'Explain what Roman Catholics believe about the sanctity of life.'
‘Explain what Roman Catholics believe about the sanctity of life.’
The ‘Sanctity of life’ is the idea that all human life is sacred. This means that it should be treated with respect, and should not be thought of as something that can be destroyed at will. Christians believe that everyone has a divine spark given by God, and therefore we should look after life. This has relevance with moral issues today such as abortion, where a foetus is terminated before it is born, and because Christians believe life begins at conception terminating the foetus is murder. Euthanasia is Greek for an easy death. It is where a person either asks to be helped to die, by taking an overdose of drugs for example. The other way is when a person is too ill to make a decision of their own and so they are helped to die. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to this. ‘Euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of god, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing if a human person,’ (Papal Encyclical Evangelium Vitae). The Church teaching on euthanasia is based on the Sanctity of life idea that human life is God’s creation, and life is a gift to be treasured. Contraception means against conception. In some cases, it is where the fertilised ovum is prevented from implanting in the womb and forming into a embryo. Because Christians believe life begins at conception, this process is murder and therefore goes against the ‘Sanctity of life’ idea. Embryo research is where embryos are created in test tubes. If the woman has a problem with her ovaries, she will hand over maybe 5 ova’s, and put in test tubes. Then male sperm will be put in and encouraged to fertilise them. Sometimes it does not work, but in other occasions, only one will be needed, so others will be frozen, or in some cases discarded. The Church says embryo research is okay if no embryos are discarded, because conception has happened so it is therefore a life.
