This oneness of the human race, which implies equality and the same basic rights for all, is solemnly repeated and inculcated again after the flood. All human beings are one because they come from a single father, Adam, and a single mother, Eve, "the mother of all the living" (Gn 3:20). This is an apodictic statement of divine right which does not permit exceptions: human life is untouchable because it is divine property.Ģ. Man is characterized by an immediacy with God that is proper to his being man is capax Dei and because he lives under the personal protection of God he is "sacred": "If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God has man been made" (Gn 9:6). Man is created in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:26) the second account of creation expresses the same idea, saying that man, taken from the dust of the earth, carries in himself the divine breath of life. The Bible defines the human being in his essence (which precedes all history and is never lost in history) with two distinctive features:ġ. The essential point of departure is, and remains, the biblical vision of man, formulated in an exemplary way in the accounts of creation. To deal adequately with the problem of threats to life and to find the most effective way to defend human life against these threats, we must first of all determine the essential components, positive and negative, of the contemporary anthropological discussion. (Click here for letter of the Pope to all the Bishops upon the conclusion of the consistory.) (Speakers: Cardinals Hickey, Etchegaray, Thiandoum, Lopez Trujillo, Deskur, Law, Hume, Tzadua, Pimenta, Bernardin, Arinze, Clancy, Casaroli, Meisner, Poletti, Gonzales Martin, Konig, Ekandem, McCann, Lustiger, Gagnon.) Summaries of the interventions from the floor. Brief summary of the results of the language groups ("circuli minores"). Summary of the presentations from the various continents. Text of the presentation by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger The present summary concerns the Consistory of Cardinals held on 4-6 April 1991 on the subject of threats against life. (Note: This consistory was a key preparatory moment for the preparation of the Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae.) SUMMARY OF THE CONSISTORY OF CARDINALS ON THREATS TO LIFE
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