EVANGELIUM VITAE

To the Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Men and Women Religious, Lay Faithful, and all People of Good Will                  

 on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life.

                                   INTRODUCTION - 1.

    The Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus' message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as "good news" to the people of every age and culture. At the dawn of salvation, it is the Birth of a Child which is proclaimed as joyful news:     "I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10-11).

     The source of this "great joy" is the Birth of the Saviour; but Christmas also reveals the full meaning of every human birth, and the joy which accompanies the Birth of the Messiah is thus seen to be the foundation and fulfilment of joy at every child born into the world (cf. Jn 16:21).

     When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus says: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). In truth, he is referring to that "new" and "eternal" life which consists in communion with the Father, to which every person is freely called in the Son by the power of the Sanctifying Spirit. It is precisely in this "life" that all the aspects and stages of human life achieve their full significance.   

               ~ IOANNES PAULUS PP. II, Regina Caeli Address

          Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 

           in the year 1995, the seventeenth of my Pontificate.