The Pope, Bush, Right-to-Life and Religious Freedom

Interview With Philosopher Father Jesús Villagrasa

Q: But, it seems obvious that the right to life is more fundamental as the Pope said in his first audience to Bush.

Father Villagrasa: It should be obvious. If the existence of the subject of rights is not guaranteed, no other right is safe.

This is why the magisterium of the Church says that it is a primary, unconditional, inalienable, and fundamental right, root and source of all other rights.

But even the most obvious seems to be clouded. In that audience the Pope said to Bush that experience shows that a 'tragic dulling of consciences' accompanies abortion, leading to accommodation and acquiescence in face of other evils such as euthanasia, infanticide, and the creation -- in view of research -- of human embryos destined to destruction in that process.