived under God. A sanctity so defined must logically include as well the sanctity of the first moment of conception; otherwise it would not be the greatest conceivable. This is the logical opening of which Scotus will take advantage in resolving the major objection to the Immaculate Conception, viz., that it cannot logically be reconciled with the universality of redemption and solidarity of the human family with Adam. That opening is intended by the great Marian Doctor to provide a logically valid escape from the horns of a dilemma more or less explicit since the time of Augustine: either the universality of the redemption of the entire family of Adam (an article of faith) includes Mary or it is not universal. Hence, to be included in the redemption, Mary must have contracted original sin before her sanctification, or if immaculately conceived her sanctity has nothing to do with Christ or us. (to be continued)  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Holy Spirit The Silent Soul And The Holy Spirit Oh, if souls would only be willing to listen, at least a little, to the voice of conscience and the voice — that is, the inspirations — of the Holy Spirit! I say "at least a little," because once we open ourselves to the influence of the Holy Spirit, He Himself will fulfill what is lacking in us (Diary, 359). The silent soul is capable of attaining the closest union with God. It lives almost always under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God works in a silent soul without hindrance (Diary, 477). Virtue without prudence is not virtue at all. We should often pray to the Holy Spirit for this grace of prudence (Diary, 1106). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Synthesis of Instruction "Dignitas Personae"   VATICAN CITY, DEC. 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the synthesis of the instruction "Dignitas Personae" that was released today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on certain bioethical questions. It was published in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish. * * * Regarding the Instruction Dignitas Personae Aim In recent years, biomedical research has made great strides, opening new possibilities for the treatment of disease, but also giving rise to serious questions which had not been directly treated in the Instruction Donum vitae (22 February 1987). A new Instruction, which is dated 8 September 2008, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeks to provide some responses to these new bioethical questions, as these have been the focus of expectations and concerns in large sectors of society. In this way, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeks both to contribute "to the formation of conscience" (n. 10) and to encourage biomedical research respectful of the dignity of every human being and of procreation. Title The Instruction opens with the words Dignitas personae - the dignity of a person, which must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death. This fundamental principle expresses "a great ‘yes' to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research" (n. 1). Value The document is an Instruction of a doctrinal nature, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and expressly approved by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. The Instruction therefore falls within the category of documents that "participate in the ordinary Magisterium of the successor of Peter" (Instruction Donum veritatis, n.18), and is to be received by Catholics "with the religious assent of their spirit" (Dignitas personae, n. 37). Preparation For several years, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been studying new biomedical questions with a view to updating the Instruction Donum vitae. In undertaking the examination of such new questions, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "has benefited from the analysis of the Pontifical Academy for Life and has consulted numerous experts with regard to the scientific aspects of these questions, in order to address them with the principles of Christian anthropology. The Encyclicals Veritatis splendor and Evangelium vitae of John Paul II, as well as other interventions of the Magisterium, offer clear indications with regard to both the method and the content of the examination of the problems under consideration" (n. 2). Intended recipients of the document The Instruction is meant for "all who seek the truth" (n. 3). Indeed, in presenting principles and moral evaluations regarding biomedical research on human life, the Catholic Church "draws upon the light both of reason and of faith and seeks to set forth an integral vision of man and his vocation, capable of incorporating everything that is good in human activity, as well as in various cultural and religious traditions which not infrequently demonstrate a great reverence for life" (n. 3). Structure The Instruction has three parts: "the first recalls some anthropological, theological and ethical elements of fundamental importance; the second addresses new problems regarding procreation; the third examines new procedures involving the manipulation of embryos and the human genetic patrimony" (n. 3). First Part: Anthropological, Theological and Ethical Aspects of Human Life and Procreation The two fundamental principles "The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life" (n. 4). "The origin of human life has its authentic context in marriage and in the family, where it is generated through an act which expresses the reciprocal love between a man and a woman. Procreation which is truly responsible vis-à-vis the child to be born must be the fruit of marriage" (n. 6). Faith and human dignity "It is the Church's conviction that what is human is not only received and respected by faith, but is also purified, elevated and perfected" (n. 7). God has created every human being in his own image, and his Son has made it possible for us to become children of God. "By taking the interrelationship of these two dimensions, the human and the divine, as the starting point, one understands better why it is that man has unassailable value: he possesses an eternal vocation and is called to share in the trinitarian love of the living God" (n. 8.). Faith and married life "These two dimensions of life, the natural and the supernatural, allow us to understand better the sense in which the acts that permit a new human being to come into existence, in which a man and a woman give themselves to each other, are a reflection of trinitarian love. God, who is love and life, has inscribed in man and woman the vocation to share in a special way in his mystery of personal communion and in his work as Creator and Father... The Holy Spirit who is poured out in the sacramental celebration offers Christian couples the gift of a new communion of love that is the living and real image of that unique unity which makes of the Church the indivisible Mystical Body of the Lord Jesus" (n. 9). The Church's Magisterium and the legitimate autonomy of science "The Church, by expressing an ethical judgment on some developments of recent medical research concerning man and his beginnings, does not intervene in the area proper to medical science itself, but rather calls everyone to ethical and social responsibility for their actions. She reminds them that the ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, and the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life" (n. 10). Second Part: New Problems Concerning Procreation Techniques for assisting fertility Among the procedures which respond to problems of fertility are the following: "techniques of heterologous artificial fertilization" (n. 12): that is, "techniques used to obtain a human conception artificially by the use of gametes coming from at least one donor other than the spouses who are joined in marriage" (footnote 22). "techniques of homologous artificial fertilization" (n. 12): that is, "the technique used to obtain a human conception using the gametes of the two spouses joined in marriage" (footnote 23). "techniques which act as an aid to the conjugal act and its fertility" (n. 12). "techniques aimed at removing obstacles to natural fertilization" (n. 13). "adoption" (n. 13). Techniques are morally permissible if they respect: "the right to life and to physical integrity of every human being", "the unity of marriage, which means reciprocal respect for the right within marriage to become a father or mother only together with the other spouse" and "the specifically human values of sexuality" (n. 12), which require that the procreation of a new human person come about as a result of the conjugal act specific to the love between a husband and wife. Therefore, "techniques which act as an aid to the conjugal act and its fertility are permitted" (n. 12). In such procedures, the "medical intervention respects the dignity of persons when it seeks to assist the conjugal act either in order to facilitate its performance or in order to enable it to achieve its objective once it has been normally performed" (n. 12). "Certainly, techniques aimed at removing obstacles to natural fertilization... are licit" (n. 13). "Adoption should be encouraged, promoted and facilitated so that the many children who lack parents may receive a home... In addition, research and investment directed at the prevention of sterility deserve encouragement (n. 13). In vitro fertilization and the deliberate destruction of embryos The experience of recent years has shown that in all techniques of in vitro fertilization "the number of embryos sacrificed is extremely high" (n. 14). Even in the most technically advanced centers of artificial fertilization, the number is above 80% (cf. footnote 27). "Embryos produced in vitro which have defects are directly discarded"; a increasing number of couples "are using artificial means of procreation in order to engage in genetic selection of their offspring"; of the embryos which are produced in vitro "some are transferred into the woman's uterus, while the others are frozen"; the technique of multiple transfer in which "the number of embryos transferred is greater than the single child desired, in the expectation that some embryos will be lost... implies a purely utilitarian treatment of embryos" (n. 15). "The blithe acceptance of the enormous number of abortions involved in the process of in vitro fertilization vividly illustrates how the replacement of the conjugal act by a technical procedure...leads to a weakening of the respect owed to every human being. Recognition of such respect is, on the other hand, promoted by the intimacy of husband and wife nourished by married love... In the face of this manipulation of the human being in his or her embryonic state, it needs to be repeated that God's love does not differentiate between the newly conceived infant still in his or her mother's womb and the child or young person, or the adult and the elderly person. God does not distinguish between them because he sees an impression of his own image and likeness.. Therefore, the Magisterium of the Church has constantly proclaimed the sacred and inviolable character of every human life from its conception until its natural end" (n. 16). Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is a variety of in vitro procreation in which fertilization in the test tube does not simply "take place on its own, but rather by means of the injection into the oocyte of a single sperm, selected earlier, or by the injection of immature germ cells taken from the man" (footnote 32). This technique, which is morally illicit, causes a complete separation between procreation and the conjugal act" (n. 17). It takes place "outside the bodies of the couple through actions of third parties whose competence and technical activity determine the success of the procedure. Such fertilization entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person" (n. 17). Freezing embryos "In order to avoid repeatedly taking oocytes from the woman's body, the process involves a single intervention in which multiple oocytes are taken, followed by cryopreservation of a considerable number of the embryos conceived in vitro. In this way, should the initial attempt at achieving pregnancy not succeed, the procedure can be repeated or additional pregnancies attempted at a later date" (n. 18). The freezing or cryopreservation of embryos "refers to freezing them at extremely low temperatures, allowing long term storage" (cf. footnote 35). "Cryopreservation is incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos; it presupposes their production in vitro; it exposes them to the serious risk of death or physical harm, since a high percentage does not survive the process of freezing and thawing; it deprives them at least temporarily of maternal reception and gestation; it places them in a situation in which they are susceptible to further offense and manipulation" (n. 18). With regard to the large number of frozen embryos already in existence the question becomes: what to do with them? All the answers that have been proposed (use the embryos for research or for the treatment of disease; thaw them without reactivating them and use them for research, as if they were normal cadavers; put them at the disposal of infertile couples as a "treatment for infertility"; allow a form of "prenatal adoption") present real problems of various kinds. It needs to be recognized "that the thousands of abandoned embryos represent a situation of injustice which in fact cannot be resolved. Therefore, John Paul II made an "appeal to the conscience of the world's scientific authorities and in particular to doctors, that the production of human embryos be halted, taking into account that there seems to be no morally licit solution regarding the human destiny of the thousands and thousands of ‘frozen' embryos which are and remain the subjects of essential rights and should therefore be protected by law as human persons" (n. 19). The freezing of oocytes "In order avoid the serious ethical problems posed by the freezing of embryos, the freezing of oocytes has also been advanced in the area of techniques of in vitro fertilization" (n. 20). In this regard it needs to be stated that while the cryopreservation of oocytes is not in itself immoral, and is employed in other medical contexts which are not the subject of this document, when it takes place "for the purpose of being used in artificial procreation" it is "to be considered morally unacceptable" (n. 20). The reduction of embryos "Some techniques used in artificial procreation, above all the transfer of multiple embryos into the mother's womb, have caused a significant increase in the frequency of multiple pregnancy. This situation gives rise in turn to the practice of so-called embryo reduction, a procedure in which embryos or fetuses in the womb are directly exterminated" (n. 21). "From the ethical point of view, embryo reduction is an intentional selective abortion. It is in fact the deliberate and direct elimination of one or more innocent human beings in the initial phase of their existence and as such it always constitutes a grave moral disorder" (n. 21). Preimplantation diagnosis "Preimplantation diagnosis is a form of prenatal diagnosis connected with techniques of artificial fertilization in which embryos formed in vitro undergo genetic diagnosis before being transferred into a woman's womb. Such diagnosis is done in order to ensure that only embryos free from defects or having the desired sex or other particular qualities are transferred" (n. 22). "Unlike other forms of prenatal diagnosis..., diagnosis before implantation is immediately followed by the elimination of an embryo suspected of having genetic or chromosomal defects, or not having the sex desired, or having other qualities that are not wanted. Preimplantation diagnosis...is directed toward the qualitative selection and consequent destruction of embryos, which constitutes an act of abortion... By treating the human embryo as mere ‘laboratory material', the concept itself of human dignity is also subjected to alteration and discrimination...Such discrimination is immoral and must therefore be considered legally unacceptable..." (n. 22). New forms of interception and contragestation There are methods of preventing pregnancy which act after fertilization, when the embryo is already constituted. "Such methods are interceptive if they interfere with the embryo before implantation" (n. 23); for example, the IUD (intrauterine device) and the so-called ‘morning-after pills' (footnote 42). They are "contragestative if they cause the elimination of the embryo once implanted" (n. 23); for example, the pharmaceutical known commercially as RU-486 (footnote 43). Even if such interceptives may not cause an abortion every time they are used, also because conception does not occur after every act of sexual intercourse, it must be noted, however, that "anyone who seeks to prevent the implantation of an embryo which may possibly have been conceived and who therefore either requests or prescribes such a pharmaceutical, generally intends abortion". In the case of contragestatives "what takes place in reality is the abortion of an embryo which has just implanted... the use of means of interception and contragestation fall within the sin of abortion and are gravely immoral" (n. 23). Third Part: New Treatments which Involve the Manipulation of the Embryo or the Human Genetic Patrimony Gene therapy Gene therapy commonly refers to "techniques of genetic engineering applied to human beings for therapeutic purposes, that is to say, with the aim of curing genetically based diseases" (n. 25). Somatic cell gene therapy "seeks to eliminate or reduce genetic defects on the level of somatic cells" (n. 25). Germ line cell therapy aims "at correcting genetic defects present in germ line cells with the purpose of transmitting the therapeutic effects to the offspring of the individual" (n. 25). From the ethical point of view: Procedures used on somatic cells for strictly therapeutic purposes "are in principle morally licit...Given that gene therapy can involve significant risks for the patient, the ethical principle must be observed according to which, in order to proceed to a therapeutic intervention, it is necessary to establish beforehand that the person being treated will not be exposed to risks to his health or physical integrity which are excessive or disproportionate to the gravity of the pathology for which a cure is sought. The informed consent of the patient or his legitimate representative is also required" (n. 26). With regard to germ line cell therapy, "the risks connected to any genetic manipulation are considerable and as yet not fully controllable" and therefore "in the present state of research, it is not morally permissible to act in a way that may cause possible harm to the resulting progeny" (n. 26). ith regard to the possibility of using techniques of genetic engineering to introduce alterations with the presumed aim of improving and strengthening the gene pool, it must be observed that such interventions would promote a "eugenic mentality" and would introduce an "indirect social stigma with regard to people who lack certain qualities, while privileging qualities that happen to be appreciated by a certain culture or society; such qualities do not constitute what is specifically human. This would be in contrast with the fundamental truth of the equality of all human beings which is expressed in the principle of justice, the violation of which, in the long run, would harm peaceful coexistence among individuals... Finally it must also be noted that in the attempt to create a new type of human being one can recognize an ideological element in which man tries to take the place of his Creator" (n. 27). Human cloning Human cloning refers to "the asexual or agametic reproduction of the entire human organism in order to produce one or more ‘copies' which, from a genetic perspective, are substantially identical to the single original" (n. 28). The techniques which have been proposed for accomplishing human cloning are artificial embryo twinning, which "consists in the artificial separation of individual cells or groups of cells from the embryo in the earliest stage of development... which are then transferred into the uterus in order to obtain identical embryos in an artificial manner" (footnote 47) and cell nuclear transfer, which "consists in introducing a nucleus taken from an embryonic or somatic cell into an denucleated oocyte. This is followed by stimulation of the oocyte so that it begins to develop as an embryo" (footnote 47). Cloning is proposed for two basic purposes: reproduction, that is, in order to obtain the birth of a baby, and medical therapy or research. Human cloning is "intrinsically illicit in that...it seeks to give rise to a new human being without a connection to the act of reciprocal self-giving between the spouses and, more radically, without any link to sexuality. This leads to manipulation and abuses gravely injurious to human dignity" (n. 28). With regard to reproductive cloning, "this would impose on the resulting individual a predetermined genetic identity, subjecting him - as has been stated - to a form of biological slavery, from which it would be difficult to free himself. The fact that someone would arrogate to himself the right to determine arbitrarily the genetic characteristics of another person represents a grave offence to the dignity of that person as well as to the fundamental equality of all people... In the encounter with another person, we meet a human being who owes his existence and his proper characteristics to the love of God, and only the love of husband and wife constitutes a mediation of that love in conformity with the plan of the Creator and heavenly Father" (n. 29). With regard to cloning for medical therapy or research, it must be said that to "create embryos with the intention of destroying them, even with the intention of helping the sick, is completely incompatible with human dignity, because it makes the existence of a human being at the embryonic stage nothing more than a means to be used and destroyed. It is gravely immoral to sacrifice a human life for therapeutic ends" (n. 30). As an alternative to therapeutic cloning some researchers have proposed new techniques which are presented as capable of producing stem cells of an embryonic type without implying the destruction of true human embryos, for example, by altered nuclear transfer (ANT) or oocyte assisted reprogramming (OAR). Doubts still remain, however, "regarding the ontological status of the ‘product' obtained in this way" (n. 30). The therapeutic use of stem cells "Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with two basic characteristics: a) the prolonged capability of multiplying themselves while maintaining the undifferentiated state; b) the capability of producing transitory progenitor cells from which fully differentiated cells descend, for example, nerve cells, muscle cells and blood cells. Once it was experimentally verified that when stem cells are transplanted into damaged tissue they tend to promote cell growth and the regeneration of the tissue, new prospects opened for regenerative medicine, which have been the subject of great interest among researchers throughout the world" (n. 31). For the ethical evaluation, it is necessary above all to consider the methods of obtaining stem cells. "Methods which do not cause serious harm to the subject from whom the stem cells are taken are to be considered licit. This is generally the case when tissues are taken from: a) an adult organism; b) the blood of the umbilical cord at the time of birth; c) fetuses who have died of natural causes" (n. 32). "The obtaining of stem cells from a living human embryo...invariably causes the death of the embryo and is consequently gravely illicit... In this case, research...is not truly at the service of humanity. In fact, this research advances through the suppression of human lives that are equal in dignity to the lives of other human individuals and to the lives of the researchers themselves" (n. 32). "The use of embryonic stem cells or differentiated cells derived from them - even when these are provided by other researchers through the destruction of embryos or when such cells are commercially available - presents serious problems from the standpoint of cooperation in evil and scandal" (n. 32). Numerous studies, however, have shown that adult stem cells give more positive results than embryonic stem cells. Attempts at hybridization "Recently animal oocytes have been used for reprogramming the nuclei of human somatic cells... in order to extract embryonic stem cells from the resulting embryos without having to use human oocytes" (n. 33). "From the ethical standpoint, such procedures represent an offense against the dignity of human beings on account of the admixture of human and animal genetic elements capable of disrupting the specific identity of man" (n. 33). The use of human "biological material" of illicit origin For scientific research and for the production of vaccines or other products, cell lines are at times used which are the result of an illicit intervention against the life or physical integrity of a human being. Experimentation on human embryos "constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings who have a right to the same respect owed to a child once born, just as to every person. These forms of experimentation always constitute a grave moral disorder" (n. 34). With regard to the use of "biological material" of illicit origin by researchers, which has been produced apart from their research center or which has been obtained commercially, the moral requirement "must be safeguarded that there be no complicity in deliberate abortion and that the risk of scandal be avoided. In this regard, the criterion of independence as it has been formulated by some ethics committees is not sufficient. According to this criterion, the use of ‘biological material' of illicit origin would be ethically permissible provided there is a clear separation between those who, on the one hand, produce, freeze and cause the death of embryos and, on the other, the researchers involved in scientific experimentation". It needs to be remembered that the "duty to refuse to use such ‘biological material' springs from the necessity to remove oneself, within the area of one's own research, from a gravely unjust legal situation and to affirm with clarity the value of human life. Therefore, the above-mentioned criterion of independence is necessary, but may be ethically insufficient" (n. 35). "Of course, within this general picture there exist differing degrees of responsibility. Grave reasons may be morally proportionate to justify the use of such ‘biological material'. Thus, for example, danger to the health of children could permit parents to use a vaccine which was developed using cell lines of illicit origin, while keeping in mind that everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available. Moreover, in organizations where cell lines of illicit origin are being utilized, the responsibility of those who make the decision to use them is not the same as that of those who have no voice in such a decision" (n. 35).   RETURN TO TOP

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