Respect for Life
Catholics view respect for life as a value that touches a wide range of life issues. It recognizes that we are called to have compassion for all people—including those who are not yet born, those with disabilities, those who have little education or who live in poverty, those who are elderly or ill, and those who are guilty of crimes. Two core principles—that human life is sacred and that all human beings are equal—lie at the heart of the Catholic approach to issues involving life. When these two principles are upheld, a consistent ethic of life naturally follows.
Human Life Is Sacred
Each human life is sacred because it comes from God, it is always loved by God, and it is meant to return to God. Respect for the sacredness of human life and respect for human dignity are closely linked. Because God wills every human being into existence in a unique, loving act of creation, each person created in God’s image and likeness, every person’s life must be respected and protected from the moment of conception until natural death.
All Human Beings Are Equal
Because all people are created in the image of God, all people have equal dignity and an equal claim to fundamental human rights. That all people have equal dignity and an equal right to life is the foundation of Christian justice and the Catholic social teaching principle called Life and Dignity of the Human Person.
Whenever society decides that one person or group is less human than another, or not human at all, it suggests that human dignity is not given by God but rather depends on the judgment of others. Once society accepts that notion, all people, especially those with less power, become vulnerable.
A Consistent Ethic of Life
Protecting the life and dignity of any person or group requires that we protect the life and dignity of all people. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago (1928–1996) called this the consistent ethic of life. The Church’s teaching is a consistent whole in which the ethical, religious, and political threads of moral issues are unified in one vision.
The right to life is the most important human right because all other rights depend on it. That right is most threatened by violence. But it is also threatened by anything that undermines it. We cannot tear apart the issues of abortion, poverty, the death penalty, human trafficking, racism, war, and anything else that affects human life and dignity.
Cardinal Bernardin brought the interconnectedness of all life and dignity issues into sharp focus. If we value life, we must support it at every turn. The consistent ethic of life suggests that far from being in competition with one another, the well-being of each person and the well-being of all people are really interrelated.
