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Pro-Life Quotations for Bulletins

The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the Sufferer. ... A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through ‘com-passion’ is a cruel and inhuman society.

Pope Benedict XVI, In Hope We Are Saved, no. 38

 

Each of us has a mission, each of us is called to change the world, to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of each human person.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address in Hyde Park, London, Sept. 18, 2010

 

The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in a surprising way, that every human life has a very lofty and incomparable dignity.

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, Vigil for All Nascent Human Life, Nov. 27, 2010

 

The virtue of chastity… is not a “no” to pleasure and to the joy of life, but a great “yes” to love as a profound communication between persons, as love that is capable of generating life and of generously welcoming a new life which is born.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Participants in the Meeting Promoted by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, May 13, 2011

 

The virtue of chastity… is not a “no” to pleasure and to the joy of life, but a great “yes” to love as a profound communication between persons, as love that is capable of generating life and of generously welcoming a new life which is born.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Participants in the Meeting Promoted by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, May 13, 2011

 

Dear families, rejoice in fatherhood and motherhood! Openness to life is a sign of openness to the future, confidence in the future, just as respect for the natural moral law frees people, rather than demeaning them! The good of the family is also the good of the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, June 5, 2011      

 

Dear families, rejoice in fatherhood and motherhood! Openness to life is a sign of openness to the future, confidence in the future, just as respect for the natural moral law frees people, rather than demeaning them! The good of the family is also the good of the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, June 5, 2011    

 

Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. … The desire for a more meaningful life is a sign that God created us and that we bear His “imprint.” God is life, and that is why every creature reaches out towards life. Because human beings are made in the image of God, we do this in a unique and special way. We reach out for love, joy and peace.

Pope Benedict XVI, “Message for World Youth Day” (2011)

 

It is indispensable that new technological developments in the field of medicine never be to the detriment of respect for human life and dignity, so that those who suffer physical illnesses or handicaps can always receive that love and attention required to make them feel valued as persons in their concrete needs.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address during Visit to the Obra Benéfico-Social Nen Déu, Nov. 7, 2010

 

Our society should embrace what Pope John Paul II called “the way of love and true mercy”—a readiness to surround patients with love, support, and companionship, providing the assistance needed to ease their physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. This approach must be anchored in unconditional respect for their human dignity, beginning with respect for the inherent value of their lives.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity (2011)

 

In short, the assisted suicide agenda promotes a narrow and distorted notion of freedom, by creating an expectation that certain people, unlike others, will be served by being helped to choose death.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity (2011)


People who request death are vulnerable. They need care and protection. To offer them lethal drugs is a victory not for freedom but for the worst form of neglect. Such abandonment is especially irresponsible when society is increasingly aware of elder abuse and other forms of mistreatment and exploitation of vulnerable persons.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity (2011)

 

Life is our first gift from an infinitely loving Creator. It is the most fundamental element of our God-given human dignity. Moreover, by assuming and sharing our human nature, the Son of God has more fully revealed and enhanced the sacred character of each human life.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity (2011)

 

One cannot uphold human freedom and dignity by devaluing human life. A choice to take one’s life is a supreme contradiction of freedom, a choice to eliminate all choices.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity (2011)

 

Effective palliative care also allows patients to devote their attention to the unfinished business of their lives, to arrive at a sense of peace with God, with loved ones, and with themselves. No one should dismiss this time as useless or meaningless.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity (2011)

 

Everything in our days – our work, our sufferings, our prayer, our ministries – everything we do and experience is meant to be offered to God as a spiritual sacrifice. All of our work for the unborn child, the poor and the disabled; all of our work for immigration justice and the dignity of marriage and the family: All of it should be offered for the praise and glory of God’s name and for the salvation of our brothers and sisters.

Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia, “Glorify God by Your Life: Evangelization and the Renewal of the Liturgy,” June 24, 2010

 

A couple of weeks ago I went for my physical, and was in the X-ray room. There, as clear as day, was the dramatic warning: “X-rays can be dangerous to your unborn baby. Let the technician know if you are pregnant.” We all know it, don’t we? We’re not talking about a “fetus,” “a mass of cells,” but a baby. The X-ray technicians know it; the obstetricians who show the sonogram to a mom know it; even the teenage mom on a recent MTV program sympathetic to abortion knew it when she pointed to a little baby and whispered, “Don’t tell me that little baby is just an ‘it.’”

Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and USCCB President, Speech at the Fourth Annual Respect Life Week, Yonkers, January 9, 2011

 

This is not a church issue; this is a civil rights issue, the premier civil rights issue of our day!

All we are asking is that the equal protection of the law promised by our beloved constitution be applied to the pre-born baby. All we’re promoting is the noble right to life assured in our nation’s foundational documents, which list the right to life first among those inalienable rights no one has the power to take away.

Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and USCCB President, Speech at the Fourth Annual Respect Life Week, Yonkers,  January 9, 2011

 

Legalized euthanasia would involve doctors and nurses … in helping to kill people. It would lead to a society in which the government … would essentially decide which lives are worthy of living, and which people would be better off dead. Already in America, legalized abortion has made it “routine” to kill unborn children. About a million babies are killed this way each year. That is scandal enough. We cannot now allow the killing of the elderly, terminally ill and disabled people to be become “routine” also.

Most Rev. Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, “To Live Each Day With Dignity,” July 15, 2011

 

I call upon you, my dear brothers and sisters, to cling to Jesus Christ in all your important work for the pro-life cause. Never allow yourselves to become discouraged or frustrated by the lack of apparent success. This work is not your own! It is the Lord’s, who has a special love for children and for the weak. Trust in Him and in his strength. As Church, we are Christ’s Body and he will not disappoint. 

Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Prayer Service for Life, January 22, 2011

 

Along with the work of advocacy, and the importance of our vote, in the struggle to secure the rights of the unborn I urge us all to embrace the truth of what it means to be human in our own lives. Never forget - We have been made by Love, for love. In your families – strive for compassion and for mercy. In your neighborhoods – look for ways in which you can reach out to the most needy in your midst. In your workplace – be an example of patience and reconciliation. As I have stated before, it is not simply a pro-birth culture we are called upon to develop as leaders and advocates. Rather, we must work to build up a truly pro-life culture, a culture that is rooted in an authentic understanding of human freedom and the meaning of life. 

Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Prayer Service for Life, January 22, 2011

 

We Catholic people need to be the messengers of the Gospel of Life. It is our responsibility to defend and uphold the principle that all people have a right to live with dignity through every day of their lives. What an affront it is to patients, caregivers and the ideals of medicine to claim that the “quick fix” of lethal pills is a better way. It is the prayer of our Catholic community that our desire to help others will be heightened when they find themselves at death’s door and that together we can continue to work for the re-founding of a society in which love is truly stronger than death.

Most Rev. John Vlazny, Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, “Death with Dignity?” July 14, 2011

 

Human beings did not invent or define marriage; therefore we should accept and live out the reality that truly exists. Life and marriage do not attain their meaning and dignity from government or even from a democratic vote, because they are more elemental than these institutions. Life, marriage and family exist first and then governments of various kinds gain their being from them. Governments are instituted to aid and protect life and the family — not to decide what they are.

Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde, Bishop of Arlington, “Church Principles in the Public Square,” June 29, 2011

 

The teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and the Church on the intrinsic value and immeasurable worth of every human person is abundantly clear. God creates each human person in His image by the outpouring of His infinite and unconditional love. In return, God asks only that we share that love with others, beginning with those most in need – the unborn, the poor, vulnerable, sick, and aged. This intrinsic God-given human dignity is the basis for the right to life and all other inalienable human rights. It is for all of us to act consistently with this belief and expend in our best efforts to transform our culture.

Most Rev. Dale J. Melczek, Bishop of Gary, “Abortion,” January 16, 2011

 

In taking on human flesh in the virginal womb of Mary of Nazareth, the Word of God made flesh has restored humanity to friendship with God and through his paschal mystery, has given the gift of human life an inestimable value that no one, no government, no legislature, no judicial court can rightfully and justly take away.

Most Rev. Robert McManus, Bishop of Worcester, homily, Vespers Vigil for All Unborn Human Life, Nov. 28, 2010

 

Peace is not just the absence of violence. No, real peace is based on the fundamental respect for the rights and dignity of each person. This respect is developed and practiced day by day, choice by choice, person by person. It is the intentional decision we make to base all of our interactions and relationships on a deep and profound respect for the sacred dignity in each human soul. This dignity is founded on rights that are articulated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the inalienable rights at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, in the moral code of our shared scripture and traditions and, more importantly, is written or engraved on the heart of every human being.

Most Rev. John Noonan, Bishop of Orlando, “Prayer Service for Peace,” January 19, 2011 

 

In reality, the origin of a human person is the result of an act of giving. The one conceived must be the fruit of his parents' love. He cannot be desired or conceived as the product of an intervention of medical or biological techniques; that would be equivalent to reducing him to an object of scientific technology. No one may subject the coming of a child into the world to conditions of technical efficiency which are to be evaluated according to standards of control and dominion.

“Life Matters: Reproductive Technologies,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

Nonetheless, every child conceived by in vitro fertilization is truly deserving of respect and love: Each is a human person, regardless of the manner of conception. The problem is that the way they are brought into the world does not live up to their dignity.

“Life Matters: Reproductive Technologies,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

In addition to the physical risks, contraceptive use leads to a false understanding of fertility and distorts the meaning of sexual intercourse.

“Life Matters: Love and Marriage,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

But human fertility is complex and involves more than biology. Human fertility involves the whole person—body, mind, and soul. The nature of sexual intercourse is relational: it exists to build from one man and one woman a “one-flesh” union, and to bring new people into the world.

“Life Matters: Love and Marriage,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

As stewards of the gifts of love and life, spouses have a responsibility to nurture marital love and its life-giving potential. Therefore, each act of sexual intercourse must be oriented to life, because the whole meaning of marriage is present and signified in each marital act.

“Life Matters: Love and Marriage,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

By contrast, “adult” stem cells taken from a variety of tissues without any risk to the donor— from umbilical cord blood, placental tissue, skin, fat, and bone marrow, among other sources—have already produced astonishing therapeutic benefits and in an array of diseases and conditions once thought incurable.

“Life Matters: Embryo Research,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

The scientific and medical communities should dedicate their efforts to pursuing only morally licit means to cure diseases. If not, they put at risk the very humanity they seek to care for.

“Life Matters: Embryo Research,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

The measure of civilization, a universal and permanent measure which includes all cultures, is its relationship with life. A civilization which rejected the defenseless would deserve to be called a barbarian civilization, even though it had great success in the field of economics, technology, art and science.

“Life Matters: Persons with Disabilities,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

Persons with disabilities challenge us to be more fully human and compassionate, to recognize the presence of God in each human being. This requires us to sacrifice, to “stretch our hearts,” as Pope Benedict XVI has said. This requires us to gradually become more like Christ, which is after all the goal of every Christian life.

“Life Matters: Persons with Disabilities,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

How often Blessed John Paul II reminded us that ‘every human person—no matter how vulnerable or helpless, no matter how young or how old, no matter how healthy, handicapped or sick, no matter how useful or productive for society—is a being of inestimable worth created in the image and likeness of God.

“Life Matters: Persons with Disabilities,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

Prison Chaplains and their collaborators are called to be heralds of God’s infinite compassion and forgiveness. … They are entrusted with the weighty task of helping the incarcerated rediscover a sense of purpose so that, with God’s grace, they can reform their lives, be reconciled with their families and friends, and, insofar as possible, assume the responsibilities and duties which will enable them to conduct upright and honest lives.

“Life Matters: TheDeath Penalty,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.(Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2267)

“Life Matters: TheDeath Penalty,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

God’s design for marriage protects women and men from great heartache, encourages a stable and loving environment for children, and makes great sense from a public health perspective.

“Life Matters: Contraception,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012

 

When advocates say that hormonal contraception is “safe,” they are speaking in relative terms only, because there are health risks associated with pregnancy. But this viewpoint assumes that women have only two choices in life—to contracept or become pregnant—and ignores choices that are healthier, safer, and more effective than contraceptive use: the choice of abstinence for single people and Natural Family Planning for married couples.

“Life Matters: Contraception,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012 


But human beings are never reduced to anything less than human no matter what disability or medical condition they face.

“Life Matters: To the End of Our Days,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012


To trust in God’s timing for our passing into eternity requires courage, humility, and sometimes great spiritual strength. This final stage of life, when we focus our attention on the things that really count, can be a time of deep reflection, of forgiveness and reconciliation within the family, and of finding peace in one’s relationship with God.

“Life Matters: To the End of Our Days,” Respect Life Program 2011-2012