Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day Vatican City 1987

Paul Pope John II Discourse to those taking part in the 81st Congress of the Italian Society of Internal Medicine and the 82nd Congress of the Italian Society of General Surgery. 27 October 1980: AAS 72 (1980) 1126.

Paul Pope VI Discourse to the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization. 4 October 1965: AAS 57 (1965) 878; Encyclical Populorum Progressio, 13: AAS 59 (1967) 263.

Paul Pope VI Homily during the Mass closing the Holy Year, 25 December 1975: AAS 68 (1976) 145; Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Dives in Misericordia, 30: AAS 72 (1980) 1224.

Paul Pope John II Discourse to those taking part in the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association. 29 October 1983: AAS 76 (1984) 390.

Cf. Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 2.

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 22; Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, 8: AAS 71 (1979) 270–272.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 35.

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 15; cf. also Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Populorum Progressio, 20: AAS 59 (1967) 267; Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptor Hominis. 15: AAS 71 (1979) 286-289; Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 8: AAS 74 (1982) 89.

Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 11: AAS 74 (1982) 92.

Cf. Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 10: AAS 60 (1968) 487–488.

Pope John Paul II, Discourse to the members of the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association, 29 October 1983: AAS 76 (1984) 393.

Cf. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 11: AAS 74 (1982) 91–92; cf. also Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 50.

Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion. 9, AAS 66 (1974) 736–737.

Pope John Paul II, Discourse to those taking part in the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association, 29 October 1983; AAS 76 (1984) 390.

Pope John XXIII, Encyclical Mater et Magistra. III: AAS 53 (1961) 447.

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 24.

Cf. Pope Pius XII. Encyclical Humani Generis: AAS 42 (1950) 575; Pope Paul VI, Professio Fidei: AAS 60 (1968) 436.

Pope John XXIII, Encyclical Mater et Magistra. III: AAS 53 (1961) 447; cf. Pope John Paul II, Discourse to priests participating in a seminar on “Responsible Procreation”. 17 September 1983, Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI, 2 (1983) 562: “At the origin of each human person there is a creative act of God: no man comes into existence by chance; he is always the result of the creative love of God”.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 24.

Cf. Pope Pius XII, Discourse to the Saint Luke Medical-Biological Union, 12 November 1944: Discorsi e Radiomessaggi VI (1944-1945) 191-192.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 50.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 51: “When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral character of one's behaviour does not depend only on the good intention and the evaluation of the motives: the objective criteria must be used, criteria drawn from the nature of the human person and human acts, criteria which respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love”.

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 51.

Holy See. Charter of the Rights of the Family, 4: L'Osservatore Romano, 25 November 1983.

Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Declaration on Procured Abortion, 12-13: AAS 66 (1974) 738.

Cf. Pope Paul VI, Discourse to participants in the Twenty-third National Congress of Italian Catholic Jurists. 9 December 1972: AAS 64 (1972) 777.

The obligation to avoid disproportionate risks involves an authentic respect for human beings and the uprightness of therapeutic intentions. It implies that the doctor “above all … must carefully evaluate the possible negative consequences which the necessary use of a particular exploratory technique may have upon the unborn child and avoid recourse to diagnostic procedures which do not offer sufficient guarantees of their honest purpose and substantial harmlessness. And if, as often happens in human choices, a degree of risk must be undertaken, he will take care to assure that it is justified by a truly urgent need for the diagnosis and by the importance of the results that can be achieved by it for the benefit of the unborn child himself” (Pope John Paul II, Discourse to Participants in the Pro-Life Movement Congress, 3 December 1982: Insegnamenti de Giovanni Paolo II, V, 3 [1982] 1512). This clarification concerning “proportionate risk” is also to be kept in mind in the following sections of the present Instruction, whenever this term appears.

Paul Pope John II Discourse to the Participants in the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association. 29 October 1983: AAS 76 (1984) 392.

Cf. Paul Pope John II Address to a Meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. 23 October 1982: AAS 75 (1983) 37: “I condemn, in the most explicit and formal way, experimental manipulations of the human embryo, since the human being, from conception to death, cannot be exploited for any purpose whatsoever”.

Holy See, Charter of the Rights of the Family, 4b: L'Osservatore Romano, 25 November 1983.

Cf. Pope John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the Convention of the Pro-Life Movement, 3 December 1982: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, V, 3 (1982) 1511: “Any form of experimentation on the foetus that may damage its integrity or worsen its condition is unacceptable, except in the case of a final effort to save it from death”. Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia, 4: AAS 72 (1980) 550: “In the absence of other sufficient remedies, it is permitted, with the palient's consent, to have recourse to the means provided by the most advanced medical techniques, even if these means are still at the experimental stage and are not without a certain risk”.

No one before coming into existence, can claim a subjective right to begin to exist; nevertheless, it is legitimate to affirm the right of the child to have a fully human origin through conception in conformity with the personal nature of the human being. Life is a gift that must be bestowed in a manner worthy both of the subject receiving it and of the subjects transmitting it. This statement is to be borne in mind also for what will be explained concerning artificial human procreation.

Cf. Paul Pope John II Discourse to those taking part in the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association, 29 October 1983: AAS 76 (1984) 391.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 50.

Cf. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. 14: AAS 74 (1982) 96.

Cf. Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors, 29 September 1949: AAS 41 (1949) 559. According to the plan of the Creator, “A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh” (Gen 2: 24). The unity of marriage, bound to the order of creation, is a truth accessible to natural reason. The Church's Tradition and Magisterium frequently make reference to the Book of Genesis, both directly and through the passages of the New Testament that refer to it: Mt 19: 4-6; Mk 10: 5-8; Eph 5: 31. Cf. Athenagoras, Legatio pro christianis, 33: PG 6, 965-967; St Chrysostom, In Matthaeum homiliae, LXII, 19, 1: PG 58 597; St. Leo the Great, Epist. ad Rusticum, 4: PL 54, 1204; Innocent III, Epist. Gaudemus in Domino: DS 778; Council of Lyons II, IV Session: DS 860; Council of Trent, XXIV Session: DS 1798. 1802; Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae: AAS 12 (1879/80) 388-391; Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Casti Connubii: AAS 22 (1930) 546-547; Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, 48; Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 19: AAS 74 (1982) 101-102; Code of Canon Law. Can. 1056.

Cf. Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors. 29 September 1949: AAS 41 (1949) 560; Discourse to those taking part in the Congress of the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives, 29 October 1951: AAS 43 (1951) 850; Code of Canon Law, Can. 1134.

Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae, 12: AAS 60 (1968) 488–489.

Loc. cit., AAS, 489.

Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the Second Naples World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility. 19 May 1956: AAS 48 (1956) 470.

Code of Canon Law, Can. 1061. According to this Canon, the conjugal act is that by which the marriage is consummated if the couple “have performed (it) between themselves in a human manner”.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 14.

Cf. Paul Pope John II General Audience on 16 January 1980: Insegnamenti de Giovanni Paolo II, III, 1 (1980) 148–152.

Paul Pope John II Discourse to those taking part in the 35th General Assembly of the World Medical Association. 29 October 1981: AAS 76 (1984) 393.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 51.

Cf. Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 50.

Cf. Pius Pope XII Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors, 29 September 1949: AAS 41 (1949) 560: “It would be erroneous … to think that the possibility of resorting to this means (artificial fertilization) might render valid a marriage between persons unable to contract it because of the impedimentum impotentiae”.

A similar question was dealt with by Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 14: AAS 60 (1968) 490–491.

Cf. supra: I, 1 ff.

Pope Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 14: AAS 74 (1982) 96.

Cf. Response of the Holy Office. 17 March 1897: DS 3323; Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors, 29 September 1949: AAS 41 (1949) 560; Discourse to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives, 29 October 1951: AAS 43 (1951) 850; Discourse to those taking part in the Second Naples World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility, 19 May 1956: AAS 48 (1956) 471-473; Discourse to those taking part in the 7th International Congress of the International Society of Haematology, 12 September 1958: AAS 50 (1958) 733; Pope John XXIII, Encyclical Mater et Magistra, III: AAS 53 (1961) 447.

Pope Pius XII, Discourse to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives, 29 October 1951: AAS 43 (1951) 850.

Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors, 29 September 1949: AAS 41 (1949) 560.

Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics. 9: AAS 68 (1976) 86, which quotes the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 51. Cf. Decree of the Holy Office, 2 August 1929: AAS 21 (1929) 490; Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 26th Congress of the Italian Society of Urology, 8 October 1953: AAS 45 (1953) 678.

Cf. Pope John XXIII, Encyclical Mater et Magistra, III: AAS 53 (1961) 447.

Cf. Pope Pius XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors, 29 September 1949: AAS 41 (1949) 560.

Cf. Pope Pius XII, Discourse to the taking part in the Second Naples World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility, 19 May 1956; AAS 48 (1956) 471–473.

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 50.

Paul Pope John II Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. 14: AAS 74 (1982) 97.

Cf. Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 7.