Culture of Life - Culture of Death

Culture of Death

Pope John Paul II popularized the opposing term "culture of death" in Evangelium Vitae (April 1995):

12. In fact, while the climate of widespread moral uncertainty can in some way be explained by the multiplicity and gravity of today's social problems, and these can sometimes mitigate the subjective responsibility of individuals, it is no less true that we are confronted by an even larger reality, which can be described as a veritable structure of sin. This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which denies solidarity and in many cases takes the form of a veritable 'culture of death.' This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of 'conspiracy against life' is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States.

This encyclical uses the phrase "culture of death" twelve separate times, often in opposition to the "culture of life" that the Catholic Church promotes.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor reiterates Evangelium Vitae, for example, that without morals, "it is the strong who decide the fate of the weak," and "Human beings therefore become instruments of other human beings. We are already on that road: for what else is the termination of six million lives in the womb since the Abortion Act was introduced, and embryo selection on the basis of gender and genes ?”

Advocates of a "culture of life" argue that a "culture of death" results in political, economic, or eugenic murder. They point to historical events like the Great Purges in the Soviet Union and the Nazi Holocaust as examples of devaluation of human life taken to an extreme conclusion. In the United States, the term is used by those in the pro-life movement to refer to support legalized abortion and/or euthanasia. As pro-life advocates, proponents of a "culture of life" sometimes compare their opponents to the perpetrators of the Nazi genocide. They claim that their opponents share the same disregard for human life.

The Catholic Church defends the right of life for all persons from conception to natural death. The Church consequently disapproves of certain medical procedures that may harm or kill a fetus, which the Church holds to be a person with an inviolable right to life. Some Catholic hospitals and medical institutions regularly obstruct such medical treatments. The Catholic Church also always opposes contraception and abortion. This can be verified in Humanae Vitae, the encyclical written during the papacy of Pope Paul VI in 1968.