Evangelium Vitae Quotes

If we want to preserve the common good in society, it is extremely important that good, generous members of the lay faithful become active in politics. I recall how much Saint John Paul II insisted in his Encyclical Evangelium vitae that it is essential for the family to become a more powerful political force so as to restore in society respect for the inviolable dignity of human life.

In the materialistic perspective described so far, interpersonal relations are seriously impoverished. The first to be harmed are women, children, the sick or suffering, and the elderly. The criterion of personal dignity-which demands respect, generosity and service-is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are considered not for what they "are", but for what they "have, do and produce". This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak.