Pro Life
The pro-life movement fits into the core mission of the Roman Catholic Church as a fundamental expression of upholding the sanctity of human life and human dignity from conception to natural death.
Core Principles
- Imago Dei: The belief that every person is created in the image and likeness of God gives each human life an unalienable and immeasurable worth.
- The “Culture of Life”: Catholic teaching connects opposition to abortion, contraception, and euthanasia to a broader moral duty to build a culture that protects innocent life.
- Consistent Ethic: Church leadership, including recent statements from the papacy, frames pro-life work as part of a wide human ecology that also addresses poverty, war, the death penalty, and the treatment of immigrants.
Key Areas of Action
- Public Education: Teaching the moral evil of intentionally ending innocent life at any stage.
- Pastoral Care: Offering support and healing to women and families, through programs like Project Rachel for post-abortion ministry, and promoting “radical solidarity” with mothers and unborn children.
- Public Policy and Social Justice: Advocating for legal protections for the unborn and elderly, alongside social welfare supports like healthcare, immigration reform, and poverty reduction.
Five Key Areas of Focus
- Care for the dignity of the human person in different ages of existence.
- Reciprocal respect between the sexes and among the generations.
- Defense of the dignity of every single human being.
- Promotion of the quality of human life that integrates material and spiritual values.
- An “authentic human ecology,” which can help restore “the original balance of creation between the human person and the entire universe.
28th General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life (20-22 February 2023)
Report
United States Supreme Court Decision – June 24, 2022
United States Supreme Court Decision
Click DECISIONQuestion Addressed by the Supreme Court
Click QUESTIONStatement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Click STATEMENTStatement from the Pontifical Academy for Life
Click StatementCanadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Statement on the 30th Anniversary of the Morgentaler Decision
CCCB Statement – 30th Anniversary of the Morgentaler DecisionPriests for Life – Canada
Priests for Life has come to signify two distinct but related movements within the wider pro-life movement.
On one level, as described below, Priests for Life refers to a very specific effort to galvanize the clergy to preach, teach, and mobilize their people more effectively in the effort to end abortion and euthanasia.
On another level, Priests for Life represents a family of ministries that reach and enrich every aspect of the pro-life movement, for clergy and laity alike, in a wide variety of activities. This has come to pass precisely because priests are not ordained for themselves, but for the people. So in activating clergy, all the segments of the Church, the pro-life movement, and the wider society are activated in the defense of life.
To learn more about priests’ work for Respect for Life, click Priests for Life – Canada.