The expression “pro-life Catholic” is every bit as redundant as the expression “traditional Catholic.” Expressions are redundant when they repeat the same idea. The word Catholic necessarily includes the concept of “traditional” because a person cannot truly be a Catholic without believing in and adhering to Catholic tradition. One who rejects Catholic tradition in belief is not a Catholic in faith and one who rejects Catholic tradition in practice is not a Catholic in religion, i.e. is not a practicing Catholic. Thus, also, anyone who is a Catholic in the true sense of the name must be “pro-life” – but in the Catholic sense of the term. For Catholics, the expression “pro-life” has not only a natural but also (and above all) a supernatural significance.

It is God Himself Who gives life and commands His first human creatures, Adam and Eve, to give life: “Increase, multiply and fill the earth!” [Genesis 1]. God the Father sends His Only-begotten Son Who IS “the way, the truth, and the life” to sinful, fallen mankind so that “they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” [St. John 10, 10] Our Divine Redeemer tells the multitudes that He is “the living Bread that has come down from Heaven” and “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.” [St. John 6, 52] When the multitude then turns away from Christ, He invites the Apostles also to go, but Peter answers: “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” We Catholics must understand that we are concerned not only with the natural life of the body but the supernatural life of the soul. Yes. We want to save the life of the child; we want to save the woman from murdering her own child and murdering her own soul by a horrendous sin. But we must be mindful of Jesus Christ’s admonition: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” [St. Matthew 16, 26] We must pray and act to rescue both babies and their mothers not only for the purposes of this fleeting life but for the sake of the Everlasting Life only Christ can give.