On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II had lunch in the papal apartment with Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the renowned French pediatrician and geneticist who identified the chromosomal abnormality that causes Down syndrome.
Dr. Lejeune was a prominent pro-life advocate and the two men discussed initiatives the Vatican might take to advance the cause of life through a sound moral theology informed by the best of modern science, and through public policies supportive of a culture of life. It’s not hard to imagine that John Paul and Dr. Lejeune also discussed what the pope would describe in the 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae as a corrosive “culture of death.” The irony, of course, was that, a few hours after that lunch, one form of the culture of death asserted itself when Mehmet Ali Agca shot John Paul II in the pope’s front yard, St. Peter’s Square.
That lunchtime conversation between two men of genius influenced the creation of two new institutions in Rome: The John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, centered at the Pontifical Lateran University, and the Pontifical Academy of Life. The Academy was to be an in-house Vatican think tank, in which men and women of good will from all over the world could work together to build cultures capable of cherishing life, especially the lives of the weakest and most vulnerable. The Institute, for its part, was intended to be a high-octane intellectual center for the renewal of Catholic moral theology in the twenty-first century and third millennium. Both initiatives were special gifts of John Paul II to the universal Church.
The John Paul II Institute flourished for three decades, training a generation of theologians dedicated to re-grounding Catholic moral theology in a sound and contemporary philosophical concept of the human person, while re-centering Catholic moral reflection on the virtues and the Beatitudes (the Magna Carta of the Catholic moral life). The Rome-based institute quickly spun off affiliate institutes around the world, the most formidable of which would be based in Washington, D.C. To visit any of these academic centers was to enter a world of great theological adventure, full of men and women apostolically committed to converting the cultures in which they lived.
All of this caused consternation within the dominant Catholic theological guilds of the time, caught as they were in the quicksand pits of a sixties-based concept of moral theology in which there are no moral absolutes, nothing is always evil, and the moral life is considered an ongoing negotiation involving fluctuating ethical norms, society, and the individual conscience. It need not be doubted that this anorexic theological project was heavily influenced by the sexual revolution. And it is not too harsh to suggest that “proportionalism” (as this negotiation-model of the moral life came to be called) evolved into a form of surrender to that cultural tsunami.
The guilds are now having their revenge.
In 2021, the Pontifical Academy of Life sponsored a conference whose proceedings have now been released by the Vatican Publishing House under the title Theological Ethics and Life: Scripture, Tradition, and Practical Challenges. The book proposes nothing less than a radical change in the way the Church teaches about the moral life: a “paradigm shift,” as one author put it, that would enshrine proportionalism (and its refusal to admit that some things are simply wrong, period) as the Church’s official method of moral reasoning. To do so would, of course, mean repudiating the teaching of Pope St. Paul VI in the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, and the teaching of Pope St. John Paul II in the 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor and the aforementioned Evangelium Vitae. Discussions of such a repudiation have not been lacking in recent years, however, at the reconstituted John Paul II Institute in Rome (a husk of its former self) and at Rome’s Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University.
In their distinctive ways, Humanae Vitae, Veritatis Splendor, and Evangelium Vitae all rejected proportionalism as contrary to the gospel and to a truly humane understanding of the moral life. All three encyclicals caused the dominant theological guilds in the West to writhe with contempt and seethe with fury. And according to recent media reports, those guilds are now pressing for a new papal encyclical: one that would take the Church into the promised land of moral “discernment,” which lies “beyond” what proportionalist guild-speak now caricatures as John Paul II’s “black-and-white morality,” “rigorism,” and “fundamentalism.”
Surely one assassination attempt against the pope whose teaching and example animate the living parts of the world Church was enough.
The above comes from a July 27 story in First Things by George Weigel.
I strongly disagree that the legacy of JPII is over. The truth is too solid for it to be easily dismissed by a bunch of weak ideas.
What matters most is what we do going forward.
I agree that the ideas are to weak to defeat the shining truths of the JPII legacy. They will stand across the ages.But if the will of those in powerful influential circles prevails, his legacy will be allowed to subside and not not be applied in action except by those brave enough to carry on the battle.
With the recent decision by our Supreme Court in Roe v Wade, and the significant explanations of the decision, and consequences therof made by Justices Thomas and Alito, now is the time for all of us to utilize the prophetic teachings of Humanae Vitae, Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor to explain these truths to our people in the pews, and to society at large.
Humanae Vitae points out the division that occurs in marriage, the barrier that contraception is, that ends up causing spouses to treat each other as an object, taking what is a sacred gift from God for the benefit of deepening the bond of marriage and sharing with God in the creation, and caring for the life of the child in a permanent commitment, for the good of the marriage, for the good of each spouse, and for the ongoing good of the child, and instead, resulting in the objectifying of each person in a relationship, and objectifying the child, resulting in divorce, serial relationships, and instability, and later in life psychological problems for the child, and even for the parents. Now we have monkeypox, serial relationships, along with grooming, with court decisions by individual justices that have allowed to call this “marriage”, undermining the rights and needs of children and families.
In Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul foresees a darkening of conscience if we as a society do not protect the sanctity of life, be it protecting the significance of marriage and family life, or the use of fetuses in medical experimentation and vaccines, the consequence being a darkening of conscience, the rise of violence amongst individuals and between groups that project blame on each other, wars between nation states, and descent of a rule of law that balances rights to become the rule of might makes right. In this darkness, the only illumination, as in the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, will be in The Sacraments and the Apostolic Tradition of our Lord’s teachings
Finally, through Veritatis Splendor John Paul, like Paul in the Areopagus at Athens, shows how God has made us to know and seek what is true, that truth can be known objectively, and that God’s Holy Order points to this truth, and by grace, we seek this truth, and can find a way to have peace amongst all peoples, between heaven and earth
It does not always result in divorce, serial relationships and instability.
It is a grave sin and you should not use contraception.
Pope John Paul II stated that it takes the drama out of life.
I understand why most people don’t want the drama, though.
You will be a better person if you learn to work with your body organically.
This just shows George Wiggle’s resentment that his life has been misspent being JPII’s biographer. He should waste more of his life writing yet another book about the new evangelization that nobody will read.
Ah, Mr. George “Let’s attack Iraq and see if we were right later” Weigel. California Catholic Daily, how come you guys don’t promote the great journal The New Oxford Review like you used to? Those guys called out Weigel perfectly. RIP Dale Vree Sr.
I highly recommend the newly-published book, The Orthodoxy of Amoris Laetitia, by Pedro Gabriel. It proves that Pope Francis is not heterodox and that he is developing the Church’s sacramental practice and moral teaching without contradicting what Pope John Paul II taught nor anything else in Catholic doctrinal tradition. But I doubt the trads here are open-minded enough to read such a book.
Not only is John Paul II’s legacy not over but evil and desenseitation put forth by many clericks will fail.It is built on a foundation of sand and is pushed by fools.
It should have been the end of Weigel’s career long ago when he supported the failed and misguided war in Iraq.
Well, to be honest, I have never had the interest to read much published by the Church, since the Council. I do not need it for my life. The Baltimore Catechism is more than enough! Plus, my mother’s daily teaching, example, and practical wisdom, from a very early age. Christ’s teachings are all very specific– are we listening? Christian Morality is changeless, absolute, and non-negotiable. You will never be happy nor successful, as a lazy, selfish, irresponsible misfit, trying to find deviant ways to break all of the good rules, found in Christ’s excellent teachings. And end up hurting many good people, and hurting yourself, feeling very badly, with no pride left in yourself, afterwards. Never argue with Christ! It is a great privilege, to love and to serve Our Lord. He died a horrible, unjust death on a painful Cross, for our Salvation. Do we respect that great gift? Church leaders of today who are corrupt, will pay a horrible price for their sins. To listen correctly, and willingly follow Our Lord, happy to responsibly do as He says, exactly– always reaps tremendous benefits. And “the wages of sin is death.” Always. 2+2=4, exactly. No “baloney.”
The Baltimore Catechism is for children. It was written in the 19th century. None of today’s big issues are even in them.
No. The material found in the Baltinore Catechism is exactly the same as in all published Catechisms put out by the Church– including the recent one. And Christian Morality is changeless, for all people, in all walks of life, in all times, cultures, and situations. Sin is sin. Virtue is virtue. And God is God. Salvation is always the exact same. And the pathway to God and to Heaven is always the exact same. Do not be fooled. The fallen, sinful, secular world is ruled by Satan, the Prince of Darkness and of Evil, a phony, a liar, and a Trickster. He is always full of lies and false promises. Satan leads you to Darkness, Destruction, Suffering and Death. And Christ leads you to God and Eternal Life. “Why did God make me? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever, in the next.” 2+2=4, exactly. No “baloney.”
Take a look at the 10 Commandments– the issues of mankind in the 19th century were the same kinds of sins that mankind is dealing with, today– and always. War, man’s inhumanity to man, murder, rape, violence, abuse, slavery, stealing, cheating, lying, jealousy and envy, sexual sins (promiscuity, prostitution, adultery, pornography, etc.); alcohol and drug abuse, refusing to honor the Lord, worshipping man-made, graven inages (money, materialism, etc.), refusing to honor your parents, refusing to keep the Sabbath holy (atheism, anti-Christianity, heresy, secularism, 1960s rebellion and sin), etc. etc. Mankind always deals with the same sins. Some sins are more prominent in different ages. For example, America doesn’t have slavery and a Civil War to fight, today– but other nations do.
Slavery was not considered a sin then. Pornography is not mentioned in the Bible. They are sins, though. Do not do them. War was not considered sinful either. It was considered a punishment for sin.
The Baltimore Catechism was published 20 years after the Civil War. Slavery is not in there.
I am not criticizing the BC. EVERY Catholic should study it, but you need to keep up with the Church if you are a responsible adult.
You should study the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I, too, need to get better about reading what comes from the Vatican instead of just news stories about them. I used to be better but as you get older you get lazier and more irresponsible and with the Internet, there is more access to more things.
I guess I know what my resolution should be now.
No. You fail to get my point. As a general rule– use the centuries-old Ten Commandments as your guide. Basically– sin is sin, and virtue is virtue, in every era. You need clear teaching, from an early age, from good priests. If you get the “basics,” when young, you will be set for life! Don’t listen to post-Conciliar fools, now allowed by the Church– such as “bad feminist nuns” who state tthat abortion is a woman’s choice, or the heretical German prelates, or Fr. James Martin, S.J.! Sorry– but Abortion, Gay Sex and Gay “Marriage” will NEVER be acceptable, in God’s eyes! My favorite is always Ven. Fulton J. Sheen. Plus, there are many other excellent Catholic teachers today– Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict, Cardinal Sarah, Abp. Cordileone, Cardinal Burke, Bishop Strickland– etc. Today, many Catholics do not have any basic training in their Faith, which is tragic. Many do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
A good early training in the “basics” of our Faith, is essential. Of course, we must keep learning about our Faith, lifelong. Issues like capital punishment, war, and slavery, are complex, and were deeply institutionalized in many ancient cultures. Our Church has dealt with those issues, for centuries. Today’s Catholics usually do not have to handle these things. A “just war,” in self-defense, has always been accepted by the Church. The Old Testament accepted temporary slavery as a debt payment. St. Paul said that slaves should obey their masters. When Christianity was accepted as the State religion of Rome, slavery began to be questioned. Many thought that a free Christian should never be enslaved. Religious orders were later started to ransom slaves. Christians taught that God loved all people, and Christ came to save all– both slaves and masters. Slaves were baptized and taught the Faith. Masters should be kind to their slaves. Many medieval saints tried to abolish slavery. St. Thomas Aquinas said that slavery was a sin, and many popes later upheld his teaching. As Christianity spread throughout the world, it had the beneficial influence of making many people seek to abolish slavery. Pope Benedict XIV, in 1741, and Pope Gregory XVI in 1839, issued papal bulls, condemning slavery.
Catechisms improved a lot since the 1990s. The unbelief in the Real Presence is being disproved by the Synod surveys although there are still people who do not grasp that teaching.
We do need to teach everybody the 10 Commandments. Any version-Catholic, Protestant or Jewish.
Abortion is a grave sin according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church published after Vatican II. It is not in the Baltimore Catechism.
The teaching on capital punishment has changed as the Church has accepted that every human life is sacred. The Popes have said “Never again war.” The way wars are fought now is unjust even if the cause of the conflict might be just.
Re-read this pitiful article. There is nothing that can be said for today’s Church– except that it has very poor leadership. Words in catechisms and Canon Law are not currently being read, preached, and obeyed very much, by many of today’s Catholic clerical leaders. So– teach yourself all you want, all by yourself, “teaching!”
I think your points (assuming you are the same commenter who always mentions this) about responsibility are very astute.
I am concerned that you did not feel the same responsibility to keep up with the Catholic Faith.
There is culpable ignorance.
No. The Catholic Faith is unchanged. Many folks today, have tried to write false books, such as Fr. James Martin, S.J., and the recent one put out by the Pontifical Academy of Life. Garbage. I only read good material, of excellent, faithful Catholic prelates, like Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Burke, Pope St. John Paul II, and others.
If you are reading those, then you are keeping up not just relying on what your mother told you however many decades ago,
A Pontifical Academy is an academic honorary society. It is not an organization that issues binding edicts for the Church. As such, it is different than a Congregation which has responsibilities and oversight and issues declarations for the Church.
You should not make rude comments about devout, sincere Catholics and their long-gone mothers, who contributed a great deal, in their day. Do not make rude comments about people whom you will never meet nor know. Mind your own business, keeping up
So, “keeping up,” you better be a good Catholic, and keep up on the latest! And your mother, too!
Christian Morality is absolute, non-negotiable. I know Christ is patiently waiting for wayward Churchmen to listen to Him, and obey His teachings, and do things right. They all must stop lying, cheating, irresponsibility and laziness, repent of heir sins– and do things right! It’s not over, yet! And never will be.
It will never be over? Oy vey!never?
Mankind always commits the same sins, in every era. And it will always be the same– until when? The events of the Apocalypse? The Second Coming? The Last Judgment? That is what our Catholic Faith tells us.
A young reporter was recently prohibited from attending an execution at a State prison, in the South, because she was wearing an immodest miniskirt to the execution, which violated the prison Dress Code. (Wish we had a Dress Code of modesty, for our churches!) The reporter replied that she had worn the same miniskirt to all the other executions she had recemtly attended, at all the other prisons. Then, someone gave her something to put over her miniskirt, so that she could attend the execution. (Maybe the pope should have gone with her, to make a protest– a protest of capital punishment — not immodest miniskirts….) The last execution of a Death Row prisoner, in Calif., was in 2006. A judge ruled that lethal injection is unconstitutional. Guess “death drugs” are only “legal” now, for assisted suicide cases! And abortion is legal in Calif., too. Convoluted thinking. Just like the Catholic Church, these days. Pitiful article! How many unborn babies will be slaughtered, as the Pontifical Academy of Life doesn’t care about them any more?? Convoluted… makes me sick! Sin is still sin! Abortion is still intrinsically evil! No “paradigm shift,” that’s a flat lie!