On 17th October 1978, the day after Karol Wojtyla was elected Supreme Pontiff, Testori, with his imaginative language, wrote: this will be the Pope of motherhood, human life and the family. Indeed the Pope has consciously impressed this stamp on his Pontificate, so much so that on 22 December 1980, while speaking to the College of Cardinals, he stated, "it is necessary to recall emphatically the holiness of marriage, the value of the family, the inviolability of human life. I will never tire of carrying out this mission, which I consider cannot be deferred, taking advantage of meetings, audiences, messages...". 

It certainly cannot be said that the Pope "who came from afar" has grown tired. The Encyclical Evangelium vitae gives order and the maximum authority, involving the whole worldwide Episcopate, to a Magisterium that has developed continuously over the past 16 years.

But rather than solving theological problems-given the dramatic and under many aspects "new" emergence of a "culture which denies solidarity", which becomes "a veritable structure of sin" and "which in many case takes the form of a veritable "culture of death" (n. 12)-the document aims at outlining a planetary strategy and at encouraging a general mobilization with great openness full of hope in the future. And so here is the key message in n. 95: "What is urgently called for is a general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life. All together, we must build a new culture of life: new, because it will be able to confront and solve today's unprecedented problems affecting human life; new, because it will be adopted with deeper and more dynamic conviction by all Christians; new, because it will be capable of bringing about a serious and courageous cultural dialogue among all parties" (n. 95). The reference to Christians is fundamental. The whole Church is thought of as a "people of life". "We have been sent as a people" the Pope writes. "Everyone has an obligation to be at the service of life. This is a properly 'ecclesial' responsibility, which requires concerted and generous action by all the members and by all sectors of the Christian community" (n. 79). This insistence on the totality of the commitment is a characteristic note of the Encyclical: "in this mobilization for a new culture of life no one must feel excluded: everyone has an important role to play" (n. 98).

Defence of life is essential to democracy

In this context the Pro-Life Movement, which already owes much to the constant attention of the Holy Father, finds in this document confirmation, direction, energy, breath and broadness of horizon for intensifying one's commitment. Karol Wojtyla gives explicit recognition to pro-life centres, "movements" and initiatives to raise social awareness in defence of life (cf. nn. 26, 27, 87), strengthening his often repeated encouragement with the authority of an Encyclical. 

Up to now, not everyone has understood the profound epoch-making and world-wide challenge raised by the Holy Father. The Encyclical deals at length with the extreme limits of human life, on the dawn and setting of earthly existence. Abortion, artificial procreation and euthanasia are acute, vital and urgent problems. But the defence of life is a question that deeply involves the meaning of equality (cf. n. 57), democracy (cf. nn. 19, 70, 101), law (cf. nn. 4, 18, 20) and freedom (cf. nn. 19, 96). It constitutes the-"new social question" which requires the courage to speak out for those who have no voice. as has happened 100 years ago in defence of workers' rights (cf. n. 5). The arguments the Encyclical presents on these topics are extraordinarily convincing. They are also moving, if we think of the current crisis of Catholics' political involvement in Italy, so much in contradiction with the important tasks they face. Maybe meditating on these tasks will help them emerge from the crisis.

It would however be simplistic to read the Encyclical merely in terms of a purely worldly challenge. In fact, the whole document is a contemplation of the mystery of man. Whereas international Charters and Constitutions postulate human dignity, the Holy Father demonstrates it. In order to do so in final and definitive words, full of wonder, joy and poetic awareness, he relates it to the mystery of God, the relationship of God with life and with man. The Encyclical is therefore a profoundly religious document. At the root of the culture of death is "the eclipse of the sense of God", because "when the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life", and vice versa, "the systematic violation of the moral law, especially in the serious matter of respect for human life and its dignity, produces a kind of progressive darkening of the capacity to discern God's living and saving presence" (n. 21). In fact, "in man there shines forth a reflection of God himself" (n. 34). "Here the Christian truth about life becomes most sublime. The dignity of this life is linked not only to its beginning, to the fact that it comes from God, but also to its final end, to its destiny of fellowship with God in knowledge and love of him" (n. 38). 

How can we reconcile such a religious basis for the right to life with the Holy Father's persistent appeal to dialogue with non-believers, "in our common commitment to the establishment of a new culture of life" (n. 82)? Karol Wojtyla looks to the future of the third millennium of the Christian era. This is shown by the projects already undertaken. In this regard I wish to make a personal reflection, starting from the contradiction the Pope has pointed out between the negative and positive signs of the present time (nn. 7, 28) and, especially, between the constant proclamations of human rights and the spread of a culture and practice "of death" (n. 18). These contradictions must be resolved for a total renewal of society (nn. 77-101). The first millennium was characterized by the spread of Christianity, which was able to permeate every level of civil life even to leaving its mark on time (note the calendar), on space (think of cathedrals placed in the centre of cities), educational models, culture, solidarity structures and institutions. In the relationship between society and the religious dimension, the latter assumes an importance that bends civil structures to the service of the faith with certain excesses (just think of the crime of heresy, of the Crusades, the temporal power of Bishops). 

Need for total consecration to the service of life

In the second millennium a reaction of secularization set in, which has reached its high point in our century. It is thought that man can construct his future without God ("etsi Deus non esset") and the religious dimension is more and more extraneous to society. However disintegration, the tragedy of violence and the threats are there for all to see. A moral and civil reconstruction is needed. The third millennium can lead to "making unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed society" (n. 77). This can happen if the unity between faith and life is restored. But not in the sense that faith needs the strength of the State, but contrariwise: the very basis of civil coexistence needs the light and strength of faith, or at least of religious meaning. The meaning of human life is the great human problem. International Charters and Constitutions recognize it. But the building is founded on sand, if human dignity is not rooted in God. Thus the protection and promotion of life, from its conception, without reservation or ambiguity, in spite of many appearances to the contrary, seem and are the bridge to dialogue, the meeting-place, the condition for a common journey. This is the direction of the third millennium. Man is so truly the image of God that if, on the one hand, the eclipse of God is the main reason for contempt of human life, on the other, contemplation of human dignity may be the way for the prodigal son to return to the Father's embrace. 

This Pope for life deserves a great Pro-Life Movement. This thought fills my mind and heart since reading the Encyclical. In the general mobilization, a group of women and men who feel totally consecrated to the service of life must devote their whole mind and heart, in harmony with the whole Christian community, to thinking out, studying and formulating in detail the broad strategic outline set forth by the Holy Father. Therefore in addition to a sense of gratitude and extraordinary affection for Karol Wojtyla, reading this Encyclical fills one's soul with a great sense of responsibility. And of joy too, as happens when one realizes that, beyond the present difficulties, something great is before us, something whose realization also depends on each one of us.