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An Important Pro-Life Cause

By Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien in The Catholic Review

November 4, 2010

“The years pass quickly, and the gift of life, for all the effort and pain it involves, is too beautiful and precious for us ever to grow tired of it.” – Pope John Paul II, 1999.

The Holy Father wrote these words in his 1999 pastoral letter to the elderly. The purpose of his letter was to offer support and encouragement to those who are approaching the final chapter of their lives, though they may be tired or even sick, and to remind them that they are not alone and that God “sustains us and guides us by his providence.”

In this letter he also warned against euthanasia, which he described as “always an intrinsically evil act, a violation of God’s law and an offense against the dignity of the human person.” Instead, he counseled, we need to view life as eternal and “old age too has a proper role to play in this process of gradual maturing along the path to eternity.”

Read the complete article in the Catholic Review.